Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

My dad drives the 3.6 V6 SWB 2001, the oil light came on but the oil level is still all right he added some more oil and the engine pushes it out thru excessive white smoke, an mechanic friend said he thinks the oil pump is worn out. We stripped the sup of to have a look (one job you don't want to do every day) Could it be the piston rings that collapsed? Has anyone ever had this same problem.

Are you refering to the oil level light or the oil pressure light ?

Is it definitely white smoke or maybe blue ? What did it smell like?

Failed piston rings will not cause the oil light (oil level or oil pressure light) to come on.
Failed piston rings due to wear happen gradually and you would have noticed an oil consumption increase plus increase in breather pressure and oil. Even if overheated I wonder if the bypass pressure would be that much. Did it maybe overheat ?
Did you not do a compression test first?

I don't recall the V6 models having oil level lights (ala DiD models).

My mistake, the oil light on the dash board.
We didn't do an pressure test on the cylinders, but there was allot of smoke but the engine sounded ok.
Could the valve stem seals collapse and cause the oil to be forced thru the burning proses?
Thank you for all the reply's.

No, failing valve stem seals will start by giving a bit of smoke at the bottom of a hill after running on compression (ie when you put your foot back on the gas). You do not get a lot of smoke from valve stem seals (some race car owners leave them out!)

It sounds like something else has happened here that caused all the smoke. Diesel in the petrol?

I think his biggest problem was over filling when the light came on originally, we found some loose wires next to the sump when we removed it, I sagest that my dad does a compression test first and the reconnect the wires ( they might be for the oil sensor) if the test shows that he still has compression on all six cylinders then and the light is off then I think it was all just caused by overfilling with oil when the light came on probably when the wire came loose.
That is what we will check first.
Thank you very much.

Have you checked if the oil level sensor is working before looking for expensive problems.

Read my article I posted https://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/view ... =55&t=6855 where I had a similar problem but with the pressure switch. Look at my pictures to see wher the switch is situated (it is the easier one to get at) and test with a multi meter.

Worth a try