Smokey Mitsubishis

[Stefan]

What is the story with Mitsubishi engines since the 70s. Whenever I see a smockey car 9 times out of 10 it's a Mitsubishi. It use to be sigmas and now its magnas. Never a Lancer just always seems to be the bigger cars.

What is the problem with these engines that Mitsubiushi has not been able to sort out in 30 years? Obviously some sort of design flaw.

[Windsor220]

Usually the valve stem seals.

[TC200six]

Brings back memories from the 90s when there were still a lot old Mangas and Sigmas on the street and it was very rare to find one that wasn't blowing blue smoke.

What Windsor220 said is correct, with the 2.6L Astron II motor, it was usually the valve stem seals.

[mik]

yes i have seen a few Mitsubishi `s with the oil smoking donks.

[irish2]

I had an astron II that i maintained well. It had done 340,000 an didn't blow any smoke. The rest of the car fell apart around it however. Maybe the smokey cars have just not been maintained properly.

[Radtek]

Windsor22o is correct valve stem seals. V6 motors do it from around 180,000km.

Not a big fix. I could have said the oil burning issue applies to Mazda engines look at 323, 626, Laser,Telstar, B series engines but these aren't as easy to fix as the Mitsubishi s.

[Windsor342ci]

The 90 models Pajeros aswel are really known for this too

[AndyXR6T]

I've owned a 04 TL vrx magna for 6 years, and I gotta say not once has it blown smoke, made a funny noise or anything. Mechanically it has been the best car I've owned (so far!).
I just hope the FG holds up as well as the old magna did

[XR Martin]

I knew someone who had a TN Magna from new, car was serviced on the dot and by the time it had 160k, the motor blew smoke like a steam train.

[XAGSV8]

I had a 98 Magna with 200k's on the clock. Drank oil like it was going out of fashion due to oil leaks but no issues other then that. I did not notice any smoke blowing out it though.

[flappist]

Mitsubishi like all car makers have their good and bad models.

Evos go like cut cats whereas Starions and Cordias were torque steer on a stick and Magnas were rolling oil slicks but the nothing compares to the 380 easily the worst car made in Australia in the last 20 years but I am sure there are some weirdos out there who just love them.

[2011G6E]

There was a brief problem, I seem to recall, with early Sigma 2.6 Astron engines blowing smoke.
Apparently the rings lost tension and glazed the bores. It was mostly fixed under warrantee...they were an otherwise great engine!

I did hear one bush mechanics fix at the time which was to run it at high revs with the air cleaner off and dribble a handful of Ajax down the carby a couple of times to scuff up the bores...

[IceValk85]

i hate magnas lol. every one i see at the lights billows a cloud of smoke, worthy enough to gas the person following.

the 380 was just a sad case.

Ice

[Mr Hardware]

Originally Posted by flappist

but the nothing compares to the 380 easily the worst car made in Australia in the last 20 years

[irish2]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

There was a brief problem, I seem to recall, with early Sigma 2.6 Astron engines blowing smoke.
Apparently the rings lost tension and glazed the bores. It was mostly fixed under warrantee...they were an otherwise great engine!

I did hear one bush mechanics fix at the time which was to run it at high revs with the air cleaner off and dribble a handful of Ajax down the carby a couple of times to scuff up the bores...

If a car glazes the bores it is due to incorrect run in procedure. No rings have a tension that hold them to the bore.

[Ford_The_Win]

The Astron engines, from the get-go until the last ones made in '96, all seem to have a weakness for blowing blue smoke, they all do it. The valvetrain in the 3.0 V6 is pretty weak too, early Hyundais that use the same 3.0 V6 do the same thing. It's like early OHC Falcons and the headgasket issues.

The 3.5 V6 and the 2.4 I4 used after the Astron are great motors though.

[The Yeti]

I'm driving a 380 ATM as a short term work car, mate I dont think its a bad car, the auto shifts well and for a FWD car goes suprisingley well

but yea Mitsubishis have always been good for smokey motors, but give them a head service and they come back alright

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by flappist

Mitsubishi like all car makers have their good and bad models.

