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Phantom stalling 1991 Mitsu Mini cab

Discussion in 'Mitsubishi Minicab' started by kitimat, Nov 20, 2012.

  1. kitimat

    kitimat New Member

    Love my mini, but the idea of driving it off a cliff is tempting. Of course to do that it would have to not stall on the way to the cliff....

    Background - Bought this 1991 Mitsubishi Minicab about 3 months ago, used it as a daily beater, maybe 30km a day.

    1. At the time it was running just fine, aside from an odd gas smell and occasional gas trails on the pavement. This I attribute to gas leaking from the gas cap itself. When I got it their was a farmer fix rubber gasket to seal the gas cap better against the fill tube. This has since worn away, I'll replace tonight.
    2. About a month ago over a 3 day period it began to stall at lower engine speeds. This wasn't just at idle speeds, I could be in 2nd or 3rd with the gas pedal depressed 1/2 way and you could feel the engine suddenly bog down and die quickly, no sputtering. Re-starting after a stall took repeated attempts. Often, once started all you could get it to do was idle at a very low RPM, then if you touched the gas it would immediately bog down and die. If for several hours the problem would go away, for a while at any rate, "say 40 minutes". Then at about the 3 day mark, all the problems went away - no more stalling. Keeping in mind I hadn't really done anything other then this is around when the home-style rubber gasket on the fuel filler tube began to break down and more gas was leaking out.
    3. Off an on I have been cruising this and other sites for a reason as to why this may be happening, thinking eventually its going to rear its ugly head again, which it has... Same scenario as last month, with several slight differences.
    4. Starting is just as hard after a stall but have noticed when I pump the gas while trying to get it started i get what sounds like mild backfire (discovered a large hole has opened up in the muffler). this only occurs when giving it some gas when attempting to start it. When this stalling episode is taking place often it will only start after 8-9 attempts and will only keep a low idle. If I try to put it in gear and give it some gas it promptly bogs down and dies, where it needs several more attempts to restart again. At this point all I can do is let sit for several hours before it will start and drive normally for a period of time.
    Also noticed the exhaust has become noticeably thicker and whiter. After lots of restart attempts the battery also begins to fail, so I have just given it a boost with my other vehicle.

    What i have done so far.
    Oil - hasn't been changed but is still very clean and barely dropped since the purchasing it.
    Fuel Filter - Last night after reading more posts about possible fuel filter being stuck I pulled one filter. This one was on the drivers side frame rail and was relatively clean. What I thought was a small fuel filter on top of the tank seems to be more like a diaphragm valve of some kind. When you blow through it one side was fairly easy to blow through, the other was harder and you could feel the diaphragm move within, also an oily liquid - pinkish orange dripped out when blown through. See attached pics, these are from the internet, not the actual filters.
    Filter 1.png Filter 2.png
    tank.jpg
    Vacuum - When i was underneath I tried to trace all the vacuum lines (wow - a lot!) and couldn't find any that seemed damaged.

    Any thoughts would be great where to look next
     
  2. Jim Nelson

    Jim Nelson Active Member

    I'm not sure about the Mits but on my Daihatsu,which was acting pretty much the same way,it was the low speed solenoid on the carb.The electric lead was loose inside the solenoid body and making intermittent contact.
     
  3. kitimat

    kitimat New Member

    Thanks for the reply: What did you do, repair or replace. Had someone today said that he had a similar problem with his mitsu, the linkage to the choke was binding up with road debris. He recommended basically hosing it down in WD-40. He then added that "yes, he does know that this is not the proper lubricant, but it works for this particular application" He's a mechanic by trade
     
  4. Jim Nelson

    Jim Nelson Active Member

    I replaced mine,not sure if you could repair it though I remember a thread where someone dug into one and soldered it up and re-sealed it with liquid electric tape.I was lucky enough to have bought a spare carb that had a good one on it.Fupabox has a you tube video on adjusting and lubing the carb and choke on a S83 Hijet so the WD40 bath might be a good idea.
     
  5. spaner

    spaner Well-Known Member

    Depends on what you're doing with it.
    I run on dry gravel in the summer and what you don't want under those conditions is sticky stuff all over the linkages and sliders, bushings...naw, naw..

    High-pressure sprayer at point blank range after every trip. Doing the rest of the truck anyway, right?

    Light lube for pavement, heavy for short/long term storage. Hit the rotors while it's in your hand...:p
     
  6. kitimat

    kitimat New Member

    Well, lubed everything up and its seems to be working fine, though I am on the 3rd day again and now all seems fine. Will have to take a look at the low speed solenoid though just in case. As I am currently with out a manual, what does it look like? You say its on the carb, any additional help would be great.
     
  7. Jim Nelson

    Jim Nelson Active Member

    The solenoid is a small,round deal that screws into the carb,about half the size of a AA or AAA battery and has a wire coming out the other end.You can check it by listening with a stethoscope if you have one or just a screw driver held against it and turn the key on.If you hear a click it is working,on mine the problem was intermittent and if you wiggled the wire lead it would go on and off.
     
  8. kitimat

    kitimat New Member

    UGH, well its monthly period has risen again. This time on my way to work, pulled into the parking lot at work and it started again. Idle drops to almost nothing, then dies. Restart once again is painful and takes forever. During the whole process every once in a while you'll hear a back fire occur, oh the joy. After work i'll hit it with some WD-40 again, hopefully this allows me to get home...
     
  9. kitimat

    kitimat New Member

    Thought i'd post the found problem, though I did a blurb on it already. Failed Distributor cap
     
  10. Pepegrande008

    Pepegrande008 New Member

    O so mini is doing this exact thing now, did anyone find a solution to this? Does the carb really need this sensor or can I just cap it off? Mine is not functioning per the tests in the manual. Any ideas?
     

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