1995 Montero stuttering badly on start-up

Hi,

This is my first posting here...I?m kinda at a deadend so I hope some one here can help me.

I have a 1995 Mitsubishi Montero SR with 119,000 miles. The problems started when it died on me while I was driving to work. It started up again but would shut down every time i?m stopped unless I kept a foot on the gas. I attempted to fix this problem with a new battery. The car did not stall anymore but the RPM began to fluctuate. I took this problem to a mechanic and he told me the fuel regulator was bad so I changed it. It had been awhile since my last tune up so I asked the mechanic to do a major tune up. $1000 later I had changed the timing belt, water pump, new spark plugs, transmission oil and filter change, radiator flush. But the sad thing is I still have the problem. My car still stutters on a cold start and sometimes on a warm start. I had taken it back to the guy and he said he was gonna fix it but he did not. I?m gussing my mechanic has done all he knew and just wont admit he dont know how to fix it. I?m hopein someone here can help me pinpoint the problem.

Also I have a coolant leakage. I?m guessing it is leaking into the engine because I see no visible signs of leakage. My mechanic at first said it was a loose hose and said he fixed by tightening the hose. Whe I complained of leakage again he said it was another hose leakage under the engine. I?m assuming here he does not know where the leak is or he does know but doesnt want to fix because it would take him too long and he would not make money.

Can someone please help I?m at my last straw and I dotn want to be taken by another mechanic as I feel my first mechanic has ripped me off a little.

Thanks

Reply to
leeMMSR
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The spark plugs and all that were probably good to change ... especially the timing belt as they are scheduled to be changed (on most cars) at

60,000 ... so you're either a little ahead of schedule or you let yours go double. Most cars have to have the water pump removed to replace it, so one may as well replace that while it's apart. It's not usually that expensive to replace.

Anyway ... I'm not familiar with this particular vehicle, so I don't know if it has a distributor or not. If it does, did the cap and rotor get replaced? Did it get fuel and air filters? Did it get an oxygen sensor? What is your battery voltage looking like while the car is running? A bad alternator can show these symptoms, too.

If all that is good, perhaps you have dirt in your throttle body, a bad sensor somewhere along the way, a damaged computer (my understanding is Mitsubishi computers use capacitors that leak over time) or perhaps a dirty, loose or corroded battery cable.

There is a lot to check ... something should turn something up.

Reply to
Walter

Geez Mate - sounds like a cracked head to me!!

You're possibly pumping water into your sump. Not Good!! You could end up cooking your engine!

Find a REAL mechanic!!

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Reply to
A Mate

To find out if you have coolant in your oil (A real bad thing), look for a white-ish creamy coloured material on the inside of the oil filler cap, or on the dipstick. New clean oil is transparent, used oil is black, water and oil combined create an off white or light chocolate coloured sludge. If you find it, you most likely need a head gasket. Has the oil level "increased".

The "hunting" idle after the battery change is normal, you erased the ECU memory when you replaced the battery, and it had to relearn the settings of the engine. Should go away in less than a week of average driving.

Have you had your injectors cleaned lately? You can buy injector cleaner in most auto supply shops. Some say you should use it every few years, just on spec. If you haven't had your injectors cleaned in 119,000 miles, I'd say your due.

It was good that you did the timming belt AND the water pump , and did you also have the balance shaft belt changed?

And to quote the previous poster, "find a REAL mechanic".

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Reply to
nirodac

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