[Entabeni]

Entabeni: 2006 Gen 3 Pajero 3.2 DiD LWB GLS AUTO 204,000 km.

22/05/2014: Today I started my Pajero for the first time since the dreaded 'clouds of white smoke' event of December 2013! Relying on the Haynes repair manual, covering this particular vehicle, to replace the pistons, I can say with conviction that their glib description of the procedures does not warn of the difficulty of physical access in the cramped space around the engine while it is still in the vehicle! Furthermore, I found that the manual gave two very different torqueing procedures for installing the injectors in the cylinderhead for the 4M41 engine!

However, the job is now done and she has run very nicely (up to a maximum of 80 km/hr for a short running-in period) over about 100 km, with all features working. The next step is to take her to a Mits agent and have them do a computer check to see if that can find anything that may need attention. It has not been to a Mits or any other agent at all since I bought it at 150,000 km in Aug 2010. No car of mine has ever been to an agent for service or repair, starting with my 1958 Borgward Isabella bought in 1960, but the Pajero complexity has been an eye-opener!

Cheers, chaps!

[CATS]

Entabeni

Thanks for your feedback and detailed reports of the piston failure points.

I am now at the start of the same process after I also did the pump and within 5000kms thereafter suffered the same fate as yours, but have decided to pay someone else to do the job. I salute you sir for your superior knowledge and perseverance!

Mine will be opened tomorrow and I am very curious to see if the pistons show the same damage as yours. https://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5437

CATS

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[andrew.ashton]

I salute you sir for your superior knowledge and perseverance!

+1

[Entabeni]

Entabeni

Thanks for your feedback and detailed reports of the piston failure points.

I am now at the start of the same process after I also did the pump and within 5000kms thereafter suffered the same fate as yours, but have decided to pay someone else to do the job. I salute you sir for your superior knowledge and perseverance!

Mine will be opened tomorrow and I am very curious to see if the pistons show the same damage as yours. https://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5437

CATS

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From Entabeni: Sorry to read about your problem, CATS. It is very different from my case, for mine did not die on me --- I was able to drive home 20 km. The main pointers to the hole in the piston were clouds of white smoke from the exhaust and from the valve cover breather when I detached that from the clean air pipe feeding the Turbo. Am interested to hear what you find and hope it wont cost too much!

[CATS]

Entabeni. Mine only died on me when the pump went South less than 5000km ago in December.

This time round in April I lost power and had clouds of white smoke. I drove it like that for also 20km to the Mitsu agent in Upington where I decided that it wont make Gauteng and thus had it flat bedded. It still starts and runs but smokes badly and use a lot of oil plus only run on 3 cylinders. I believe it is exactly like yours. Will see when it is opened. I chose to rather not drive it any further to prevent any further damage or maybe a runaway diesel. Hence the flatbed.

CATS

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[Ken]

Hi Guys,

Looks like I have joined your club.

I noticed that my 2001 Pajero started smoking on startup and decided to look at the injectors on the weekend. 2 days later while driving up Tygerberg Hill on the N1 she started to shudder and lost power. Looked up and was trailing large amounts of white smoke. I pulled over and arranged a tow back home. Luckly it was not too far and I did not want to risk further damage.

I have taken a month to research the problem and hence commenting on your post. First problem Mits have not even quoted me. Do not even have a price for the pistons on the system. Secondly I am trying to decide whether to do the repair myself or to take it in somewhere. At this stage no-one seems interested in quoting.

Where can I find your previous posts describing your repair. I have rebuilt a few engine in the past, but the physical size of this concerns me. Do I need to remove the gearbox? This is a bit big for me to handle at home.

I have already found an injector repair workshop and a supplier of after market pistons so it is basically down to labor and equipment.

Your comments would be appreciated.

[CATS]

Ken

Not good news! Entabeni is not that active on the forum unfortunately. Here is a thread on my hassles with my Pajero. The last few pages deal with the piston crack issues.
https://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5437

I had mine fixed using original Mitsu pistons through Alan Black in Springs. Funny that you say Mitsu dont have part numbers? Maybe talk to another spares person at the dealership.

