Any advice welcome. When towing with my 93 Auto SWB 2500 Pajero the engine on long uphill stretches quickly overheats. The gearbox also overheats after changing down to get up the same hill. Do I need a gearbox coolant fan and will a radiator drain and flush cure the engine overheating. The caravan is well within the 85% towing advisory limit. Thanks
OVERHEATING PAJERO
- Thread starter Kenny_5040846
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kenny, we had a pajero for a couple of years and never had any of the issues you have. it was a fantastic tower and the temp gauges never moved. i would suggest a trip to the car doctor toot sweet, its worth looking after!
Kenny, I had a 2.5 Paj for 3 years followed by a 2.8 for 2 years and never had any engine overhating problems. Only once did the box get too hot but that was in mid summer towing a 630 avante back over the alps (st Gothard) so after letting it cool down for a bit we carried on with no troublle at all. Do you use the Paj off road at all, or has it been used off road at all? Quite often the radiators become clogged up at the bottom and don't allow enough air to flow through to provide adequate cooloing. The only real way to check is to remove it and clean it up, if that doesn't sort it then the core itself may be blocked (internally) and the only solution here is either to re-core it or a new rad. Don't let it get too hot or you'll cook the motor and then you're into big money to sort. Have you looked at www.POCUK.com, good site with lots of help on all problems.
I did fit an additional oil cooler for the box on my 2.8, but they do have 1 fitted as standard.
I did fit an additional oil cooler for the box on my 2.8, but they do have 1 fitted as standard.
At that age it sounds like a partially blocked radiator to me assuming that matrix is not obstructed in any way and fan is working properly (is it electric?) I'm not familiar with your exact car but in most auto's the g/box oil is fed through one of the radiator ends and normally this is sufficient but a kenlowe or similar g/box oil cooler could be fitted quite easily.
How long have you had the car? Has it always done this or started more recently? You should certainly try a good backflush and a descaling solution etc but if problem persists then I'd go for a new radiator (again if your sure all else is ok). Chances are this will help your g/box problems too so tackle radiator first before buying g/box cooler!
How long have you had the car? Has it always done this or started more recently? You should certainly try a good backflush and a descaling solution etc but if problem persists then I'd go for a new radiator (again if your sure all else is ok). Chances are this will help your g/box problems too so tackle radiator first before buying g/box cooler!
Correct me if 'm wrong but I believe the Pajero is an import of a used car from Japan as opposed to a car built for the British market. Have heard of such imports having theJapanese thermostats fitted and not changed for a thermostat suitable for English conditionsconditions.
Kenny, Did you know there is a pajero owners web site. There is a forum on there which you can ask lots of different questions, you can guarantee someone else has had the same problem and is always willing to give advise. Give it a try
The Pajero is an unofficial import which is not specified as suitable for use in the UK. There have been a number of over-heating and clutch failures on Pajeros used for towing as many of them are unsuitable for this purpose. These problems are the downside of buying cheap "grey" imports.
Just received Caravan Club Mag for March. if you have access to it, look at page 130, 'but be careful when towing' might throw some light on this subject.
I would clean externally and flow test the radiator, clean any air con. matrix it may have in front, Hold the radiator up to the light and make sure the gilling (fins) are intact and not collapsing and restricting the air flow. Make sure the viscous or electric fan works correctly. then pray.
I would clean externally and flow test the radiator, clean any air con. matrix it may have in front, Hold the radiator up to the light and make sure the gilling (fins) are intact and not collapsing and restricting the air flow. Make sure the viscous or electric fan works correctly. then pray.
I own a Vauxhall Monterey (automatic) 4x4 (Isuzu trooper) and tow an Avondale Landranger.
