The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

Miner

Hi folks.... second post now..... just bought a 2011 SWB 3.8L Pajero from a British/Chinese ex-pat who was returning from Dubai to the UK, looked to be a great buy.... low mileage, extended warranty, decent seller needing to get rid as moving back to the UK, haggled a good price for tyres and a bumper scuff....

Sounds great.... car is now dead in the car port at mine, luckily we were in two cars as we were picking furniture up, or we'd have been snookered as the house isnt ready yet! Issues are....

Car has done 42,000 Km, has FSH from Dubai Mitsubishi dealer.... sat for about 5 days after I got it due to registration issues (not knowing the process and being too busy), nearly didnt start Thursday, really lazy and struggled. OK after driving 70Km. Went to drive it today to pick some stuff up..... stone dead, only cicking solenoids and relays. Jumped started it from the wife's car and drove for half an hour with the AC off (34'C and humid night = nasty!), seemed to go ok. Started it and run it again later whilst inside doing a few things to try it, went ok but not great. Tried to go home.... dead! Left at the new house for the night.

My main concern is obviously that I've bought a lemon... car has had a new battery recently (previous owner cant quite remeber when....), for which there is no receipt in amongst the paperwork supplied and lengthy 40k service bill. Easy enough to put a fresh battery in a dud car and punt it pronto.... it happens.

Guy seemed genuine enough at the time, also now when I called him tonight. He worked in one of the local uni's so says the car hasnt moved as much during the summer.... it has also sat about for me. High temepratures must be as bad as low temperatures.... they used to fly out the motor factors I worked in as a student at the first hard frost..... 3.8L and all that heat must make for hard starting.

So.... could it be a weak battery, down below alternator recovery level which has ratcheted down to death?

An innocuous drain like a faulty ignition swtich / relay / solenoid?

Or.... something more sinister like a spurious electrical fault?

Advice and experience appreciated folks..... bought it as they are meant to be bomb proof! Father in law's 2002 3.2DiD commercial is a hardy wee *beep*..... not so clued up on general running issues with them though.

Apologies is that's a bit rambly.... its been a very long last few days moving house, pretty gubbed! Sad

Google · Sponsor

peteinchad · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:05 Post subject:

Hi - and welcome to the club.

First thing is to get the battery tested and replace if needed.

If the battery is OK then the alternator output needs checking.

cjard · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 10:23 Post subject:

a brand new battery last week might be no good this week if it was completely discharged and then force charged at a high amperage.. I wouldn't let any reassurances of "it had a new battery recently" dissuade you from testing whether the battery is up to the job. Also, new means different things to different people - to some, new might mean they went and got a relatively shiny one from a local scrap yard - could still be knackered

Miner · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 12:22 Post subject:

Cheers..... trust no one is always good advice....! Got it recovered to Mitsubishi garage this morning, jumped ok off the booser pack to drive it onto the recovery truck but DOA. Get it back tomorrow morning, also getting the 120km/h alarm disabled..... got a 4hr drive to a refinery this week, not a welcome noise as it dosent ping then go out..... just ping ping ping!

They are going to replace the battery, hopefully do some testing under the extended warranty it came with.... just hope its not just new battery ok boss! All my tools are still in sea freight so cant even get it out and test myself, got all the required items inc a decent charger / reconditioner unit. Recovery guy did the test with the pack when he arrived though, charge was ok but the battery was dead.

Are they known for any rogue electrical faults? Not found anything looking about..... "new" battery not logged in the Mitsibushi garage records, could have come from one of the places in a petrol station. Looked fairly new with fresh grease on connectors..... could be a cheap nasty though.

Fingers crossed its nothing too grim.... already had a Mini and a Beemer with electrical gremlins, one broken earth wire, other left me stranded in Warrinton when I went to view its replacement! Could be weak through heat and inactivity, or I could be cursed..... Sad

Miner · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 23:01 Post subject:

Folks, just a note to say that it appears to be case closed on the starting issues..... car had only done a few hunderd between service and sale, which would've been enough as kill the battery.... new battery fitted and its going a treat.

Looking forward to many more hassle free Km now.... already been to Al Ruwais refinery and Oman from Dubai, so no danger of it becoming unused in my hands!