Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

My Gen 4 DiD started loosing coolant a while ago, about 1cm from the overflow reservoir every 3000kms. I dont see any signs of leaks. Silverton recommends that I have a pressure test done when the engine is cold. My concern however with the pressure test, is what happens if the head or headgasket leaks coolant into the combustion chamber, and the engine is then started? Will this not cause sub assembly damage?

Is there any commonly known causes for coolant loss on the 3.2DiD commonrail as found in the Gen 4?

Hi sixmaniac .
Start with the basics first, have you checked the radiator cap, buy a new one they are not expensive. Also look at the hose running to the overflow bottle, is it cracked or perished? That can allow coolant to leak away. I was losing coolant form my Gen 3 and it was the gasket on the bleed bolt ontop of the thermostat that had failed, leaking coolant when the vehicle was at operating temperature.

The 4m41 motors are super reliable, I would look at peripherals first before the block /head giving issues.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

sixmaniac wrote:......Silverton recommends that I have a pressure test done when the engine is cold. .....

??? Please could you call Silverton and ask why a cold pressure test. This makes absolutely no sense to me.... If anything, a hot test will give you a reliable result.

As per the previous post, go and get a new radiator cap first.

Any signs of water in the engine oil?

Another question....

Your heading says bent conrod??? How do you know that > and to answer your question you asked in the original post, yes, you can bend a conrod (and various other engine parts) if you get enough water into the engine / combustion chamber

Hi,

The reason for the cold pressure test is that as the engine heats up, the tolerances get smaller between parts, they recon leaks will be easier to find when cold. I have decided to leave the pressure test, cause I'm afraid of a bent conrod if water accumulates in the combustion chamber after a pressure test.

New signs has come to light as the coolant consumption increased:
engine difficult to turn over(like a petrol engine with timing too fast). This is most likely caused by moisture accumulating in the combustion chamber. Ideal conditions for bending a conrod! This is then followed by a huge cloud of (funny smelling)steam from the exhaust.

Paj is parked for now (hopefully no sub assy damage yet)until the head is coming off on Monday. A cracked cyl head is suspected.

will keep you informed of the progress.

Anything else I should replace during the process? 180K kms. timing chain? tensioners?

sixmaniac wrote:The reason for the cold pressure test is that as the engine heats up, the tolerances get smaller between parts, they recon leaks will be easier to find when cold. ....

Thats BS....

Had my Colt in 3 times to be told all was "well" cold.
R23k and a R47k engine rebuild later because I relied on a cold pressure test.
Hot, the tolerances will in most cases make it worse, ie, widening the gaps n cracks....

remove glowplugs (put wads of toilet paper to stop dust entering)
apply 1.5 bar pressure to the cooling system for a few hours
turn engine over by hand a few times and look for coolant coming out of the glowplug holes.

If you have a cracked head its obvious. There will be white smoke on startup and a missfire. The head usually cracks in the exhaust valve ports so pressurization of the system, exploding radiators and top hoses does not happen with the 3.2 like you get in the 2.8. IS it LWB? if so check the front to rear heater pipes for a leak.

Head removed.
Crack in exhaust port confirmed
No aftermarket heads available apparently due to lack of demand.
Pre 2006 4m41 DiD's heads are not the same as the 4m41 DiD common rail heads.
any info on an available DiDc head will be welcomed.