Okay, so I have problem with my 1987 Minicab, when warm it'll keep letting out a little white smoke that smells like gasoline, and the car will flood itself if you roll it downhill with the clutch pressed down or gear on neutral. Press the accelerator, and it leaves a puddle of gasoline under the end of the exhaust pipe. Odd thing is, if you leave it idling when warm with the lights on, and blow on it sounds like it almost stalls sometimes, and you see the headlights dim. I tried adjusting a screw, which I thought was the fast idle screw but now that I think about it, it might be the auto choke adjust screw? I have a little hard time telling with from the maintenance manual compared to the actual parts which I was adjusting, so here is a picture with a red arrow pointing to where I adjusted a screw. It was in 12 a clock position, and almost all the way down, it could go around like one more time before being all the way in, and I adjusted it counter clockwise to 9 a clock, before I just couldn't turn it anymore with the screwdriver, the end of the screw is so soft, and the screw seems pretty damn stuck on.
I've heard this story before. It sounds like a new carb. might be in your future, or at least rebuilding yours. A lot of previous posts on the forum, relating to this. These things don't like modern fuel. Some people run high octane, some use fuel additives, stabilizers.
Japan introduced unleaded fuel in 1970, and Banned lead in 1985. So unleaded fuels shouldn’t hurt our Minitrucks. But the E85 might. sounds like a stuck float. Depending on whether you can get a rebuild kit, you may need a new carb.
Well, I managed to get the choke adjust screw unstuck, and I screwed it even further backwards, that got rid of what felt like flooding when rolling downhill with neutral/clutch pressed down when gear is on, car stays on just fine rolling down hills now. It also got rid of the constant near stalling, and constant gas cloud problem. Problem was I screwed it too far back, and the car could go forward without any gas pressing when cold. It was raring to go even with 2nd gear on on its own, and it brought the constant gas cloud problem to when the engine was cold. I adjusted it forward now before I drove it to the garage I hold it in, and it was almost there. Was still a little shakey when warm, but wasn't quite so ready to stall.
Well, couldn't get it t0 stop smoking entirely, and shaking like mad when idle by screwing around with the fast idle, or choke screws. So I decided to check the air filter...which smelled of fuel, and the edges were covered in some weird black sap like substance that stuck onto anything that touched it(also smells of fuel), I noticed the back end of the air box doesn't cover the whole filter but it sits snug. So next thing going under inspection is the exhaust gas recirculation system. At least now the car can roam along on 1 with little to no gas pedal pressage, and doesn't stall or sputter now like it did before, and doesn't wake the whole neighborhood when close to changing gear.
Van, Think Tank! You have established that it's a fuel issue, problem! Check! It's an 87! (older vehicle) Check! What does the inside of the fuel tank, fuel lines look like? (food for thought) How old is the fuel? How often do you drive it? Every day driver? Vehicle history? How long have you owned it? What condition is it in mechanically? Was it Maintained?(before you got it) For instance, mine was abused, to a certain extent! It was also given to me. I refuse to call it a gift, because, I needed another project like I needed another hole in my head!(but that's another story) So I am rebuilding mine, as I go along, and choose to have fun with it, as a hobby. I removed my tank, and thourally cleaned it, and all other fuel related parts, replaced with NEOPRENE RUBBER FUEL LINES! Added extra fuel filter, before carb. ,after replacing original!(two total)! So in trying to help you, for me, it's a lot easier knowing the history of the vehicle, and to try to help you resolve these issues! If someone used the wrong fuel, or inadequate fuel, and maybe it sat in your fuel system for a while, it could be causing you problems that won't go away until you remedy the situation.(naturally) I truly do believe these fuels today will break down the rubbers and seal's of yesterday. In many cases it has been proven so. It's possibly, you might have some kind of contaminant in your system that you are unaware of, and it keeps rearing it's ugly head every time you try to engage the trans. by declutching!(putting a load on it) Trying to help, and not add to your dilemma! Limestone
Well, the car no longer smokes when warm, got that issue sorted with fuel filter replacement, and running fuel cleaner through for a few months & replaced the belt, and it idles very nicely when the engine is warm. Still smokes the hell out on a cold start on a very wet or cold day. Randomly hard to start, bottom of the gas cap is wet always, there is a very audible hiss near the Handbrake/4WD Lever when driving at over 80km/h or over, but not before. On lowest fan setting there is a faint smell of gas in the cabin for the first minute, sometimes the area around the car smells like gas when filling up, and might smell even after a short drive home, but no detectable fuel splashes anywhere. Very, very rough idle if you put on the lights right after starting cold, but it powers through it and idle goes to be fine, but repeats the issue every stop until it is fully heated up. Used to stall when pumping the brake pedal, but no longer does that and there is no vacuum leak on the brake side of things. Rear brakes do drag if you put on 4WD(hard enough to leave black tire marks, and the wheels themselves get warm) but not otherwise, one rear wheel does miss the cover cap.
