Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi, I checked other posts but could not find anything related to this toffee. 3.2 Did 4M41

I was driving @ 130 on C/C when a vibration started, I tapped the brake to get C/C off and it subsided. First thought was propshaft, stopped and checked, no problem. Started off again when I noticed big loss in power. Vibration started @ 80 and stopped as soon as I tapped off. I was driving for about 4 km when the oil pressure light and engine warning light came on. I switched off imediately and smelled oil. When I opened the bonnet it was covered in engine oil, OK, turbo failed, not so. No oil in sump as it was all breathed out by high sump compression.

I stripped the engine down and found number 1 piston cracked and number 2 started to heat seize. Engine now has 340 000 km on the clock and I never ever had a problem with it. Pump and injectors was done at 300 000 km. No damage to crank or bearings. Any suggestions on the cause?

Is it economically viable to overhaul this engine or to just get complete engine?

A very rare reported instance of a failed 4m41. Eish! Sorry to hear.

the piston failure is probably a result and not cause of the lack of lubrication.

Did you determine the cause of the loss of oil?

Can you post pictures of the piston, head and cylinder wall?

4ePikanini,

the vehicle is in South Africa. I will be back 7th of May and will post pictures then. The loss of oil was due to the cracked piston and subsequent sump compression?? When I first checked the propshafts there was no oil underneath the engine.

A rare failure indeed.

Eish!!

Sorry to hear. This is the second one(4m41 engine) that I have knowledge of doing this. A friend of mine had the exact same at just over 200 000kms!!. Piston cracked. I suspected high EGT to be the cause as he has never had the injectors checked or serviced. Injectors were found to be stuffed in his case but as you recently had yours done it should not have been the case, unless the injectors was shot before then and caused damage to the piston and leading to it's eventual demise. Where and who did the pump and injectors for you?

My friend had his engine rebuilt, head was still good. So basically replaced pistons, injectors etc and the rest that goes with it. Cost for him was around R30000 and he has done about 10000km since done, so far still good last time we spoke. But he got quotes ranging heavily and also had different opinions of what was needed to fixed. He lives in Mosselbay. I will get some more details from him as he is not on the forum and report back in more detail for what it's worth.

CATS

Thanks CATS

that will really help! Luckily I can do all the work myself except the engineering part if needed, so that should bring down the labour component of the cost.

My pump and injectors was done by a company that does all my truck's pumps and injectors the last 18 years and is highly reputable and accredited Bosch and Zexel agents so I hope the problem was not there.

The only thing that bugs me is that there was no evidence of something imminent going to happen it was just like the snap of the finger and it was all over, surely if it was high EGT due to injectors you should have an overfuelling problem or not?

MMmmmmmm.

Phoned my friend in Mosselbay Wednesday and he said that the car is going good except for a slight oil leak after the rebuild. He however still sit with that niggling feeling that it's gonna drop him again.....

SHOCK HORROR He phoned me Friday afternoon saying that he is sitting in the middle of traffic, stuck!! His car did exactly the same as last time, loss of power and then engine management light coming on and uneven/rough idling as it died. He is waiting to be towed back in and have not restarted as he is unsure what happened and does not want to do unnecessary damage , but it does not seem good.

So might not be good to rebuilt, rather get complete unit?? Having said that I am not sure what happened the second time, might also be workshop problem, who knows? I will keep you updated as I get more detail from him.

CATS

Eish CATS

sorry to hear that, horror indeed. Would really like to know what went wrong the second time. I am willing to throw money at my problem and get the engine fixed but still it is a high mileage engine already and spending 30 + K just to see the motor bomb out again is just not worth it.

Know of any low mileage 4m41's laying around gathering dust?

heavydf wrote:Eish CATS

sorry to hear that, horror indeed. Would really like to know what went wrong the second time. I am willing to throw money at my problem and get the engine fixed but still it is a high mileage engine already and spending 30 + K just to see the motor bomb out again is just not worth it.

Know of any low mileage 4m41's laying around gathering dust?

Apparently the first time he replaced only the cylinder that cracked and all the injectors. Only the cylinder( #1 IIRC) that cracked was replaced. The second time cylinder #2 cracked, probably also due to the damage sustained while the injectors were out of spec. He has now replaced this, but has lost faith in the vehicle and has traded it in on a new petrol car.

Unfortunately I have not heard too many sucsessfull 4m41 redone stories, possibly also because they don't tend to go belly up that easily.

What have you decided with yours?

CATS

CATS wrote:

heavydf wrote:Eish CATS

sorry to hear that, horror indeed. Would really like to know what went wrong the second time. I am willing to throw money at my problem and get the engine fixed but still it is a high mileage engine already and spending 30 + K just to see the motor bomb out again is just not worth it.

Know of any low mileage 4m41's laying around gathering dust?

Apparently the first time he replaced only the cylinder that cracked and all the injectors. Only the cylinder( #1 IIRC) that cracked was replaced. The second time cylinder #2 cracked, probably also due to the damage sustained while the injectors were out of spec. He has now replaced this, but has lost faith in the vehicle and has traded it in on a new petrol car.

Unfortunately I have not heard too many sucsessfull 4m41 redone stories, possibly also because they don't tend to go belly up that easily.

What have you decided with yours?

CATS

Seeing that it is a mid mileage engine in my eyes I'm going to try my luck in repairing it myself. If it bombs out then I will go and look for a Pajero that overturned (not easy to find) or had a back end smash and use it's engine. I'm looking to buy a new Pajero later in the year so this will be my pet project.

Thanks for the feedback. I will keep you posted when I'm finished the rebuild.

Cheers

Please keep me posted on how it goes with the rebuild.

By the way, I could find a second hand imorted 4m41 3.2 Did engine with about 65000km on for about R40 000, so this might be an option as well.

CATS