Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi,

My 3.2 did (2004) is taking a bit longer to start.

First, some facts:

• It used to start on first key-turn - it now takes at least 5 seconds or longer to start

• It now emits a small plume of black exhaust smoke on starting

• I’ve had starter issues before - March 2011 - I replaced the battery (no improvement), but then reconditioned the starter motor when the car eventually wouldn’t start at all (this solved the problem and it started beautifully)

• I am driving the car less these days - on average only three times a week

Second, my thoughts:

• I have two issues – my car is not starting well and it’s producing a small amount of black smoke (which it never used to do)

• Or, I have one issue – the starting and smoke are linked so fixing the starting will solve the smoke

Finally, some questions:

• Do reconditioned starter motors have a shelf life – could my starter be ready for another recon or perhaps a complete replacement?

• What could be causing the small amount of black smoke on starting?

• Do you think these two symptoms are linked?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can offer some advice / thoughts.

Cheers,
D

Have you checked you glow plugs for good operation??? They can give very similar symtoms>>>

Thanks Nick.

Something I didn't mention was that it has the same symptoms on a cold and warm start.

I think that would rule glow plugs out, wouldn't it?

Presumably if you crank it and there is insufficient compression for the diesel to ignite then you will get a lot of unburnt fuel (aka black smoke) out the exhaust.

I would look at what sort of cranking revs you are getting - if it is too slow then it sounds like the battery / starter / wiring (bad earth? bad +ve connections? ...). And what sort of compression you have.

Given that you say it happens hot or cold then I would focus least on the glow plugs - especially at this time of year.

Thanks Andrew.


I'm going to take it past the auto elec tomorrow and get their opinion.

Unburnt diesel is white. Black smoke is overfuelling.

My pajero's glowplugs was disconnected for a long time and always started in a swing or two.

Id say your injectors need cleaning. Run some 2SO and see what happens.


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

There has been a lot of talk running 2SO, how much does one use per tank and how often? Also any specific brand?

craigdre wrote:There has been a lot of talk running 2SO, how much does one use per tank and how often? Also any specific brand?

The best to use is the low ash JASO FC spec as it burns very clean but any 2SO will do. add 250ml to 50 liter tank or 500ml to a 100 liter tank.

I took my paj into the auto electrician this morning.

They tested the battery - it's fine.

They pulled and opened the starter and it's not fine. See attached pics - the starter was full of gunk and what seemed to be oil. The brushes were worn.

They're going to recondition the starter. It was last reconditioned almost exactly 2 years ago.

How do you think all that gunk and oil could have got into the starter? I vaguely recollect a post on a forum saying that oil can be splashed on the starter during a service or something like that.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
D

looks the same as what mine did. I suppose it's the brushes wearing and binding with the grease.

https://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/sh ... hp?t=11400


It was starting a bit slow so I thought I'd remove the starter and give a good clean.

I came in from the left side of the car. Both through the engine and from underneath.

I had to remove the autobox dipstick holder to gain access to the top starter bolt.

There are only two bolts holding it on - 14mm
The starter feed to the solenoid is a 12mm nut and then a spade connector on the solenoid.

I dropped it out from underneath the car.

It was dirty as hell inside.

A good clean and reassemble has drastically improved the starter spinning speed.

Starter on the bench pre-disassembly


Gunk on the armature


Gunk on the brushes


The part number for the starter


The solenoid with plunger


Looking into the solenoid with plunger removed


The lever arm that gets moved by the solenoid plunger and engages the starter bendix to the ring gear on the flywheel/flexplate


Starter bendix. Looks fantastic after 296'000km of use. Mitsubishi uses good materials!


All cleaned up and ready for reassembly