Mitsubishi 6A1 (6A12 / 6A13)

V6 · naturally aspirated · petrol · 1992–present

Also known as: 6a12, 6a13, 6a11, 6a1, 2.0 v6 mitsubishi, 2.5 v6 mitsubishi

Mitsubishi's small V6 — the 1.8 6A11, 2.0 6A12 and 2.5 6A13 — in the Galant, Diamante, FTO and Legnum.

⚑ A 2.0-litre V6 is an unusual thing and it explains most of the fault list. Six very small cylinders means twenty-four valves, two cylinder heads, two camshaft belts' worth of complexity and a great deal of it packed into a transverse bay. Everything is harder to reach than the displacement suggests, and the rear bank is against the bulkhead.

It is belt-driven and it is an interference design, and the belt job is exactly the access problem described. On a car of this age with unknown history that is the decision that determines whether it is worth keeping.

Its recurring complaints are ignition and breathing: coil packs, a carboned throttle body, and inlet gaskets that harden and leak unmetered air.

The 6A13TT twin-turbo in the Legnum VR-4 is a different proposition and its results should not be read across to the naturally aspirated engines.

Documentation outside Japan is thin, which is the practical constraint on all of them.

Cars fitted with this engine

4 generations, across 1 make. From the authored catalogue — an absent car means the catalogue has not reached it, not that the engine was never fitted.

Mitsubishi

Information, not instruction

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