I am looking at a 1997 mitsi GDI 3.5 177km for around 3.5-4k to be mainly used offroad.
Heard mixed opinions of GDI one guy said "dont touch it otherwise you will be in the mechanic more than the mud". And anothers think it is the bees knees.
Apparently they are hard to work on? Just after opinions and if anyone has had any bad experiences?
a mate has the first of the GDI's in a people mover. its in the shop at the mo with problems. the biggest thing is lack of people who know and understand the system. parts for his are a nitemare because there is so few in NZ. pajero is not to bad as there is far more of them.
There is one common issue with GDI engines and it is to do with our crap fuel supplies.
GDI runs similar to a common rail diesel engine. IT relies on very high pressure to atomize the fuel as apposed to a normal injected engine that sprays fuel in droplets.
An example of this would be like a can of air freshener in your bathroom, spray it and hold your arm out you can feel the droplets falling on your arm, this is how best to describe a normal fuel injected system.
The Reason mitsubishi used GDI technology is for (1) fuel efficiency.
by atomizing the fuel as apposed to spraying it you get a better burn producing more torque and HP for the amount of fuel used as it mixes Hydrocarbons and Air HO2 better.
(2) when you get a good clean burn the engines emissions are cleaner.
the issue is that New Zealands fuel supply is crap.. A friend of mine who works for Gilbarco Veeder-root knows this, there is no fuel tank in this country that does not have either accumulated water in it or suspended condensation.
for example every week they are at Z waioru sucking the water out of the tanks due to the massive temperature changes that causes condensation.
This damages the seals in not only diesel injector pumps but also the high pressure GDI pumps in mitsi's.
the seals wear, the fuel pressure drops, the fuel does not atomize properly, the engine starts to carbon up causing hot spots on the pistons(melted pistons),(detonation bent conrods) and clogging up the intake with unburnt fuel (carbon) via the ERG system causing poor air flow through the manifold, basically a GDI engine become's more inefficient faster then a standard fuel injected system.... remember in japan there is no 91 or 95 fuel, they run very high grade fuel.