4 years ago I towed from St Helens to Scotland enroute to my summer holiday. Just after passing over the Edward Erskine bridge and with no prior warning the oil transmission warning light came on and the gears felt peculiar. I pulled over immediately and called the breakdown service. The breakdown engineer, also, in a "trooper" took me to a nearby carpark for the night saying that the gearbox may have just overheated. The next morning the car would move neither forward or backward. The car was relayed to a nearby Vauxhall dealer and then to John Machie a gearbox expert in Glasgow. A seal had gone on the gearbox and it had lost its fluid. The repair cost
4 years ago I towed from St Helens to Scotland enroute to my summer holiday. Just after passing over the Edward Erskine bridge and with no prior warning the oil transmission warning light came on and the gears felt peculiar. I pulled over immediately and called the breakdown service. The breakdown engineer, also, in a "trooper" took me to a nearby carpark for the night saying that the gearbox may have just overheated. The next morning the car would move neither forward or backward. The car was relayed to a nearby Vauxhall dealer and then to John Machie a gearbox expert in Glasgow. A seal had gone on the gearbox and it had lost its fluid. The repair cost
as per petes response in the caravan club magazine, apparently the pajeros are basically not fit for towing due to not having sufficient inter coolers for the job.
The Caravan Club article is IMO an irresponsible piece of tripe. I spoke with them, and IMO they do not have a single shred of credible evidence with which to back their claims.
If you want to know how good or bad these cars are, take a look at www.pocuk.com and see what problems owners are reporting and receiving help for. This is an owners club with (from the member list) several thousand members. As such, it has to be a vastly more significant source of information than the CC Red Pennant Scheme. The posts on POCUK aren't censored, so you will get a clear and honest picture.
WRT overheating - the article claimed a "notable number". I suspect that if you were to ask how many of any car commonly used for towing had overheated, you'd get enough to make a "notable number". IOW, Pajeros are no worse than any other car (and, from noting numbers broken down at the roadside and comparing reports on alt.fan.landrover with those on the Pajero Owners Club, they are more reliable than the Discovery).
WRT clutch failure - the vast majority of Pajeros are autos, which don't have a clutch and flywheel. So, any clutch problems must be confined to those with manual transmission. Now, I very much doubt that there are enough manual Pajeros in his area for that one Welsh "specialist" to see the alleged problem "day-in, day-out". AFAICT, the original claim is from one disgruntled owner, whose importer may have used this false claim to fob off his customer. In any case, except for some 1993 2.8 TDs, manual Pajeros have the same clutch as their Shogun counterparts.
When I spoke with "Suzanne", she told me that her goal was to highlight the lack of dealer support for grey imports, either here or abroad, and that it is likely they won't be able to do a roadside fix for these vehicles. Now, I find
it strange that she (and Barry Williams, the editor of the club magazine and author of that crock of crud) chose to illustrate this by picking on one of the few grey imports that actually has full UK main-dealer support. I also cannot believe that UK-spec car would have any better support in a foreign country than will any other vehicle of a specification not sold in that country. In any case, they did not say there was a support issue with grey imports -- they implied that the Pajero is prone to overheating and clutch failure (neither of which is true) and claimed it to be "unsuitable for towing" (which, given that a greater percentage of Pajeros than most other marques are used for towing, is also untrue).
AFAICT, the Caravan Club have not followed the Press Code of Practice (of which the very first tenet is, "The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.") Caravan Club members deserve better than this. However, the code also states, "A significant inaccuracy, mis-leading statement or distortion once recognised must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and - where appropriate - an apology published." So, I know that I and several others have contacted the Club to point out their errors and I wait with interest for the retraction and apology that the Code of Practice requires.
If you want to know how good or bad these cars are, take a look at www.pocuk.com and see what problems owners are reporting and receiving help for. This is an owners club with (from the member list) several thousand members. As such, it has to be a vastly more significant source of information than the CC Red Pennant Scheme. The posts on POCUK aren't censored, so you will get a clear and honest picture.
WRT overheating - the article claimed a "notable number". I suspect that if you were to ask how many of any car commonly used for towing had overheated, you'd get enough to make a "notable number". IOW, Pajeros are no worse than any other car (and, from noting numbers broken down at the roadside and comparing reports on alt.fan.landrover with those on the Pajero Owners Club, they are more reliable than the Discovery).