Do a search on the posts made by Entabeni and you will find his rebuild thread. Here are some of his informative posts on this matter. https://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/view ... 292#p35292

CATS

[Entabeni]

Hi Guys,

Looks like I have joined your club.

I noticed that my 2001 Pajero started smoking on startup and decided to look at the injectors on the weekend. 2 days later while driving up Tygerberg Hill on the N1 she started to shudder and lost power. Looked up and was trailing large amounts of white smoke. I pulled over and arranged a tow back home. Luckly it was not too far and I did not want to risk further damage.

I have taken a month to research the problem and hence commenting on your post. First problem Mits have not even quoted me. Do not even have a price for the pistons on the system. Secondly I am trying to decide whether to do the repair myself or to take it in somewhere. At this stage no-one seems interested in quoting.

Where can I find your previous posts describing your repair. I have rebuilt a few engine in the past, but the physical size of this concerns me. Do I need to remove the gearbox? This is a bit big for me to handle at home.

I have already found an injector repair workshop and a supplier of after market pistons so it is basically down to labor and equipment.

Your comments would be appreciated.

From Entabeni in Robertson on Mon Sept 15.
Hello Ken, sorry to read of your problem.

You do not say which Pajero you have. Mine is a 3rd generation 2006 3.2 DID LWB GLS Auto with 207,000 km on the clock.

My piston No2 developed a crack which ran longitudinally across the top from the rear nearly all the way across, to 10mm from the front. The symptoms were somewhat like yours, with plenty of white smoke from the exhaust, but without much loss of power. After recently doing two Namibian and two Lesotho trips plus long trips to KNP and Natal it was unbelievably lucky that this happened on a 20 km trip to Ashton! I could hear misfiring when I lifted the bonnet and when I unplugged the tappet cover breather tube from the air intake to the turbo unit it was clear that the smoke was coming from the crankcase via the tappet cover. I drove home at 100km/h billowing smoke.

If yours is one of the petrol V motors then we will have little in common to talk about. What I can say though is that even with the "simpler" 4-cylinder motor my doing the job in a carport behind the house, without removing the block from the vehicle was a hell of an experience --- and I have rebuilt many (petrol) motors in my time, Borgwards, VW Kombis and a Microbus, Alfasuds and an Audi 500SE.

Even with the Pajero on 4 high axle stands the greatest problem was getting access to all the items that needed removing because the whole engine compartment is so packed with stuff. It is not only difficult to get spanners to the bolts and nuts involved, but sometimes near impossible to remove things like the turbo from its studs in the space available. I took about 300 photos with a small digital camera to keep a record of how things came apart. Having succeeded in removing the cylinderhead, and seeing the crack in the piston, I needed to remove the sump to access the big-end bearing caps --- well, well, well --- that required removal of the front differential, which required removal of the wheels, kingposts, the shafts from the rack and pinion steering, etc, etc! So I think that removal of the block from the vehicle is a better way to go. I have a 2-ton shop crane with which I removed my Audi 500 motor, but the much heavier 3.2 Diesel engine is another matter altogether! Thank goodness that mine is again running sweetly. I have done only 600km in ‘gentle’ trips limiting my speed to 100 km/h to help the new pistons & rings bed in.

If you need more info on my case, just ask.

[Nick Gibson]

Entabeni: 2006 Gen 3 Pajero 3.2 DiD LWB GLS AUTO 204,000 km.

22/05/2014: Today I started my Pajero for the first time since the dreaded 'clouds of white smoke' event of December 2013! Relying on the Haynes repair manual, covering this particular vehicle, to replace the pistons, I can say with conviction that their glib description of the procedures does not warn of the difficulty of physical access in the cramped space around the engine while it is still in the vehicle! Furthermore, I found that the manual gave two very different torqueing procedures for installing the injectors in the cylinderhead for the 4M41 engine!

