Mitsubishi Pajero Sport Problems

This problem has occurred before and happens when the pulley rubs through the hose, which finds itself in the wrong position under full turbo-boost. From what I can gather, the problem is due to a running change in supplier of this hose. And even though the hose was a slightly different shape, the manufacturer used the original alignment marks from the previous hose. So, when the mechanic fits the new hose, it places it in the path of the fan pulley when the engine comes on boost.

Ideally, the hose needs to be fitted so that there's at least 25 or 30mm of clearance between itself and the pulley. Your twist-at-the-bottom method should work, because you're effectively altering the incorrect alignment marks to where they should be.

These two vehicles share a lot of traits both in terms of their engineering and their target market. Both are aimed at the high-end of the mid-sized off-road station-wagon market and both do a pretty good job of offering lots of off-road ability along with the sort of luxury and convenience that many families want. In the case of design and engineering they are both based on utilities (the Mitsubishi Triton and Toyota HiLux respectively) and share the drivelines and front structure with those utes. To make them work as passenger rather than load-carrying vehicles, both the Pajero Sport and Fortuner do away with the utilities’ leaf-sprung rear axle and replace it a coil-sprung unit for greatly enhanced comfort.

Both vehicles have had their niggling reliability problems, mainly to do with DPF and some EGR problems, but overall, they’re both now old enough for the majority of the bugs to have been ironed out. Perhaps the biggest packaging difference is that the Pajero Sport is a good deal narrower across the cabin than the Toyota, and that matters for families with bigger kids. Both vehicles were facelifted late last year with new tech and mechanical and performance improvements. Both also have seven seats as standard.

The Mitsubishi is about $4000 cheaper based on RRP than the Toyota, but the final price can vary from dealer to dealer and what state you live in. The best advice is to try each one on for size and maybe even throw in contenders like the Ford Everest as a direct comparison.

This type of problem can have any number of causes. The best option is to have the car scanned electronically to see what fault codes have been logged by the on-board computer.

You could be looking at a fuel issue, something purely mechanical (like the idle-speed set too low) a blocked air-filter, a computer issue or any number of sensors that are not playing ball. But until you interpret the fault codes, you’ll be flying blind and potentially replacing things that aren’t the cause of the stalling problem.

I’d certainly be taking the vehicle back to the workshop that serviced it and pointing out that the problem only occurred after they'd 'fixed' it.

By and large, a car should perform the same day in, day out without any huge (or even noticeable) changes in its performance. So I’d say, yes, something is wrong with your car. As for the cause, well, it could be anything from poor fuel to a faulty battery to a park-brake that is sticking on. It’s impossible to diagnose problems like this one remotely, so have it checked out at a workshop. Continuing to drive it with a fault is asking for more damage to be done.

This is a really common concern, Raj, especially among people like you who are considering their first diesel-powered vehicle. Modern diesels are very efficient and powerful (compared with old-school diesel engines) but those benefits come with some compromises including higher maintenance costs and potential glitches such as the DPF problems you’ve noted.

DPF problems are usually the result of the filter becoming clogged with the soot from the diesel’s exhaust. There’s not much you can do about a diesel engine producing soot (apart from making sure it’s tuned properly to minimise the soot) so the filter is designed to regenerate when it starts to get full. That process requires heat and that’s where the problems start. A vehicle that is only driven around the suburbs often won’t create enough heat in the exhaust system to allow this regeneration to take place. At that point, the filter becomes clogged and requires either manually cleaning or, in some cases, replacing. Neither is a cheap process.

So, what you need to do is to take the vehicle for a drive at highway speeds to allow things to get hot enough for DPF regeneration to take place. This drive needs to be at least about 20 minutes and it needs to happen at least once a month. So the answer to your question is not really how many kilometres you need to drive, but what sort of kilometres. Even if your four-times-a-week trip to work is, indeed, 50km, if it’s all done in stop-start, low-speed traffic, then it won’t be enough.

The bottom line is that a turbo-diesel isn’t really the right vehicle for a lot of urban-based people. The catch there, is that a lot of vehicles that were once available with a choice of petrol or diesel power are now diesel-only propositions. That includes the Pajero Sport, of course.

I’ve heard of a few Mitsubishis whose owners have experience creaks or knocks coming from the steering column, but yours is the first one I’ve heard of where the column has actually separated. The fact that it happened on the move is crazy and makes me wonder whether it was a one-off or whether this could develop into a trend. Like all modern vehicles, the Pajero Sport uses a collapsible steering column which is designed to collapse in a crash to avoid protruding any further into the cabin. Perhaps it’s this joint that has failed, but I really can’t say without looking at the vehicle.

Whether Mitsubishi will offer you your money back will probably be dependent on a few things, including whether the vehicle has been modified in any way and whether it believes those changes may have contributed to the failure.

As well as contacting the dealer – which you clearly have – the other piece of advice would be to contact Mitsubishi Australia’s Customer Service Department on 1300 131211 immediately and get the ball rolling towards a resolution.

You have a very common-sense approach to this Neil, and I agree with your theory 100 per cent. Towing a heavy load in an overdriven gear – whether it’s a manual or automatic gearbox – is not a great idea. Some gearboxes are obviously stronger than others, but even so, I reckon it’s just a good policy based on the principles of mechanical sympathy.

Towing in overdrive places huge stresses on the mechanical components of a gearbox – a piece of equipment that already has its back to the wall with 2.3 tonnes of caravan trying to drag it to a stop – and limiting the load and stresses by sticking with a ratio no higher than direct-drive (1:1) just makes sense. Think of it like your legs when riding a push-bike: Using a higher gear is fine until the driveline starts to load up, such as when climbing a hill (or towing a caravan in your car) at which point you need to shift to a lower gear to avoid your leg muscles exploding.

You’re right in suggesting that your car heads for the higher gears in a hurry to reduce fuel consumption, and this is one of those times when the manufacturer has placed the official fuel-consumption number on the windscreen sticker over common-sense. Not that Mitsubishi is the only offender (far from it) but it remains that the engine and gearbox have been calibrated for maximum fuel economy rather than maximum mechanical sympathy.

Ands let’s be honest, with a big caravan hitched up behind, no vehicle is going to record brilliant fuel consumption figures, is it?

Your towing needs will dictate a big car. Others you could consider are the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Isuzu MU-X, Holden Trailblazer, or Ford Everest.

There’s nothing on the horizon to say it will be soon, or even this year.

The Pajero is a rugged vehicle that is very good on-road and off, it is roomy, safe and well equipped, while the Prado is a large, reliable, and tough seven-seater. It’s very comfortable, but the diesel’s performance is lacklustre. It’s hard to beat the Pajero.