Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Don't ignore the oil light on the dash.

Mine came on yesterday and I stopped immediately.

Turns out the oil pressure switch located on the block behind the turbo failed and leaked oil at a rate of about a cup a minute. It fails between the plastic and the metal outside housing - I presume heat/cold fatigue.

Doing a quick search this morning, shows it is a very common problem on the 4m41 engines.

I stopped just in time as my oil level was at the minimum mark when I checked after stopping.

I was in the middle of nowhere and had to wait for help/spanners and oil.

My advice is to keep a spare in the car as it is a very fine thread (a bolt stolen elsewhere won't fit)

To get to it you can either remove the oil filter and access with a wrench or you can remove the air box, inlet pipe and boost pipe, acces with a universal joint, 24 socket, ratchet and 5" extension.

Start the thread by hand!

Got home late so today is gonna be a long day!

Thanks for the valuable info !!

4e,
Are you suggesting that this should be a maintanace item after five or six years maybe?
Roelf

I would definitely call it a maintenance item. It is a common failure noted on various forums. Thank goodness for the low oil level as the oil pressure switch was so faulty it wouldn't have shown low oil pressure. That would have been a R50k failure from a R70 part.

Mitsubishi charges R70 for the thing and it's a fairly simple DIY - now that I figured out how to get there. Removing the intake pipe, airbox and boost pipe takes 2 minutes (phillips screwdriver and 12mm spanner) and is a cleaner method than crawling underneath through the bash plate to remove the oil filter for access.

NOTE : Mine was a generic part that came out with a 24 socket but the genuine Mitsu one requires a deep 27mm socket.

The get-me-home fix is:

• take the broken switch out (a water pump pliers or bobbejaan-spanner will do it)
• butcher the broken switch until you have access to the hole in the middle of the switch
• if you have epoxy handy as well as decent cleaning stuff (soap, water, alcohol eg whisky), clean the switch properly and fill with exopy, let it set and fit carefully
• if not, whittle a piece of hard wood to fit tightly into the hole in the switch
• knock the wood in firmly
• tighten the "plug" by hand or pliers (not to tight, you have to remove it again!)
• drive to the nearest filling station and stock up with oil
• stop every few kms and check that the plug is still intact (it might leak a bit)

I couldn't even get a spanner in there never mind a bobbejaan spanner. It sits directly behind the turbo. Unless you maybe gain access from the oil filter side (from what I saw you have to remove the bash plate as well).

From no angle can I actually see the sensor in place (unless you remove the turbo first)

Butchering the sensor and filling that part with wood or epoxy will be your only option. I believe it's a taper thread so tightening by hand with a cloth (provided you have some dexterity in your fingers and hands) will be good enough as the manual states 23NM (I think) which is easily achievable by a strong hand/wrist.

Easiest though is to spend R70 on the sensor and R57 on a deep 27mm socket from midas and chuck it in the toolbox.

I am sure I will be able to talk someone with some DIY experience through it in about 10 minutes.

Thanks Marius,

Excuse my ignorance, but which oil light are you referring to?

My oil pressure light (the orange one) comes on every day when the engine is cold and I ascend a hill. When the engine is warm this doesn't happen. My mechanic, and from what I've read, says I can ignore it because its just a faulty sensor.

I understand there is also a red oil light, which monitors the oil level (I think) - are you referring to this one?

Cheers,
D

you have 2 lights on the dash. An orange and a red. (The red one is right next to the handbrake light - just right of it)

Both should come on and stay on when you turn the ignition on (if one or both stays off you either have a bulb blown, faulty wiring or a faulty sensor)

when you start the engine both should go off almost instantly.

The red is oil pressure - this is the sensor that failed on me. If you have the ignition on (engine NOT running) you disconnect the wiring from the switch (this sounds simple but you need to remove some stuff to get access or really small arms) and connect to ground (battery negative) and this will make the red oil light illuminate on the dash. If you disconnect it from the ground the light should go off.

The orange one is oil level. Mine only came on at about 1/2 to minimum level. I usually overfill my oil on my cars by about 7mm - so far no issues. I don't trust the oil level sensors and check my oil twice a week and every fill up (or stop) on a long journey.

Thanks - I need to pay more attention!

dwinter,
Yip...
Orange is the oil level light.
I don't think the sensor is faulty, I think it is over sensitive. Does it stay on for only a short while and then gone for the rest of the trip?
I had the same on my 2000 DiD, and solved it by pouring more oil into the sump.

I know there is going to be a cry about all the negatives of overfilling a sump... oil getting stirred up by the crank and bubbles getting sucked into the oil pump and...and... and...

Just be sensible about it, but add some more oil and see if it stops the light from illuminating.

Roelf