However, the job is now done and she has run very nicely (up to a maximum of 80 km/hr for a short running-in period) over about 100 km, with all features working. The next step is to take her to a Mits agent and have them do a computer check to see if that can find anything that may need attention. It has not been to a Mits or any other agent at all since I bought it at 150,000 km in Aug 2010. No car of mine has ever been to an agent for service or repair, starting with my 1958 Borgward Isabella bought in 1960, but the Pajero complexity has been an eye-opener!

Cheers, chaps!

HI Entabeni

I have been following your posts with great interest, please keep up the posting!

I have a couple of questions:

1. What oil are you using to run your engine in on?
2. Which pistons/bearings did you use, OEM or aftermarket?
3. If aftermarket, which ones did you use and how do they visually compare to the OEM ones you removed which were still in one piece?
4. Did you get any feedback on what exactly was wrong with your injectors -->ie. leaky, spray pattern, spring opening pressures, worn tips, etc?
5. Was your Pajero smoking any more than usual before the incident?

Thanks in advance!

Nick

[Nick Gibson]

Hi Guys,

Looks like I have joined your club.

I noticed that my 2001 Pajero started smoking on startup and decided to look at the injectors on the weekend. 2 days later while driving up Tygerberg Hill on the N1 she started to shudder and lost power. Looked up and was trailing large amounts of white smoke. I pulled over and arranged a tow back home. Luckly it was not too far and I did not want to risk further damage.

I have taken a month to research the problem and hence commenting on your post. First problem Mits have not even quoted me. Do not even have a price for the pistons on the system. Secondly I am trying to decide whether to do the repair myself or to take it in somewhere. At this stage no-one seems interested in quoting.

Where can I find your previous posts describing your repair. I have rebuilt a few engine in the past, but the physical size of this concerns me. Do I need to remove the gearbox? This is a bit big for me to handle at home.

I have already found an injector repair workshop and a supplier of after market pistons so it is basically down to labor and equipment.

Your comments would be appreciated.

From Entabeni in Robertson on Mon Sept 15.
Hello Ken, sorry to read of your problem.

You do not say which Pajero you have. Mine is a 3rd generation 2006 3.2 DID LWB GLS Auto with 207,000 km on the clock.

My piston No2 developed a crack which ran longitudinally across the top from the rear nearly all the way across, to 10mm from the front. The symptoms were somewhat like yours, with plenty of white smoke from the exhaust, but without much loss of power. After recently doing two Namibian and two Lesotho trips plus long trips to KNP and Natal it was unbelievably lucky that this happened on a 20 km trip to Ashton! I could hear misfiring when I lifted the bonnet and when I unplugged the tappet cover breather tube from the air intake to the turbo unit it was clear that the smoke was coming from the crankcase via the tappet cover. I drove home at 100km/h billowing smoke.

If yours is one of the petrol V motors then we will have little in common to talk about. What I can say though is that even with the "simpler" 4-cylinder motor my doing the job in a carport behind the house, without removing the block from the vehicle was a hell of an experience --- and I have rebuilt many (petrol) motors in my time, Borgwards, VW Kombis and a Microbus, Alfasuds and an Audi 500SE.

Even with the Pajero on 4 high axle stands the greatest problem was getting access to all the items that needed removing because the whole engine compartment is so packed with stuff. It is not only difficult to get spanners to the bolts and nuts involved, but sometimes near impossible to remove things like the turbo from its studs in the space available. I took about 300 photos with a small digital camera to keep a record of how things came apart. Having succeeded in removing the cylinderhead, and seeing the crack in the piston, I needed to remove the sump to access the big-end bearing caps --- well, well, well --- that required removal of the front differential, which required removal of the wheels, kingposts, the shafts from the rack and pinion steering, etc, etc! So I think that removal of the block from the vehicle is a better way to go. I have a 2-ton shop crane with which I removed my Audi 500 motor, but the much heavier 3.2 Diesel engine is another matter altogether! Thank goodness that mine is again running sweetly. I have done only 600km in ‘gentle’ trips limiting my speed to 100 km/h to help the new pistons & rings bed in.

If you need more info on my case, just ask.

Bump.

See Entabeni is back on the forum...

Sent from somewhere in a galaxy far, far away...