Evos go like cut cats whereas Starions and Cordias were torque steer on a stick and Magnas were rolling oil slicks but the nothing compares to the 380 easily the worst car made in Australia in the last 20 years but I am sure there are some weirdos out there who just love them.

Nothing wrong with the 380.... They are a strong reliable car! Negative talk from Mitsubishi is what killed it.... kinda like whats happening atm with Falcon.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

Nothing wrong with the 380.... They are a strong reliable car! Negative talk from Mitsubishi is what killed it.... kinda like whats happening atm with Falcon.

Well lets hope that does not happen this time.....

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by flappist

Well lets hope that does not happen this time.....

Too late...

[Auslandau]

WOW ..... only 18 posts to turn a thread, with no mention in the title about Falcons, into another 'Falcon is dead' thread. Great going.

[Falcman0o7]

i have a 3.0 pajero and so far its ok but my mate and bother in law have the same models and they smoke! Light blue for a few minutes on startup.
magnas are bad for it im always seeing them smoke. ( and rattle )

[Falcman0o7]

Originally Posted by Auslandau

WOW ..... only 18 posts to turn a thread, with no mention in the title about Falcons, into another 'Falcon is dead' thread. Great going.

LOL! Yeh well done!

[TMC]

Nothing wrong with the 380. Better build quality than a Falcon actually. They didn't go out of business in Oz because the 380 was a bad car. It was a brilliant car. What killed it was that no one wanted a big family sedan anymore. Sound familiar.

A friend of mine used to work for Mitsubishi, and he kind of explained the story behind the 380 saga. The Mitsubishi factory was churning out less and less units and Mitsubishi in Japan wanted to shut down the Australian operation. The Australian government said, "No, we'll give you umpteen million dollars to continue if you come up with some sort of plan that we can say the money will go too". Now Mitsubishi Japan wasn't going to turn down a big pay cheque from the Australian government. So they designed the 380, a big family car that according to the trend graphs would not sell. Mitsubishi Japan knew it wouldn't sell. It was there plan for it to bomb out. Mitsubishi invested in a factory upgrade with all new state of the art panel making robots etc that made the cars fit and panel alignment top notch. When the 380 didn't sell or boost sales, they shut the plant anyway and sold the Lonsdale plant for umpteen million dollars, which I think went to Holden. So they made a heap of money, which they wouldn't have done if they shut the plant originally.

The moral of the story, great products do not always sell.

[flappist]

Actually they were a bit of a bargain towards the end, they were something like about $22k with a 10 year warranty. They even had a LPG one from memory. It was just stillborn taking on Toyota head to head. If it had been RWD I suspect it would have done a lot better.

[FordFalconBF]

Lonsdale plant didn't go to anyone.. PBR bought a small section of it to make brake components and the melt shop is now a recycling plant. All of the machinery was sold to China/India.

[RobVee]

my mrs has a 2003 magna with the 3.5 litre V6 for five years and i have to say it goes great! lots of power, very reliable transport and cheap to run. the boot is suprisingly massive too. there is something really cool about the frameless windows on the doors too.

[nstg8a]

Originally Posted by flappist

whereas Starions and Cordias were torque steer on a stick

most be the worlds only rwd to suffer from torquesteer...

[AndyXR6T]

Originally Posted by RobVee

my mrs has a 2003 magna with the 3.5 litre V6 for five years and i have to say it goes great! lots of power, very reliable transport and cheap to run. the boot is suprisingly massive too. there is something really cool about the frameless windows on the doors too.

First thing I noticed when I got the FG was how much i liked the frameless windows on the magna lol

[nstg8a]

if you think magnas are good, try a jdm diamante, same basic car, but much better equipped, plus more engine options.

my old one has a 2.5 quad cam v6, 5 speed tip tronic style auto, electro luminescnt (sp) gauges, touch screen, tv tuner, all factory. all in a 95 model. brilliant cars imo.