Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Pajeroites

I am the unfortunate owner of a destroyed 2002 3.2 DiD Pajero. Ten years old to the day with 165,000 "around town" km on the clock and I have $9000 worth of damage to cough up.

There have been ample discussions on this, the Australian and UK Pajero 4WD Club websites of guide/timing chain failures.

The standard Mitsubishi response to the mounting body of evidence is "we do not hold any evidence that this is a common problem on the Pajero model". Like the cigarette companies before them, they have managed to defend and argue their position on the basis that they did not know about this... and therefore could not be expected to do anything about it. Yeah right! A point in time comes when the weight of evidence must be such that this stance can be shown to be an outright fabrication.

I need your assistance because like a number of owners before me, I plan to take Mitsubishi to court on a matter of principle. To present my case I need to consolidate the available information.

If you have experienced a similar Gen 3 failure, know of someone who has or have got to your PJ before the failure and saw evidence that the timing chain guide was about to go, then can you post at least the following information on this discussion thread:

1. Year of Manufacture
2. Km when the timing chain guide/chain failed or when you changed it?
3. Had the vehicle always been serviced by authorised MM service agents?
4. If it failed, what year did the failure occur?
5. How much did the rebuild cost you to repair?
6. Which Mitsubishi service outlet did you advise of the failure?
7. What did the service outlet say?
8. Did you advise Mistsubishi Motors directly of the failure and what did they say?
9. Did you take any legal action - if so what, against whom and what year? What was the outcome?
10. If you managed to avoid the failure what was the state of the guide? i.e. did it show signs of deterioration? What signs?
11. What was the parts department comment when you purchased the replacement guide?
12. Any other information/comments you think would assist in building a case.

As proud owners of a Pajero, or indeed any vehicle, we should expect that our manufacturer and their authorised service outlets should do their utmost to ensure the longevity and reliability of our vehicles. If they don't, as consumers we have the right to have them held accountable.

Thank you for your assistance.

Regards
Jim
[An annoyed Kiwi}

Jim

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Here in SA there is not such a large record of failed top guides, possibly due to our higher sulphur content diesel necessitating more frequent oil changes. This does not however mean that they do not wear out as elsewhere.

Here is what mine looked like when it was replaced at just under 200 000kms.



1. Year of Manufacture = 2001
2. Km when the timing chain guide/chain failed or when you changed it? Just under 200000kms in 2007
3. Had the vehicle always been serviced by authorised MM service agents? Yes it was up to that stage.
4. If it failed, what year did the failure occur? No failure
5. How much did the rebuild cost you to repair? No rebuild needed.
6. Which Mitsubishi service outlet did you advise of the failure? Mitsubishi Midrand South Africa
7. What did the service outlet say? They did not know of failure as common occurance.
8. Did you advise Mistsubishi Motors directly of the failure and what did they say? No
9. Did you take any legal action - if so what, against whom and what year? What was the outcome? No, none
10. If you managed to avoid the failure what was the state of the guide? i.e. did it show signs of deterioration? What signs? Yes, showed sign of deterioration, see picture. The plastic part was off and chain ran direct on metal part of guide for a period it seems.
11. What was the parts department comment when you purchased the replacement guide? They did not know this to be a common problem.
12. Any other information/comments you think would assist in building a case. I assume you have visited the Victoria Pajeroclub of Australia forum as they have much more info on this topic

CATS


Sent from my green robot device using Tapatalk

Hi Jim,

Sorry to hear of your problems.
Replaced mine today so can now answer your questionnaire:

1. Year of Manufacture? 2002
2. Km when the timing chain guide/chain failed or when you changed it? 225k km
3. Had the vehicle always been serviced by authorised MM service agents? No
4. If it failed, what year did the failure occur? Did not fail
5. How much did the rebuild cost you to repair? N/A
6. Which Mitsubishi service outlet did you advise of the failure? N/A
7. What did the service outlet say? N/A
8. Did you advise Mistsubishi Motors directly of the failure and what did they say? No. N/A
9. Did you take any legal action - if so what, against whom and what year? What was the outcome? No
10. If you managed to avoid the failure what was the state of the guide? i.e. did it show signs of deterioration? What signs? The bearing surface was cracked towards the right hand side but had not disintegrated in any way - i.e. the chain was still running on the full bearing surface of the guide
11. What was the parts department comment when you purchased the replacement guide? None
12. Any other information/comments you think would assist in building a case. None

Regards