Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Help please. I was towing on the freeway yesterday. After 2 hours, power seemed to be reduced. 10-15 minutes later the the engine started to vibrate so bad I assumed I had a flat tyre!. There are no warning lights on. Temperature normal.
Same in Neutral.
Turning engine off made no difference. (Problem still there today after cooling off overnight).
I made trip home OK (3 hours). Cruised at 90kph even higher sometimes.
This might be a clue: if it changed down on a hill and revs went to 3K, then the vibration gets very bad, but if I forced it to a higher gear, it was much smoother at 2K.
Fuel comsumption was up by ~40%

In summary, horriblly rough idle and when trying to move at low low speed. Much better when underway as long as revs around 2K. No warning lights.

all suggestions welcome
thanks
Bob

Bob
Do a search on DIY diagnostics earthing the nr 1 pin on the plug in the driver footrest area and report back if any fault codes get spewed out which might give a clue.

On your description alone it sounds like cracked piston but then it should blow clouds of white smoke and use oil.

CATS

thanks Cats.
Zero smoke and oil level is ok. Hopefully tjat means my bank balance might be ok as well.
Evening here now (Sydney Australia). I will check for diagnostics tomorrow.
regards
Bob

Yup, sounds like a holed piston. Won't always have the clouds of white smoke, but should have some gasses escaping from the dipstick plug. A tiny (pinprick) hole causes the compressed gas to escape somewhat, but not the catastrophic billowing smoke and error messages.

check the throttle body. It may be stuck half closed.

It should behave like this

[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEvaIomD4Ow[/BBvideo]