Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

if that secondhand box is indeed low mileage then it may be a better option than a fix that may not solve the problem.

Try to negotiate the price to include the service as well.

Either way good luck and keep us posted.

If you have the means to get some pictures while the box is open it would be great as I'd love to see the insides of the mitsu box.

Hi Gerald,

For the work mentioned for 8.5K, it doesn't sound too bad,
for a 3rd opinion, you can also try Peter 021 853 0730, or 082.877.6929
His shops name is Auto-Matic: Transmission specialists
nr 250A Main Road, Strand.

Did my box a year back, and charged me a really good price.

Cheers
Ned

Just keeping you all up to date. I must say that I have done a lot of research. Spoke to some of the Landy guys, they use a transmission engineering business in Parow. I spent a large part of today speaking to Mitsubishi, Triangle and Dawie. Result is that although I know that when they open the box, the Reverse, OD, UD and Direct clutches must all be replaced (although my box's problem is the reverse clutch). Best to replace them all with all the seals/rubbers, etc. OK, so the clutches and the seals will be around R9,500 at Mitsubishi. Aparently they actually send the vehicle out to have the work done. They will not tell me to who they send the vehicle to. I could not get to speak to a service advisor to let me know what the labour would cost. Tried a couple of times, but they were busy. I also spoke to Triangle and was disappointed. Told them I wanted all the clutches and seals replaced and they could not give me an estimate/quote. Long explanation that a lot else could be wrong with the box and may need to be replaced and that is why they cannot give me an accurate quote. I asked for a specific repair. I was then told they can give a verbal indication which would be around R18,000, but could be R25,000. In reality, tells me nothing. So I spoke to Dawie again. Dawie explained to me that he orders a gearbox recon kit which has all the clutch plates, all the seals and gaskets. He gets the parts for a reduced price because he is a dealer and he will pass the discount over to me for a saving. I thought about this carefully and decided to take the risk and use Dawie. I delivered the vehicle this afternoon. According to him, the kit does not have all the seals for the recon, but whatever else he needs will cost another R250. He feels that the job can be completed by Friday close of business. Three days compared to 6 days from Triangle or Mitsubishi.

Sometimes good to try other mechanics. Dawie runs a small operation, but I would like to see what he can deliver. Comes highly recommended by Louw Bosch.

Dawie does a lot work on Toyota, there were two 70's series bakkies parked in his workshop when I first visited. He tells me that some of the Pajeros were fitted with Toyota gearboxes. He had to go under the vehicle and read the gearbox number in order to find the correct parts for the specific VIN number. Mine is a Mitsubishi box. Some of the earlier models had Toyota boxes in. I have learned a lot about our brand in the past few weeks.

I will let you know what my experience is with Dawie. If good I will list him for others who may need somebody in the Brackenfell area.

John,

I will let you know about Dawie and you can decide if you want him to have a look at your gearbox.

Rgds
Gerald

Just some feedback. Took my Pajero to Dawie last Wednesday. He told me it should be done by Friday. Had some complications with some damage which he found in the gearbox and needed to do a bit of stainless steel welding. Checked the welds and it looked good. The reason it would not go into reverse. He replaced all the clutches, the steel plates, the seals and gaskets. It was put on the computer and the transmission memory cleared. I only got the Pajero back today. It still slips out of third ocaasionally. In his opinion it is not mechanical, the computer needs to be reset again. If that does not work, the transmission ECU is the problem. The circle continues. I will keep you posted.

R40,000 later and the service seems to be completed. Still have a bit of a noise when going around a corner, like something under the vehicle is lose, but will check that out over the weekend. My wife says it sounds like a screw driver rolling around. I had to explain to her that there is not enough space in the gearbox for a screw driver to be rolling around.

On the transmission, which seems to be OK now: Received it back after a full recon of the clutches, steel, seals, repair and gaskets. Still same problem, not going into 3rd. Now seemed to be a problem in 2nd, 3rd and 4th. So I took it back. They cleared the computer, computer showed no faults, but problem persisited. Took off the sump took out the valve box and found that 5 valves were stuck. The old clutch material got stuck in the valves. Valve box stripped, cleaned and some minor filing. Got it back yesterday and no problems thus far. Dawie did the work.

I will be taking the Pajero for a test run over the weekend and put it through its paces to see if everything works like it should. Also need to figure out what is making the noise when I go around corners. Sounds like it is near the gearbox.

This service seems to be behind me now. The Pajero drives like a dream. Oh yes, must still take in for the brake booster to be checked by Mitsubishi.

I took my Pajero in for the replacement of the Brake Accumulator this monring. It took 30 minutes, no charge. I think they are doing this for Gen 3 models 2001/2/3. If you have not received a letter to tell you to bring it in, maybe you should phone Mitsubishi and find out if yours is due to be replaced - at their cost. I must say, I was very impressed with the service and the fact that a manufacturer recalls on a part which was fitted ten years ago.

I want to replace my tyres now. Will make a new post to get some advice.

gerald randall wrote:He tells me that some of the Pajeros were fitted with Toyota gearboxes. He had to go under the vehicle and read the gearbox number in order to find the correct parts for the specific VIN number. Mine is a Mitsubishi box. Some of the earlier models had Toyota boxes in. I have learned a lot about our brand in the past few weeks.

What he probably means is that some Pajeros have Aisin gearboxes. Aisin has close ties with Toyota, but is a separate company that has supplied transmissions to many manufacturers (including Mazda, Nissan, General Motors, Daihatsu, FIAT and Porsche).

[quote="Gerrit LoubserWhat he probably means is that some Pajeros have Aisin gearboxes. Aisin has close ties with Toyota, but is a separate company that has supplied transmissions to many manufacturers (including Mazda, Nissan, General Motors, Daihatsu, FIAT and Porsche).[/quote]

True.
AFAIK, Aisin is owned by Toyota.
My Gen1 Pajero had a Aisin auto transmission, which was rubbish (they all overheated).
My Touareg V10 TDi has a 6-spd Aisin transmission, which I love!

To be precise, Aisin Seiki is one of the 18 or so companies that are wholly owned by the Toyota Group, one of the massive Japanese corporations. Other companies in the group include Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), Toyota Auto Body, Denso Corporation, Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors. About 70% of Aisin's production is supplied to TMC, but they are separate companies within the group and Aisin does supply many of TMC's competitors. Presumably this is the reason why the transmissions are branded Aisin and not Toyota.