Fuel cap venting? Like Jig's suggested someone else, fuel canister, clogged, working properly? If it were me, I might try some premium fuel, a couple tanks, after checking, all the fuel venting! Limestone
Thing is, where is the vapor canister exactly? It is hard to get a sense from the parts diagram, is it under the carburetor, can I see it from the bed hatch? Based on the parts diagram it does fit with the loud audible hiss coming from around the handbrake/4WD lever, but I can't tell where exactly in there it is located.
It should look like a small can with hoses on the top, and a filter on the bottom. On my Hijet it is on the Inside of the, left side frame rail, kind of above the the rear axle. I have tip/lift dumper version, so i can just raise the bed to get to it. On a standard bed it will be a bit of a pain. One of those, it will live the life of the truck. So why make it accessible things.
[Edit]Well, found it,unlike the part diagram portrays it isn't directly under the carb, but on the right hand frame just before the cab. Plugging the air hole on it doesn't alter the idle so I dunno if it is that. That doesn't really match with that the parts diagram tells: https://mitsubishi.epc-data.com/min...line-vapor-gas-control/?frame_no=U15T-0002081 Only remotely canister like thing near the fuel tank is the pump, the vapor canister is near the carburetor, but I have a hard time telling where exactly. Cause just looking at the parts diagram I should see the canister in this photo:
Well, found out what caused the gas cap wetness on the inner surface. Busted intake manifold gasket. Didn't suspect it cause there was no coolant leak. Just started having problems with starting, filling up the tank, and fuel leaking out of the tank if the tank was full with the cap off after driving with the engine off. Took a real warm summer for the symptoms to appear real pronounced. It'd start fine when cold, but slightest warmness on the engine and it needed like 15 seconds of cranking to start it. Stalled constantly without foot on the gas pedal after it wasn't cold anymore, but not yet fully warm. So if you have a gas smell in your cabin or unexplained fuel cap wetness even when the fuel tank vent works fine, check the intake manifold gasket. There is also a constant whining/squealing while driving around at lower gears but you won't be able to locate one on idle, I didn't even have a slightest hiss on idle. Your gas tank might or might not refuse to fill up, I only had the problem like 50% of the time. But the fuel smell in cabin if you put blow on, and around the car in general when it was running was real pronounced at the end.
I've NEVER seen a busted intake Manifold Gasket, cause Wetness on a Gas Cap, nor have I ever heard of this! Sounds like two separate issues to me! Limestone
Well, here is my story so far. At one point at recommendation of a garage, motor oil was switched to 5W40. This fixed smoking, black liquid dripping down the exhaust, and constant stalling while sitting idle. After that, carb was found to be shot, and intake Manifold gasket. First intake manifold gasket was replaced, and carb had the repair kit installed. Carb still leaked somewhere. Fueling issue went away after these two, but gas cap still presents light wetness, but at least now my fingers are not wet with gasoline every time I take the cap off. Carb was switched to a Keihin CV40 replica. Switched idle jet to #40 after finding issues with flooring the throttle causing the engine to either stall or loose power completely, found it very odd how the float was still filled after 4 days of sitting. Added an oil additive that restores engine performance(see RVS Oil). Removed original air intake system due to tears in intake ducting, replaced with a free flow filter straight on carb. This improved throttle slightly, but still needed fixing. Connected PCV to carb with a mounting piece that goes in between the intake flange, and the air filter. Connected EGR straight to filter medium. This fixed power issues completely on full throttle, and car even sounds beefier than before on full throttle. But after this, issues on idle with accessories on started presenting. Very erratic idle sometimes, sometimes idles almost smoothly. Turn off accessories, and idle is perfect. Just today I had an odd issue where the oil light lit up while going up a incline on very light throttle. I went to remove the oil...and only 0,2L of oil came out. Dipstick showed empty after this procedure. Filled up with 5W30 after a hour of sitting, and started her up. No smoking, but she did let out motor oil through the exhaust pipe, but very small amount during warm up about 5 or so drops. Due to the shape of the exhaust on these things it could have quite a lot of oil in the actual pipe however. Exhaust does not smoke. Does not let out motor oil after a while of sitting while warm. Car runs perfectly fine when cold, you can even have accessories on and idle does not drop. Car warms up, you drive her around a bit, then stop and idle goes to hell while accessories are on. Turn them off and after a while of hesitating idle corrects. Sometimes I can get the idle to correct by fiddling around with the throttle while accessories are on, and the car keeps it normal for a very random amount of time. Before oil change there was a clear sound during idle while accessories are on that could be described "HRRR, HRRR, then pause". After oil change it is "HRRR, HRRR" and either pause or "HRrr". This weird sounding idle does not present while accessories are off.
Well, the missing engine oil turned up after I redid the oil change with a flushing additive, I got closer to 5 liters out of the engine, including the filter. Now the engine smokes again, but it seems very slight compared to before. Every time you turn it off and let it sit like 5 minutes, bluish gray smoke on start up. Mostly disappears after a while of idling, or cruising but there is the occasional puff on cruise/acceleration. Had to raise idle cause it started stalling even with accessories off.
