[Tunja]

I see a lot of the 3.2 DID being advertised with around 250,000 kms on them early 2000 onwards. I bought my daughters 3.2DID with 265,000 kms on the clock and apart from a bit of smoke it seems to run well.

What is considered to be max life expectancy of these 3.2 DID motors? I presume it depends on servicing - lets assume it a motor has been properly serviced etc and where would you personally draw a line in regards to kms done.

Can I presume the 3.5 & 3.8 L V6 motor is longer lasting due to being petrol and once again where would you personally draw a line in regards to kms done.

I'm looking more for a cheapish runaround I can go play with in the Atlantis dunes and other 4x4 trails, petrol's are cheaper to buy, more expensive on fuel but are cheaper to service etc...

I really like the 3.8 but having a hard time convincing Swambo the pros & cons of my last sentence above - she is only seeing the fuel cost saving at the pump with a diesel consumption being lower but not cheaper per Litre and neither the difference in purchase / service price - probably @ R20 - 25K which is a significant difference.

Taking say 10L / 100kms for the diesel and 16L / 100kms for the Petrol so 6L / 100 kms difference. I reckon I can do +- 25,000 Kms then the total cost for both will be the same.

Seeing as the Pajero will be used more a recreational 4x4, its seems to make more sense to go for a 3.8 - V6 with +- 175-200K kms than a 3.2 with +- 250K kms and above?

Having said that, does anyone know the previous owner of this 3.2 DID from the Nelspruit area?

[RoelfleRoux]

The petrol may require servicing less often and it requires less oil, but the cambelt and spark plug service every 90k km is very expensive. I'm not convinced that you will save significantly on petrol service costs.

Any diesel engine's reliability is dependent on oil quality and diesel quality, more so than its petrol cousin. In most cases when you buy an old diesel, then you simply don't know what the true service history is.

The petrol engine is more forgiving of a poor service history. If the petrol engine in a Pajero doesn't have ticking lifters, then you can surmise that it had a quality service history. The only thing that will kill a well serviced Pajero V6 is a cooling failure. I would recommend a complete cooling overall, including all hoses, thermostat, water pump and visco fan at the third cambelt service (270k km). I say at the cambelt service simply because the pump has to be removed in any case.

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