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Would anyone feel safe sitting in the rear seat of any of the vehicles mentioned during a "severe rear end collision"?
I dont think the type of seat or for that matter if you had no seat at all, would significantly alter the end result.
The rear seats in many of these SUV are only suited for small children. I think if you are going to regularly carry passengers back there then get a Suburban and live the good life. Add the DVD player for the rear passengers as well.
I apologize in advance if this was covered earlier on this board, I looked quickly and didn't find anything.
http://www.hopkinsmfg.com/hoppy.html?litemateintro.html
MK
Anyway, anyone know the inside scoop on how far dealers can go while offering the 0% deal. I know the ads say they can't combine rebates with financing deals but is that true?
I wanted to know what Pinoy44 finally did about his vibration problem. Did you have any success???
I'll wait until the warm weather again to see if it still exist. I already told the dealership about this disappearance and they don't know the reason.
Many manufactures seem to have this problem. You dont have to go far on this site to find these kinds of issues. For the most part they seem limited to a few vehicles and are generally solved with a rebalence and if that does not work then replacement of the tires.
It is my understanding that you can have tire defects such as a slipped belt that wont balence out and can lead to vibration.
Vibration that you feel with acceleration and that resolves with taking your foot off the accelerator very well could be the drive shaft.
Other than these two items there isnt much else that would explain the problems I would think.
If your rims are only balanced on the inside, you may ask for additional tape weights on the flat outer portion of the rim for greater balance. Usually works for wider rims on cars.
MK
I hit a bird one day and bent the mast. The motor's still good but the mast won't move. The mast is only $45, so I am thinking of doing this myself.
Any help out there?
I did have a shock go out but I was unable to find an after market shock available for the 2001 Model. There has been some controversy here on that issue. Apparantly someone somewhere has a shock for the 2001 but I never found one. I'm not sure anyone here can say they've actually purchased and replaced theirs either.
Good Luck
Drew
Has anyone gotten a flat and tried to use the spare tire yet?! Well, my wife got a flat last night a 1/4 mile from home and was able to limp it into the driveway. This morning I changed it.
Thank god I was in the driveway and not on the road somewhere. Whoever assembled the spare tire carrier should be fired! The fiberglass cover is supposed to be a snug fit at NORMAL tire pressure.
Well it seems as if the cover was put on first, then the tire was inflated. To 45 LBS.!! Max is 35lbs.! I could not get the cover off. The spare also presents a dangerous condition once mounted and driven on at 45lbs. Well, for anyone with this problem (I suggest everyone should check this out BEFORE they get a flat), here's the
scoop:
Undo the 2 plastic twist-locks at the bottom of the cover first. The idea is to pull the bottom out first then lift it up and off the flange/clip
at the top of the cover. Being over-inflated, it was too tight to pull the bottom out. It wedged.
What needs to be done is to spray silicone or some type of lubricant between the tire and the cover at the bottom from the back of the cover, then work the bottom of the cover back and forth until it slips off. Without lubricating it, I would have never gotten it off without breaking it. Funny thing, there is nothing in the owners manual about taking the cover off but they do tell you how to tighten the lug nuts!
I'm not all thumbs mechanically. I've restored an old Corvette, 2 old farm tractors, and have done a fair share of 4x4 truck modifications.
Trust me on this one.
Let me know if anyone else had this problem.
Good luck!
I agree, in nasty weather on the road it would be a real pain in the a**.
By the way, just to make sure it will come off when you need it, have whoever rotates your tires include the spare in the rotation. The Mitsubishi dealer may not include it unless you specifically tell them. As in my case, they may think the fifth wheel is not matching until you tell them.
I don't know why the first balancing attempt at the first dealership did not correct the problem. I did notice this time that there were much more lead weights(distributed) on wheels than before. Maybe the balancing machine was not calibrated properly the first time.
Anyway, I am a happy camper now! This dealer even detected that my brake booster recall was not done. This made me upset with my sales person, because I specifically requested that all of the three (3) known recalls be performed prior to my taking delivery. Needless to say, I will be taking my vehicle to this new service team from now on.
I'm especially happy to here the lack of repairs because this was my only concern going into the Montero. I had heard good things about reliability overseas but was concerned given that this is a new model to some degree.
I am still looking at the shock isse. I feel I need to conclude this since I started the whole mess. I have been told so many different variations. I am happy with the stock shocks for the most part but I think increase rebound damping would help a great deal an the Rancho 9000 are adjustable. Will pursue application for the 2001.
