Hello - new member in Hong Kong

[DrJHK]

Hello

I have recently bought my first Mitsubishi, a 1998 Legnum VR-4.

What a fantastic car, can't get enough of it!

Hello everybody

[Kieran]

Welcome! We have a few HK members on here, such as MTB - He's also on the HK Galant club if you're a member there too.

Hope you find our site useful!

[Spirit]

Hi and welcome to CVR4.........so good to see another HK member on here.

How about some pics of the car ?

[Beastlee]

to the club. Seems this place gets bigger by the day!

[Lillywotsername]

to CVR4...

[Wouter]

Hi and Welcome!

[DrJHK]

Thank you for the warm welcome. I will get some pictures of the car up (once I have cleaned it and it stops raining!). It is a black VR4 with some good looking bronze alloys. Not my choice but I think it works.

Couple of questions about the car. When I first bought the car a couple of months ago, after heavy acceleration I could hear the turbo blow off value. This no longer happens. Is this a cause for concern?

Secondly, the car is giving me about 250kms from a full tank. Is this inline with expectations? I know these cars are heavy on fuel.

Since I have owned the car I have had a bit of work done - new plugs, break pads and disks, all tyres, steering rack and a few other bits and pieces. I can't see how this should affect anything.

I have been told there is a fault on one of the airflow sensors and this causes the traction control to switch off intermittently. Just waiting for the replacement part from Japan to get here.

The exhaust is also in need of replacement. My local Mitsubishi garage tells me that it will take a month or probably longer to get the new parts from Japan and has suggested he can get a replacement exhaust manufactured locally at half the cost. I must admit I am sceptical about this and would rather just wait and get the original parts. Am I right to worry about this? Any advice appreciated.

Any other HK members on here?

Thanks!

[Louis]

Hi, Welcome, all your questions will be answered soon.

But just to start you off:

The standard blow off valve on the car is a recirculating type, it vents the pressure back into the inlet, not out to the atmosphere, you will hear it under heavy acceleration when lifting off the gas, but not when driving normally.

I don't understand how the airflow sensor would affect the traction control, never heard of that before, ot might affect the feul cut, (this would cause the engine to splutter!).

You would probably be better getting a local exhaust shop to make you up a system out of stainless steel, (from after the catalytic coonvertor ) as the original is made of mild steel and will wear out quite quickly, there are a few threads on the forum about exhausts and after market exhausts and people who have had exhausts made up. Use the search facility to fin them, cheers Louis

[DrJHK]

Thanks Louis

Yes, I used to hear the blow off valve after I lifted my foot off after heavy acceleration. This doesn't happen any more. Any reason for concern?

I must admit I can't see the connection between the airflow sensor and the traction control. Sometimes, and it does appear intermittent, after driving for 10 minutes or so, the engine warning light comes on and the TCL Off light illuminates.

[Nick Mann]

If you search for engine light and tcl light or similar, you will get some interesting results. I think from memory there is a vacuum hose that comes loose on a gadget mounted to the bulkhead - somewhere near the MAF.

Do you have an aftermarket dump valve or a standard re-circ. The standard item is quiet, so I woudn't worry about not hearing it. If it is an aftermarket unit that used to be loud and is now not audible, then I would check for air leaks, especially on the control line to the DV and possibly the other small pipes (to the actuators etc).

If you go for an aftermarket exhaust, you will gain power, but also at the same time the car will get noisier. I have not sat in a VR4 with a custom exhaust that has been anywhere near as quiet as the original item. Quiet vs Power - take your choice!

[DrJHK]

Thanks Nick, I will do that.

I don't know if the dump valve is after market or not. It is more the point that I used to hear it for the first month after buying the car, now I do not. Don't know if I need to worry about this.

The car also had a turbo timer installed. When the ignition was switched off the engine would run for a further 60 seconds to allow, I am told, the turbos to cool down gracefully. When I got the steering rack changed the mechanic took it off. I am not sure why.

We are both fluent but sadly in different languages (me English, him Cantonese). With some broken Cantonese (from me) and broken English (from him) I think I established that he thought it to be pointless. At first he said it would make the car run for a further minute - I thought this was what it was supposed to do. He implied this served little or no purpose on an 8 year old Legnum. Anyone agree / disagree with that statement?

[DrJHK]

PS driving into work tomorrow - 100K+ round trip. Can't wait!!!

[Nick VR4]

Hi and to the forum

[Kieran]

At first he said it would make the car run for a further minute - I thought this was what it was supposed to do. He implied this served little or no purpose on an 8 year old Legnum. Anyone agree / disagree with that statement?

Well, there are many people in the UK who still use turbo timers. They do still serve a purpose - if you are driving hard on boost and then come to a stop and switch the engine off straight away, the turbo bearings will still be hot and probably still spinning - not good when there's no oil being pumped to them. A turbo timer gives your turbos time to cool off and spin down before you shut off the engine - I think they're useful.

Rather than use a timer, you can always just wait an extra minute before switching off when you arrive.