The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

[iam_TJ]

2003 MK 3 3.5 GDi Elegance; the center entertainment console has a 'page' for fuel economy. One of the values is the range until empty. Recently this have been acting up; when the fuel is topped up the range indicator very often does not reflect the increased range.

For example; recently it reduced to "0" and remained there whilst the fuel gauge correctly reported 1/4 full. I added 10 litres and it immediately reflected the updated range as I left the fuel station. Tonight I added 20 litres and the range indicator didn't change!

Since the fuel gauge is working correctly I'm a little confused as to what is going on here - has anyone experienced this or know of potential causes?

I'm trawling through the electrical schematics trying to find how the unit gets the fuel load signal but there are so many variations and options it is difficult to find the correct schematic even!

Do I have this correct: in the attached diagrams I've highlighted where I think I need to be looking. There appears to be a joint/connector where the fuel gauge feeds both the center display and the combination meters (J/C 5 at D-33) on the right side behind or around the fuse holder, and there should be wire - yellow with green stripe (Y-G) - from there to the center display connector pin 33.

(Attachments no longer allowed apparently - upload limit is 1 byte! - doesn't the forum allow increasing that for lifetime members!?)

https://iam.tj/shogun/Pajero-2003-faulty-center-display-fuel-range.pdf

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[iam_TJ]

This afternoon I went hunting for the elusive J/C (5) d-33 somewhere above the accelerator pedal. From the diagrams I was looking for a 3-pin plug on a junction block. Couldn't find anything even remotely like that - although trying to hunt around the back of the fuse holder was not easy. I switched to trying to find 3 yellow-green wires and eventually spotted three together in a line of a rather large connector (something like a 2 x 12) up high behind the fuse box, with a blue terminating cap on it. The circuit diagram showed the three wires on pins 1,2,3 so I decided that must be it. It looked fine, no sign of stresses so  I decided to check out the connector in the back of the center display.

Here I hit a problem - after releasing the center trim screws and pulling it out about 5cm I remembered I need to release the CD/radio head unit using those special U-shaped single-DIN release tools. Spent an hour trying to find them but failed. Tried some small screwdrivers but couldn't get enough pressure on the spring clips, and couldn't press hard enough with my fingers behind the trim, and air vents being in the way didn't help.

Eventually I gave up for today and put it all back together after ordering a set of release tools for tomorrow from the local motor factors.

This evening I took the Shogun out and the range is now showing correctly again! I can only guess that pulling the center console about whilst trying to release the CD/radio moved a wire or connector inside the dash! Now I'm hoping its permanent and I don't end up chasing an intermittent fault!

[iam_TJ]

This has continued to be an intermittent problem and I'm again trying to resolve it.

The feed from the fuel tank sender is shared between the fuel gauge and the MMCS and the fuel gauge doesn't exhibit any similar issue.

Does anyone know how the sender works? I assume (but do not know) it is a variable resistor where the resistance value changes according to the level of fuel in the tank - not sure if max resistance indicates full or empty. So the detector circuit would translate resistance to capacity. The MMCS is configured for long wheel base so presumably it 'knows' that the maximum (or minimum!) resistance indicates 95 litres capacity.

I suspect, if it operates on resistance, there is either corrosion or at least a poor connection between the junction block where the sender connects to (and the fuel gauge gets its feed) and the connector on the MMCS. That, or mice have got in and been eating wires!

Any ideas on this or others with a similar experience?