Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi all

Some minor general questions

1. I have 97 3.5 LWB that seems to blowing water pipes left right and centre. My wife uses it to tow her very heavy Roof Truss trailer at least three times a week. And she's blown a diff pipe almost every trip. Could this be caused by old pipes or do I need to start looking at the Head??

2. What can I do to get the front lights a bit brighter. Even the head light seems a bit dull.

3. And would it be worth while to put the new Munroe Magnum Shocks on instead of OM Emu's?? Price is considerably diff.

4. And lastly I saw on the 4x4 comm a set of branches would it be okay to put a second set in or should I rather look at new ones.

[admin note: post moved out of campfire so as not to get deleted in the monthly campfire cleanup]

AndreBenson wrote: 1. I have 97 3.5 LWB that seems to blowing water pipes left right and centre. My wife uses it to tow her very heavy Roof Truss trailer at least three times a week. And she's blown a diff pipe almost every trip. Could this be caused by old pipes or do I need to start looking at the Head??

Look at the radiator cap. It should be rated at 0.9bar. Get a genuine mitsubishi one. If it keeps blowing pipes I'm afraid your headgsket is probably blown.

AndreBenson wrote:
2. What can I do to get the front lights a bit brighter. Even the head light seems a bit dull.

AndreBenson wrote:

3. And would it be worth while to put the new Munroe Magnum Shocks on instead of OM Emu's?? Price is considerably diff.

OME's are very nice. Unless you really gonna go all out rather spend it on other kit or a holiday

AndreBenson wrote:

4. And lastly I saw on the 4x4 comm a set of branches would it be okay to put a second set in or should I rather look at new ones.

They breath very well as it is already. IMHO the branches extra few KW's aren't worth the $.

Thanx for the info

Just to clarify.

1. Would she not overheat if the headgasket has blown??

2. Where can I get these relay's??

4. So even if the branches are a R1000 bucks, not really worth it.

1. Not always.
2. Standard automotive relay can be bought at midas or autozone or sometimes even your local hardware shop.
3. That's relative to your income. Some people earn a lot so don't mind spending a lot for small gains. It won't make you go 'WOW!'

It might not be a bad thing to do a pressure test on your engine to double check that you have not blown a gasget. Blowing pipes so often is a sign of some underlying cause, either perished rubber pipes or a blown gasget. If it was my vehicle I would not chance the old pipes as you never know when the next one is going to blow so I would replace them all, cheaper than replacing a motor and better than sitting on the side of the road. An engine with a leaky head gasget under heavy load can pressurize the cooling system to the point that it will pop a pipe before it has time to overheat
I do not agree with the advice on the suspension. We are talking safety here and the OME system is far superior to the standard stuff, it makes a Pajero behave like a plat kar on a race track. It is expensive but in my books well worth the expense. You mention that your wife tows heavy loads, that in it self makes it worth the effort.
The relay is good advice just make sure you use wire that can take the load and put a fuse in line, I would also rewire the earth as a bad earth is often the cause for bad results and often overlooked. Another bit more expensive but not as invasive advice would be to uprate the globes to night breakers. they are of the same wattage but their output is something to see. Well worth the effort.
There are mixed responses from guys regarding branches. some swear by it and others complain that the power shift makes matters worse. Changing the exhaust or inlets on an engine tends to not only increase power but also to shift the max usable power to a higher rpm range that can impact on your off road ability, if you do not use your vehicle on real hard trails but mostly on tar it could be a positive move.

Henk

Thanx for all your replies.

So lets play devils advocate and say it's the head gasket. Who can tell how much in for and what needs to be done. I know there are too many mechies out there trying to rip every one off.

And should I do the head while its open?? And the BIG question +- how many RRRRRRR

Those are a pain to work on due to the twin cams per bank.

Get a mechanic friend to help you take the heads off.

send them in and ask that they 'deck' the heads and check the cam journals for straightness.

While you have the head out I would have them check/replace the valve seats, guides and stem seals.

replace the cam cover gasket with the new design - one piece rubber.

Replace the cambelt while you have it off. ( You might have to get the crank bolt out - it has to be replaced )

I think the crank bolt is the same as the 3.0l

these are the old bolts



the new bolt for 3.0 is on the right
the new bolt for 3.5 is on the left


Observe torque specs for crank bolt. The 3.0 is 184 Nm.

Re-assemble the head but make sure of the headbolt's length so that they don't bottom out and give false torque reading without pulling the head tight to the block.

ONLY use the genuine mitsu headgasket.

I don't know what the price would be if you have this done by a workshop but it will be hefty if they do as mentioned.

Before we start ripping thing out and sending away for engineering get a mechie friend with a compression tester to help you check the compression. Ideally you don't want more than a 10% variation on the cylinders. Another few pointers to gasget failure are water in the oil, it makes a whitish creamy substance, oil in the cooling system and with a motor on operating temp you might see bubbles in the radiator. When opening the radiator be CAREFUL it is under pressure and if you don't watch it you can get burnt pretty badly, you will have to open the radiator. I would suggest you open the radiator and start it, then let it go to operating temp. Often a small gap in the gasget does not show up on a cold engine but with expansion of a warm motor it shows itself. If you don't have any of the above signs the compression test will have to be done to make absolutely sure.
I realise the twin cam motors are not the easiest to work on so I keep fingers crossed for you but if worse comes to worst remember one step at a time

@ 4ePikanini

He! He! You make it sound soooooooo easy!. I can see myself in a pair of overalls, spanner in the one hand and a glass of red wine in the other...........

I have updated my post above regarding the new crank bolts.

the new bolt for 3.0 is right and the 3.5 is left.

Good read here

https://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/sh ... hp?t=44226

and

https://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/sh ... hp?t=44249