First time poster. The Highs and Lows so far with pics (Long read)

[mat02920]

Hi guys,

I've used the forum for many months to troubleshoot a number of issues with my 1994 NJ 3l 12v SOHC - for which I thank you! I thought I'd share some of my experiences, especially as I have fallen out of love with the car (again) and hope for some encouragement to carry on! For anyone that's interested I'm a 30 yr old married Pom living on the Northside of Brisbane. Not sure who else on the forum lives around here??

I have broken the post down into sections, this may take a while...

Fixed
(do bare in mind I had no previous mechanical experience or knowledge prior to owning this car!)

- Replaced CV boot with a 'glueable' one I bought from ebayUK - worked well however the metal clips aren't so good so will probably replace with a cable tie (pic attached)

- Replaced the oil cooler hoses - they were leaking bad and it took me ages to figure it out
- Replaced the coolant expansion tank
- Replaced the head gaskets with only two 'spare' bolts left over at the end haha - PITA (not sure if entirely successful)
- Installed new dashboard bulbs
- Replaced radiator fan
- plenty of servicing and belt replacement etc

Fixes Needed

- Transmission pan is leaking oil around the join/seal/bolts. Will remove and replace gasket plus clean out the filter at the same time.


- Oil leak... I thought I'd fixed this by replacing the oil cooler hoses however these were masking another leak from the rear of the sump. I fear its the sump gasket. I have checked the back of the rocker covers and the oil isn't coming from here... (pic attached - btw is that ding near the sump plug supposed to be there?? or is this a 'mod'?) ha


- Heads - now my brother and I replaced the head gaskets when he visited from the UK back in March. It was a rush job because much of our fun revolved around utilising the car. However when we got the car all back together the car idled at 3000rpm and thus we thought we had severely stuffed the job with a massive air leak somewhere. Well we left it for a week and a half bitterly disappointed. The day before he was due to fly home I was stood gazing aimlessly at the engine bay, again! It occurred to me that in our haste to put the engine back together we had put the intake plenum on with the throttle and cruise control cable underneath; so rather than take the plenum off we detached the cables... anyway, turns out we could have done the boys' Fraser & offroading trip after all, it turns out we'd simply bolted the cruise control cable up too much causing the high revs. Once loosened off the car work perfectly.
UNTIL NOW!! The car is displaying all the same symptoms as it did the last time the gasket went, although not half as severe. We didn't get the heads tested or anything and we did all of the 'cleaning' ourselves. I just hope they're not warped or cracked. We did however, whilst in the midst of euphoria at the thought of being at the stage of putting the car back together have too much . What ensued was a dumb conversation about having put the first head gasket on the wrong side... off came the head again after having torqued it down... we decided to use it on the otherside anyway. Yes, I know what you're all thinking... stupid Poms botching a job. Anyway, I suspect that either this gasket is the one leaking air into my coolant system forcing it into the expansion tank or the heads have a crack or warping. I'm tempted to just take the rocker covers off and re-torque the head bolts in hope - given that the car has been good since March with two trips to Fraser I have a small hope they may just need a re-tighten. I may also replace my thermostat and radiator cap. However the wooshing bubble noise from behind the dashboard makes me think its defo the heads leaking air into the coolant passages somewhere.

- My bullbar is sagging at the sides and wobbles when in transit (pic attached). Any suggestions?


- I have attached a pic or two for this, I bought a timing light to do the ignition timing myself as I didn't trust the mechanics I took the car to when I first had the car with little knowledge. The timing mark/TDC plate that sticks out from the timing belt cover seems to be off at an angle to me and I'm not sure if this is normal? I have put the timing at 5BTDC based on this but it just doesn't feel right to me and makes me think the plate/bar it bent to one side... is this how its supposed to be??



Mods/Accessories
We love offroading, touring and exploring the national parks around here and enjoy a good secluded camp spot too...

-I have raised the front end 2.5cm to level the car off
-Roof racks with pull out awning and rooftop tent

-DIY rear storage box with dual agm 120ah battery with various sockets + 55l fridge




A bit dusty after a day at D'aguilar NP (after which I discovered the radiator had emptied into the expansion tank)

Future Mods/Accessories

Bloody none 'til the car starts behaving! But I'd like some AT tires and I would like to change the timing belt, water pump etc. I cant really be bothered though until everything else is fixed. There is a very slight bottom end knock which disappears once warmed but this doesn't particularly concern me atm. Have contemplated buying a used engine to put on a stand in the garage to be used a project/rebuild then put it in the car once finished then rebuild the one I have taken out...

Anyway, hope that wasn't too boring? Any feedback, questions or advise welcome. Theres much more to do, things to finish off in the storage box etc. The wife wants the computer now to skype the MIL

Look forward to hearing from some of you soon

Mat

[alchemysa]

The 'bent timing plate' may be due to the plastic timing belt cover not being refitted correctly. Did you remove it when you replaced the head gaskets? I remember having some trouble with this myself. I can't remember the exact details but I do remember it was a little fiddly to get it correctly fitted.

[alchemysa]

Bull bar may have a broken chassis mount. I had the same wobble. It can be hard to detect because the weld looks fine at rest. Get someone to yank on the bar while you are under it.

