Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi everyone.
I've bought a 2001 Pajero 3.2 DiD last year in May and am never going to look back. Definitely more enjoyable than the Mahindra Scorpio I had before
I also have a few projects I'd like to realize once the missus and money allow.

But currently I have a bigger problem: On irregular occasions the car won't start. Mostly when it has not been driven for a day or three. I assumed it was the radio I had replaced and maybe had wired it wrongly - I was a certified car mechanic in Germany, but only until '96 and things have changed a bit. But the wiring is correct and I had it checked by " a guy". Then the intervals seemed to get shorter. A month ago I had the car parked in Pretoria for 3 days and it started without a hitch. Yesterday I had to jump start and this morning I had to jump start again.
I took it to an electrical service this afternoon and they identified a constant "bleed" of about 200 mA with nothing else switched on. They assume that it's a tracker somewhere in the vehicle. They will need about a day to find it and remove it. They seem competent but I'm not really happy to pay the money if I can avoid it. I haven't heard of a tracker from the previous owner or the used car salesperson but it would not be entirely surprising.

Does anyone have any experience with this problem?
If it IS a tracker, how did the previous owner manage to drive the car without having to jump start it all the time?
If it really is the tracker and the problem is constant, why does it only show up irregularly?
Would the problem be solved (temporarily) if the battery got replaced? I don't know how old the current one is so that might be a factor in the problem getting worse?
Is there any other plausible reason for the problem?

Naturally I'm on a tight budget and am not looking forward to any extensive jobs by expensive professionals.

Hi

I once had that kind of thing happening early this year. The main problem could be the regulator.
Mine had developed a fault on the alternator and the 'Guy" had, I suppose, little knowledge on fixing the alternator; he told me
the regulator on the alternator was not working, so he replaced the regulator. I even bought a brand new battery, 650, but surprisingly, each morning I would find the battery totally empty, something I had never experienced prior to the replacement of that regulator. You could even link the terminals (+ve & -ve) but nothing would happen. It would be like the battery was dead completely. Eventually, I had to replace the alternator totally with a brand new one; from then I haven't had any problems. Its been 6 months now and I haven't complained about the battery.

Normally a Pajero is a very sensitive car, everything has to be in its proper state. Any bit of malfunctioning will give you a headache.


Hope that will assist.

My 2 cents. My father drives a BMW station wagon that is a few years old. It started developing the same symptoms - if you drive it daily, it starts without a problem. Leave it for 2 or more days and the battery is dead.

Eventually after 2 news batteries were fitted within a few weeks (to no avail) a car electrics specialist were contacted and he also diagnosed a drain on the battery - after much searching, swearing and general workshop rage it turns out the previous owner had a tracker fitted. The tracker unit has its own battery, but when the battery eventually stops working it draws current from the vehicles main battery.

After the tracker was removed, the problem vanished into thin air.

Hope it helps!

Thanks. This does help a lot since it relates to all the symptoms AND builds confidence with the electrics guy.
Will go ahead and book a date for the search to begin.
Thanks everyone.

I had exactly the same issue. Mine caused me to buy 3 bateris over 2 years, much swearing and not a little amount of stress...

https://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/view ... 139#p37139

Like others have said, it was the tracker. I practically removed the entire dashboard and interior panels looking for it. I had managed to call the previous owner who still had the licence plate number of the guy he bought it from. When I called Tracker to ask if there had even been one and used that reg number they said yes there was one installed but refused to tell me where they'd hidden it.... but for R500 they'd send out a technician that would remove it.

So I looked for another day before I gave in.

Send me a PM and I'll let you know where they hid the flipping thing.

Once out, problem solved.

Kamanya wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 15, 2018 8:07 pm

Send me a PM and I'll let you know where they hid the flipping thing.

Once out, problem solved.

I booked it in for Thursday to have them find and remove the tracker. I'd appreciate a hint of where others may have hidden it. Unfortunately I'm not permitted to send PM's yet due to my "noob" status. So if you'd like to send me one ...