Mitsubishi Problems

Mitsubishi FTO problems seem to be mainly concerned with the engine’s tappets which can get noisy over time. These are small components in the valve-train that determine the amount of valve clearance (or lash). If the lash becomes too great, the engine will start to sound noisy with a persistent ticking noise that will be worse on start-up.

The problem will surface earlier on cars that have a poor service record as skipped oil changes will accelerate wear in their components. It’s not an especially simple job to adjust the tappets, and many workshops advise to have them replaced rather than adjusted.

We’ve also heard of a few automatic gearbox problems, and these can range from faulty sensors requiring replacement, right up to complete gearbox failure. Again, the car’s service record will be a good indicator of its changes of survival into the future.

Beyond that, the same caveats apply to all performance cars of a certain age: Poor crash damage repairs and electrical glitches that are more annoying than anything else.

The Mitsubishi Pajero is one of the longest running models ever, and was first seen in 2006 in much the same form as today’s version. With that in mind, the vehicle is very much a known quantity and the trade regards the mechanical package highly.

As with any off-road oriented machine, the major thing to check is how the vehicle has been used (and abused) in the past. If it’s highly accessorised with winches, mud tyres, bash plates and lifted suspension, you can be fairly sure it’s had a tough life.

As the vehicle in question approaches 100,000km, you’ll be up for a new timing belt, as that’s the recommended change interval (some say 90,000km). While you’re in there, the advice is to change the water pump and the various tensioners and pulleys at the same time. It’s a lot easier to do it all in one hit than have to open the front of the engine a second time.

On the recall front, the big one to watch is the Takata air-bag fiasco which did affect this model.

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.

Engines are amazing things, Renee. Neglected, they can fall to bits in a surprisingly short space of time. But treat them properly with the correct preventative maintenance and you’d be surprised how far they’ll go before they wear out.

What you haven’t told me is whether your vehicle is diesel or petrol powered. That said, both the diesel and petrol engines fitted to this model Pajero are well regarded in the trade and capable of going the distance if, as you claim, the servicing has been by the book. Over the distance you’ve quoted, I’d expect the diesel to have needed possibly a new turbocharger and definitely new fuel-injectors, while the petrol V6 can cover this distance without any major work.

But while the engine might, indeed, have lots of life left in it, what about all the other components? The brake rotors, shock absorbers, transmission and many other intrinsic parts of the vehicle wear out, too. So, just because the engine is fit and healthy, doesn’t mean the rest of the car will be so tip-top and ready for another 300,000km.

A lot of cars don’t like having a battery that is low on charge or being jump-started. Either of these things can cause the body computer or even the main ECU to start playing up. My guess in this case would be the body-computer which controls the dashboard functions and things like the central locking system.

Before you rush out and pay a mechanic to look at the vehicle, there are a couple of things to try. The first is to take the remote-control for the central locking and hold the button down for at least 30 seconds. Sometimes this is enough to reset the computer and return the vehicle to normal.

If that doesn’t work, get the engine up to temperature, shut it down and carefully disconnect the battery. Leave it that way for at least 30 minutes, reconnect the battery and see if that has produced a reset. You might find the car will run a bit roughly (mainly at idle) at first until the reset computer relearns a few parameters, so be careful on the first drive after trying any of this.

That price sound about right for a manual Lancer with those kilometres on board. If anything, it’s probably a little on the bargain side. A lot of cars need a windscreen to gain a roadworthy certificate, so that’s no big deal and, provided the car is in good condition generally, it sounds like a decent buy.

Common problems with this model often involved the electrical systems, so make sure all the lights and gadgets in the car work properly. Manual lancers also had the odd problem with a gearshift that could become disconnected from the gearbox itself. If that has happened, you’d definitely know about it as you wouldn’t be able to select gears. It’s not a huge fix if it does happen.

Other relatively common faults in this model included a faulty ABS module that needed to be replaced and this can be a big expense. Oil leaks from the front of the engine are also an issue (particularly for a roadworthy inspection). And don’t keep the ignition key in the same pocket as your phone; stray signals can wipe the key’s memory and leave you stranded.

The book price for such a vehicle is really anywhere from $2000 to $4000. Exceptionally well-kept, low-kilometre examples will bring more, tatty ex-work trucks might even be worth less than the lower of those numbers. A quarter of a million kilometres is not ‘just around the block’ either, so you really need to take each example on its individual merits when shopping for something as old as this.

The engines, both the diesel and petrol V6, in this model Triton are both capable of long lives provided they’ve been serviced properly, but there’s the next catch. As cars and utes become less and less valuable, they tend to get serviced more and more infrequently.

Problems you could encounter will run from everything from worn out suspension to rusty bodies, smoky engines, tired gearboxes, shredded interiors and everything else. In fact, if it can go wrong on a vehicle, then it’ll probably go wrong on an old, very second-hand work ute. You might also find that getting it up to a roadworthy condition will cost more than the vehicle itself is worth. At which point, something newer and slightly more expensive might start to look pretty good.

There are three (generally speaking) things that can be causing this problem, Mark. You could have a problem with the clutch, the gear selectors or something internal in the gearbox itself. A worn or collapsed bearing or mangled gear cluster could cause this, but I’d expect other symptoms like horrendous noises and the refusal to select some gears at all, not just randomly. If you’re lucky, the cause could a simple mal-adjustment of the selector mechanism.

Meanwhile, you’ve told me you don’t think there’s anything wrong with the clutch but, to be honest, I’ve seen these same symptoms before on cars with worn out clutches. Sometimes the actuating fingers of the clutch break, other times there’s just too much wear for the clutch to function properly. Sometimes it’s as simple as a leak from the clutch’s hydraulic system or a stretched clutch cable. But either way, clutch problems can certainly cause this sort of grief.

Reverse can be hard to select because the clutch is not disengaging fully, so try this experiment: Turn the engine off and try to engage reverse. If it goes in easily every time and only baulks when the engine is running, that’s a classic case of a dying clutch.

The D-Max is pretty well regarded in the trade for its ability to go the distance, but modern, common-rail diesel technology has shown that a vehicle with fewer kilometres is usually a better bet than one with more. Although they do an amazing job in terms of power, torque, towing and fuel economy, today’s turbo-diesels are pretty highly strung in some ways and really need their maintenance. And the older they get, the more attention they seem to need in terms of new injectors, filters and pumps.

A D-Max with those kilometres might be ready for a pretty big (and expensive) service, too, so make sure your first trip in it isn’t going to be to a workshop. Ultimately, price, condition and service history should steer your decision as they should in any second-hand vehicle purchase. I’d take a vehicle with 150,000km with a full service history over a 60,000km one with no service records.