Replace it yourself.


It really was that easy


1. Buy a very good used unit on Ebay (shiny/no visible corrosion). I found one for ~$579 or consider new $1,200 from Mitsu parts (IIRC).


After 109K miles there was NO WAY to tear mine down and repair. The machine shop (auto and marine - think about it ) I had to take it to said, "Holy Hell! Has this thing been under water?" Old Chuck could not break it apart. fail. Take time to silently curse the Mitsu head of Reliability Engineering and maybe even fantasize about giving him/her a big ol' Detroit wa-pap beotch slap!


2. Remove rear bumper (I put car on ramps - but was not needed). Clamp the rubber hoses (I used vice grips) and remove from unit - plug them immediately. I found a 1/4 ext and a 3/8 ext worked great! Remove the one steel hydraulic line. Remove the bolt holding the line clamp. Disconnect three electrical connectors. 'Poke' the little plastic tabs that connect them to the bracket with needle nose pliers. Remove the pump and bracket (only four bolts with black rubber isolators). Drain. Remove pump assy from black bracket. Discard old pump. Make sure new unit has a solenoid (mine did not I had to re-use old one and use packing from the rebuild kit).


3. Seal the new unit with black RTV all around the motor flange, red/blk wire and grommet going into the motor, and the pump body connection. Basically everywhere water intrusion is a 'bad thing'. Mask the hose tubes and hyd line input, and connectors. Let it dry. Spray with primer and paint. No need to be careful - unit won't be seen again.


4. Install is reverse of removal. Note: The grey connector (long wire) routes inside the black bracket and under the pump assy. I forgot and routed mine outside and it still was ok. It was not worth taking off the bracket again to make it correct.


5. Bleeding via MUTIII is not needed! Service the reservoir with good ol 'Type III ATF' (not Diaqueen TC-SSTF, which must be a collection of the tears of endangered Pandas by the price of it :O )


Inspect the sealing surface face of the hyd line -is it clean and free of burrs or debris?

Carefully start the B-nut by hand (I cross-threaded mine, dagblastit! I had to do quite a bit to keep it from leaking. Just don't make my mistake. Trust Me.


Leave the steel line 'b-nut' loose (just put on a couple of threads) and allow fluid to slowly drip (maybe for five minutes). It will fill the line and the air will come out the b-nut (since the line connection is the highest point in the closed system portion). Of course, this assumes you didn't disturb any other connection at the ACD. Install the clamp/bolt. Properly torque the b-nut and leak check. Check service of the ATF reservoir again. Top off as required.


6. Drive the car. Check for leaks and any CEL light "Triangle of Death"


7. Now re-install rear bumper cover.


Except for the aforementioned leak, the pump works great, my baby is good-to-go!

 

Also, there's still time to do some preventive maintenance in case the pump is still functional. In my case (2010 RA, 72 000 kms) it was in fairly bad condition already, and I took it to the shop for cleaning before it fails.

As you can see, it was rather corroded already, with some dirt and other crap on top. Once the corrosion gets in there's probably no saving the pump anymore..

After cleaning the pump was also covered with car body sealant in order to protect it from the elements.

Let's hope it lasts a bit longer now...

Photos (c) ST-Services