Mitsubishi Problems

While the basic mechanical package of the Express was reasonably well-sorted, any reliability issues for any commercial vehicle 13 years on will almost certainly be down to how the van has been used and how it's been maintained.

Check the service history. If there is none, be very wary. Also, try to find out what industry the vehicle has worked in until now. Some tasks are far more likely to shorten a vehicle's lifespan than others.

Also, have a close look at what the vehicle is trying to tell you. Is the driver's seat damaged on the bolsters where a driver has made thousands of deliveries? If so, you might be looking at a vehicle that has spent all its life in urban running. Does the vehicle have a tow-bar fitted, suggesting it might have lugged heavy loads around. Don't ignore the vital sings, either; is the oil clean? Are there any mechanical noises? It's amazing what close observation can reveal.

If it's as simple as the AdBlue sensor not telling the computer that more AdBlue has been added to the tank, then yes, it would seem like a pretty simple fix. But it may not be that simple. If there's a blockage in the tank or the line that takes the AdBlue to the car's exhaust (where it's injected into the exhaust to reduce harmful tailpipe emissions) then the car may still 'think' that there's no AdBlue on board.

There could also be more to restarting an engine that has shut itself down than simply adding more AdBlue, too. Perhaps there's a specific restarting procedure that has to be followed, perhaps involving resetting the computer manually. One would imagine, however, that a dealership that sells the cars new would be aware of this.

It's not unheard of for a brand-new component to be faulty straight out of the box. However, the more logical explanation for your car refusing to start after the crank angle sensor was replaced is that the sensor was not the problem in the first place.

Instead of continuing to replace random components that may or may not fix the problem, you really need to find the problem and then tackle it with new parts. Scanning the car's electronics will often throw up the answer, but it could also be something as simple as the car having sat for a few months and the fuel going stale in the process. The causes of a no-start condition are endless.

The eyebrow height is measured from the centre of the wheel, vertically to the edge of the wheel arch. The vehicle needs to be on flat ground and unladen for this measurement to be taken. In the case of a 2014 Challenger, the standard front eyebrow height is 542mm and the rear eyebrow height is 552mm.

The manual transmission in this car side-stepped one of the bigger faults with the Pajero. In automatic form, the transmission cooler which ran inside the radiator could split, allowing the coolant and transmission fluid to mix. If this happened, the transmission was often ruined. No such problem with the manual, however.

But really, the scope for problems in a car this old that also happens to be an off-roader is huge. Age and kilometres are never kind to vehicles, and a Pajero of this age has probably covered plenty of ground. Also, if it has been used as its maker intended (that is, off-road) then you need to check things like wheel bearings, differential fluids and suspension parts for damage and wear. Are the chassis rails showing signs of having clobbered hundreds of rocks in the past? Do all the body panels line-up or are there signs of the metal having been bent and twisted in the bush?

Even if the car has never been off-road (and you can confirm this) there's still all the old-car checks to make. Have the engine compression tested to make sure there's not excessive internal wear and listen carefully for any clunks, bangs or grinding noises. Then go through the car from top to bottom making sure every switch, handle and lever does what it is supposed to.

These can be really good second-hand buys, but the wrong Pajero, like the wrong example of any car, can break your heart and empty your wallet. If in doubt, have a Pajero specialist or your state motoring club independently check the car for you and get a written report.

Plenty of people have successfully converted vans and small busses into campervans. The reason some are more successful than others is often down to the previous life the vehicle has lived and what sort of preventative maintenance it has been treated to.

A vehicle that has been serviced properly and used carefully is likely to be a good thing even with a few years and plenty of kilometres on board. But one that has been used and abused and neglected in terms of maintenance is not a vehicle you want to be buying second-hand, regardless of make or model.

So make sure the vehicle has a complete service history and try to find out a bit about what it was used for. Does it have a big tow-bar fitted? If so, it's probably towed some heavy loads and that places stresses on every part of the vehicle. Is there any sign-writing on the vehicle (or shadows on the paint where corporate logos once were)? If so, the vehicle has almost certainly been used commercially and may or may not have been driven sympathetically by the company apprentice.

Treat it like an archaeology project, and you'll be amazed what you can learn. Meantime, a privately owned Express van with full service history is the one you want, but be prepared to pay more for such a thing.

Perhaps part of the reason for the car's high fuel consumption is your statement that it goes like the clappers. Drive it like that and fuel consumption can spiral. That's especially so of this model which, with its all-wheel-drive, had quite a bit more driveline friction than the front-wheel-drive Magnas.

However, 20 litres per 100km on the highway suggests there's something else contributing, so an electronic scan of the car should throw up problems like a blocked catalytic converter, stretched timing chains, or a lock-up torque converter that isn't locking up. Don't forget the basics such as tyre pressures, binding brakes and even the condition of the fuel system including the pump, filter and injectors. One or more fuel injectors which are worn and prone to dribbling when they should be shut off can easily cause fuel consumption to spike.

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.

This model Challenger did have a history of engine overheating, largely due to poor surface preparation between the cylinder head and crankcase, allowing coolant to be consumed by the engine. Mitsubishi made production changes that resulted in a smoother head-gasket mating surface, but that's no help to owners of the earlier version.

In any case, that probably shouldn't affect the transmission and if it's dropping into neutral of its own accord then something – possibly electronic – is going wrong., It's unlikely to be a limp-home response as being in neutral doesn't allow you to limp anywhere, let alone home. But it could be a legitimate response to a transmission heat situation. Have you checked the level of transmission fluid?

A scan of the vehicle might throw up a clue, but it could also easily be something as simple as a transmission selector that is poorly adjusted and allowing the gearbox to select neutral on rough on uneven ground. Another possibility is that the transmission is, indeed, getting hot as a result of the engine temperature creeping up. The transmission cooler is part of the engine's cooling system, so the two are definitely linked.