Having had my TS Magna for quite a few years.. I'm impressed with her "toughness" given that I'm not the most attentive owner to all her needs.. So now I'm in need of a larger family car that can go off-road (no serious 4WD'ing).. I've been looking at early to mid 90's and late 80's Pajero's as they're in my price range.. I know they have the same G72 motor as the 2nd Gen's (well the 90's models on carsales).. which for me is a plus.. I know what things are in there.. Ok now for the questions.. =)


DUEL FUEL: I've heard no good news of 2nd Gens running well on gas and petrol (straight gas more positively) but there's quite a few Pajero's out there with Duel.. is there a difference to the set up of the Pajero engine that makes it more compatible??

SUPERWAGON'S: Any tales of woe for the late 80's Superwagons?? Obviously they're older vehicles but I really like their style..

ANY ADVICE?? will be greatly appreciated... I've looked at Holden Jackaroo's (Isuzu Trooper), Ford Maverick's/Nissan Patrol's.. but I just feel more comfortable sticking with Mitsubishi... =)

Thanks in advance..

im on the hunt for a 4x4 too
i have done a little reasearch the 3litre no good for lpg the newer 3.5 is ok even from mitsi stating not advised to run on lpg
the 3l when you break timing belt want stuff the motor the 3.5 will
you also have the 2.8l diesil version out there too
not sure going this way or a toyota prada
as jackaroos the best advice from what i searched is if you buy one of these you need a brain transplant
http://140.99.20.180/forum/archive/index.php/t-2771.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Pajero

Thanks for the advice mate.. I'll check those links.. I checked Wiki for everything bar the Pajero :nuts: so yeah Ill get onto that one.. Good advice on the Duel Fuel, cos they've all swore the car ran great on duel.. perhaps not then.. Especially good to get some feedback on the Jackaroo, was seriously looking at an 89 model with the 2.8L turbo deisel.. Good luck with your search.. =)

The diesel versions of the model Pajeros you are looking at are fairly agricultural. The engine (2.5L or 2.8l turbo diesel) pull very strongly and apparently are fairly reliable, but they are coarse, noisy and not particularly pleasant to drive. They are economical though.

I have a 2000 NL Pajero and am very happy with it. It tows our 16 ft poptop caravan extremely well. It runs on gas virtually all the time and consumes about 16 L/100 km (not towing anything) and down to about 21 L/100 km when towing the caravan. I cannot detect any difference in power levels between petrol and gas.

Any petrol Pajero is going to drink petrol. As said above, the 3 Litre engines are not recommended for LPG, although they are around. When I was buying 2000 NL (new), I checked and was assured that the 3.5 engine was LPG compatible. We have a TF Magna Advance (3L engine) which is also apparently LPG compatible - not all 3L engines in Magnas were this way.

Earlier model Pajeros had gearbox problems, although by now I would expect that most of them would have failed and been updated. Other than that, I think that they were generally a reliable vehicle to own. Not the most comfortable, but as good as most of the opposition.

Not sure of what money you are prepared to pay, but you can pick up a NL Pajero for less than $10000. As far as I know, the gearbox issues had been resolved by the time the NL model (97 to 2000) came along. If you go for the 3.5L model, be careful about the DOHC engine. They are good, but apparently are difficult and expensive to work on. The SOHC models are better in that respect. If you buy one, check the timing belt life. They should be changed every 100000 km, and can be expensive if you get it done by a mechanic.

Having had an 86 2.4, 93 3.0 and a 01 3.5 model Pajero in our family since before I started school I'd say good choice, after doing hundreds of thousands of k's between the 3 of them I only ever recall issues with the 86 model giving problems where the motor blew at close to 300 thousand, we replaced it with a brand new crate engine from mits and it kept going strong till we were involved in a head on crash in 2001 where a subaru wrx came around a corner at (police estimate) 140km/h clipping another car then coming sideways across 3 lanes over a median strip onto our side of the road sideways into us at 80km/h. Needless to say me and my family walked out of that horrific accident, the five occupants of the wrx all walked away except for the front seat passenger who copped full impact and died at the scene, to give you an idea of how hard the impact was, the drivers front wheel was where your feet would be if you were sitting in the rear. We got our Pajero back from the Crash investigation team some weeks later while it underwent a full mechanical check. Car arrived as you can imagine, hardly noticeable. Bullbat pushed back leaving the chassis protruding and the passenger door from the wrx embedded in the front of our car. It was obviously written off due to a small kink in the chassis, we ended up using it on our farm till only recently scrapping it with the engine that had under 100k on it. That car was tough as nails.

The 93 model 3.0 is still going, had that from a demo I think, shes got just under 400 on it, blows a bit of smoke and did have a slight crunch when down gearing into second, got all the syncro's replaced and apart from the smoke on take off still goes alright.

