[Just DI-D it]

Please point me in the right direction here.

Had a 2002 3.2di-d LWB a few years back, saw an aluminium BOCAR bumper advertised on gumtree and bought it. A friend did the fitment and sed it was pretty straight forward.
I have since sold that car, but kept the bumber (knew I would buy a Pajero again).
I have done so, this time a 2004 3.2di-d LWB. I tried fitting the bumper myself thinking it would be a simple case of removing the stock one and replacing with the aftermarket one.
Not the case. There is no holes to fasten the bumper brackets and there's a big black plastic box under the right headlight in the way where you need to fasten the right side bracket.

Was I wrong in thinking that the 02 and 04 model would be exactly the same under the front bumper?

[Davidvan]

Hi,

I had mine fitted where I bought it (Nudge-m), and I saw it was a real mission to fit. The black item you are referring to may be the windscreen washer fluid bottle, it is rather large and under the right front headlight. I have the 2001 model but this does sound similar. If that is the case then you need a new washer bottle, bracket and motor. They used a nissan 1400 bottle and motor and made a bracket to fit, and that works well. Bottle is a bit on the small side, but not a big issue thus far.

If you need a few pics, just shout.

Cheers

David

[Nick Gibson]

I just had burnco replacement steel bumper fitted yesterday. I like the look of it, no too busy and functional, excuse the terrible cel-phone quality pic, my lens is poked.

I see they moved my windscreen washer bottle to the space between the radiator and the bumper as it was always in front of the right front wheel behind the plastic bumper. On another note I am not happy as my paj is running a lot hotter then it did before the bumper was fitted, I think it has to do with there not being any cooling slots/vents in the number plate area. I am going to speak to Dino Burnett and see what we can do. It was 38 deg yesterday and my Madman stated screaming about the coolant temp hitting 105deg C.... with me testing it by cruising at about 150-160kph for 5 minutes... (which I used to do comfortably without the temp going above 84-87deg C for hours on end).

Will post with answers soon.

[Just DI-D it]

Thanx guys.

Hi David, yes, some pics would be very helpfull.
Me and a friend will be attempting this job next week

CJ

[Davidvan]

Hi CJ,

Attached is a pic of the new washer bottle, if tis is what you are looking for will do the paparazzi thing and take loads more pics.

Nick, I have got the Nudgem fitted, and has 6 holes for airflow, have not bnoticed any change in temperature on my V6. Some pics below as well which may be useful.

I am looking at spot lights for my bumper and changing the indicators to clear LED type units, any suggestions?

Cheers

David

[andrew.ashton]

Many moons ago I had an ARB bar fitted to my paj.

The other day I wanted to get to the electric fan in front of the radiator.

Guess what? It looks like I may have to remove the whole front bumper to pull the front OEM grille section out (the part with the Mitsu badge on). If that is the case then all I can say is the ARB design is lacking in fore thought.

So make sure that whatever front bar you put on does not cause access difficulties.

[Nick Gibson]

Hi CJ,

Attached is a pic of the new washer bottle, if tis is what you are looking for will do the paparazzi thing and take loads more pics.

Nick, I have got the Nudgem fitted, and has 6 holes for airflow, have not bnoticed any change in temperature on my V6. Some pics below as well which may be useful.

I am looking at spot lights for my bumper and changing the indicators to clear LED type units, any suggestions?

Cheers

David

Hi David

I took my bumper back to burnco on Friday and they cut 5 big slots in the bottom of the bumper, all in the same area as your three lower slots (see your lower arrows). It is still running approx 10 deg hotter(92-98 now vs 82-89 prev), but I only pick it up due to my Madman which is digital, my analogue dash temp gauge stays in the same spot...

I am going to look for a bottle like you have fitted, the original one blocks too much airflow for my liking, as it blocks half of the 5 slots cut into the bottom of the bumper. Will post pics of the slots later today.

I am also going to remove my radiator and try to clean the fins up and blow the aircon condenser and radiator out with a compressor (from back to front). I will also try to carefully bend all the damaged fins straight to try and get better airflow through the radiators.

On another note the ATF is also running hotter at 75-85 deg C now vs 60-75 deg C previously, however I am no too worried as this is still well within operating temperature.

[andrew.ashton]

I am also going to remove my radiator and try to clean the fins up and blow the aircon condenser and radiator out with a compressor (from back to front). I will also try to carefully bend all the damaged fins straight to try and get better airflow through the radiators.

On another note the ATF is also running hotter at 75-85 deg C now vs 60-75 deg C previously, however I am no too worried as this is still well within operating temperature.

Hi Nick,

I my temperature needle has been giving me a few frights and I have been looking into this.

