Mitsubishi Triton Problems

A leaking rocker cover gasket won’t cause the engine to stop unless it somehow manages to allow too much lubricating oil to escape the engine (which, it potentially could over time). But it still needs to be fixed, because technically the car is unroadworthy with an oil leak and various bits of the car will be getting coated with the oil as it leaks out. Rubber suspension bushes, in particular, are intolerant of contact with oil and will degrade as a result. You might also find the leak is dumping oil on your tyres or the ground in front of them. So it needs to be fixed sooner rather than later.

As for the original diagnosis of your car needing a new engine, I’d be giving that workshop a wide berth as the mechanic in question might be either incompetent or attempting to rip you off. Or both. Your decision to seek a second opinion was a good one and should be standard practice.

The last decade of dual-cab four-wheel-drive utes have emerged as the tow-vehicles of choice, and you see them everywhere filling roles exactly like the one you have planned. Popular models include the Ford Ranger you’ve nominated, Toyota HiLux, Mazda BT-50, VW Amarok, Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara and Isuzu D-Max. But there are also cheaper alternatives including makes like the South-Korean made Ssangyong and various Chinese brands like LDV and Great Wall.

Just make sure you know exactly how much you need to tow before making a decision as some of the cheaper models don’t have the same outright towing capacity and even if they do, some of them don’t have the engine performance to make towing as easy as it should be. For parts availability, the Toyota would be king in really remote areas, but any of the major brands are pretty well covered in Australia.

Meantime, don’t rule out ute-based wagons such as the Ford Everest, Isuzu MU-X, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Toyota Fortuna. These offer better ride comfort when unladen thanks to more sophisticated rear suspensions and most have as much or almost as much towing capacity as their ute brethren.

Broadly speaking, the law in WA states that you can’t increase the width of a car’s tyre more than 30 per cent over the standard fitment tyre. But since you’re only going 20mm wider, that’s not an issue and shouldn’t present any legal problems. However, it would still be wise to let your insurance company know about the increase as insurers often have different standards to the actual law-makers.

The only other hitch might be that the new tyre is physically too wide for the rim it’s being fitted to. Again, though, this is not a huge increase and should be viable. A good tyre shop will be able to check your rim size and let you know one way or the other.

This sounds like a fairly serious failure somewhere in the engine that is pressurising the cooling system (and the coolant overflow bottle) and draining the engine of the coolant it needs (which is why the overheating light is on). This can be due to a blown cylinder head gasket or some other failure within the engine that is allowing combustion pressure into the cooling system.

The best advice is to not drive the vehicle any farther and get it to a workshop who can diagnose the problem properly, rather than just guessing about the cause. Don’t forget, though, that your Triton, provided it’s been serviced properly, should still be covered by Mitsubishi’s factory warranty.

You say you’ve checked the basics, but it’s worth taking a close look at electrical connections that form the basis of the car’s ignition system. Are all the plug leads properly connected? Is the high-tension lead form the distributor to the coil secure and the coil wires correctly hooked up? Any fault with these things can cause a no-start situation.

The other prime suspect in a car of this age would be the electric fuel pump. These usually live inside the fuel tank and have a very finite lifespan. If you can’t hear the pump humming when you turn on the ignition, it’s probably dead and could well be the cause of your problem.

Beyond that, there are a lot of things that could be the cause here, but many of them are cheap and simple to fix once you’ve diagnosed the issue. It’s worth having the car checked over in case it is something really simple (and inexpensive). The Mitsubishi V6 is pretty good unit and if you’re happy with the rest of the vehicle (and it sounds like you are) then fixing the problem and squeezing every last kilometre out of the thing is the way to go.

The confounding element, of course, is that fifth gear is getting hard to engage. This could be a simple linkage adjustment problem, low clutch fluid or it could be a worn out clutch. Again, though, a proper diagnosis should be your next step before deciding whether to repair or sell and move on.

Any diesel engine can be a bit noisy; that’s just the way they work. But if a new noise has surfaced, then something has definitely changed under the bonnet. First thoughts would be a hydraulic lash adjuster (also known as a lifter) that is failing and making the noise.

These lash adjusters maintain the correct valve clearance (which otherwise alters as the engine heats up and cools down) but one that fails will allow the valve clearance to grow, at which point you get a ticking noise at the top of the engine as the valve and lifter collide.

If this is the case, you’ll need to replace the offending lifter and best practise suggests you replace all of them at the same time as one failed one suggests they’re probably all worn. But it’s also important to make sure it really is a dud lifter you’re dealing with. A diesel engine has lots of potential sources for such a noise, so make sure you rule out a worn fuel pump or any other mechanical problem before ripping the lifters out.

There are a lot of possibilities here. Either there’s a problem with the actual shifter for the transfer-case (that selects two or four-wheel-drive) or there might be something amiss inside the transfer-case itself. But before you try anything else, make sure that the transmission is in Neutral. Many vehicles will not shift into or out of four-wheel-drive while the transmission is in Drive or Reverse. So stick it in Neutral and see what happens.

From memory, the 4WD selector in your ute is a mechanical lever, not one of those newer rotary knobs. So at least you won’t be trying to overcome an electronic selection problem that occurs in these later versions.

According to website howsafeisyourcar.com.au, this version of the Triton has side air-bags in both the front and rear seats. Fitting side airbags was a great move by ute makers and reflects the fact that these vehicles are being used both as family cars and as company cars where OH and S requirements require a high safety rating.

This sounds like a case of a split fuel pick-up pipe in the fuel tank. When the tank is full, the split in the pick-up is covered by fuel, so the pump works normally at supplying the injectors with fuel. But when the level in the tank falls, the split is exposed and the fuel pump suddenly finds it’s much easier to suck air rather than fuel. And engines don’t run too well on just air.

This could be interpreted by a scan-tool as a fuel leak, so a check of the tank’s pick-up tube seems like a good place to start looking. Any actual fuel leak large enough to cause this problem would, presumably, be visible, but it’s worth a check of the fuel rail and return lines as well. Failing that, you could have a dud sensor that is telling the computer there’s a fuel shortage and sending the car into limp-home mode to protect the engine (which would also explain the loss of power). It would also be worth checking to see that the new Suction Control Valve (SCV) is working properly, even though it's brand new.

If you had a loss of drive in every gear, the suspicion would be that the transmission is low on fluid or the torque converter is not working properly. But if it’s only reverse gear that is playing up, the chances are that the bands or clutch pack that locks the transmission into Reverse is allowing the gears inside the transmission to spin without actually transferring torque to the output shaft (and thence to the wheels).

That said, there could be other internal problems that could cause this, so a visit to a transmission specialist is the best advice. Don’t delay it either, as continuing to drive the vehicle in its current state could do more damage to the transmission.