[mat02920]

Hi alchemysa, thanks for the reply. The timing plate was like this prior to doing the head gaskets so I gave it a good looking over when I had the cover off and it seemed to be solid with no cracks. When refitted it went on the same way so at the time I assumed it was normal. Will look at it properly next time I have them off which doesnt seem too far off ha!
Re. The bull bar, it sags on both sides however I will follow your advice. My wife took it to Fraser with her mates and upon reviewing her photos there were a few with 3 of them sitting on it. Would have thought they wouldn't be heavy enough to bend it...? ;-)

Cheers

[rich67]

Hi, nice looking rig. Is the extra battery in the rear storage unit? Is it wired to charge while driving, if so how? Or do you charge it at home?

Oil leak could be just the sump plug. Did you put a new washer on? Mine did this so gave it a tweak and all was good.

[jim4270]

balancer bolt

hey mat,when you remove the harmonic balancer(bottom engine pulley on crank) be sure to replace the centre bolt that secures the harmonic to crank shaft,if you reuse the old bolt they have a habit of undoing them selves leading to major mechanical problems, so always replace this bolt buy a new bolt to save the heart ache

[mat02920]

Hi, nice looking rig. Is the extra battery in the rear storage unit? Is it wired to charge while driving, if so how? Or do you charge it at home?

Oil leak could be just the sump plug. Did you put a new washer on? Mine did this so gave it a tweak and all was good.

Hi rich67 - yes the extra battery is in the storage unit and yes it charges when driving. I have run a positive cable from the main battery via a redarc automatic isolator switch, through the firewall on the PS and along the channels covered with plastic along the bottom door jams and then under the carpet into the under seat storage area where the wheel jack is, then finally out of there in through the base of the storage box ( you can see in the photo of the battery to the right hand side where the cables come in?). The negative for the extra battery just runs from the base of the box into the jack storage area and is bolted to the chassis in there.
Good thinking about the washer for the sump, thinking about it I dont recall putting one on for a long while. Do you think the sump bolt can leak to the extent in my photo? All up the back of the sump? It only seems to leak once the engine has warmed up btw.

Thanks for your input

Mat

[days95]

i have used the SPLIT CV BOOT from the uk been on for months now and havnt had a problem and yes the clips they give you are absolute crap, i didnt even use them(because i couldnt figure them out) i just used some big hose clamps. but other then the clips its a really good idea and time saver.

[mat02920]

hey mat,when you remove the harmonic balancer(bottom engine pulley on crank) be sure to replace the centre bolt that secures the harmonic to crank shaft,if you reuse the old bolt they have a habit of undoing them selves leading to major mechanical problems, so always replace this bolt buy a new bolt to save the heart ache

Hi Jim, thanks for the advice. This is the only bit that worries me about the whole timing belt change - the HB + bolt and the sprocket/seals behind it? Did you find it particularly difficult and did you construct a tool to hold it still and for torquing up afterwards?

Mat

[mat02920]

i have used the SPLIT CV BOOT from the uk been on for months now and havnt had a problem and yes the clips they give you are absolute crap, i didnt even use them(because i couldnt figure them out) i just used some big hose clamps. but other then the clips its a really good idea and time saver.

Same here, its not even on securely and I thought it would have disintegrated by now but its still there! I bought two at the time and keep one in the car as spare. Wouldn't want to have an accident with that glue hey? Pretty damn good...

Mat

[mat02920]

I didnt really talk about any of the positives. In the year or so we've had the car we've been to Fraser 5 or more times, Teerwah & Rainbow Beach, Bribie Island a few times and various inland national parks like D'aguilar, Glasshouse mountains, Bellthorpe and Conondale and much more. We love the car, its our first 4X4 and we find it incredibly capable. Several times upon exiting the Fraser island barge for example we have overtaken more modern 4x4s as they slowly get bogged in the soft sand... the wife often says 'should we stop and help?' to which she gets a short pause and a 'nah' (obviously if it was a dangerous situation we would but most folks seem to get themselves out...)

I was sad to learn that on the modern Pajeros they don't come equipped with a central diff lock any more? Is it an optional rear diff lock? And is this because 4x4 tech has come on a long way and it isn't as important anymore?

Anyway, some pics of the car from various trips: (not really many true action shots as when these occur my wife is normally crying in the passenger seat and I have white knuckles - no time for pictures!)



In addition to the above we now have the pull out awning and a 2meter foldable table from Aldi of all places

Cooloola way above - no way I would attempt this road in the wet!

Just after Indian Head on Fraser I believe

My brothers Aussie 4x4 experience haha

[AndyNH91]

Hi alchemysa, thanks for the reply. The timing plate was like this prior to doing the head gaskets so I gave it a good looking over when I had the cover off and it seemed to be solid with no cracks. When refitted it went on the same way so at the time I assumed it was normal. Will look at it properly next time I have them off which doesnt seem too far off ha!
Re. The bull bar, it sags on both sides however I will follow your advice. My wife took it to Fraser with her mates and upon reviewing her photos there were a few with 3 of them sitting on it. Would have thought they wouldn't be heavy enough to bend it...? ;-)

Cheers

My timing plate is in exactly the same position as yours. Common fault perhaps

[damo03]

Nice looking pajero mate!

[mat02920]

Thanks Damo03. The body work is in pretty good shape, whilst looking through the documents it appears to have had a rust proof coating done in its early days... If I ever buy a brand new car I will defo have this done

[mat02920]

Andy how do you do the timing for yours? I've heard of people doing it by sound etc but I'm nowhere near talented enough for that!