The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

[AlfA01]

Hello!

New to the forum.  Looking to join the Mitsu gang by way of purchasing a recently listed Pajero.  

The car is a 2004 Diesel 7-seater, 3,200cc engine with auto transmission.  The transmission has a known problem, but the price is unbeatable.

I was hoping you folks may be able to give some advice on whether it's an advisable purchase.  

The issue:
The car starts and runs very strongly and was used to take clients back and forth from the airport as a shuttle.  
When starting from a full stop, the auto trans will not shift out of 1st gear automatically.  You need to manually shift it into 2nd.
After manually shifting into 2nd, the auto resumes normal shifting and will operate as advertised.  

The solution:
I'm thinking it's a bad shift sensor or wiring.  If I buy it, I plan to go ahead with a full service of the transmission.
I'm not sure on the maintenance history.  

Thanks for any advice you guys can provide.  

Cheers,
Dan from Greece

[Google]

[assassin]

From your description I would suggest it is a hydraulic problem and this could be one of a few things.

The gears are controlled by hydraulics contained within the gearbox and this is called the valve chest, basically these are hydraulic ports which contain the ATF and pressurise it to actuate everything such as gear changing and they are either not getting enough fluid, or at too low a pressure.

This could be caused by:

Blocked ATF filter and this requires the gearbox sump to be removed and the filter replaced, its an easy job but you need the correct sealant as there is no gasket on the sump, just sealant.

Poor or incorrect ATF (automatic transmission fluid) so are you using the correct type of ATF as this has to be to Dia Queen SP III and nothing else, many people put Dexron or similar into the gearbox instead of SP III and this breaks down quickly due to the heat these transmissions work at, and at best it damages the geartrains, clutches, and hydraulic seals in the valve block. If this breaks down it contaminates the ATF and leaves deposits in the valve chest and the hydraulis side doesn't work correctly to engage or disengage the correct gearset at the correct time.

You can check the ATF by pulling the dipstick and noting the colour and if it is anything but cherry red it is shot, brown indicates it is breaking down, and black means it is totally shot and the clutch friction plates are breaking up which use the ATF to lubricate them as they are wet clutches and their linings are actually paper.

Many vehicles are so durable that often previous owners never change their ATF or they just top it up with the wrong type of ATF and it works for a while, then rapidly breaks down and destroys the gearbox internals.

My first port of call would be to check the ATF and if it is brown then change it immediately and use the correct ATF.
If it is black then change it and the ATF filter and replace the ATF with the correct ATF as this is the cheapest to do.

You can get a local Aisin specialist to do a pressure check on the gearbox and this will determine both the pressures and flow through the valve chest, but this is expensive, and they will check the electrical side of the gearbox to do these pressure tests.

Basically it is a process of elimination.

[AlfA01]

[AlfA01]

[AlfA01]

[AlfA01]

So, I've changed the gearbox.  After swapping the old gearbox with a known good used one, I have a similar result, but now Drive and Reverse don't work.  

I've adjusted the inhibitor switch and checked everything I can think of.  I decided to have a look in the sump again.  When I went to drain the system via the heat exchanger tube, I don't get any fluid flow.

The engine was running and the transmission is in Park.  No fluid flow at all.