Mitsuman's new to me Gen 3

[mitsuman]

Greetings Mistu fans. I had a Montero sport for about 9 years which you can find if you dig through the "post your montero sport pics" thread. That rig is gone, and now in it's place is this 02 Montero LTD. I found this one with only 63k miles, no trailer hitch, never offroad, clean history reports, and only $7995!!! It was priced so well because it has the rear cam seal leaks and some oil was getting on both cats causing a burning oil smell and the exhaust has a leak/rattle. I already expected any 6G74 I looked at to have the rear cam seals leaking, so no big deal there. I've wanted a Gen 3 forever and I'm so excited to go new places in it.

I've been lurking here for quite a while but I'll be posting to pick your brains on a few things to get this ride up to spec. Tomorrow I'm putting Redline synthetic lubes in the t-case, diffs, and engine. I'll have the tranny flushed with Mitsu SPIII and the coolant flushed when it's in the shop getting new timing belt/water pump.

Questions : 1. The second row seats fold but are not tumbling forward. Any tips or advice on how to release stuck second row seats?

2. Has anyone had luck with a stop-leak oil additive or should I have my guy do the cam seals when he does the timing belt?

Thanks in advance for any help. And thanks for having me in this great forum

 

[Clem]

Awesome deal!...That must be the lowest mileage Monty on the forum.

Personally, I would skip the stop leak in the oil and have your mechanic change out the rear cam seals while doing the time belt and other items.

Looking forward to your build,

Clem

 

[PirateMcGee]

Never use stop leak, just change the seals. It's not hard and the parts are cheap.

 

[Inyo_man]

Congratulations!
Our '02 has taken us on many, many adventures.
Purchased with under 30k and we're looking at 158+/k and counting...
Have fun.

 

[cnutco]

Nice find! Love the color too😉


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sabre]

Agree with seal replacement.

Notice how the tumbling seat thing is utterly ignored? That's cuz we all suffer with it. After a lot of frustration, my seats and I have come to an understanding: they work most of the time and I just put up with it when they don't.

 

[mitsuman]

It's under the knife right now getting the timing belt, water pump, replace leaking seals and valve cover gaskets, transmission and coolant flush. It hurt my wallet but I have to just consider it part of the vehicle purchase. The peace of mind knowing everything is good for a long time will be nice.

 

[mapper]

yep, and it totally makes sense to do it all at once!

 

[MonteroLTD]

The trick to the seats is to hold the lever behind the seats up during the whole folding process. That works for me.

 

[Michael Brown]

The trick to the seats is to hold the lever behind the seats up during the whole folding process. That works for me.

That is the trick. It was the same way for both Monteros I've owned. Also make it one fluid motion from collapse to flip forward otherwise the lower lock mechanism stays engaged and it only folds over. If it doesn't pull up easily just hold the lever, unfold and refold/lift up at the same time while holding lever to get it to flip fully forward. Also pay attention to the holder mechanism as the red catches on the tubes do not always sit properly.

 

[mitsuman]

Thanks for the tip on the seats, it worked!

 

[jimmartin]

Right trick. I also used the same trick for my new Mitsubishi mirage, but in my case it was not fully effective and had to purchase a new car. Even the mechanic could not help me out in the end.