What do you think of this van?

[Thibaut. B]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to the forum and I'm about to buy a Delica L300. I'd like to have your opinions on the van in question. Here's the ad description + pic.

Mitsubishi Delica L[hidden information] 2.5L Turbo Diesel.
Imported from Japan right hand drive!
Strong point:
-Mechanics of the vehicle are in great condition
Virtually no rust on the underside of the vehicle - the frame is in top condition
Only 189,000 kilos for a diesel engine - that's not even half its life yet!
-Oil change every 5000 kilos
-2 Batteries and a 110v heavy-duty alternator all new from last year
-ready to go camping now
-Shocks changed this winter
-brakes 1 year old
-SAAQ inspection in April 2023 (proof)
-Rustproofing treatment
-Windshield changed this winter like new

Weak points:
-bodywork in need of love
-timing belt will be about 10000 kilos
It's not perfect, it's a project and still a 30-year-old vehicle!

What do you think about rust stains on the front? Is it easy to treat?
Any advice or opinion is more than welcome .
Thanks

 

[Growlerbearnz]

The rust marks on the nudge bar and bumper are normal.
Check for rust on the roof and around the tops of the A-pillars, CrystalLite roofs are prone to rust here.
The pastic tanked radiator is likely out of a 2WD or gasoline model and might not be big enough for the diesel when it's being worked hard.

 

[Thibaut. B]

Okay thanks. Do you know if it's easy to install anther one well fitted?

 

[Growlerbearnz]

Replacing the radiator is very easy, but I wouldn't worry about it unless you regularly experience higher coolant temperatures (temperature gauge needle above 3/4).

 

[sk66]

Where's the van at? Does the glow system need repair or is it just that cold there (fire pit block heater)? Check the front floorboards for rust/holes... particularly driver's side by steering column.

 

[Thibaut. B]

Okay, thanks Growlerbearnz. And in general, what's your opinion of the van?
The van is in Quebec (Canada). And no, the preheating system doesn't seem to need repair. You have to wait a bit after ignition before driving, but that's normal for an old diesel, isn't it?

 

[sk66]

The picture of it on blocks over a campfire/coals is a bit unusual... (and typically you would place it under the engine rather than under the fuel tank).

IMO, it looks like an average van in good "user" condition. I agree with Grant... my biggest concern with the van would be the roof. All of that glass is a lot of places for potential leaks and rust. And it kind of looks like the roof may have been repainted.

 

[Thibaut. B]

Okay thanks guys for your advices and opinions.

 

[B.Delica]

I would get a leakdown and compression test before buying it, 189k can be "fine" or "needs a new engine" depending on what's happened to it it's long and unreported life around the world. We've seen them blowby at 50% or worse as early as 130k, or as late as 200k. Turbochargers cover compression problems, so we've seen L300's that run fine and are blowing by in the 80% range which is insane. Expect to get your hands dirty or shell out some money to do everything it needs the first few months of ownership! They usually need a lot of love when you first buy it, but once fixed will be great with regular maintenance.

 

[B.Delica]

Anything over 15%(ish) is considered "getting there" and you don't want more than a 4%(ish) difference between cylinders. Anything 15-20 is "we're going to start saving for a rebuild" and anything over 30 is going to be "bad engine but it still runs." The 4D56 motors are crazy tough and will run a long time with terrible compression, which is impressive, but it doesn't mean that it's good just because it drives okay.

 

[Thibaut. B]

Okay, thanks. I have no experience with the delica l300 and don't know the mechanics, so you say it would be better if I pass the leak and compression test. Is it possible to pass the compression test alone? For the waterproofing test, you mean testing the roof with water, right? I'm sorry, I'm French and sometimes I don't quite understand what that means.
If I understand correctly, when you talk about percentage, you're talking about the percentage of efficiency per cylinder and also the percentage difference between cylinders? 4% difference between them is the maximum and a cylinder must be below 15% loss of performance (inverse of efficiency), right?

 

[B.Delica]

You can absolutely pass a compression test and fail the leakdown test, so they should both be performed and the data should be looked at for each test.

You've got the idea, both the difference between cylinders and the overall numbers. It's telling you how capable the engine is of both making power through combustion and how efficiently it can use that power. In a perfect world that 15% leak with less than 4% variance is what you want, but with a 30 year old van with 150,000kms I'd be willing to relax on that expectation a little.

When something is "leaking down" at 15% that means that out of all the air volume you're putting into the cylinder, 15% of that is escaping past the rings, gaskets, or valves into the crankcase. You also run that test "wet' and "dry" to help figure out where that air is escaping. The more air that can escape from the cylinder on compression, the worse power you'll make as all that energy is able to escape to places that aren't the crankshaft. If you run the test both dry and wet and the numbers don't change much, the leak is at the gasket or valves because the oil is helping seal the piston rings as it seeps down, and if additional sealing of the piston ring doesn't help, it's leaking somewhere else. If the numbers change drastically wet and dry, that indicates rings and bottom-end issues, as that oil is now helping the rings seal and creating a fluid seal against the cylinder wall which it wasn't doing dry. Nothing is ever going to be at 0%, so we say that anything from 1-15 is considered normal on an engine in good health. When the cylinders vary excessively, that indicates that there is an issue on that cylinder specifically, so I'd rather have an engine that's leaking down 15% on all four cylinders, than an engine that is at 8% on three cylinders and 30% on just one.

Examples of bad leakdown numbers would be something like:
Cyl 1 Dry 35 Wet 32
Cyl 2 Dry 39 Wet 35
Cyl 3 Dry 75 Wet 46
Cyl 4 Dry 28 Wet 26
This tells me that all four cylinders are worn, but cylinder three is worn way more than the other three. Cylinder three is also mostly leaking past the rings because it gets better when you add oil and retest. This means the rest of the cylinders are leaking past the valves or head gasket.

An example of a pretty good leakdown would be something like:
Cyl 1 Dry 16 Wet 14
Cyl 2 Dry 14 Wet 12
Cyl 3 Dry 18 Wet 16
Cyl 4 Dry 14 Wet 14
So while there are a couple of cylinders that are on or around that 15% mark, they're all about equal in wear, the improvement when testing wet is going to be there but not excessive, and even dry the numbers are barely out of range. So this wouldn't be a "perfect" leakdown, its about as good as we've seen on a car with 150,000Kms that's 30 years old.

I'd even be pretty forgiving if you fell into the 20% range across the board without excessive change between wet and dry, these have all been around for a long time and driven quite a bit, so my expectations for an L300 are going to be a lot looser than on a 2015 Toyota corrola.

This is an absolute brick of text, so if you need any more clarification let me know! Just wanted to put some examples in so if/when you get the test done you have a reference point for what they tell you and have an idea of what you should be okay with or concerned about.

 

[Thibaut. B]

Thank you very much for all these details, I really appreciate.
I think I will take it and do all these tests with my mechanic. Because I suppose you need a machine to do the compression test and above all some knowledge of the engine (two things I don't have), don't you?

 

[B.Delica]

Yes, there are specific tools required to run these tests correctly!