Let’s start at the beginning….

About a week ago, I was checking on Craigslist for another deal. I usually stumble into deals on there. I decided to change from browsing to searching. I knew I want a Montero to mess with, so I plugged Montero into my search. A few results in I find a 2003 Mitsubishi Montero Sport. But it’s only $800. The ad says it overheats and probably has a bad Headgasket. So I contact the seller, arrange a time to meet, and go check it out. I met up with Shannon on a Sunday afternoon in New Buffalo. She talked about how great of a vehicle it’s been, and she doesn’t want to sell it. She noticed the tattoo on my ankle of a Mitsubishi symbol and commented on it. I told her how passionate I am for the brand, and it seemed to brighten her mood. Then I ask about the title…. oh no, she lost it in one of her moves. I’m thinking, great, another no title car. But then she told me she applied for a lost title already and it should be coming any day now. So we decided on $100 down to hold it and take it off Craigslist. So I waited patiently…..

Just before Labor Day weekend I get a text from Shannon, that the title came in! But, she’s heading for Colorado on Tuesday, and my weekend is already looking to be a busy one. Well, I’ll have to try and get a trailer by Monday. So I message atom, and get no response. Monday morning comes, so I figure I’m not out anything to swing by atom’s place first thing.

I show up there and the trailer looks ready to go. I knock on the door, atom comes out, fresh outta bed, and says he didn’t get any messages from me. He pulls out his phone, it’s makes some beeping noises, and he says oh, these messages from Saturday that just came in?. Yep… those… thanks sprint.

So we hook up the trailer, have a chat, then I’m on my way.

I get there and meet up with Shannon and Eric and we get the battery charging so I can crawl it onto the trailer. Two tires were flat and the battery was dead, and the bad Headgasket. That’s all that’s wrong with it.

Once loaded up, money and title exchanged, I was on my way. Shannon had that look of a mother when her kids going to college, sad, but everything will be alright.

The Jeep could tell it had some extra weight behind it. It struggled to climb some hills, and the brakes started to smell as I got closer to the house from stop and go. But we made it.

Once home, I started diagnostics. Yep, bad headgasket. Puking coolant on revs, but the temp never got high. Threw in a battery I had around and put the original on the charger, which seems to be good now. Looks like I know what I’m getting into.

Now it’s time for surgery.

Everything seems to come apart pretty easy, nothing is heavily oxidized or rusted that I’ve found yet. The timing belt may be original, with 188k miles on it now. When I pushed on it, it jumped 3 teeth. That’s not good! It’s a good thing it didn’t do that when it was running. That picture is as far as I got today, I’ll follow up with my progress as I go. But so far, I think it’ll be a good little investment. Thanks again Shannon and Eric.