Apart from the normal like radiator cap, thermostat, viscous coupling, water pump, belts etc. these are what I have found:

1. It seems like my electric fan does not come on when the vehicle is hot - e.g. if I stop at a filling station after a highway run then the needle shows towards red if I start up again after say ten minutes - but I hear the fan cutting in if I start the engine from cold and then let it idle for 10 or 15 minutes. (Anyone have any ideas?)
2. On almost every Paj I have lifted the bonnet on the T-shaped foam rubber seal that is supposed to surround the front of the radiator (i.e. between condenser and radiator) has self-destructed. This foam rubber strip should be fixed to the top, sides and bottom of the condenser and touch, but not be glued to, the radiator (because the glue can cause the header tank to crack along the glue line). Lift the lid on a showroom floor new one and you will see what I mean

Some of this has me mystified - e.g. why would the tranny oil run hotter? I have an ARB but no winch so would not expect the external ATF cooler to lack airflow. Maybe it is just a gradual gel-up of the radiator and the reduced efficiency then causes the ATF temp to also rise?

[Nick Gibson]

I am also going to remove my radiator and try to clean the fins up and blow the aircon condenser and radiator out with a compressor (from back to front). I will also try to carefully bend all the damaged fins straight to try and get better airflow through the radiators.

On another note the ATF is also running hotter at 75-85 deg C now vs 60-75 deg C previously, however I am no too worried as this is still well within operating temperature.

Hi Nick,

I my temperature needle has been giving me a few frights and I have been looking into this.

Apart from the normal like radiator cap, thermostat, viscous coupling, water pump, belts etc. these are what I have found:

1. It seems like my electric fan does not come on when the vehicle is hot - e.g. if I stop at a filling station after a highway run then the needle shows towards red if I start up again after say ten minutes - but I hear the fan cutting in if I start the engine from cold and then let it idle for 10 or 15 minutes. (Anyone have any ideas?)
2. On almost every Paj I have lifted the bonnet on the T-shaped foam rubber seal that is supposed to surround the front of the radiator (i.e. between condenser and radiator) has self-destructed. This foam rubber strip should be fixed to the top, sides and bottom of the condenser and touch, but not be glued to, the radiator (because the glue can cause the header tank to crack along the glue line). Lift the lid on a showroom floor new one and you will see what I mean

Some of this has me mystified - e.g. why would the tranny oil run hotter? I have an ARB but no winch so would not expect the external ATF cooler to lack airflow. Maybe it is just a gradual gel-up of the radiator and the reduced efficiency then causes the ATF temp to also rise?

Hi Andrew

When I bought my Pajero, I saw the previous owner had fitted some sealing foam(the type you get at builders with the adhesive tape on one side) in the gap on the sides between the AC condenser & the radiator to fill the gap, and he had fitted a thin plastic strip on top between the two radiators to prevent air leakage. The sealing foam has got hard with age so it does not compress as well as it did and then expand to stay put, so I will replace this as well as cleaning the radiators out and fixing the fins.

The ATF runs first through a radiator within the coolant radiator (in the bottom) to bring the ATF up to operating temp quicker, and then in runs into the small rectangular radiator to top left of the AC condenser, if looked at from the front, to cool it down if it gets too hot - the autobox likes the ATF temp within a very specific range. My theory is the coolant radiator is running hotter thus heating the ATF up more that it used to and add to that poorer airflow to both ATF rad and coolant radiator is getting due to the steel bumper.

BTW the Pajero had 5 radiators, 2 x ATF(one actually a heat exchanger), 1 x oil cooler, 1 x AC condensor and 1 x coolant radiator. So the vehicle produces a tremendous amount of heat that need to be dissipated, which we are not helping by putting a big steel bumper in the way...

The electric fan only runs when the AC is on to help with the additional heat generated by the AC condensor getting hot with the AC on, so don't look at that, rather at you viscous fan. It should kick in when your engine gets hot (92-95 and above), it sounds like a truck when running properly.

The dash temp gauge is quite deceiving as once the vehicle get to operating temp(82 deg C) it stays level even when the temp fluctuates between 82 - 100, thereafter it climbs quickly... at 105 deg C (where my madman alarm is set) it was only 3/4 to the red zone.

[Davidvan]

Hi,

Sorry it does look like we are hijacking this thread a little but all good to know when fitting the aftermarket bar. To carry on hijacking this thread, Andrew also look out for the little known faulty temp gauge which is caused by dry solder joints on the small green pc board behind the instrument cluster. I had this issue on my gen3 2001 model. There are a few post on the site around this issue. I am sending via my Blackberry which can be a mission to search with. The symptoms include the temp going straight past the Red line then come back down again, then go and stay in the red for a while and drop, do this over and over. I replaced the radiator cap, water pump, coolant, sensors had radiator cleaned and rodded at Silverton. Then tried an external gauge and confirmed that I was affected by this issue. Would be a good one to test. I have seen some guys have had success re-soldering the joints on the board. On a different note how much does the madman cost?

It cost around R1200 to replace the board BUT it also resets your mileage on the Paj, so I have got a brand new 2001 model with only 16000 km's on the clock ....plus VAT which makes it a true 151000kms.

Cheers

David