For an accurate reading you have to allow at least 3 hours of no driving for a cool down. To prove my point, check your pressure before you drive off next time. Then check it after the tires are hot. I bring this up because if the Dealer adjusted the pressure in HOT tires they could very well be underinflated now. Amazing the a dealer sevice department doesn't know these things but it happens all the time.
Also in regard to the flat tire post, that was my experience as well. It was a nightmare trying to figure out how to get that cover off in the dark. And the cylinder jack is completely worthless on any kind of uneven surface, too small a base, it was nearly impossible to center it and not have it tip when you jacked the vehicle. Don't bother with it if you travel off road or anything other than new, perfectly level asphalt.
My front brakes need to be replaced this weekend.
Why the rear went out before the front?
I think they were defective myself but the dealer wouldnt do anything about it.
I am getting new tires in about 2 weeks. I have 40k on the stock Bridgestones. I think I could go another 10k but who wants to risk it, plus I am driving to Colorado from Texas and will probably be in some snow. I hope!
My wife filled it up, swears she tightened the gas cap (which will cause it to not reset sometimes and cause the "check engine light to come on), but it didn't reset. I checked the cap and re-tightned it, but it still didn't help.
Seems I remember it happened once before and it reset itself the next fill up.
Before the next fill-up, had to take it into the dealer for service because the check engine light came on after about 300 miles. (They said that they didn't know why that had happened because there was no problems stored in the computer memory although they saw the light was on when I drove in). They reset the millage computer at that time. No problems since then.
Is all this stuff, i.e. display software, warning lights, etc. all on the same computer?
They said the problem could be storing the garage door opener, toll road transponder, and entry gate transponder in the slot under the display.
I read in the owner's manual that you are not to store a cell phone in this location and I can understand this as a cell phone emits EMR any time it is powered up. But, openers, and transponders only transmit when activated, and I had no problems with them stored here for 24,000 miles.
I think the dealer is blowing smoke on this one but moved the stuff anyway.
Has anyone had to reset the compass? I had to do it once about a year ago but not since. I wonder if you go through that procedure, does it reset the whole computer including the "miles to empty" display?
I think the whole problem is probably due to MS software in the computer system(s). To fix it, just reboot.
The problem with the system is on every fill-up it displays the calculated mileage available based upon the miles generated by the last fill up. So, if for some reason it doesn't register a complete fill up properly, it then always will display a wrong miles to go reading, say 70 miles instead of 300. There is no way to reset it by driving it down to empty and refilling the gas tank (the first dealer's suggestion). The system has to to be reset and calibrated as new.
If your dealer service dep't doesn't know how, they should. Call a couple other dealers. According to to the second dealer this complaint is showing up a lot in Monteros that have 25 to 35k on the odometer.
""Kleinschmidt Drives into Motorsports History""
By Sue Mead
Lac Rose, Senegal, Africa:
"German rally driver Jutta Kleinschmidt made motorsports history when she took the 23rd Dakar crown to become the first woman ever to win the notoriously dangerous and grueling Paris-Dakar Rally. Driving a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, with co-driver Andreas Schulz, also from Germany, she finished the10,000 km rally just two and a half minutes ahead of Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero team drivers Hiroshi Masuoka of Japan and Pascal Maimon of France."
[snip]
Complete article:
URL: http://www.suv.com/adventure/Dakar2001/
http://www.dakar.fr/2002/us/
Admittedly, these are "Super Production" short wheelbase, 2-door models, but still . . .
http://forums.vmag.com/suvmontero1200/
and was surprised to see at least 3 different people mentioning the water pump going out around 90k miles..and having to get the engine rebuilt for a cost of $10,000!!!! This of course seems ridiculous that Mitsu would charge that amount. Anyway, does anyone know with the 2001 Monty with the 3.5 of any weaknesses in the design of the engine? I love my Monty, but if I can expect another 3-5k in "standard maintenance" to get it to 100k miles I might get rid of it.
thanks
Windshield wiper wing nut
Brake accumulator valve
Radiator
As far as the long term report that brillmtb is talking about, I think it was the MotorTrend magazine that had the 1 year report.
thanks
I have several friends with Montes over 90K with no reported engine problems at all. I doubt you will find much with this engine becasue its been around long enough to "work out the bugs".
Service items
Replace FRONT windshield wiper nuts
Replace radiator (tranny cooler running through it may leak wrecking tranny)
Replace Mirrors if you dont already have the updated version (mine did out of the factory)
Replace brake accuator (on affected models). You can call the 800 number with your VIN and have the dealer check. I found better service calling the 800 number then walking in with full knowledge to the dealer. Many of us have been unhappy with dealers but this is not unique to Mitsu, just look at the Toyota complaints.
