The Triton is Mitsubishi’s light commercial ute answer to the Toyota HiLux, doing battle for sales since 1986.
Available in similar configurations and spec levels as the HiLux – single and dual cab, two- and four-wheel drive, and the choice of basic workhorse and upmarket, dual-purpose family truck, the entire Triton range is served by a single diesel engine. Mitsubishi also uses the Triton as a base for its Pajero Sport SUV. The Triton faces stronger competition than ever, thanks to the proliferation of utes from Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Mazda, Holden and Isuzu.
The price range for the Mitsubishi Triton varies based on the trim level you choose. Starting at $22,490 and going to $52,790 for the latest year the model was manufactured.
The model range is available in the following body types starting from the engine/transmission specs shown below.
There are three (generally speaking) things that can be causing this problem, Mark. You could have a problem with the clutch, the gear selectors or something internal in the gearbox itself. A worn or collapsed bearing or mangled gear cluster could cause this, but I’d expect other symptoms like horrendous noises and the refusal to select some gears at all, not just randomly. If you’re lucky, the cause could a simple mal-adjustment of the selector mechanism.
Meanwhile, you’ve told me you don’t think there’s anything wrong with the clutch but, to be honest, I’ve seen these same symptoms before on cars with worn out clutches. Sometimes the actuating fingers of the clutch break, other times there’s just too much wear for the clutch to function properly. Sometimes it’s as simple as a leak from the clutch’s hydraulic system or a stretched clutch cable. But either way, clutch problems can certainly cause this sort of grief.
Reverse can be hard to select because the clutch is not disengaging fully, so try this experiment: Turn the engine off and try to engage reverse. If it goes in easily every time and only baulks when the engine is running, that’s a classic case of a dying clutch.
The D-Max is pretty well regarded in the trade for its ability to go the distance, but modern, common-rail diesel technology has shown that a vehicle with fewer kilometres is usually a better bet than one with more. Although they do an amazing job in terms of power, torque, towing and fuel economy, today’s turbo-diesels are pretty highly strung in some ways and really need their maintenance. And the older they get, the more attention they seem to need in terms of new injectors, filters and pumps.
A D-Max with those kilometres might be ready for a pretty big (and expensive) service, too, so make sure your first trip in it isn’t going to be to a workshop. Ultimately, price, condition and service history should steer your decision as they should in any second-hand vehicle purchase. I’d take a vehicle with 150,000km with a full service history over a 60,000km one with no service records.
A lot of cars don’t like having a battery that is low on charge or being jump-started. Either of these things can cause the body computer or even the main ECU to start playing up. My guess in this case would be the body-computer which controls the dashboard functions and things like the central locking system.
Before you rush out and pay a mechanic to look at the vehicle, there are a couple of things to try. The first is to take the remote-control for the central locking and hold the button down for at least 30 seconds. Sometimes this is enough to reset the computer and return the vehicle to normal.
If that doesn’t work, get the engine up to temperature, shut it down and carefully disconnect the battery. Leave it that way for at least 30 minutes, reconnect the battery and see if that has produced a reset. You might find the car will run a bit roughly (mainly at idle) at first until the reset computer relearns a few parameters, so be careful on the first drive after trying any of this.
The book price for such a vehicle is really anywhere from $2000 to $4000. Exceptionally well-kept, low-kilometre examples will bring more, tatty ex-work trucks might even be worth less than the lower of those numbers. A quarter of a million kilometres is not ‘just around the block’ either, so you really need to take each example on its individual merits when shopping for something as old as this.
The engines, both the diesel and petrol V6, in this model Triton are both capable of long lives provided they’ve been serviced properly, but there’s the next catch. As cars and utes become less and less valuable, they tend to get serviced more and more infrequently.
Problems you could encounter will run from everything from worn out suspension to rusty bodies, smoky engines, tired gearboxes, shredded interiors and everything else. In fact, if it can go wrong on a vehicle, then it’ll probably go wrong on an old, very second-hand work ute. You might also find that getting it up to a roadworthy condition will cost more than the vehicle itself is worth. At which point, something newer and slightly more expensive might start to look pretty good.
The Mitsubishi Triton has a number of different wheel and tyre options. When it comes to tyres, these range from 205 R16 for Ute in 2020 with a wheel size that spans from 16x6 inches.
The Mitsubishi Triton is available in a number of variants and body types that are powered by Diesel and ULP fuel type(s). It has an estimated fuel consumption starting from 7.8L/100km for Ute /Diesel for the latest year the model was manufactured.
