Our Canadian 3rd Gen Montero

[Carnivore]

Well, we ditched the 2500HD in favour of something more fuel-efficient, comfortable and has a working 4-High.

Didn't plan on it happening quite this quick to be honest, but seeing this on AutoTrader and a quick Google search for reviews, I figured I had to bump up the time frame...

Works out to roughly 120,000 miles and it was one of 6 available in the country... (on AutoTrader anyway).

The transfer case on the GM was hooped so they gave us 3000 for it. While we'll miss the extra real estate of the 8 foot bed, we won't miss the mechanical issues lol.


Once we got it home it was time to decide on what fixes and changes to do first. We're only running light trails and service roads so extreme mods are highly unlikely.

1. Get rid of the flimsy cracked spare tire cover

2. Polish up the fogged headlights and remove the running boards.


3. Start trimming the lower lips on the front bumper


4. Remove the rear (3rd row) seat.

5. Start swapping out the yellow looking incandescent light bulbs for LED so we can see. Have a bunch coming from eBay for the lower door courtesy lamps


6. Picked up some actual "yellow fog light" 9006 bulbs today

7. Tablet mount and phone/dashcam mount


And that brings us to where we are at this moment.

Planned additions (in no particular order):
1. Rear door table
2. Tan paint job just because it's already all scratched up. You can take the boy out of the infanty, but you can't take the infantry out of the boy lol
3. Front leveling lift
4. ARB bumper
5. Hard cargo box for the roof rack
6. Possible sleeping platform fir when it's just the wife and I.
7. Possible trailer hitch...?
8. CB radio
9. Who knows, it's paid for, so...

And that's about all for now... this drives like a treat compared to the 3/4 ton and couldn't be happier.

John

 

[Edward Gentle]

Congrats on you new vehicle, from everything I've seen they are very good ones. I really like the look with the trimmed front end.

 

[Carnivore]

Congrats on you new vehicle, from everything I've seen they are very good ones. I really like the look with the trimmed front end.

Thanks, yeah the more I Googled the more i got excited about it.

As for the bumper, I got the idea from @pabstandoverland and his pics on Instagram. I think until the ARB happens, this will help when we're out in the foothills.

 

[Carnivore]

Oh yeah, gotta add 235/85R16 tires to that list... one of the higher priorities I figure...

 

[vtrover]

congrats on the purchase, i look forward to seeing the build progress.

 

[Carnivore]

congrats on the purchase, i look forward to seeing the build progress.

Thanks! We're excited about it. Certainly feels like a decent platform to work with.

 

[jhill15]

What a steal for $4k! I sure do miss mine!

Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

 

[Carnivore]

What a steal for $4k! I sure do miss mine!

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As long as nothing major goes wrong in the first while lol. I'll be changing out the fluids once every payday or so... no idea when anything was done. The transmission is first in the list to change ;) Read that's the trickiest one to change. I have no problems doing the rest myself though.

That was a clean looking Montero you had. Limited or XLS? I notice you had the sunroof. What happened to it?

 

[jhill15]

Mine was a limited. I had a lot of problems with her, she had the wonky fuel gauge, flashing 4wd lights, an electrical gremlin, and full of rust underneath....none the less it was a tank and just kept going!

I would look into seeing when the timing belt was done last...if for anything just piece of mind. Hopefully there's record of it somewhere. I put a lot of love into my Monty and miss it dearly! But it had 165k when I sold it, along with the stuff listed above. I saw it a few months ago and I was like....yup still kickin!!! I looking forward to seeing the progress of yours!!!

:subscribed:

Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

 

[Carnivore]

Mine was a limited. I had a lot of problems with her, she had the wonky fuel gauge, flashing 4wd lights, an electrical gremlin, and full of rust underneath....none the less it was a tank and just kept going!

I would look into seeing when the timing belt was done last...if for anything just piece of mind. Hopefully there's record of it somewhere. I put a lot of love into my Monty and miss it dearly! But it had 165k when I sold it, along with the stuff listed above. I saw it a few months ago and I was like....yup still kickin!!! I looking forward to seeing the progress of yours!!!

:subscribed:

Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

Bummer. Yeah ours suffers from the empty fuel and overheated engine. I ran my scanner through the OBDII and everything is normal. I spoke with our local dealership in hopes of sourcing out an owner's manual (no luck) and they've actually serviced this Montero so it's a local vehicle which is a bonus.

I know I'll need to do the cam seals sooner than later on the rear of the engine as there's a bit of seepage but switching out the oil for full synthetic might help with that.

No huge plans for extreme modifications on this one. Getting to old for all that. Going for longevity and reliable capability. But regardless, I'm sure whatever direction we go, it'll be fun in the end ;)

 

[James Deaton]

Which engine do you have? The 3.5L 24V only has a cam seal on the passenger side. The driver’s side has the cam position sensor on the backside of the cam, which is sealed with RTV.

Not sure about the 3.8L.

If you end up doing valve cover gaskets, only buy Mitsu, and buy nee valve covers at the same time because yours are likely warped and won’t seal... I’m going through this issue now, and wish I had bought valve covers when I put OEM gaskets in, because now the new gaskets are leaking... sigh.

James