Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi
We have been following the blogs on the website and found them most interesting but sometimes hard to follow.

We have the following problem with our 2000 3.5 GLS V6 (12 valve motor) Pajero SWB Gen 3. The traction indicator lights are creating a problem.

When starting in the morning all is well. They come on and then go off, but after plusminus 20 km the LLC lock centre diff light starts to flash, and then it will not engage 4 wheel drive. We stop, switch off, and all is back to normal. If 4H is now engaged, everything remains normal, but if 4H is disengaged, about 20 km further the LLC light starts to flash again.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi BdB

Welcome to the forum. First of all I think you might be referring to the 4x4 indicator light not traction control as your year model didn't come out with it? Also your engine should be SOHC 24v?

The flashing green and orange lights are a usual bug bear at some or other stage of a pajero owners life. When the 4x4 ecu senses that some drive train component is not doing what it should, it flashes various lights to show you there is a problem.

The 4x4 activation is controlled in part by vacuum solenoid valves controlling the right front side shaft engaging into the diff to activate 4wd. There are also a whole bunch of switches telling the ECU what each part is doing from the from the diff to the transfer case.

Now if any part in this chain is not working properly the lights will flash to tell you; from a sticky solenoid valve, vacuum leaks, dud switches will all lead to the symptoms you describe.

Google for 4epikanini Diy post on sorting out the switches, it is pretty comprehensive. Even though it was based on a Gen2, the systems haven't changed that much.

Good luck.

EDIT:
ADDED Links here:
https://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/sh ... hp?t=37762
https://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?t=119
https://4epikanini.webs.com/mitsubishidiy.htm


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Hi Nicholas thank you very much for your very helpful reply. Have gone to 4ePikanini as suggested and busy going through his site.

I delivered a 2003 DiD to a friend a number of years ago with exactly those symtoms. In his case it turned out to be the vacuum pump.

I have a question now for the clever guys on the forum: will the V6 have a vacuum pump or will it operate off the manifold negative pressure?

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