Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Well, something went badly wrong in my 2.8 diesel yesterday.

I was driving home yesterday afternoon when the aircon suddenly cut out. Also noticed that the engine temperature was higher than usual (but not overheating). When I switched the aircon off, the temperature returned to normal. Switched it back on, and it worked for a few minutes before cutting out again, and the engine temp started to rise again.

I was a bit concerned about the temperature (a friend's dad had a lot of issues on his 2.8 Colt), so opened the bonnet when I got home. The radiator overflow bottle sounded like a boiling kettle, and that's when I realised that it might be a bit more serious than a broken aircon unit.

I unscrewed the radiator cap, which then shot off with the radiator doing an Old Faithful impersonation (luckily didn't get burned). Started the engine with the radiator cap off, saw steam coming out off the radiator.

A mechanic buddy of mine is going the check the car out in the next few days, so will then have a better idea of what is wrong. Timing of this is brilliant, as my other car is currently at the panelbeaters getting a nosejob....

Cracked head, I fear.

Eish. Sounds like the dreaded cracked head issue.

I don't think it's the aircon, but that the A/C is rather a victim - it has a built in switch that kills power to the A/C compressor when the coolant temp is too high.

Just got a call from my dad (I left the Paj with him this morning as I borrowed his car to go into work). Said that he put about 5L water into the radiator this morning & drove around a bit. The temperature gauge stayed normal the whole time, no sign of overheating.

Could it be that it simply overheated because it ran out of water with the hot weather we've had lately?

Suppose I should still have someone take a look at the engine to make sure everything is ok.

Jaco Nel wrote: Suppose I should still have someone take a look at the engine to make sure everything is ok.

Jip!

Oh dear,

I'm afraid there are plenty threads on various forums that started off like this and ended with a new head.

Even if the head wasn't the culprit at first, it isn't likely to have survived the punishment.

I recommend you make absolutely sure of the head's integrity before taking the Pajero out on a long trip.

Hopefully I'm wrong and the head is right.

Good luck
Roelf

Damage report: Nothing, zip, nada.

Engine is fine, heads are fine. Seems problem was the lack of water, and luckily nothing was damaged as a result.

This has been a good reminder that I need to pay a lot more attention to the car's fluid levels...

Geesh now that was a stroke of luck!

The concern is : Where did the water go in the first instance? Your coolant levels should never drop without a reason. I suggest you check for minor leaks at the hoses or elsewhere on the cooling system. It may be a very slow leak, but with time you could loose all your water.

Make sure that the electric aircon fan is working corect, I had the same problem on my Gen 2. 3.5. When driving slowly with aircon the water starts to boil in the water botle but engine temp stay's normal or just obove normal.

The problem was sometimes the fan kick in and somtimes not this will also cause low water level because the water boils out at the overflow.