1996 Montero , new to the game, advice?

[brad2274]

Been lurking on the forums for a bit, was originally going to get a square body suburban but changed my mind and picked up a 1996 montero ls. 165k miles, 4x4, It's a little rough but i only paid 1200 for it and the ac is ice cold so im happy.
Things of concern:
-Valve ticking noise, seems to be the valve slack adjustment thingy
-No maintenance records, previous owner just did oil changes, the belts are squeaking
-oil drip from somewhere
-driver front fender replaced and on that corner is showing bands on inner side and good tread on outer, pulls hard to left on highway with some darting. i suspect bad alignment with some negative camber from an accident.

So i was thinking of doing timing belt, drive belts, plugs, wires, valve cover gaskets, maybe head gaskets, check pads, and change all fluids. would like to make this a daily and camping





cargo net that doesnt look factory



i dont know what this is, ideas?

y idea

any idea what went hear? i see screw holes


took out the carpet right away and pressure washed it, one of the floor plugs was pushed through and water was in between carpet and floor, this is before cleaning, its drying now. i dont see any damage besides to the plug, may deaden floor more before reinstalling carpet and replace the soggy padding.



found these not going anywhere under the center consolole, for the optional heated seats i presume?

 

[Eric M]

I'm gonna hazard a guess that those plugs are there for both the adjustable dampers and heated seats, but I don't know if the LS even had those options or if they share a wiring harness with the higher trim vehicles. The VLAs can be fixed either by a pattern of throttle input described in a procedure in the FSM you can get from Mitsubishilinks.com. If that doesn't work you'll have to pull them and clean them up manually. Looks like a new upper control arm will set you back 130 bucks, if it's damaged.

http://www.potamkinparts.com/oe-mitsubishi/mr296096

Did you get a manual with your car? The hole in the 3rd row seat is a storage spot for the head rest because the seats do a cool trick.

 

[MummifiedCircuitry]

You'll probably want to do rear cam seals once you're in there. They're inexpensive, $10 or so. Also, if you're doing the timing belt, it'd be a good time to do the water pump as well since most of the junk will be out of the way to access it.

 

[Toasty]

The tarp is the rear cargo cover, they're usually long gone from monteros. the screw holes go to nothing. That's where the CD changer goes but it doesn't bolt down through the plastic.


Get your motor in shape and add 35" tires, SR rear axle, aussie locker up front and Rubicon transfer case. My .02

 

[Eric M]

the screw holes go to nothing. That's where the CD changer goes but it doesn't bolt down through the plastic.

Oh, duh. I missed those screw holes.

 

[brad2274]

I'm gonna hazard a guess that those plugs are there for both the adjustable dampers and heated seats, but I don't know if the LS even had those options or if they share a wiring harness with the higher trim vehicles. The VLAs can be fixed either by a pattern of throttle input described in a procedure in the FSM you can get from Mitsubishilinks.com. If that doesn't work you'll have to pull them and clean them up manually. Looks like a new upper control arm will set you back 130 bucks, if it's damaged.

http://www.potamkinparts.com/oe-mitsubishi/mr296096

Did you get a manual with your car? The hole in the 3rd row seat is a storage spot for the head rest because the seats do a cool trick.

I do know about the trick! The manual is useful. I may put an extinguisher there.
I want to try the vla throttle fix but my tach only over goes to like 1 or 3, I never see it move its just there or its not lol. Hope I can find a control arm in a yard if I need one.

You'll probably want to do rear cam seals once you're in there. They're inexpensive, $10 or so. Also, if you're doing the timing belt, it'd be a good time to do the water pump as well since most of the junk will be out of the way to access it.

Yeah I was planning on doing the tensioner and pump and seals, I'm thinking about pulling the motor and doing head gaskets as well

The tarp is the rear cargo cover, they're usually long gone from monteros. the screw holes go to nothing. That's where the CD changer goes but it doesn't bolt down through the plastic.


Get your motor in shape and add 35" tires, SR rear axle, aussie locker up front and Rubicon transfer case. My .02

33s or 35s are on the list with a 2" lift, I hope I can find an sr rear axle, it was hard enough to find this 2.5 gen.

 

[Toasty]

33s or 35s are on the list with a 2" lift, I hope I can find an sr rear axle, it was hard enough to find this 2.5 gen.

Gen 2.5 refers to the Blister fender Gen 2's '98-00, yours is a standard Gen 2 and what i like to call a flat side (no fender flares). I really like those models, i think they look meaner with big tires.

 

[brad2274]

Also the horn buttons and power mirrors don't work, mirrors wobble so I assume they will work if I fix them to housing better?