[GideonKrynauw]

Hi,

After returning from our annual December holiday from Strandfontein (West-coast close to Vredendal) to Johannesburg we had the following problem.

Our Pajero is much loved by all members of the family and we travelled with 4 people in the car, plus a dog (Rottweiler in the back) and a full trailer, thus a full load. The Pajero has done 240'000km (automatic, 2003 GLS lwb DID).
We try and avoid the main routes as far as possible and every year travelling to the West Coast we use the following route:
Johannesburg - Bloemfontein – Petrusburg - Koffiefontein – Petrusville - De Aar - Vosburg – Carnavon - Calvinia.. etc

However, this year on the way back we stopped for the night at Petrusville and also filled up with diesel. About 10 km after filling up I could feel the Pajero was struggling for power. This was a big cause of concern given that we are travelling between very small towns. The car was almost ‘stuttering’ to accelerate up a small inclined, this was followed by the two yellow warning lights of traction control and stability control coming on and staying on.

I immediately suspected the diesel quality of the recent fill-up at Petrusville and realised I needed to change the diesel filter, but had no spare. At this stage the car was losing more power and I struggled to do more than 100km/h with the aircon switched off. The next town was Koffiefontein and given it was a Saturday there was no mechanic available (and we really tried to find one).

In Koffiefontein the two warning lights disappeared when I released pressure from the accelerator and since we had no way of replacing the diesel filter we carried on looking for help 130km away in Bloemfontein.

For some reason the car pulled better, almost normal, and we were able to maintain a speed between 120-130 km/h, but if you floored the accelerator the lights would come on again, and you could feel lack of power. In Bloemfontein the Mitsubishi garage was also closed (even before 12 AM on Saturday), and we headed for Johannesburg after filling up with more diesel in an attempt to dilute the suspected bad diesel…

We arrived home without any issues.

The Pajero is scheduled for a service at Mitspro later this week and has not shown any of the symptoms again (will swop the water pump too as preventative measure given the millage)

I can also guess that the two warning lights indicated that the car was not getting the required amount of diesel from blocked filter, or, going into some kind of ‘safe mode’.

Lessons from this would be to carry a spare diesel filter and not to fill up with diesel in very small towns. At least I hope that is what caused the problem given that the previous day we travelled 740 km without a hick-up in very very warm weather from Lutzville and the problem only occurred the next day after we filled up.

I hope it is nothing more serious

Regards
Gideon

[andrew.ashton]

Hi Gideon,

Interesting post.

1. If it was caused by bad diesel, one solution is also to carry a Racor filter funnel (RFF Series Fuel Filter) with you and use that when filling up at dodgy (low volume) diesel outlets. This will prevent the water / dirt contamination from getting into your tank in the first place. These are available locally online. I bought mine through sales@turboformance.co.za.

2. I think I also recall reading that a faulty wheel sensor (eg one speed sensor tooth broken off one wheel sensor ring) can cause some symptoms similar to what you describe.

I am sure that Mitspro will be able to diagnose and fix for you.

Best regards

[RoelfleRoux]

"not to fill up with diesel in very small towns"
Very solid advice.

Gideon,

I hope your Pajero gets sorted and that your confidence in the car is undamaged.

The fuel range on those LWB diesels allow for effortless trip planning to only target upmarket, high throughput, filling stations when travelling in SA.

It is a pity that the smaller towns will miss out on some much needed (in most cases) revenue from tourists/travellers.

[Bigwill]

My friend had the same problem with the two yellow lights and loss of power when pushing hard up an incline. After a stop or cool down it gets out of limp mode and it would return to normal until you push hard again. Turned out to be the diesel pump. It logged an error code referring to a faulty timing control valve (TCV). This required a recon of the pump as the pump were no longer able to produce the full pressure as it should. The ECU logs an error on the TCV because the TCV is unable to respond to the demand only because it does not receive the pressure it requires from the pump in the first place to respond correctly.

Sorry to say but I think your problem is more profound than just dirty diesel.

[rassie3000]

Hi, mine was also the Diesel pump with same symptoms. Had it and the injectors done at Alan Black. Now it is back in train mode again!!


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[RoelfleRoux]

Rassie,

How much did the pump and injector "job" cost?

Roelf

[Bigwill]

How much did the pump and injector "job" cost?

Sorry to stress out some people but we had to pay R24.000.

[RoelfleRoux]

Thanks,

So let's assume R24k for a pump job and R8k for 90k km service on a V6.

Well, by the time a V6 gets to 270k km, it would have consumed its third timing belt and at R8k per timing belt service, it comes to....... R24k .

[rassie3000]

Hi, mine was 18k 2 years ago

Good luck with yours!


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