WRT clutch failure - the vast majority of Pajeros are autos, which don't have a clutch and flywheel. So, any clutch problems must be confined to those with manual transmission. Now, I very much doubt that there are enough manual Pajeros in his area for that one Welsh "specialist" to see the alleged problem "day-in, day-out". AFAICT, the original claim is from one disgruntled owner, whose importer may have used this false claim to fob off his customer. In any case, except for some 1993 2.8 TDs, manual Pajeros have the same clutch as their Shogun counterparts.
When I spoke with "Suzanne", she told me that her goal was to highlight the lack of dealer support for grey imports, either here or abroad, and that it is likely they won't be able to do a roadside fix for these vehicles. Now, I find
it strange that she (and Barry Williams, the editor of the club magazine and author of that crock of crud) chose to illustrate this by picking on one of the few grey imports that actually has full UK main-dealer support. I also cannot believe that UK-spec car would have any better support in a foreign country than will any other vehicle of a specification not sold in that country. In any case, they did not say there was a support issue with grey imports -- they implied that the Pajero is prone to overheating and clutch failure (neither of which is true) and claimed it to be "unsuitable for towing" (which, given that a greater percentage of Pajeros than most other marques are used for towing, is also untrue).
AFAICT, the Caravan Club have not followed the Press Code of Practice (of which the very first tenet is, "The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.") Caravan Club members deserve better than this. However, the code also states, "A significant inaccuracy, mis-leading statement or distortion once recognised must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and - where appropriate - an apology published." So, I know that I and several others have contacted the Club to point out their errors and I wait with interest for the retraction and apology that the Code of Practice requires.
I've had a Pajero 2.5 auto for 2 years now towed though out the uk and Holland had no overheating or box problems great tow car. Check www.pocuk
i have a sterling emerald eccles caravan with a weight of 1300kg can anyone suggest suitable tow vehicles to match, also what fuel type diesel/petrol, automatic/manual, also considering caravanning all year round do i go for a 4x4
How old are these Pajaro's when they arrive in this country? If there over 4yrs then I would recomend changing the radiator as a prcautionary measure. The flow of coolant lets sediment settle in the bottom of the rad and hense less coolant to do its job. This simptom is not just on Jap imports it also effects vehicles built in this country. Bazz.At that age it sounds like a partially blocked radiator to me assuming that matrix is not obstructed in any way and fan is working properly (is it electric?) I'm not familiar with your exact car but in most auto's the g/box oil is fed through one of the radiator ends and normally this is sufficient but a kenlowe or similar g/box oil cooler could be fitted quite easily.
How long have you had the car? Has it always done this or started more recently? You should certainly try a good backflush and a descaling solution etc but if problem persists then I'd go for a new radiator (again if your sure all else is ok). Chances are this will help your g/box problems too so tackle radiator first before buying g/box cooler!
"The pajero is an unofficial import which is not specified as suitable for use in the uk"
What a croc of s**t,I'm sorry but normally I am a very placid person,but when I see statements like that it just makes my blood boil.Where did you get your info from RogerL?????
90% of veh's on the uk roads are imports of some sorts.And cheap?Check the prices out before you say a veh is cheap.I tow a 22ft caravan/3 kids/2 adults/1 dog and all the accesories,all towed with a 2.8 diesel auto LWB Pajero L reg.The only time it has let me down in 2yrs is on Monday just gone the alternator packed up and had to be relayed back from Heathrow,just an every day alternator.I have just got it back from the garage today,
What a croc of s**t,I'm sorry but normally I am a very placid person,but when I see statements like that it just makes my blood boil.Where did you get your info from RogerL?????
