Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi, I am a new member on the forum. I have however been a keen visitor to the forum and I have been driving Pajero's for quite a while now.
I never had major trouble with my Pajero's until yesterday. I used my wife's 2002 3.2 DiD Pajero on Monday to Pretoria and all was fine.
When I wanted to use the vehicle again yesterday morning, it was jerking a lot and there was a grinding noise as if the gears were running dry coming from the gearbox when I wanted to reverse. In drive it was doing the same.
I immediately switched off, checked the atf level, which was above the required level and phone my mechanic. He told me to put the car in drive whilst keeping the handbrake on and also my foot on the brake and ref the car slightly as he suspected the torque converter for a reason unknown to me ran dry during the night.
I did that and after a while things were better and I could drive the car.
My mechanics are now of the opinion that I will have to look for a good second-hand gearbox, but this is not cheap and I would first like to hear from all the knowledgeable guys if this is my only option
Regards
Kobus

Hi Kobus,

What is the km reading on your car and has it received fresh transmission oil every 60k km?

I recommend you start off by checking the oil level in the correct way: gearbox warm, car parked level, while at idle take box through all the gear selections and then check the oil level.

If the level isn't correct, fix that first. Level must be spot on, not too high or low. I believe damaged oil will smell "off" and the bright colour will be missing as well.

If in doubt, get a full oil flush and filter change done before considering an expensive box change or overall.

I hope all ends well for you.
Good luck,
roelf

Roelf,

Thanks for the prompt reply - The car has +-300k kms on the clock. I wont say that the oil was replaced every 60k kms, but I did change the oil 20k kms back with the Diaqueen ATF SP 3 and to me the oil doesn't look or smell bad.

The level however looks too high and I will do a full oil flush and filter change before changing the box.

Will keep you posted on the outcome.

Kobus

Is the dreaded 300 000km gearbox monster sticking its ugly head out again?

Please keep us posted, we need to learn to get a better understanding of how to look after these boxes.