Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

The problems you have can happen with any vehicle.

I had a BMW X5 with problems, problems, problems. I replaced the auto gearbox, computers, etc. and in the end sold it due to everything not getting fixed or worse.

I met the guy who bought it, he got the extended guarantee and under that got minor items fixed somewhere else, and are very happy with the vehicle now. (most of the issues was due to a "not so well battery")

Lesson learned : Change your workshop and get second opinions, and don't trust the guy who just resets everything with a laptop. That is like giving a disprin to a cancer patient, the pain is away for an hour, but the cancer is not cured!

The same happened with my wife's Merc 320 CDi, they kept resetting the maf sensors, and in the end it costed me a turbo.

Good luck!

I don't want to lose faith in Pajero, I've very much enjoyed the car so far except for the dish it's cost.
I'm going to ask SAC to give me the answers on each of the questions, and will post the reply.......

Thanks for the encouragement!

I've just sent SAC a mail asking the questions raised. Let me see what they come back with, because before I got the Pajero I did so much research and the overwhelming consensus is that these can take you anywhere!
Too many plans for future trips to let this put me down. The bottom of it is what I'm after, sounds terrible hey

Hey,

Sorry to her that.

Mine is a 04 with 90 000 on the clock.

Just came back from n West-coast weekend.

Absolute champ.

Maybe you should get another opinion?

Hope you can save her.

I know the feeling just to well. One of mine almost cost me my wife. Both are Gen 2 SWB 3000 V6 models with both just shy of 250 000 km. The 1998 has given me all kinds of hassles and cost me a fortune to get to apoint where I can trust it. The 1999 only needed a diff repair and the rest of the normal wear and tear stuff. This just show that it all depends on the previous user and that no 2 vehicles are the same.

On my brand new FJ Cruiser I just had to replace the drivers seat. There are always a black sheep somewhere in every family

You are already standing with your hands deep into the pocket. If you know that the rest is good, then try and give it a another go. The Pajero's really do last.

Hi Wayne,

I hear you 100%...
Like many others said, you get lemons with any brand.
If you're considering selling, you're already aware I'm sure that you'll loose a lot of money (especially on the 3.8 petrol). So look at how much the car has cost you VS how much more it will cost you VS how much money you're going to loose if you sell it.
Either cut your costs now if you need to invest (waste...) more money into it, or recover from all the money put in over a few years if pretty much everything is sorted now.

I feel the same as you (lost confidence in the car, etc) after a few issues on my side as well, but they are not bad cars, it's just that we got one of those...

It would also help if you'd be able to do some maintenance yourself. To first save money, instead of sending it to an indy, and two to be able to fix what might break when you're out in the bush!

Good luck.

PS: the Gen 3 Pajeros are known for water temperature gauge failure that require to change the instruments cluster, starting with a brand new odo at 0km. So it's quite possible that your current mileage doesn't reflect the real mileage on the car.

I thought I should give you all an update on my "issues".

Eventually I got the Pajero to Haydn in Pmb. This was after I got the car back from SAC and after the shocks had been replaced and the control arms had been rlaced.

The entire undercarriage was loose, all the bolts where they had worked were loose. I also gave Haydn the items that had been replaced. His view is that there was absolutely no reason why the the entire Lower Control Arms had to be replaced because they were fine, as were the ball joints. The ball joints and control arm bushes are sold separately.

So, after this long and horrible experience, the Pajero is going better than it's ever gone before.

Now what to do about the feeling that I've been ripped off?

Hey
I think someone is taking you for a a ride. My 1999 LWB has 350 000km on it and I have only done shocks twice. Besides if you paid R12k for a set of shocks i would expect them to last a lifetime. My Pajero has never left me standing, most reliable car I have ever owned. I would trust it in the bush before any of these new age vehicles with all thier electronics.
The trick is finding someone you can trust to keep in top shape.

2000 Gen3 - 250 000km on the clock - no major issues to date.

Wayneb1 wrote:Now what to do about the feeling that I've been ripped off?

Go buy you monthly groceries at Woolies. It is the same pain, but you will feel more embarrassed, dulling the ache from your nether regions