90% of veh's on the uk roads are imports of some sorts.And cheap?Check the prices out before you say a veh is cheap.I tow a 22ft caravan/3 kids/2 adults/1 dog and all the accesories,all towed with a 2.8 diesel auto LWB Pajero L reg.The only time it has let me down in 2yrs is on Monday just gone the alternator packed up and had to be relayed back from Heathrow,just an every day alternator.I have just got it back from the garage today,
Kenny, I had a 2.5 Paj for 3 years followed by a 2.8 for 2 years and never had any engine overhating problems. Only once did the box get too hot but that was in mid summer towing a 630 avante back over the alps (st Gothard) so after letting it cool down for a bit we carried on with no troublle at all. Do you use the Paj off road at all, or has it been used off road at all? Quite often the radiators become clogged up at the bottom and don't allow enough air to flow through to provide adequate cooloing. The only real way to check is to remove it and clean it up, if that doesn't sort it then the core itself may be blocked (internally) and the only solution here is either to re-core it or a new rad. Don't let it get too hot or you'll cook the motor and then you're into big money to sort. Have you looked at www.POCUK.com, good site with lots of help on all problems.
I did fit an additional oil cooler for the box on my 2.8, but they do have 1 fitted as standard.
i'm glad you have had no trouble with your pajero,stuart.
but as the pajero problem takes into account a large number
of older vehicles imported into the uk, overheating would be
a natural accurance for vehicles of 10 odd years old,due to
the radiators not performing as well as when new.
because these older vehicles do not do the high mileage in their
homeland,and they usual do look good for their age the rad is
overlooked unless it leaks. but it does not need to leak to be
underperforming and although this wouldn't be a problem in normal
use can show its ugly head when towing.
also you state that cc made reference of this problem based on
some garage in wales? claiming how many pajero could he see,
well believe it or not farmers do use these vehicles and they are
also quite popular outside of the cities.
if the cc were wrong in anyway,then maybe they should have made
it clear the reason why the may overheat,so owners can take note.
to reger L, your post is an uneducated pile of bs. i have owned a pajero for 2 1/2 years with out fault. it was recently weighed on a weighbridge at a local steel yard, with the trailer loaded it weighed just over 7400kgs, now correct me if im wrong but i think that is probably more than any caravan and family combined! i was over loaded but i was on private land but i travelled 34 miles across a mountain with that. temperature guage sat SLIGHTLY higher than normal, very slightly. hot clutch slip and no over heating, i have 251k kms on mine and i couldnt run my business with out such a reliable tow vehicle.The Pajero is an unofficial import which is not specified as suitable for use in the UK. There have been a number of over-heating and clutch failures on Pajeros used for towing as many of them are unsuitable for this purpose. These problems are the downside of buying cheap "grey" imports.
"The pajero is an unofficial import which is not specified as suitable for use in the uk"
What a croc of s**t,I'm sorry but normally I am a very placid person,but when I see statements like that it just makes my blood boil.Where did you get your info from RogerL?????
90% of veh's on the uk roads are imports of some sorts.And cheap?Check the prices out before you say a veh is cheap.I tow a 22ft caravan/3 kids/2 adults/1 dog and all the accesories,all towed with a 2.8 diesel auto LWB Pajero L reg.The only time it has let me down in 2yrs is on Monday just gone the alternator packed up and had to be relayed back from Heathrow,just an every day alternator.I have just got it back from the garage today,
RogerThe Pajero is an unofficial import which is not specified as suitable for use in the UK. There have been a number of over-heating and clutch failures on Pajeros used for towing as many of them are unsuitable for this purpose. These problems are the downside of buying cheap "grey" imports.
How much do you actually know about the Pajero?
If my assumption of 'nothing' is incorrect, please let me know.
I have towed extensively with a Paj, use it to carry all my tools as a plumber and get it dirty regularly.
It is without doubt the best tow car I have ever owned. It performs admiarably as a 'White van'. It has NEVER let me down.
Sorry, what did you say you drive?
inter coolers are for TURBOs, not towing!!!as per petes response in the caravan club magazine, apparently the pajeros are basically not fit for towing due to not having sufficient inter coolers for the job.
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