The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

[Windmillpete]

This is a good one guys, I had the pitman arm changed and the steering wheel came back off center, took it back and they took the steering wheel off and moved it round a little to try to straighten it up, it still points at 1 oclock, so I tried to move it a bit more but it then points to 11 oclock. this means the splines are out of true in relation to the wheels? this has only happened since the pitman arm has been fitted. I then took my paj to have the tracking checked on a super tracker and it is fine and no adjustment is needed. This leads me to believe that the pitman arm has not been lined up correctly when being inserted? can this be so? I have called the dealer and they told me that my wheel bearings need adjusting and this is the reason that the steering wheel is out of true. (sounds boll**ks to me) When I took it in the s/wheel was fine and i can only assume that the wheel bearings needed adjusting then, so 1 hour later, they had got so bad as to efect the steering? after talking to the dealer today they have told me that when the wheel bearings are sorted this will center the s/wheel ? will this happen? sounds fishy to me. For the dealer to do any thing I have to have them sort the bearings and pay about £60 + vat or provide documentation to prove that i have had the work done professionally. Can i do the adjustment myself? how hard is it to take to pitman arm out and fit it properly myself? can i insist that they fix the steering whitout the wheel bearings being done? could i use a different dealer (not really fesible i think) Trading standards, is that an option? or what about Napalm? thats seems to cure lots of problems I will wait for a few responses and then decide a course of action.

Thanks one and all

Pete

[Google]

[Marky]

Definatly sounds like rowlocks to me.... The Pitman arm needs to be centred on the steering box.... I think if you search through the forum somebody has already gone through this.... There appears to be no keying of the Pitman arm onto the steering box output shaft...

All I can say is had mine done no problem.... Had many old cars with knackered wheel bearings and the position of the steering wheel has never been the issue....

Seems to me that there are a few dodgy Mitsi dealers out there.... Perhaps we should name and shame them...... Might raise the standards and stop unsuspecting punters being fleeced.....

[Trig]

Pete, I have been reading about this "Pitman Arm" (reminds of armpit & smelly )... I haven't got a clue which part it is, I've checked the Haynes manual and the diagram doesn't indicate it... So what I will tell you is based on what I watched a "professional" doing when I had the same problem with the steering-of-centre.
Looking underneath the front of the car, and somewhere near the "idler arm" there is a horizontal rod with a nut on its centre (two rods joint by a nut!) pointing to the tyre (one on each side)... To fix the problem, the nut was loosened (driver side only!) and the steering wheel turned to centre position. Then the nut was nipped up but NOT TIGHT, I was asked then to drive the car around for a couple of minutes and back to the chap who tightened the nut proper... Problem disappeared!!

I hope this helps if someone made sense of what I described, please translate with proper part names...etc .

It looked so easy that I will have ago myself if the problem arises again 8)

[Marco]

Hello all,

my 2p worth:

Took my Shogun to the WINNERSH MITSUBISHI bunch of monkeys for:

1. Pitman Arm
2. Cam belt Service
3. MOT
4. Check the car out as, at the time, I only had it for a week or so

Got charged in excess of £650.00

1. Pitman arm changed, steering wheel misaligned, complaied only to be told to "drive it for a few days, let it settle in and then we'll adjust it for you !!" (Yeah right I believe that, well give them a chance, is a new car for me they might be right!!)

2. Cam belt and all the other belts changed, the belt mounting on the big pulley which moves the big cooling fan was not correctly fitted, I had to fix it myself (took 2 secs anyway!!)

3. MOT passed with flying colours and NO PROBLEMS REPORTED (I thought good, I can now go to Spain without worrying too much.....yeah right...)

4. The arial mast was snapped, needed replacing so they called me for the go ahead which was fine for me....


Few weeks later was time for me to take Norman (very friendly Shogun 8) ) to Spain with me, I needed some Continental hedlamps conversions and a few bits, did not want to go all the way to Winnersh again so went to the Andover dealer instead.
As I was there I asked to check the misalignment (???) of the steerign wheel and the "freeplay" of it as i thought it was excessive (wait for it...). The Andover branch of Mitsubishi was new at the time and fortunately a mechanic from the Poole branch was there training the staff so he had a look to only to give me a REALLY BAD NEWS

"...i dunno how to say that sir however the steering box is on it's way out, you need replacing it ESPECIALLY if you are going to Spain with the vehicle and BTW your MOT is invalid, when was last MOT'd...."




