Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

I have had another issue with my Pajero...

It started using a little coolant about 3 weeks ago, not a lot to begin with but got progressively worse toward the end with coolant not being sucked back into the radiator from the overflow bottle anymore.

I took her to Silvertons for a pressure test (we also did a load test as against the torque converter & first gear to about 2500RPM - to check for a possible head leak), they said my radiator was a little dirty and my cap failed the 0.9bar pressure test, but no other leaks were visible and the pumped pressure (1.4bar) stayed consistent during the load test.

They then chemically cleaned my radiator and pressure tested it under water in a tank, all passed and we fitted new 0.9bar radiator cap. I took it home and was told to keep topping up with coolant for 3 days due to possible airlocks in the system.

I went back to silvertons last week Friday (28/08/2015) due to it still losing coolant after the 3 days period. I had no coolant contamination in engine oil, ATF or any sign of any white steam out of exhaust either. They pressurized the system for an hour, but the pressure dropped about 0.1bar every 10 minutes or so and we could not see any leaks on the system. We also did another high load test up to 2500RPM again in first gear (against the brakes and torque converter), nothing out of the ordinary except the slight pressure loss once switched off again. I left silvertons with a 5 lt container of coolant (for good measure) to go away for the weekend to Breede River with friends later in the day.

We left Cape Town at about 16h00 and later stopped in Robertson for a quick snack, and when I started the Pajero again I saw the very first dreaded puff of white smoke/steam of the exhaust. We then drove cautiously on toward Swellendam, and about 20 minutes later just over a hill my MadMan started screaming "LOSS OF COOLANT" and over temp of 105 Deg C, with huge billowing clouds of white steam out the exhaust, my heart sank.

I pulled over and switched off and let things cool down, and refilled the radiator which was quite empty. We limped down to the river which was closer than going home – refilling every 15-20 minutes or so. We left on Sunday for home and again also stopping every 20 minutes to refill the radiator and still leaving a plume of steam in our wake.
Once home I decided to pull the head for inspection, took me Sunday night and Monday night to get all the bits off to get the head off, quite a job. In order to get the head off, the exhaust manifold must come off, including turbo and down-pipe due to the studs on the block – that took Sunday night.

Monday night I pulled the intake side of things; injectors, pipes, intake manifold, and lastly the head. Once opened I saw the inside of the engine was in bad way, scuff marks on the sleeves lots of carbon on the head and to my worst fear, I saw cracks in the sleeves of piston no.2 & 3…. See pics.
I am not sure of what to do, this is after reading all the horror stories of failed 4m41 engine re-builds. I am trying to find a second hand engine to fit - but not-one has in stock of the injector pump type. I could only find a 4m41 DiDc motor low milage import motor, but as I understand only the block is the same and I would have to build all the ancillary bits over to it from my old block –vacuum pump, injector pump gears, head, etc. I am also weary of buying a motor from a wreck, as it might have still been running in a roll over or have loss of coolant due to a burst radiator and thus sustained severe damage.

I am looking into having it re-build as a last resort, do any of the Cape twon member know of a reputable engineering shop to do the re-sleeve of the block for me? Any advice would be appreciated.

No man Nick!!!

Are these pictures of the inside of the head or the block? Sorry, might be silly question but I am not mechanic. I am still intrigued to know why my old Snoopy never got right perfectly after my rebuild and it seems you are walking the same route unfortunately

If this is the block and the head is OK then maybe just get new block? Dont know cost on that? If this is the head then a new head is not that costly in the bigger scheme of things.

If I had to redo mine again, with hindsight, I would have either gotten a second hand engine, which unfortunately is very scarce as you also picked up, or do a complete sub assembly rebuild which at that stage worked out to around R90000(!) from the agents, but given all my hassles afterwards with just the pump and head rebuild I would still have taken this option which would hopefully have resolved my issues in the long run. Who knows?

Strongs! If there is anyone that know where you are emotionally currently then it is me!

CATS

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Don't have any advice but I hope I never need to ask the same question

Cats,
Those pics were taken of the engine block, looking down into the cylinders, with a piston just visible at the bottom.

I may drive a petrol V6, but I had three of those DiD's. My respect for them is immense and I feel a genuine, deep hurt when I hear of one that failed.

Is that damage from overheating or coolant entering the combustion chamber?

I am definitely having the injectors tested again but unfortunately I have been a bit busy this week at work, it looks to me like the pistons hve damage on the top.

I had them tested at the beginning of the year and they were still in the dual pop pressure spec, and all had good atomisation of the diesel- maybe they had deteriorated faster than I anticipated. I am not sure why the sleeve cracked, but it and the pistons really look to be in a bad way...

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Some more pictures

So those crystals are probably left over antifreeze that seeped in there and burned away? The pistons don't seem to have any holes or cracks in them as far as I can see on the picks. Are you sure the water did not just get in through a stuffed gasket?

CATS

HI Cats

Yes, those crystals are left over from the Anti-freeze, they are also in the exhaust port of that cylinder. I am going to try to take the head in for a pressure test for interest sake and also the injectors to be pop & spray tested again. I will take a video of the test for prosperity sake and post it here as well.

The gasket looks fine and I cant see any cracks between the valves, so at his stage I doubt it is the gasket (& hopefully not the head either).

See close up of piston damage here:

Hi Nick

I have seen this happen on other vehicles before and have had a few motors re-sleeved before.

I made use of Automotive Dynamix in Brackenfell next to Goodhope Spares.

I done 4 sleeves and had it decked for R1800, The sleeves were like R75 each

Most engine re-builders/ engineering places should be able to assist you

Depending on the state of the side/skirts of the pistons I don't think the damage on the piston face is too bad, they might be able to clean that up and balance the bottom end for you when they done smoothing things out on the piston face.

The whole block would need to be sent in for the re-sleeving so the assembly would need to happen on a bench or stand making it much quicker and getting timing setup a dream.

You will definitely need to get a Deco Set (all gaskets and seals) , rings and bearings to do the job.

While the head is off you might want to send it in for valve stem seals (part of your deco set) and have it cleaned just for piece of mind.

I am no mechanic and have never done one of these engines before so I am just giving the little advise I have from my years of mechanical experiences I have had.
I don't think you going to have any luck getting a replacement engine for less than what it would cost you should you do it yourself and through engineers.

Good luck and shout if you need some assistance.

and thank you for such a detailed report, Nick