Hi there,
I've just finished rebuilding my TS V6 auto after replacing the valve stem seals by taking off the heads (tried the soft rope trick... can't even see HOW it could work now that I've tried it unsuccesfully) and I'm left with 2 problems.

1) As there was no O-ring in my VRS for the distributor adaptor I was not able to replace it and it is now leaking pretty bad. I can fix this. A big pain in the arse but possible.

2) I've roughly timed the motor (I say roughly coz i just hooked up the light to #1 plug and made no allowances for other ECU advance mechanisms) with a timing light but it is still VERY low on power. As part of my trials I removed some sort of "power valve" (my words, not mitsubishi terms) that is mounted on the passenger side of the intake manifold and is a gear driven, spring loaded gadget that seemed to 'unload' when I removed it's actuator. Does this now need some sort of re-set and if so, how? Is there some other trick that I have missed that is causing this low power problem?

Any suggestions welcome

First thing I'd check would be that the timing marks all line up since you've done the timing belt. That 'power valve" is the variable intake tract which changes the length the air travels. I believe it improves torque at lower rpm and power at the top end. Probably not a god idea pulling that servo off, as far as I know that part is not carried, no procedure for adjustment and factory preset I'd say. In my Galant manual(same setup) it simply says if that servo fails you order a whole new intake, so that gives a clue to how serviceable it is. Hopefully someone else has some experience with this.

There's probably a connector that needs earthing to set the base ignition timing correctly but that's all I know.

Did you reseal that servo with ultra grey sealant or quivalent?

Did the heads on my TS V6 last year, didn't try the rope trick as I wanted to see bores/pistons/valves. I saw that servo too, wondered how it worked but went to the manual - I left it alone after that. lol
Ignition timing is in the manual too.

HINT: if you must fiddle with your car, read the manual, work out how many different ways you can stuff something up, and work hard at avoiding those.

Another intake manifold from the wreckers will do nicely. And why did you put the distributor drive back on without the "O" ring? What a back to front approach!

Just to clear up, the o-ring IS on!!! To be honest, it never came off as I didn't have a spare so didn't want to risk breaking it.

The valve I left in place. I removed the connector to be able to remove the dizzy, not just for the sheer fun of it! And this was done after I had re-assembled all and then found the leak.

I can't see any other way of pulling the dizzy if you don't remove this connector so I would imagine that it is OK to remove. The valve was left alone like i say.

Double and triple checked the cam timing marks and all was/is fine.

Any one else pulled the dizzy and had to disconnect this connector/servo?

Yeah timing would be the first thing on the Agenda to make sure it right.

Just to clear up, the o-ring IS on!!! To be honest, it never came off as I didn't have a spare so didn't want to risk breaking it.

The valve I left in place. I removed the connector to be able to remove the dizzy, not just for the sheer fun of it! And this was done after I had re-assembled all and then found the leak.

I can't see any other way of pulling the dizzy if you don't remove this connector so I would imagine that it is OK to remove. The valve was left alone like i say.

Double and triple checked the cam timing marks and all was/is fine.

Any one else pulled the dizzy and had to disconnect this connector/servo?

Intake manifold comes off first, then the distributor comes off. That "O" ring hardens over time and must be replaced because taking the housing off damages it, a bit of sealant helps too. A new "O" ring is a really tight fit and a bit of vaseline helps it go in, sealant goes on the faces where the housing meets the head. There is a permanent pool of oil in the housing to lubricate the distributor drive and a good seal is important. Correct torque on all the nuts and bolts in that area is important too. A real bad design in that area, something they fixed on the third gen V6.

Set the ignition timing by the manual, using the ignition cut connector.

When the engine is running hopefully the inlet tract servo motor will sort itself out, if not, get another inlet manifold from the wreckers. Give the engine some running time to pump up the lifters and hopefully sort out the servo motor mechanism.

that valve you are talking about is the variable inlet butterflys. to reset you need to connect it up, and then kill the battery power overnight, then make sures its good and dead by breaking the brake pedals and trying the lights, then conenct it up and turn the car to the on position. you should hear mechancail winding overs from the engine bay which is everything calibrating itself then start it. it takes 10 secodns or so.

Cheers lynel,
I'll give it a go with that re-set idea. While the timing isn't exactly 100% at the moment, I can't see it being out far enough to make such a large power drop. Maybe a couple of degrees at the most.

It did feel like it is starving for air when I drove it. Let's hope I can re-set it one way or another

Looking at your first post and not much after that I see several issues here

First of all, you took off the heads because????????

