Pajero 3.2 di-d looses coolant

Seamus1964

Hi!

2003 mitsubishi shogun 3.2 DID diesel, automatic 270 000 km on it.


Bought it yesterday and drove home (approx 75mile trip) First 15-20 miles temp needle jumped up high on red, then after few minutes back to normal.
Then up again to red, and back to normal again. Few times after jumping up-down it finally stayed on middle - normal position for rest of the trip.
Van drove smoothly, no problems. Seller suspected temp sensor problem, so, easy to fix he said.

Today morning looked under the bonnet - coolant box was empty, just a drop left at the bottom!

So I topped coolant up to the level and drove 20 mile continous.
Temp gauge needle first 10 miles start to jump again high to -back to normal level unusually quick way. Last 10 miles stabilisated back on normal and stayed there.
Van drove smoothly, no hickups, no rattles, no warning lights on dashboard.
End of the trip I let it to cool down about 10 minutes an checked coolant level - box was empty again, just a drop on the bottom. ?

Radiator cap had very little white stuff on it.Nothing unusual like massive whitey bubbles or so.
Engine running fine, no rattles no knocks.
I cant smell much nothing unusual something like coolant vaporising away from exhaust.

Topped up coolant, cleaned radiator cap, oil cap and left to run on driveway approx 30 minutes, coolant level stays ok, no liquid loss.Temp needle behaves ok.
Stopped engine, checked oil level, seems to be ok
Opened oil top up cap - no white bubble stuff on it
Opened radiator cap - tiny bit white stuff has been built up on it.

Cleaned caps again and started engine one more time.
Temp needle went stright up to the red and after 3 minutes "breathing" on high level it game down to normal level again and stayed there ok rest of the time.
After half'n hour stopped engine and checked caps. Oil cap is clean, nothing unusual. Water cap reamained clean this time.
Oil level is ok. Coolant level remains ok, no liquid loss.

I suspect that water pump does not work properly and needs to be replaced. And waterpump fail is related with coolant leak on system (pipes or radiator)
Am I right? I dont want to even think about possible head gasket problem..

Edit:

Local lad advised to change rad cap. And I did
Good news is that I seems to not loosing any more coolant but temperature needle stays up on red all the time, does not bounce back to normal any more like it used to do..

After short drive I opened rad cap (hot hot) and radiator "vomited" out some water with goodbit of white clompy stuff pieces.

navara man

Seamus1964 wrote: »

. Seller suspected temp sensor problem, so, easy to fix he said..

why would you believe the seller

Eric Cartman

Seamus1964 wrote: »

Hi!

2003 mitsubishi shogun 3.2 DID diesel, automatic 270 000 km on it.


Bought it yesterday and drove home (approx 75mile trip) First 15-20 miles temp needle jumped up high on red, then after few minutes back to normal.
Then up again to red, and back to normal again. Few times after jumping up-down it finally stayed on middle - normal position for rest of the trip.
Van drove smoothly, no problems. Seller suspected temp sensor problem, so, easy to fix he said.

Today morning looked under the bonnet - coolant box was empty, just a drop left at the bottom!

So I topped coolant up to the level and drove 20 mile continous.
Temp gauge needle first 10 miles start to jump again high to -back to normal level unusually quick way. Last 10 miles stabilisated back on normal and stayed there.
Van drove smoothly, no hickups, no rattles, no warning lights on dashboard.
End of the trip I let it to cool down about 10 minutes an checked coolant level - box was empty again, just a drop on the bottom. ?

Radiator cap had very little white stuff on it.Nothing unusual like massive whitey bubbles or so.
Engine running fine, no rattles no knocks.
I cant smell much nothing unusual something like coolant vaporising away from exhaust.

Topped up coolant, cleaned radiator cap, oil cap and left to run on driveway approx 30 minutes, coolant level stays ok, no liquid loss.Temp needle behaves ok.
Stopped engine, checked oil level, seems to be ok
Opened oil top up cap - no white bubble stuff on it
Opened radiator cap - tiny bit white stuff has been built up on it.

Cleaned caps again and started engine one more time.
Temp needle went stright up to the red and after 3 minutes "breathing" on high level it game down to normal level again and stayed there ok rest of the time.
After half'n hour stopped engine and checked caps. Oil cap is clean, nothing unusual. Water cap reamained clean this time.
Oil level is ok. Coolant level remains ok, no liquid loss.

I suspect that water pump does not work properly and needs to be replaced. And waterpump fail is related with coolant leak on system (pipes or radiator)
Am I right? I dont want to even think about possible head gasket problem..

Edit:

Local lad advised to change rad cap. And I did
Good news is that I seems to not loosing any more coolant but temperature needle stays up on red all the time, does not bounce back to normal any more like it used to do..

After short drive I opened rad cap (hot hot) and radiator "vomited" out some water with goodbit of white clompy stuff pieces.

is there any white goo on the oil filler cap ?

sounds like your thermostat is staying closed there mate, this shouldnt be a big job but Id get the water pump and thermostat changed asap.If the gauge is still doing that after get the sensor checked / changed too.

Thelostcountry

Dont mean to burst your bubble but it sounds like you bought a lemon. Private sale was it?? did you meet at his house?? (i wouldn't think so)
He knew what he was selling.

The reason the old rad cap was "damaged"(by the seller i guess) was to stop pressure bill up! hence, with new cap its going into the red! I would say he also removed the thermostat to buy more time.

do you have interior heat?

top and bottom rad hot?

101sean

As EC says, check the cheap and obvious before panicking!

Also check the wiring from the temp sensor for shorting which would send gauge in to the red intermittently.

Seamus1964

Thanks for all the answers!

There is no white goo on oil filler cap and when I pulled stick out oil looks rather black than grey. Only place where white goo appears is rad filler cap.Not a lot but it is there.
When I cleaned rad cap and as far I could reach into rad hole with tissue, it appears again after engine was running little while.

Radiator remains cool, slightly warm (all the time) Top and bottom rad pipes do not go hot. They are not cold, but might be slightly warm.
Even when I left motor running on driveway about whole hour (my previous post 2x 30min test) did not turn electric fan on at all. And that was a bit suprising for me.

Cabin heater works ok, if you close a door you can get room warm (or hot) within 5-10 minutes no problem. Nothing unusual like too quick or too long time to wait.

Seller told me that he did just before selling van to me long trip to north and back towing trailer and did not notice anything problematic. Not that I believe everything, but another hand, when I drove home and that was all toghether over one hour trip aswell, there really was'nt any noticeable change when driving. And I believe that if there was serious problem it should show up by then, but I can be wrong. I have no idea how long you can drive with headgasket gone or waterpump gone before engine packs up..

Eric Cartman

sounds definitely like a thermostat is closed there mate, the electric fan may only come on with the aircon turned on, the engine should have a permanently going fan

Seamus1964

Thanks

sully27

Seen on a few sites the gauge on the dash is a common problem on the 3.2's.