I have a Mitsubishi minicab which I use for transporting freight and luggage for my seasonal hotel on an island in Maine. I have brought it inshore for some TLC before the season starts. Towards the end of last season it started becoming hard to start, which I attributed to possibly bad fuel and/or the need for a tune up. Yesterday, while driving it down the road to warm it up, an error light came on (see attached photo) which appears, from reading other posts, to be related to an exhaust sensor or possibly water in the fuel or oil. It also makes some clicks and pops when starting. As I am not a mechanic, I am looking for any help I can get. Will a tune up (plugs, etc.) help? Where should I go for service (small engine guy)? I am in southern Maine. Thanks in advance for any help.
Dumb question? Did you check your battery, fluids, oil etc. maybe your right about water in the fuel since you only drive it part time. What is that pic. It looks like over heat?
All else checks out ok Battery is charged up fine. Oil level fine. The sensor, according to some other posts, has to do with the catalytic converter, I believe. I am going to have a mechanic drain the fuel, replace the fuel filter, change the oil and plugs. I will then look into replacing the sensor.
Ewh...that is an expensive part! Try over $300 dollars. Clogged up, service as far as I can find is replacement. Did you check the connection to the wire that connects to the exhaust system?
More help, and thanks. Thanks, Milt for verifying the problem. Thanks Tetsukuma for giving me a price range. I have checked the wire at the converter - seems to be OK. When I return home tomorrow I will trace the wire all the way back for damage. If I don't replace it, would that pose any problems? If I do replace it, where might I acquire the part? Also, what is the error light really telling me? Why would the catalytic converter be overheating? Thanks so much to everyone for helping out a newbie.
if it's not a road going vehicle subject to emission testing i would just take the cat out and call it a day... most muffler shops won't charge more than about 20 or 30 bucks to do that.
I concur with Milt. Knock it out if it is not street legal. I was also told to get the light to go out disconnect wire at cat. sensor in exhaust pipe and ground wire to frame. Havnt tried it but came from a good source that builds alot of cool mini trucks. If its spitten and sputtering a good tune up is in store. I use a independent Japanese auto service guy here in Austin every once in awhile to work on mine. He likes to work on mini trucks, something different he says. The light is saying cat. clogged up, sensor is bad, fuel mixture is out wack.
Tetsukuma - So if I do want to order the part and replace, how do I go about it? Where do I order from?
I would start hitting the vendors until you find someone who can order it (or pull a good used one from a parts truck). If you look you can also find the part number via a Japanese parts manual and there are some of those out there too with some of the vendors. The year of manufacture is on the label of the seat belt down next to the attachment point.
Also need help with error light I have now owned a 93 Mits U42T 4X4 for about 2 months and have never had any problems until today. My 4yr old son and went riding this afternoon back on an old strip mine. The truck ran very well going up the hil and once on top done fine. My son wanted to fo through some mud holes in the road and it splash (nothing to deep and a foot. On the way back the truck lost power and wanted to die when going especially up small hills. I had to stop and rev the engine to get it to go a short distance. Coming back down the truck ran fine until we crossed some small diversion ditches and it would bog down when going up. Once we got to the bottom and out on the road the truck would barely go even with the peddle to the floor. I filled the truck up and put a small amount of gas treatment in. Truck is continuing to do this. When started it will idle very slow and rough and then pick up to normal but when driving it will bog down to almost a crawl and then pick back up for a second. Would this also be the catalytic converter or something else?Thanks for your time and any help will be greatly appreciated. Just found website and look forward to reading in the future.
KYH What a drag! My first thought was you may have gotten some water (or condensation) up under the truck and on the distributor. Pull the access hatch in the truck bed and look at your distributor. Does it have the rubber boot over it? If so, that is good, especially if it is intact. If no rubber boot the water may have gotten in. Pull the cap and take a look. Water may or may not be evident but it sure is a starting point to check this. If no evidence of water here, the next thing I would check is the air-cleaner. Lift the drivers seat and check the air cleaner housing. If it has been off the darn things sometimes get put back on with a portion of the lip not over the carb and it gets tightened with the band. Look for a portion of the connection boot lip turned under, allowing dirty air...and in this case any water a way into the carb. Not good! There may be more going on but these two items stand out in my thinking. Let us know how it goes and what you find. TK
Could you have pinched a fuel line a bit? Possibly gounded out somewhere? If you pinched your fuel line it could mess up the mixture when you have the throttle open under load. Something to check.