The rope trick works fine provided you are not using tow rope, personally I use compressed air as this works better but have used rope with no isses before

The valve you for some unknown reason took of needs to be reset, you dont need sealant or anything like that at all BUT the butterfly's inside the manifold need to be reset. The KR's and real early KS (same in the magna range) have an allen key on the oppersite side of the manifold you can use to close them off and fit the valve. If yours does not have this, you remove the TB, use your finger to hold them closed and then fit the valve. If this is open when at low revs it will feel like you are towing a heavy trailer down low.

You say the timing is "rough", well you need it to be Exact, not nearly there as the ECU will make timing adjustments, you cannot pop it onto 5deg at idle without bridging the ecu wire as in real terms your timeing will be retarded as hell, agian making you lose power big time Even a couple of deg will rob a lot of power in a 12v motor

The timing belt and marks, have you confirmed these are fine, this is oftne a big issue

Looking at your first post and not much after that I see several issues here

First of all, you took off the heads because????????

The rope trick works fine provided you are not using tow rope, personally I use compressed air as this works better but have used rope with no isses before

The valve you for some unknown reason took of needs to be reset, you dont need sealant or anything like that at all BUT the butterfly's inside the manifold need to be reset. The KR's and real early KS (same in the magna range) have an allen key on the oppersite side of the manifold you can use to close them off and fit the valve. If yours does not have this, you remove the TB, use your finger to hold them closed and then fit the valve. If this is open when at low revs it will feel like you are towing a heavy trailer down low.

You say the timing is "rough", well you need it to be Exact, not nearly there as the ECU will make timing adjustments, you cannot pop it onto 5deg at idle without bridging the ecu wire as in real terms your timeing will be retarded as hell, agian making you lose power big time Even a couple of deg will rob a lot of power in a 12v motor

The timing belt and marks, have you confirmed these are fine, this is oftne a big issue

Must be slightly different than the Galant setup then because where those allen bolts mount that servo on my car there's definitely gray sealant on the mounting surface from manufacture which I thought was to stop air leaks but from what you say I must be mistaken.

All good, the Magna has a seal on the actual shaft

MM,
I removed the heads because the rope trick wouldn't work. I tried 4 different types of rope and none would push up into the combustion chamber enough to stop the valve coming down when pressed on to release the valve collets. The collets were very difficult to release even with the heads in front of me on a bench. Unless there is some 'magic' rope I recommend anyone contemplating trying this to have a back up plan. I have no compressor so moved on to full head removal. Good to get a look inside the motor and see how well it looks after nearly 300k km.

Appreciate the various ideas ideas about re-setting the power valve and will try these today.

Will check the manual for which wire to bridge for the timing

I found mine yesterday for the Galant along the top of the firewall, tan/brown connector with a single wire. Plugs into a cap and when removed it has a single pin which is earthed. It works, mine was around 9-10 deg BTDC when earthed it was 5 deg which is bang on spec.

When you did the seals were all the valves taken out, if so did they go back into their original locations?

There in lies your issue, you do not use the rope or air to hold the valve when you compress the spring, you use a proper one piece valve spring compressor and the rope or air is there ONLY to hold the valve up when the seal etc is removed. The back up plan is to have the proper tools there or dont bother. If oyu use the proper tool to compress the spring, you then gently tap the top of the spring retainer with a hammer the collets will come loose enough to release and then done. I have done over 200 of these cars and never had one where a head has had to come off

The wire for timing is on the fire wall, I am pretty sure I have it listed in my old site a www.madmagna.com in the tech areas. Once you have one part right you can then move onto the second part.

With the valves, if you took them out, did you re seat them. Is fairly important they go back from where they came from but at the same time is also important to reseat them

Dearest MM,
Therein does NOT lie my issue. I used a dedicated valve spring compression tool and I said already, the collets were very tight to remove. The springs were lifting off their seats and the collets/retainers were very tight to the point of requiring significant force to remove. Only possible on a bench with gentle tapping down on the collets. The rope was compressing in these circumstances and I reckon even air would have been difficult. Yes, i tapped all valve collets gently before attempting spring compression.

At any rate, the power is back! Held the power valve in the open position (or closed, not sure) and slipped on the actuator/servo and all is good again. Thanks to all who helped. i still need to adjust the timing but the massive power drop is gone.

Sorry for taking over the forum with my one issue

Very educational this thread, no need to apologise! This is how us n00bs learn! lol

How much bore wear did you see on the motor? Mine, at 240,000 Km still had the hone marks showing and no wear ridge at the top, so I'm suspecting a previous owner may have put a new short motor in it - or else Mitsu have found some magic method for preventing any bore wear. lol

Collets are buggers to move, I bent a "G" clamp style on mine, ended up using the type that shortens the spring, even then I had to bash (gently) the heads of the valves to get them to let go.