20 Most Recent 2002 Mitsubishi Montero Questions & Answers

I have a 2002 Mitsubishi Montero Limited. The other day the temperature gauge went from normal temp to Max HOT. The radiator is still cool enough to touch, it is not boiling over, and there is still coolant in the resivour. The gauge would go back down to normal in a few minutes, but now it immediately climbs to Max Hot within 1-2 minutes of turning the car on.

Yes,remove heater hoses from heater core there on the fire wall. Purchase a hose connector,5/8 or 3/4 from a parts store,of course if the heater hoses are different in size you will need to purchase a heater hose connector with 5/8 on one end and 3/4 on the other end and remember to purchase two hose clamps.

The gauge on the dash is not accurate at all, you can get a obd live data monitor or you can test the coolant with the engine running and use a reliable thermometer, ( you take the cap off the radiator and run the engine till it gets hot. You also need to check and see if the thermostat is stuck closed.

http://db.tt/qu8il1ID very hard to find.. but yes it rights I'm the middle.

I got my book from ebay.com 
good luck  Grace

Back in the old day,s you could take the battery cable off with the vehicle running - 60's . begining in the 70's they started using transistors in the vehicle electronics . A voltage spike could short out a PCM - engine computer etc.... If you want to test a alternator take it to a qualified repair shop or take it off the vehicle an have a parts store bench test it . http://www.troubleshooters.com/dont_disconnect_battery.htm Did you test for B+ voltage at the connections on the alternator ? Without B+ at the right connections it won't charge .

Lol absolutely. It will knock if bad on any car. Need to replace it and the timing belt/chain asap. If not you will kill the engine.

My best advice to you is to buy a repair-service manual specific to your vehicle and follow the tear-down and rebuild procedures. You can buy hard cover books online or download them too.

sounds like wiring problem

DORMAN Part # 610452 {#6104521, MU159003} M12-1.50 Serrated Wheel Stud; 14mm Knurl; 43.8mm Length. Any parts store should have this.

Here was my solution for a "frozen" back door of a 2002 Mitsubishi Montero Limited



Nothing can be done from the interior of the Montero. The license plate holder will need to be removed carefully using a screwdriver.

There a re 4 tabs that need to pop out. All you need to do is pop them out. Do not force the plate holder to separate away too much from the door or the retainer (marked by red arrow) would break off. When you get the 4 tabs to pop out, slide the entire plate holder up to remove from the retainer. You do not need to detach the lamp wiring. Just move the plate holder to the right


I used WD40 but I'm sure there are other better and longer lasting spray lubricant out there. Spray through the hole generously from all angles. Let it sit for a while and then spray again some more.

The white tab from the handle that goes in the hole normally is being pushed up by a spring activated rod that sits horizontally against it. That spring gets rusted over time.
You will need a stiff wire, about 8"-10" in length.  A wire hanger worked well for me. Bend approx. 1/2" of one end, just as pictured below.


Put the hook though the hole and move the rod mentioned earlier up and down to loosen up it's spring. This rod is not easily visible. You basically just need to assume where it is after understanding the mechanics of the handle movement. It may take some time but be patient. You will see that you are getting somewhere when the handle starts moving back down to its normal position. Keep working on it 'till it's totally back where it should be. And when it is, lubricate it some more.


Heads up. There were many times that I thought I wasn't gonna be able to fix it and wanted to just put everything back and live with an inoperable back door. But I decided to stay with it and it paid up.
An extra step I did after I put the plate holder back was I put a light silicone sealant across the top to prevent rain/water from seeping in to the spring mechanism again. Good luck!
It would be nice to know if the time spent posting this information have helped anybody. Feel free to e-mail me and let me know!
Eddie [email protected]

Center of the firewall just below two transversal hoses.almost inside tranny tunnel..difficult to access and clean.

Same problem on 2002 Montero XLS. Since manuals are impossible to acquire, I subscribed to ALLDATAdiy.com (not as good as a Haynes or Chilton's, but better than nothing). From there I was able to get the resistance tolerances for the gauge sending unit and computer temperature sending unit.

The temp gauge sender should have a resistance of 73 ohm at 176 degrees. Since the thermostat is 180, I figured once the engine warmed up, it would be close to that value. The resistance started out at ~700 ohms and gradually dropped to 50 ohms and was still dropping. But it had no wild fluctuations, so assumed it was ok. The computer temp sending unit has a resistance of .26k ohms to .38k ohms. It was rock solid at .24k.

Initially I had replaced the thermostat prior to finding this thread regarding the CPU board problem. Now after checking the resistance, I still wasn't confident that the gauge sending unit was ok (dropping down to less than 50 and still dropping - who knew how the firmware was programmed to translate that data?). Therefore, I went to Carquest and got a new gauge sending unit. Put it in and as you can expect, the problem is still occurring. However, the resistance value of the new one is a rock solid 59.4 ohms. So I question the reliability of the other unit, even though it didn't fix the problem.

AllDATAdiy also mentions a multi-function thermal sensor/switch. Unfortunately, the site does not show where this sensor is located, so I cannot even test.

At this point, I do not feel like taking it in to the dealership and spending money to have my dashboard sent to Michigan (bad design in my opinion that they can't reset/recalibrate at dealership), so I'm going to just buy a separate temperature gauge to mount under the dash. At least I will have peace of mind on the actual temperature. Although I have a feeling at some point in the future I will be replacing the circuit board in question since other gauges in the cluster will probably begin flaking out as well.

pull the floor mat back from under the ac box and you will see the hose from the box ,through the floor out to near the engine /transmission the hose normally blocks up at the point where it goes onto the box.