The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

[RBG20]

I noticed the fuel filler pipe on my Shogun is corroded and one of the breathers is snapped, ordered a complete new unit, with  the through chassis breather bits on, off Ebay which has arrived today and planning to fit at the weekend.
Car is running fine but doing these as a preventative measure as I know it can cause issues with the fuel pump if ignored, fuel filter looks pretty new but should I change this at the same time?,should I drain/clean the diesel tank at the same time too?, I want to make sure the whole system is ok and free of any rust as if the fuel pump fails the car would essentially be scrap.

[Google]

[assassin]

In a word YES.

You also need to check the fuel tank as these corrode underneath and on the filler pipe side, so do this at the same time.

What I do, I remove the old pipes and prepare the new pipes by cleaning them and painting them with a good epoxy paint, but don't paint where they connect to the rubber pipes.

Remove the tank guard as dross builds up on it and the movement abrades the fuel tank, I remove every other fixing as they hold the tank and its guard on, I pull the legs of the guard outwards and replace the fixing with an M8 bolt between the brackets and tank only, this leaves the leg of the tank guard free and not connected, when you have done them all you can remove the remaining fixings and the tank stays in position, but the guard comes off.

Clean the guard and move it out of the way, remove the offending pipes but do not replace them, leave the rubber connecting pieces in position and bung them, I use plastic stops which push in, but a thick plastic bag taped ofer the top does just as well, I attack the tank with an angle grinder fitted with a stainless bristle wire brush and a die grinder also fitted with a stainless steel bristle brush and remove all the loose rust from the tank and its filler pipes and finish with strips of emery cloth for the awkward pipes.

I drain the diesel and refit the drain bung and clean the tank with degreaser and let it dry, I then coat it with Bilt Hamber Deox gel and apply three coats to build up the thickness and cover it with cling film and leave it overnight to work, this cleans the tank back to clean metal and you get a stiff brush and wash it off with soapy water and a stiff scrubbing brush and the rust simply washes off, then flush the tank out to clean it and catch the water and you will see lots of debris flushed from the inside of the tank.  

I then coat it lightly with a coat of Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 which is a water based rust converter and it actually works, but coat it lightly, leave for 30 minutes and go over it again with a second coat and leave for about an hour to fully cure, then coat the tank and pipes with a good coat of epoxy paint, I use BH as I really rate their stuff and always have some to hand, when the epoxy is cured you rebuild the pipes and ensured they fit correctly, once assembled I coat everything in Dynax UB which you can get in a spray can, or in a tub if you have application equipment, and I coat the tank, pipes, and the epoxy painted areas to seal it up. Refit the tank guard and periodically flush between the tank and its guard to prevent the build up of detritus which abrades the bottom of your tank.

[alienidea]

Did you check the smaller 3 pipe piece bolted to underside of the chassis ?.The main fuel pipe at the bottom connected by the rubber piping.

[assassin]

Yes, check everything.

You can actually make them and I have made them from copper domestic heating tube of 15mm for the main pipes and Kunifer brake pipes for the small pipes, all you need is a bending spring for 15mm pipe. I have made many of these and some have the original pipes cut back to good pipe and a nipple soldered to them to connect them, and some have omitted the soldering and uses fuel proof epoxy instead.

I have also made them from T204 and T16 stainless steel pipe and even inconel 625 tubing.

If you go this way you need to isolate the steel from the non steel pipes using plastic insulators.

[RBG20]

Assassin, thanks so much for your in depth response, very helpful and much appreciated.
I’m just about to get started on replacing them now, I did get the small through chassis breather pipes too and am just going to pick up a new fuel filter before I have it in bits!, might drop the tank like you say and give it a through clean up.

[NJV6]

While doing the lines is wise, unfortunately it’s not going to stop the dreaded fuel pump failure. These pumps fail due to bearing failures inside the pump and not from contamination.

Assisan and I have had this debate before and I’m not going to have it again with him, there are many of these pump failures in australia and NZ without corroded pipes, clean fuel filters yet have failed pump bearings.

[icehawk]

That was my concern when moving from my 2.8 ,but when looking over many of these mk3 models lots had well over 100,000 plus miles on them and many  with 150,000 plus,so they must be pretty durable,most other makes of vehicle are finished at 100,000 and if you get 100,000 out of any vehicle a suppose you cant complain that much.

[RBG20]

All done, fuel filter looked clean when I changed it, although there was a little bit of water in the bottom, the through chassis breather pipes were a bit of a pain but glad it’s done.
The pump seems fine, there’s no stalling or lack of revs etc which I gather are signs that it’s failing.
Mines done 174k, cost me £800 and I’ve spent £300 now on bits and £50 on an A/C regass.
If I get a year or two out of it I’d be happy enough, they look pretty sturdy vehicles, now these bits are done I’d say it’s likely to give me less issues than other things that are a bit more expensive-yes L322 Range Rover I’m looking at you .
The only other car I was considering was a Landcruiser but they cost a fortune in comparison.

[Markytp]

[assassin]

No, actually its very easy and someone with basic skills can do it.

[Yorkshire viking]

Late afternoon all,
Been cleaning wire brushing the chassis on my week off ready for a good dollop of wax oil and have noticed the same fault mainly the breather pipes I think going through the chassis the bracket to hold then in place is long gone so I have decided to change the whole filler  pipe.
RBG20 would you post the link from eBay if poss I think I have found the right one just like to double check.

Cheers Viking.

[richhole]

RGB20 or Assassin. Please can you help me, I need more details to complete the same job. I have 2003 4M41 3.2DiD with 180k miles. Small breather pipes under RH rear wheel arch have completely corroded through. How do I get to the fittings on the other side of the chassis so that I can replace them? Do I need to remove the fuel tank? If so, please can you confirm how I do this I have read posts about this but it still leaves me with the following question:
1. I can easily free up the under-guard, but I can not remove it as it is trapped by the cross-member that supports the gear box. So do I leave it in place, but just loose?
2. Before removing do I need to access the tank from above to remove the fuel pipes/gauge electrics, or do I do this from beneath once the tank has dropped?
Many thanks

[zakspeed]

Do you have to take the tank off to do this job?

[alienidea]

No need to drop the tank ..just the road wheel