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The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners ClubŪ The Mitsubishi Pajero, Shogun, Montero, Challenger, Raider and EVO 4x4 Owner's Club
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FD87 Newbie
Age: 36 Zodiac: Joined: 19 Mar 2023 Posts: 1 Location: VANCOUVER
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Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2023 23:51 Post subject: Diagnosing Radiator leak... |
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Howdy,
First-time Pajero Owner here. 2 Days ago I sold my Delica - Space Gear, and immediately bought a 1998 Mitsubishi Pajero IO GDI. Aside from a bumper that needs to be replaced, everything seemed to check out just fine. I noticed yesterday when I parked after a drive, some smoke coming from the engine. Popped the hood to find what appears to be a bunch of coolant collecting in a couple of different spots around the rad. Including a couple of very small drops on the ground below. From what I understand, because all of this coolant is visible, it's likely an external leak.
Any problem-solving suggestions from the group?
The vehicle shows no signs of overheating indicated by the temp gauge on the dash.
Sorry if these questions seem silly.
Should I just take it to my JDM guy?
Also, any idea what rad would be suitable to replace it with if it wasn't a hose, cap, etc. problem?
I found an OEM rad from an 86 Pajero on FB marketplace that the seller claims would be suitable.
THANKS IN ADVANCE Y'ALL! |
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Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2023 23:51 Post subject: Google Ads keep the POCUK free to join! |
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iam_TJ LifeTime Member
Joined: 10 Apr 2013 Posts: 351 Location: Europe
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:20 Post subject: |
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Top up the coolant level. Lay a sheet of cardboard, paper, or a real (old) sheet under the engine bay and run the engine with the hood up and observe. Identify the source of the leaks. Monitor how much is being lost. You might be able to get away with a radiator leak treatment added to the coolant if it is pin-*beep* holes in the radiator.
Observe the colour of the coolant water - if it isn't a nice bright red colour I'd be tempted to drain and thoroughly flush the coolant system to discover how much rust and particles is removed - lots means the radiator is deteriorating and may have been topped up with water rather than the correct mix and type (red for aluminium engines) of anti-freeze.
As it is GDi I assume that is the aluminium petrol engine, in which case it should only use distilled water and red anti-freeze, not tap water.
My 2003 3.5l GDi recently developed a small pin-*beep* leak that eventually developed into a catastrophic coolant leak caused by a hole in the metal pipe at the rear air conditioning unit behind the rear wheel. When I first started noticing the coolant level in the expansion bottle dropping I drained and flushed the system thoroughly, topped up with tap water, ran the engine for a few minutes to move residue around, then drained again. That removed a huge amount of very old leak-sealant foam that was coloured a mustard-yellow. I removed the radiator top-hose and it was full of it so flushed the entire system until the water ran clear. Finally refilled with correct mix of (red) anti-freeze and distilled water (10.5 litres with rear air conditioner). I did a bodge holding repair on the pipe with Super Steel epoxy to get it through Winter. In February another more serious hole appeared in a different section of the pipe and emptied the coolant whilst I was driving, resulting in a breakdown. I repaired it by cutting out both feed and return pipes from above the rear axle and removing those sections and the flexible pipe that joined them to the air-conditioner and replaced them with 1m long 16mm internal diameter hoses (red and blue to indicate feed and return) and fixed them with dual Jubilee hose clips at each end plus high temperature silicon gasket sealant. |
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iam_TJ LifeTime Member
Joined: 10 Apr 2013 Posts: 351 Location: Europe
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:22 Post subject: |
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Not sure who put the beep filter on this but it is ridiculously *beep*! pin-beep should be p i n - p r i c k !! |
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iam_TJ LifeTime Member
Joined: 10 Apr 2013 Posts: 351 Location: Europe
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:23 Post subject: |
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And "ridiculously beep" should be ridiculously c r a p !! |
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