Pajero 2.8 overheating reputation

colm_mcm

How bad is it really? Is there anything I should be looking out for, Saw one I like for sale and I heard from some people the cooling system gives trouble.

landydef

i had one a few years ago and i had trouble with oil being vacuumed back up into the air filter,i ended up having to get a breather pipe welded between the air intake and the dipstick
in fairness i gave it plenty of abuse but an engine,a gearbox and plenty of man hours of labour later it had to go!

hiluxman

ya have to keep a good eye on the coolant level. If ya have any leaks, sort them straight away or you will end up with a cracked cylinder head. If your buyin one make sure its got coolant in the radiator, not rusty water

mossfort

i had a 94 2.5 one one time.
very reliable jeep it was a jap import with everything electric.
they still look good on the road.

argosy2006

its the 2.5 that has them bad rep,, your jap import went ok for you i know,,, but its the 2.5 with the cooling probs,,, if its the newer 2.8 turbo intercooler its not a prob,, i think 2.8 is more of a engine, it has no timing belt,, chain i think,, but i could be wrong,

mossfort

any one ive heard complaining its about the 2.8 engine which mitsubishi didnt keep for long .
there are thousands of irish and jap model 2.5 pajeros from 1991 to 1996 on the roads and they are a good jeep and the pajero sport has an updated version of the same 2.5 engine.
the only problem with the engine is they are a bit dead on the take off and overtaking.

colm_mcm

There's no way I'm getting a 2.5 - thanks for the tips so far lads. keep them coming!

landydef

landydef wrote: »

i had one a few years ago and i had trouble with oil being vacuumed back up into the air filter,i ended up having to get a breather pipe welded between the air intake and the dipstick
in fairness i gave it plenty of abuse but an engine,a gearbox and plenty of man hours of labour later it had to go!

it was the 2.8 with intercooler that i had problems with! grand jeep and probably would have been grand with a more carefull owner.
it used to cut out at the same place which was about 20ft away from a packed bus stop at the same time every weekday morning for about 6 months

kermitpwee

It was more than likely a problem with the seals inside the actual diesel pump which perish and cause those cutting out problems at the same spot every day. The seals themselves are cheap to replace but its expensive for labour. The only other solution is that the wrong fuel filter was on it. The jap import pajero has a different filter to the irish one and will only run properly on the jap filter.

vibe666

landydef wrote: »

it used to cut out at the same place which was about 20ft away from a packed bus stop at the same time every weekday morning for about 6 months

was it first thing in the morning that it used to happn to yo within few hundred yards of pulling away from your house? if so, it was most likely a leaky fuel pump seal which is a very common problem with the 2.8L mk2 Pajero's.

it's mostly down to people trying to run them on veggie oil at some stage after hearing that they can. unfortunately, although the 2.5L model works grand on veg, the 2.8's were prone to the pump seal problem, which is a couple of quid for new seals and several hundred euro's to get them fitted.

I've had my 1996 2.8L (jap import top spec 'exceed' model) for almost 2 years now and it's hands down the best car I've ever owned and i've had a lot of new and old cars in the past, and I don't ever see myself selling it. even if it does eventually die on me I'll just buy another one, although I might go for a 3.5L petrol and get a gas conversion done on it instead for the extra power.

i've never had any cooling problems with it, she heats up to running temp really quickly thanks to the size of the engine, but always sits at exactly the same spot, slightly below mid-way on the temperature guage and doesn't ever move from there no matter what i'm doing.

the only down side (imho) with all the mk2 Pajero's is bad mileage for the size of the engine, but other than that they're a great car. i wouldn't go for a 2.5L at all though at all, i borrowed one off a mate for a test drive before i bought mine and although it had plenty of pulling power and could probably pull a house down, it couldn't out accellerate a granny in one of those electric wheelchairs.

i drive mine hard and it averages 22mpg per tankful with mostly back road driving, but even driving them at a pedestrian rate you won't get more than 25-28mpg out of one.

i wouldn't ever get rid of her though, she's almost 14 years old now and still has all the bells and whistles you'd expect on a new car, full leather, heated seats, satnav*, tv*, electrically adjustable suspension, dual aircon, heated screens and electric heated folding mirrors, and pretty much everythig else you'd expect on a top end motor. even the missus loves it and she's hard to please when it comes to cars.

and yes, they have a timing chain instead of a belt which will never need changing (touch wood) like a belt would.

(*don't work outside of japan tho)