Granted, the 3.0 may have its problems.  Its power-to-weight ratio may not
be as impressive as the 2.2 / 2.5 turbos, and it may have a history of
smoking problems, but in the past 5 (6?) years that I've owned my 3.0L
Daytona, that's been a damned good engine.  I'd never call it a
MitsuShitty.  The only problem I've had with it that required any huge
major amount of work was with smoking, and that wasn't the engine's fault.
The previous owner used some cheap oil that gummed up the piston rings.
They were real fun to remove.  Only other "major", "will make the car not
work properly" thing to happen was my distributor cap's points got worn
pretty deep, and the rotor head's bakelight was cracked near the tip. Both
were replaced.

Some of the other problems I've had I never got around to fixing because
they're so minor I hardly ever think about them.  They include a leaky oil
cap, a bad radiator cap (stock, though not original, radiator), a stripped
radiator draincock (also not original), and I think I might have replaced
the lower radiator hose when I rebuilt the engine to fix the piston rings.
I do try to keep the oil appropriately changed, and I'm getting about
5,000 miles between changes.  Book calls for 7,500, IIRC.

My radiator fan burned out right after I got the car, but that wasn't
really an engine fault, was it?  Was the fan built by mitsu?  The A/C
compressor is still good, even after having been left open to the
atmosphere during the rebuild of the engine (fwiw, the valve core was bad
and leaked the R-12 to atmosphere over a period of time shortly after my
purchase of the car.  The leak was so slow, I had no idea it was leaking
until my A/C quit working).  Fresh charge on it, and it works. Sure,
there's a little bit of moisture in the lines, but not that much, really.
The power steering pump is still good, as is the brake booster. Electronic
components of the engine are still good, and as far as I know, factory
original.

If anything, I'd say that all of the problems I've had with the engine
were the fault of previous owners and shitty Victor gaskets purchased at
NAPA.

The prev. owner used poor oil, and probably used the cheapest 87 octane
gasoline too.  As for the shitty NAPA gaskets, they sell Victor.  After
purchasing replacement FelPro gaskets from Discount/Advance, I haven't had
any gasket problems.

As far as I know, the fuel injectors are factory original.  I could be
wrong, as I don't know how long injectors typically last.  If original,
these would be 14-1/2 years old (car built in August 1989).

Have I listed anything here that couldn't be a problem with /any/ engine?
To tell you the truth, I've had more problems with the car's electrical
system, mechanicals of the odometer (I think the speedo/odo that came with
it was not the original as it was the only guage with a non-faded needle),
a problem with my parking brake handle giving out when setting the brake,
problem with cargo cover not retracting in cold weather, lift gate glass
coming unsealed and liftgate struts not holding the gate up, seat belts
not retracting, seat belt buckles cracking, radio acting like it's got a
bad solder joint in it, headliner needing replacement, sunvisors needing
replacement, windshield wiper bushings needing replacement, it STILL needs
new shocks, and the under hood insulation needs replacement.  Oh, and the
paint job was shitty to begin with with that cheapassed Chrysler
clearcoat, and one of the CV joints broke into three pieces from a hard
launch one day -- clearly, the /ENGINE/ was doing /FINE/, THAT day.

From the engine, I've had practically no problems aside from the smoking
when I first got it and the blown NAPA / Victor intake manifold gasket.
Neither was a problem that prevented the engine from delivering power when
needed (although the intake gasket problem was not healthy, allowing
uncontrolled thinning of the F/A mixture to cylinders 1 and 3).

In short, the Mitsu engine is far from shitty.  Frankly, I'm glad I have
it.  Yes, it's heavy.  Yes, it's bulky and at times hard to work around.
Yes, it's a little underpowered for its weight compared to a 4-cylinder
turbo.

Butcha know what?  It runs, it runs strong, and it runs at 24.5 miles per
gallon.  If I keep my foot firmly planted in the throttle body, I can
bring that number down to a 22.8~ish mpg minimum, and still get 0-60 in
about 10 seconds.  Yeah, there are faster 4-speed autos out there, I'm
sure, but this is more than enough to get me out of someone's way in
traffic.  Back to the mpg, I was barely getting that with my 1989 Daytona
2.5L N/A 3-speed, and my 1973 VW Beetle - a 1.6L 4-banger - never went
above 25 mpg with its 4-speed manual.

Personally, I think the 3.0 mitsu is a damned good engine.

<sarcasm>
What? That doesn't make sense. How could a Japanese engine ever have
problems? I was always told that Japanese products were always much more
reliable than domestics. </sarcasm>

For the first few years of the Aries and Reliant K-Cars, the two engines
available were the Chrysler 2.2L and a Mitsubishi 2.6L.  I remember the
badge on the 2.6L cars said, "2.6 HEMI" which seemed like a bad joke
since whether it was a 2.2L or a 2.6L, those cars were slow.  The 2.6L
finally was replaced by a bigger version of the Chrysler 2.2L, enlarged
to 2.5L.

-GP

Don't forget, the Dodge and Plymouth Colt Vista wagons used a SOHC
version of the 2.0L four used in the Mitsubishi Eclipse and Galant.
Underpowered from 84-86 or so with a carburetor (the source of many of
the 2.6 engine problems is that carburetor) , then switched to fuel
injection sometime in 87.  I had an 88 Plymouth Colt Vista,
7-passenger, 5-speed, no AC, was a terrific car, it threw the timing
belt and didn't damage the engine.  The 2.0 SOHC is a non interference
engine, like the 3.0 SOHC V6 in the minivans.  You won't smash valves
into pistons in those.

Had the 3.0L engine in an ex-Avis rental car, a maroon/maroon 1993
Dynasty base model, great motor, but I ruined the transmission by
driving 110mph for too long.  A gear threw from the differential into
the tranny case and tossed around like Pac-Man eating the rest of the
tranny up.  Happened with 84,895 on the car, 7300-ish miles after I
bought it used.  I shoulda got the extended warranty!, because it ran
$2300 or so to replace...OUCH!  The only problems after that were a
sticky front caliper (lots of brake pads and warped rotors before I
figure that one out) and I changed the heater blower fan once due to a
blown resistor allowing it to work only on high.  Wrecked later at
142K during an icy snowy mess of a storm when I should have been at
home eating cookies.

The 3.0 was used in minivans, Spirit/Acclaim, Shadow/Sundance,
Dynasty/New Yorker, Daytona, Mitsubishi Galant, Mitsubishi
Montero/Dodge Raider, and a DOHC version for the Stealth/3000GT sports
cars.  They even made an industrial 3.0V6 for forklifts and such that
could run on CNG or propane!

The 2.6 engine was available in old Colts and Challenger/Sapporo, as
well as other Mitsubishis of the time and most pre-88 Chrysler K-cars.
It was carbureted and had lots of driveability problems.  Only a
small torque advantage over the 2.2 Chrysler engine (a cutdown of the
Slant Six).

1.4/1.5/1.6 Mitsu engines are in Colts, I have never owned one of
those or the 2.6.

Alan Moore
Dallas, TX