Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi Guys,

We have just returned from a 4 day trip in the Baviaans where temps were over 45 deg C on a daily basis.
When I arrived home, I noticed some steam coming up from the bonnet. Closer inspection revealed a leak on the front (top) seam of the radiator near the filler cap.
Is it safe to assume this is due to age (1999 model) and get it repaired or is there any other checks I should do to determine any underlying issues that could have caused the radiator to blow.

On the plus side, the Paj looked great in this beautiful setting! If you haven't driven the Baviaans before, make it a priority!

thanks and Merry Christmas!

Have a aradiator shop check the coolant for exhaust gasses


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk because forumrunner keeps crashing on ios 6

What tell tail signs will i be looking for? I presume bubbles?

Sound advice from Marius, By the time you see bubbles it might be a major repair job.

A year ago I had the same trouble and typical hardekwas I refused to read the signs, it started off with a bit of overheating when going up a long hill which I discounted as the result of a heavy trailer. As things got worse and I got further from home I kept on convincing myself of all other reasons that could cause the symptoms I was experiencing. The end result was a blown cylinder head gasget with a cylinder full of water at Kosi bay with no cell reception never mind spares.

Luckily my sons bailed me out and with some technical advice from Simon the holiday was saved.

The test is a chemical one looking for dissolved hydro carbons in the water and well worth the effort if only for peace of mind

I have been a member on this forum for long enough to know you don't mess around with the cooling system on a turbo diesel motor.

1)Follow Marius' advice and make sure the head and gasket are both fine.
2)The radiator has to come out for a check and repairs/replace.
3)Make sure all the hoses are spick and span (replace if you have any doubts or if you feel like spending some money on your lovely car )
4)Replace the thermostat and the coolant with original Mitsu products.

RoelfleRoux wrote:I have been a member on this forum for long enough to know you don't mess around with the cooling system on a turbo diesel motor.

1)Follow Marius' advice and make sure the head and gasket are both fine.
2)The radiator has to come out for a check and repairs/replace.
3)Make sure all the hoses are spick and span (replace if you have any doubts or if you feel like spending some money on your lovely car )
4)Replace the thermostat and the coolant with original Mitsu products.

I agree

Do it once. Do it right!

Hi All,

thanks for all the advice. Took the vehicle in, had it all checked. good news is it was only the plastic top tank that had cracked from old age, EP Radiators in Port Elizabeth hooked me up with a replacements (New) for R1600 and running like a dream again!

rgds and have a great new year!

Brydon

Wow, that is good news.

That is fantastic news Brydon, at least you now know that there are no underlying issues waiting to bite you when expected the least. The modern plastic age sometimes throws a curve ball that one does not expect, I am used to the brass header and footer tanks and rarely see one of them succumb to age related issues

I wanted to go brass, but apparently you can't fuse brass to the alloy core. A complete new setup with brass tanks would have been about 4k and a week wait while the factories are closed for the holidays.