Hi Guys,

Let me say once more that I love cars forum, and this one especially!!!

My gf's car had several issues... It is a lancer 2002 ES with 100K, which drove for 9 years in north east Ohio with snowy winters and lots of salt on the road...
She recently got an engine misfire due to very very old plugs, oil leak from valve cover and seals, oil falling on the boots/plugs..., severely used left cv axle, both front bearings to be changed, broken sway bar end links, left tie rod outter end with play, right brake bads eaten abnormally quick (due to rust they couldn't move back...) and no timing belt/water pump ever changed at 100K ...

So she got the timing belt/pump/antifreeze and left cv axle+transmission fluid changed in a shop. I did/plan to take care of the rest. So far I did the plugs, gasket, left bearing, brake pads + gentle unrust of calipers, sway bar end links, oil change.

So coming saturday I will change the right bearing, thoroughly unrust the calipers and regrease the pin bolts, change the left tie rod end (just greased it yesterday - why in the world don't you sell these with grease already loaded, like anywhere else on the planet... ) and a couple of small things.

As I will remove the right knuckle, I wonder if changing the right cv axle would not be appropriate.
I never changed an axle in my life. I know they normally come with a spi joint and a new axle nut. So I have a few questions.

On this (passenger) side, there is an intermediate "bridge". Is it fixed to the axle in some ways?
How to un-plug the axle from the gearbox, pulling ?
Do you loose a lot transmission fluid in the process? Do you need to refill?
I am not familiar with good brands of axles, any advises? (nothing fancy, nothing cheap either).
Oh, she has a small leak between gearbox and engine. I guess there is a gasket in between. Should I try to retighten the bolts ?

Many thanks for your help!!!
Loïc

 

well, sounds like the car has been left unmaintained for a long time. so first answer, yes, transmission fluid will spill out from the differential if you pull the axle...if you unbolt the "bridge" from the block, yes you then just pull the axle out, if it doesn't come out, get a pry bar and gently pop it out...when i pulled mine out, i had to also remove the oil filter...

second answer, there SHOULD NOT be any fluids leaking from between the transmission and the engine and there isn't a gasket between them, it's just a spacer, there should not be fluid of any kind in there! Have you determined whether it's engine oil or transmission fluid? also you should pin point the exact location of the leak, it could be simply leaking from the oil pan, which isn't a big deal, and easy to fix. if it's coming from the crank, you're in big trouble if you take it to a shop for a timing belt. Could be transmission fluid as well, but it should not be in the bell housing...for a manual transmission this is very bad for the clutch...

is it manual or auto?

 

Thanks for your answers and comments Cranswick.
The car was kind of maintained but I think they often charged her for invisible work on several things (end links and tie rod ends changed twice in less than 30K, my a**......).

anyway, the transmission is automatic.
the oil pan is definitely leaky. it is thinner in some parts due to rust, not perforated yet though but in bad condition. I oiled it to prevent further rusting but it needs a change. The gasket is out of order for sure. That's on my to-do-list when I change the oil in 3K... The leak from the valve cover could also explain part of this oil. I have to be sure this is engine oil, will put something under the car overnight.
Is the transmission fluid other than brown...? Is it thicker than engine oil?

I don't think it comes from the crankshaft as the leak is not that far on the side. But I need to examine the leak carefully on saturday to make sure.

 

tranny fluid is readish and the engine oil will be darker and thicker of course. The oil pan does not use a gasket, get some RTV and make a gasket but if its rusting then you might want to look into a newer one. Now is it the grey area or the black area that is leaking??

The axle just follow cranswick's advice. It just pops out.

 

Thanks for the answer.
I looked at it yesterday in the dark, so I have to check with a strong light tomorrow, but it seems that the fluid on the transmission is actually leftover of the fluid when they drained it out (have to find the drain plug of the transmission to make sure....). I put a cardboard under the car overnight and didn't notice anything but little engine oil at the location of the oil pan. I will repeat that a couple of nights to make sure.
Fel-Pro sells one gasket with RTV for Lancers, I was thinking about that putting this one with a new oil pan from a Mitsu dealer.

What do you mean by grey area or black area...? Do you mean the lower pan (which is painted black) and the higher pan (which is grey) ?

 

you don't need a gasket on the oil pan, just RTV silicone.

 

Thanks.
I will seriously consider replacing the pan and redoing a seal soon, so at the same time I can inspect for debris/clogging (the top engine seemed pretty clean when I did the VC gasket).
The oil light went on yesterday for the first time, when the regime was near idle, I will change the pressure switch today with the other stuffs, I hope this is not the oil pump... The car ran on a Synthetic blend 5w30 from Pennzoil last change, but I used the synthetic Platinum 5w30 as I had 4qt left. I will probably switch back to the blend in the future. 5w30 is the right viscosity for this car? (she does not have the manual, google told me 5w30 but who knows...).
The filter was from the mitsu dealer so hopefully this is fine. I plan to get the same.

 

yeah, the grey area is the upper oil pan and the black area is the lower oil pan. Which one is leaking??

 

Well it is leaking between the lower and upper pans, and also a little bit in the rear right corner of the upper pan, near the oil pressure switch.
There is some grease leftover by the bad cv axle and spilled transmission fluid, but it doesn't loose any, this was spilled during the drain/refill of the transmission. So this looks fine. The engine oil leak is very small, most of it came from the VC gasket.

By the way, here is the manual for the engine 4G94 (and others 4G9x)
http://www.mitsubishiclub.cz/graphic...IES_E-W_WM.pdf

I tried to remove the oil pressure switch but it wouldn't loosen, the size of the nut looks weird. I tried 26 mm but seems too large. Is it 1" ? I cleaned the corroded switch and cable connectors and there is no oil light showing up. Hopefully it was only a connection issue.

The rest went fine, except for the bolt/nut of the joint ball which broke... I went in 4 shops, including mitsu dealer, none had it. So I tried Ace Hardware and they had a grade 8 equivalent. The mitsu dealer told me grade 8 is good for automotive, do you agree on that?

The new bearing works fine, no more terrible noise...! I had to change both tie rod ends, so the car needs a wheel alignment (2 or 4?). The car had an impact on the left wheel some time ago so the suspension arm (control arm) is probably slightly deformed. Do you think it is worthwhile to align with this issue ...?
The car shakes a tiny bit around 60mph or above, either the right cv axle, the misalignment or the tire which are worn out on the outside so the wheel is out of balance...

Anyway we are nearing the end of the tunnel...!!!

 

definately get an alignment...the shaking is usually wheel balance if lower ball joints and outer tie road ends are new...

i don't think grade 8 are metric...usually class 10.9 is the metric equivilent, and fine for automotive...i could be wrong here...

The oil pressure switch...i don't remember the size...i think i may have used a crescent wrench or channel-lock pliers...

 

Thanks a lot!

You are perfectly right that grade 10.9 is for automotive but 8.8 is a metric grade, not as hard as 10.9 but rather good. Next oil change I will put in the original bolt/nut by mitsu to be on the safe side (grade 8.8 is 20-30% less mechanically resistant).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASTM_F568M