The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

cornishboy03 · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 0:58 Post subject: water loss

hi i just bought a 3.2 did a month ago. up grading from my old faithful 2.8 auto it ran like a dream never let me down in three years of owning it.
now my 2000 gls 3.2 did i had to change the fuel tank and the filler pipe and breathers to the tank not a cheap job because it leaked very badly after i filled it up, to drive home from the midlands to west cornwall, now its decided to loose water and get hot there is no signs of head gasket gone, ie water in the oil,fires up first time in the morning and no sign of mist in the exhaust fumes, so i have decided to take out the thermostst which has seem to help, do these suffer from blocked rads or do they just like a drop of water, it doesnt loose a lot of water about a half a pint every 3 or 4 days and the header tank is normally empty from the full mark on the bottle but not the rad as i want to get it right for towing my 27ft touring caravan any help would be great cheers mark

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venn105 · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:13 Post subject:

Blocked rads,any truck can so its a possibility,is rad cap well sealed,could be that,any signs of bubbles in exp botle when up to temp,or when cold,rad cap off and check for bubbles in rad filler,just some checks......

cornishboy03 · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:30 Post subject:

no cant see any you can see the water pumping around the rad with the cap off and the rad cap looks pretty new i removed the thermostat because the plastic header tank was 3/4 full of water when it got warm the other day, the thermostat was stuck closed after a boiling water test is it worth flushing the rad with some rad flush and then working my way to the water pump but cant see any probs with it though

venn105 · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:39 Post subject:

Can usually tell condition of coolant,but a flush is a good idea if not know.The exp bottle should rise,if similar to the mk2 0.9bar,then it should raise around 1.5" from cold as once up to 0.9 bar rad cap allows coolant past to tank,then as cools it draws it back to rad.

Keep eye on it then if no obv signs,maybe leak somewhere but would fit a stat asap to aid eng wear and optimum running temp long term Wink

It sounds then with rad sticking,its pushed coolant out of exp bottle over flow pipe............

Hilux · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 8:56 Post subject:

The EGR has a watercooled jacket - these fail - I am no expert but understand they give symptons similar to a head gasket failure and shouldnt be ignored so try doing a search first

geodrome · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 9:23 Post subject:

Hilux · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 9:52 Post subject:

tom fenton · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 18:38 Post subject:

Here is what was wrong with mine (2003 3.2 LWB).

Rear heater pipes rotten leaking water. Rather than repair previous owner had put k-seal / snake oil in it to try and stop leak.

I replaced pipes with new when overhauling truck. Soon found out it was overheating when towing. Changed water pump and stat but no different.
Turned out rad was half corroded up inside and the other half blocked up with aforementioned sealer rubbish.

Changed rad for a new alloy rad approx £120 and now it is good as gold. Uses no water stats cool whatever is asked of it.

geodrome · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 18:39 Post subject:

cornishboy03 · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 20:41 Post subject:

hi people i think i found the problem this morning while my drive was dry its a leaky rad, its got a very small leak in the bottom corner by the drain down valve its been driving me mad quitely, so i rang my local garage this morning and they got it in on monday for new rad new waterpump and new thermostat, and new belts, and a flush though while its there that should sort itall out,,, cheers for all the replys that have been posted for me,

lobster · ** Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 92 Location: Clacton

I think my rear heater pipes are leaking (2003 3.2 DI-D) at least I think they are the heater pipes they go to the offside rear in the back of the truck, I didn't know a rear heater was fitted and I thought these were for the air con. How hard are they to change as they are above the diff etc.

tom fenton · Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 9:37 Post subject:

I replaced mine whilst I had all the rear subframe removed. But I think it would be possible to do them with it all in situ. You would need to get it up in the air on decent height stands to give enough access underneath to manouever the new ones in. Old ones out is easy, just chop through them to assist removing. New genuine pipes can be purchased from Milner off road for about £95. However one thing to look out for, the replacement pipes are now alloy rather than steel so they should be better at resisting corrosion (the originals on mine were steel). However they come supplied with all the mounting clips attached, the problem is that these are steel, and alloy and steel together are not a good mix and will corrode quickly. So what I did before I fitted the pipes was remove the clamps, fit some pvc heat shrink to the pipes just where the clamps were located, then refit clamps. So no steel to alloy contact.

GCMS2012 · Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 9:52 Post subject:

Think the previous owner has either done them in new steel or alloy, or has replaced the whole lot with rubber pipe.. Can't quite tell