I had to catch the boat from Plymouth to Santander on the saturday and this was on Thursday/Friday so I had to re-schedule my trip until the following Wednesday, but the biggest shock was the quote for a new steering box....

about £500 fitted (approx)

Of course I complained to the Service manager at the WINNERSH MITSUBISHI DEALER (Should be called MUNICIPAL ZOO, WE SPECIALIZE IN MONKEYS!!) who was extremely unhelpful and rude, he eventually put the telephone down on me!! (W@NKER!!)
I have now written a full report about it to The Colt Car Company and waiting to hear from them. If I would not get anywhere I will then call the MOT authorities and make sure that something will be done!!


Finally the steering box was then fitted in a rush on the Tuesday by the ANDOVER branch who was EXTREMELY HELPFUL and I personally reccomend to anyone.

The steering wheel was SPOT ON, I was adviced to change the tyres at the end of the trip as they had a lot of tread on them but where *beep* (technical term for ruined), I was indeed about £500/600 lighter but my life was SAFE!!!

Imagine what would have happened if the steering box would have given up the gost at 80 mph on a Spanish motorway......

THANK YOU VERY MUCH WINNERSH MITSUBISHI DEALER, I HOPE YOUR FUTURE, HOWEVER SHORT, WILL BE VERY INTERESTING!!!


For further info please write to me and I'll oblige

Rant over!!

Marco

P.S. Do I get a price for the longest rant ever???

[Andy(NorthWales)]

Hi Marco,

Just a quick one, was the steering rack FUBAR'ed due to the Pit-Man arm missalignment...??

Another thing is why was your MOT invalid...??

Sound's like you may have a pretty good case for the Trading Standard's people....

Andy...

[Windmillpete]

thanks all im taking this all on board and will digest it as the days go on. I think a call to another mitsy dealer is in order to ask some enquiring questions, I.E. do the wheel bearings, if in need of adjustment alter the steering wheel? and a few other questions. i will let you all know as i find out more.


Pete

[Windmillpete]

Trig put:
So what I will tell you is based on what I watched a "professional" doing when I had the same problem with the steering-of-centre.
Looking underneath the front of the car, and somewhere near the "idler arm" there is a horizontal rod with a nut on its centre (two rods joint by a nut!) pointing to the tyre (one on each side)... To fix the problem, the nut was loosened (driver side only!) and the steering wheel turned to centre position. Then the nut was nipped up but NOT TIGHT, I was asked then to drive the car around for a couple of minutes and back to the chap who tightened the nut proper... Problem disappeared!!


Trig was this the way to adjust the tracking? are your tyres ok? and does your paj pull to euther side?

Pete

[John Pugh]

Check how many turns of the steering from straight ahead to full lock. It should be the same left or right. If it is not, then either the tracking is faulty ( track rod lengths should be the same either side) or they have not fitted the Pitman arm correctly. By the way, either of the above ( unequal track rod lengths and incorrectly centred steering rack/box) can give rise to pulling to one side when in motion.
Regards,
John.

[Marco]

Andy,
MOT was invalid because the car was not roadworthy.
In order for the MOT to be valid the car needs to be roadworthy (I am sure you know that )

Trading Standards I have not thought to call at the time and now 3 months later I dunno if they can do anything...

Marco

[Trig]

Pete, What I described above was done AFTER wheel balance AND wheel alignment... I went to the garage initially to sort the problem of it pulling to the left and vibrating... so... after the wheel balance and alignment every thing was fine BUT the steering wheel was off-centre (turned anticlockwise by a sixth of a circle)... that was straightened with what I wrote up

[scotty]

im sure ive read somwhere,, maybe on the mot certificate, that mot is not proof of roadwerthiness after the date of issue,,ie the mot mechanics are verifying it road werthy for that day only.

[Windmillpete]

scotty, you are correct about the MOT, at least thats how it used to be. dont know if it has changed now though.

Trig. thanks mate

Pete

[buickmal]

hi all
i can tell you the mot certificte is only valid at the time of test as soon as you pull out of the garage thats it i know of lads that own taxis and at mot time if one is due for test tyers and lamps ect are swoped to get it past the test i think the mot is a joke next time you take your car for test ask for a look at the testers manual one part tells the tester how to fill in the mot certificate and the imaginary garage is called roony&loony motor engineers and the artical on how to fill in a fail sheet the imadginary garage is passem&failem motor engneers and this mot lark is sopposed to be a serious buisiness is the minestry right some of the things that is a fail ie seagul dropings as the washers and wipers will not remove it and ie take a 4x4 if the sills are badly rotton apart from 1 foot around seatbelt ancorage it is a pass but if you fit new sills and weld in a contiuous weld a foot around the seat belt ancorage and inch spot welds welds around the rest of the sill it is a fail ???????




pajero grips the world