Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

This engine of mine is doing my head in - I recently replaced the head gaskets due to a slight overheat - the heads were pressure tested and skimmed just to be on the safe side - no problems there.

Also replaced the timing belt, water pump, all other belts, distributor and rotor. The timing is correct, according to the settings in the manual and the distributor lined up.

Upon re-assembly, I cannot get all 6 cylinders to run - the problem being no 3. So, I have performed the following:
- checked for spark on no. 3 - big spark (also kicked me a few times)
- checked fuel on no 3 - injector opening and closing correctly + good fuel spray
- checked injectors on all other cylinders - opening and closing correctly + good spray
- checked compression - 120psi

And yet, when idling, I pull the bougis to the other 5 plugs and there is a noticeable difference on the engine (pinging, erratic idling, etc.) - pulling no. 3 bougi has no such effect.

Any ideas out there - I am at the stage of considering putting in a 'new' reconditioned motor!

Thanks
Trevor

OK, after much agonising, I am going to take the motor out and probably rebore.
Then new pistons, rings and maybe bearings. Any advantage at this point in putting in hi-compression pistons - or is this just a pointless exercise to increase the power slightly, at the risk of reliability?

Not sure about pulling the motor yet. Seems that you haven't identified the real problem and it might still be there when you install the new motor. If you have spark, and fuel it should be running. Is it smoking much? Compression test?

Compression test was done - 120psi on no3, 140 - 150psi on the others - dry test only.
No smoke, but every time I remove no3 plug to check and double-check, it is coated in oil. Plus the no 3 bore seems slightly glazed, as opposed to the other cylinders (checked when the heads were off).
So, in light of the above, my impression is to take the motor out and perform some surgery?!

change the plugs cap and rotor.

timing has to be set with the timing advance blanked.




To set the static timing you must connect the brown terminal to earth and set the advance to 5 BTDC - I had mine at 7 BTDC at the coast on 95 and it doesn't ping (higher octane allows more advancement and less chance of pinging by doing so)

The black connector can be connected to 12v to let the fuel pump run.

Thanks Marius
As always, great advice but:
replaced distributor, rotor, plugs and leads; and then set the timing - without resolving the issue.

Hence I have to assume that the problem is with the no 3 cylinder oiling up, which could point to oil rings gone. After pressure testing the heads and skimming, I reckon I can rule out valves not seating correctly or closing properly.

As said in my earlier post - doing my head in.....

The glazing on #3 bore could indicate some lube failure - possibly washdown from fuel not igniting.

Additionally the plug fouling also seems to indicate no / improper ignition of fuel, as does the no change in engine note when you pull #3 spark plug connector.

Have you tried something as simple as swapping two plugs / replacing HT lead to that plug (Yes, I know you have looked at the plug firing out in the open)

Coupled with the lower compression and the fouled spark plug I also suggest that you ask your local radiator supplier to do a coolant pressure test & also test for combustion gases in coolant.

Are you losing any coolant at all?

Thanks for all responses - did a full coolant check - although I was losing water slightly, there was no evidence of any leaks.

So, off to the engineering shop and this is what they found:

• oil rings on no 3 cylinder disintegrated

• rings on no 3 and no 4 installed upside down (??)

• bent conrods on no 5 and no 6

• gravel / sand inside oil sump

At least they can now rectify these problems and have also ground the crankshaft (0.010) and re-bored all to 0.020 over. New pistons, rings and bearings all around - and the necessary conrods fitted too.

My concern is that this was an imported block I had put in 2 years ago by a professional engineering company - they obviously never checked the block for any faults, but just used my heads to complete the motor. I have always complained about the apparent lack of power (this was supposed to be 125kW as compared with the Samcor 110kW motor!) - this would explain it very nicely.

I have taken the opportunity to have some free-flow branches made up at the same time for a really good price: this, coupled with the rebuilt engine, should give me a slightly better feel for the car - I had even considered the V8 conversion at one point.

Once I receive the vehicle back and have tested it, I'll give a report back on this.

make sure the coolant pipe in the V has a good seal. If it leaks there slowly you will never know as it evaporates on the block.

4ePikanini wrote:make sure the coolant pipe in the V has a good seal. If it leaks there slowly you will never know as it evaporates on the block.

Good point, and thanks - putting in a new O-ring and also having them seal with silicone