Possibly replace the 4wd switch which is located under the front skid plate I think, if it is found to be leaking at oil checks. Mine has had not problems but others have reported leaks. I dont think this is a TSB or recall item yet.
Hope this helps
Prior to leaving the dealership with the car, the mechanic indicated that they checked the air in the tires and evened out the pressure. They wanted us to drive the car for a couple hundred miles and see if that would resolve the problem. After driving the car for a few days, it was clear that this was not going to fix itself and we took the car in to have the alignment done.
They completed the alignment. At the time that I picked up the car, the mechanic told me that the steering wheel was going to be a little off due to the alignment and that that was normal. He also indicted that he adjusted the toe on the car and that everything was now working fine. After leaving the body shop, I was less than 5 minutes away and noticed that nothing had changed. I immediately went back to the body shop and complained to the service person that checked in my car. He went with me for a test ride and agreed that the car was still drifting to the right and was not properly fixed. He also indicated that what the mechanic told me was not true about the steering wheel being out off aligned and that they would have that fixed as well. He indicated that I would have to bring the car back again since they would not have any further time on that day to continue working on the car. I explained to him that I would have to have a rental car of like size if they wanted us to bring the car back during the week. After checking he indicated that he would have the appropriate car for us and we agreed to bring the car back on Tuesday evening.
The car was brought back in as arranged. I then picked up the car on Wednesday. I noticed that the steering wheel was still not fixed and the alignment appeared to be little better though, a little better.
We decided to have the car checked with a mechanic that we knew and trusted. He completed a check on the alignment of the car. He found that in fact the car was out of alignment and was overcompensated to the left to keep the car from pulling to the right. We immediately went to the Mitsubishi dealership from there and I discussed the continuing problems with the sales manager and he discussed it with the Service Department Manager . Service advisor took the car for another test ride and again agreed with us that the car was still pulling to the right. I also showed them the print out of the alignment test completed by our mechanic and this was of course “pooh poohed” by the Service Manager because they didn’t know where the test came from.
The service manager and service advisor indicated that a copy of the before and after alignment numbers would be in our file. When service advisor went to have the file pulled, the readings were “mysteriously” missing. They indicated that they believed the paper work hadn’t been filed as yet, because it was still with the warranty people. I find this convenient and interesting to the say the least.
We again waited at the dealership while they worked on the car. When they released the vehicle the service advisor again said that we would notice a considerable difference in the way the car drove. First, the steering while is still not fixed and in addition, there is now a problem with the steering wheel not properly returning to straight after completing or while in the midst of a turn. It appears, that the steering wheel function was fixed in such a way as to try and prevent the alignment problem from being as noticeable. In driving the vehicle, it is still drifting to the right and as indicated, we now have the further problem with the steering wheel and the steering wheel is still not properly aligned.
I called another Mitsubishi dealership and spoke with their service department. While they confirmed that it is not unusual for a new car to be out of alignment when it received by the dealership, there is no reason that it cannot be fixed and that the steering wheel should always be 100% in alignment. He also indicated that the steering wheel is separate from the wheels and while adjustment to the wheels could cause the steering wheel to move from center, it should be fixed at the same time that the alignment is being corrected.
Called Mitsubishi open a case # and now a different dealership is going to work on my Montero to see if they can find the problem and fix it. To be continued.
Within reason, I feel the same way.
If dealers want the loyalty from their customers, I think they need to realize this. I also think the sharing of information on the internet will further this idea, hopefully.
The only issue is the buzz in one of the speakers which we will get checked by the dealer. We love the vehicle and are looking forward to having it a long time.
One quick question. We are going to give it its first wash and wax. Anyone have a suggestion as to what's a good wax product and leather seat treatment It's our first new car in years and I'm sure the technology has improved.
In answer to you question regarding a wax and leather treatment. Here is what I use based on years of experience using wax from various manufacturers.
For wax I use Zymol which you can purchase at Target or Kragens Auto. The price is around $11.00 a bottle but the wax is worth the price. Consumer Reports rated the wax very highly.
For leather, use Lexol. It is a very highly recommended conditioner by most professional Auto Detailers. I use it and have been very pleased.
Good luck with the new Montero.
Went to LA from SFO last Christmas, 2 adults (including myself) and two kids in the Monty. My experience this time was different on the flat road. I was passing most of the cars and SUVs on highway 5 without difficulty under stormy, rainy conditions. I was impressed with the traction of the tires on the road using the 4 wheel drive. I was also impressed with the acceleration. I averaged 90 mph but felt like I was crusing at 60.
The bottom line is do not intend to travel with 5 other passengers uphill for along period of time. Other than you'll have blast driving the MONTERO at any open road!