Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Good evening.
My Pajero is a LWB 1998 3.5 v6 auto petrol The Engine is the 6G74 with 247k on the clock.

1.) I have an appointment with the workshop ( Steve Auto services ) to replace the valve stem seals and hydraulic lifters.
Can anyone advise me, if it is best to do a complete engine overhaul instead of tending to the lifter noise and seals only? And what is the cost on a complete engine overhaul?

The lifters noise come an go.

When idle at a stop or robot for few minutes, the car will give a puff smoke when I pull away. Immediately the smoke will dissappear.

2.) If the posibility is no need for a engine overhaul. And it's only necessary to replace seals and lifters.
What other parts do I need to replace?
Your advise and input is truly appreciated.
Kind Regards.
Hugen Nash

The hydraulics lifters do not necessarily need to be replaced. A good clean and bleed, with good oil (some will recommend the Delo 400 here) may sort the ticking issue, even more so if it's intermittent.
Intake manifold, cam covers and cams need to be removed, and timing redone upon assembly. I did this in my garage, struggling a bit with the timing since I could not really see the mark on the crank pulley nor had the tools to hold the cam gears in place.

The puff of white smoke on take off sounds like valve stems indeed. If it was rings, it'd be smoking all the time.
Do a compression test first to see if rings need replacing.
Then you need to decide, whilst the heads are off, you can take the pistons out; if you decide to postpone the ring job, the heads will have to come off again. But you'll still need to take the engine out, which is not necessary for the head job.
I'd do compression test first, then get quotes for heads only and for heads + rings and bearings(you might as well do these at the same time).

I had to do main and big ends and oil pump on mine , the parts were not stupidly expensive, and labour was between myself and my father in law.

Hi.
Many thanks for your reply and advise.
It makes completely sense to request a compression test from the mechanic 1st.
Once again thank you.
Will update the forum on the work been done and cost incurred. ( hope it's not a arm and a leg)