Mighty Max high miles discussion

Van-go

Van-go

Not an old man
Joined
Dec 11, 2014
Location
Greensboro
A buddy is selling his 1995 mighty max
5 speed new clutch runs pretty good. Valve cover leaks a bit.

it has 242,000 miles.

How many more could I expect to get out of it?
It checks most of my boxes. Heat, AC, 5 speed trans.

price is right too. Just don’t want to buy it and it blow up on me.
 
When was the timing belt last changed? That's the biggy, if it's gone 240,000 already and isn't burning oil and still runs smooth, I'd expect to get another 20~60k out of it, I would think other things would wear out before that engine goes..

Even if it does go, there are a fair number of Mitsubishi and Chryslers running 4G series engines that you could get out a junkyard to replace it..
 
I had a 90 or so model for a little while, was a decent little truck. Had about 150k on it. Leaked oil something terrible from what appeared to be the the head gasket at the front of the engine pass side. I just kept oil in it. Would knock off 25-30mpg. Had some awesome a/c. Was a super clean truck. Sold it to a guy for his son and he wrecked it before the son turned 16. Oh they can be a little hard to find parts for. Thrower the driveshaft out of mine at about 105 one night. It was interesting
 
My 87 MM had well over 300k on it when the piston rod decided it needed some fresh air. Not sure if theyre the same engine, mine had a single barrel carb I believe.

2012-08-03 20.04.00.jpg
 
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Best part about them is a turbo eclipse engine is bolt in.

IIRC they are an interference engine, so make sure the timing belt is changed regularly.

I had a 2wd for a few years. If it had AC I would still be driving it. Only issues were valve seals needed changing and clutch cable sheath was junk.
 
The 4G engines were also used in several brands of forklifts, 10k-15k hours are not unheard of, I’m sure there are some out there with more. Clark, Cat/Mits, Doosan, Daewoo and a few other brands, says a lot for the motor
 
Didn’t get it. Oil leak was bad and it smoked at start up. Plenty of power, but not what I want to put 30k miles a year on.
 
Van-go said:
Didn’t get it. Oil leak was bad and it smoked at start up. Plenty of power, but not what I want to put 30k miles a year on.
Click to expand...


Mine poured white smoke on start up for nearly a year before it died.
 
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