Mitsubishi Problems

SIT down and make a list of the musts and the wants for your car, then look at each. The first and most important thing is to decide how often you will go camping and how far off the beaten track you plan to go, if at all. I would choose the Subaru and I'm assuming here that you're talking about the Outback. It isn't as high as the others, but it's a much better road car than any of the four-wheel-drive wagons you list and it has good ground clearance, which means it is surprisingly adept at beating around the bush.

I FIND it astounding that the dealer would tell you not to worry about changing the oil at the 1500k service, if only to check for any metallic particles it might contain. Draining the oil is a way to check the internal health of your engine. I'd recommend you continue what you're doing.

I WOULD first check the temperature sender, which tells the computer to keep the fuel injectors open a little longer during the cold running phase. The sender could be faulty, though you would normally experience some stalling and poor running if that is the case. The other possibility is that the catalytic converter is partly blocked, which can affect performance, and it's more noticeable when the engine is cold.

I'M AFRAID there is no special tool that will do the job. You need to take off the top half of the inlet manifold to get at the rear plugs, but leave the throttle body hanging on the hoses so you don't have to bleed the system when you put it back together. The whole job takes an expert about an hour.

EARLY Mitsubishi engines might have had a poor reputation in some quarters, but that's a long time ago. The company's four and six-cylinder engines don't have any major faults, and give service at least as good as those of rivals.

YOU could run it on unleaded, but you will eventually wreck the valves through lack of lubrication. The idea then would be to replace the valve seats with the hardened seats such as those used on LPG engines. Other than that, run regular unleaded and an additive such as Valvemaster.

I WOULD suspect the engine mounts, which are renowned for degrading and causing vibration on the TR Magna. This tends to be worse in autos. Put the trannie in drive and drive forward, noting the level of vibration. Then put it in reverse and drive backwards. If vibration is less when in reverse, start looking at the engine mounts.

TRADE-practice laws allow you to have your car serviced anywhere without affecting your warranty, as long as the service agent is qualified. But if something breaks, you must convince the factory dealer the problem is covered by the warranty and wasn't a result of poor servicing. If you're happy to negotiate with the dealer/factory in the event of a problem, have your car serviced where it's most cost-effective.

IT'S NOT a problem mechanics are familiar with but they say one of the vent hoses on the tank may be blocked, cracked, or even dislodged.

CHECK the top mounts of the front struts. The Mitsubishi has a system of two mounting nuts, one on top and one underneath. The knocking could be caused by looseness in the lower nut, even if the top one is tight.