The 01 exceed is in another class of it's own in terms of ride comfort and luxury, looks ect... if you can get into a 2000 model and up that'd be my pick.

You mentioned the 90's model, personally if i had to go a 90's model it would be the 3.5 NL series like this one the GLS luxury pack is exactly like the top spec exceed but comes in manual http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab231/kif_380/21f5aa30.jpg

well from all the 4x4 i have looked at i noticed the engines seem to need replacing a lot etc
im also thinking of getting 4x4 with a blowen motor and get full rebuild then i know will be reiliable etc

Ive on my Seond 4x4 now for a Daily.. First was a 96 Pajero 3.0L SWB. I had that for 2 years and it was great. It was getting to the age where it was starting to need to much TLC maintainance wise so it was time to update. I then brought a 2002 NP Petrol and have loved it. I bought a Long wheel base this time as space was my only complaint about the SWB. Ive had the NP for 2 years and put 80,000kms on it and i have done nothing but service it plenty. I think with 4x4s if you can buy one under 10yo and less than 200kms you will be right for a few years. After 12-14years they start needing to much TLC.. I have bought two Pajeros now as they are great Value for Money, I looked at Prado when i bought the Pajero but they where more expensive and less featured. I got a 7yo Pajero Exceed with leather and 120kms for $24k same in the Prado was $28k+.

Only down side to 4WDs is insurance is stupid on them, They are rather heavy on fuel. Space and muscle is great and im happy with that..:)

Ive on my Seond 4x4 now for a Daily.. First was a 96 Pajero 3.0L SWB. I had that for 2 years and it was great. It was getting to the age where it was starting to need to much TLC maintainance wise so it was time to update. I then brought a 2002 NP Petrol and have loved it. I bought a Long wheel base this time as space was my only complaint about the SWB. Ive had the NP for 2 years and put 80,000kms on it and i have done nothing but service it plenty. I think with 4x4s if you can buy one under 10yo and less than 200kms you will be right for a few years. After 12-14years they start needing to much TLC.. I have bought two Pajeros now as they are great Value for Money, I looked at Prado when i bought the Pajero but they where more expensive and less featured. I got a 7yo Pajero Exceed with leather and 120kms for $24k same in the Prado was $28k+.

Only down side to 4WDs is insurance is stupid on them, They are rather heavy on fuel. Space and muscle is great and im happy with that..:)

Why is that?

Coz they get pranged all the time?

Or they are costly to repair?

Or when they hit something else that something else is badly damaged and costly to repair (or written off)?

Never owned a 4WD and have no desire to, just curious.

KJ.

DUEL FUEL: I've heard no good news of 2nd Gens running well on gas and petrol (straight gas more positively) but there's quite a few Pajero's out there with Duel.. is there a difference to the set up of the Pajero engine that makes it more compatible??


What do you mean by straight gas in a 2nd gen? Is that people who run almost full time on gas and rarely on petrol?

I'll stick my head in about the good ole Paj's :io:

We had the intercooled (not turbo!) Diesel 2.8 NM Pajero for about 6 years. We bought it for a bargain from when the Burwood Mitsu was closing down. It was used as thier runabout car and was fitted with 15" alloy wheels (wow!). Twas a great car and it was trully hard to let it go. Truth be told it was a bit rough and loud - the diesel engine is not very advanced at all. Took a bit to getting used to such a noisy and rough car but tt had plenty of torque for a 4 banger. Flew up the mt's like a bat out of hell. We used to go camping alot with it and we'd easily pack up a good 700-800kg's of weight plus pushies on the back and you'd barely feel the effects on power. Frugal little thing too for large car. With the 5sp manual and good calm driving we could reach as low as 10-11L/100km here in the suburbs. When petrol was $1.55+ (approx 2006) we were able to buy Diesel for like $1.20 so it was fairly cheap to run.

We bought it with about 45,000km on the clock and ended up trading it with about 155,000km's. In that time we had no issues whatsoever - it ran like a charm. We did only ever have stealiership servicing which was a little costly though. The 100,000km service still cost us around $1400 and the average service was an easy $400-500 but we didn't mind spending it because the car gave us no other headaches. Tyres were not that cheap either - set us back about $1600 to buy a decent set of BF Goodrich tyres. We ended up having to buy anouther set for the back as the place we bought the original set did not do a alignment on the back because they didn't know it had IRS and ended up wearing the inside of the tyres down the threads. :rant:

We tried to sell it in 2008 for about 15k and it didn't sell very well. We had one keen buyer but he ended up pulling out because of finance issues. We traded it in and got like 11k for it :( ..... turns out that the guy was able to organise finance about 3 weeks later - went straight to the dealership and bought it off them. They fitted the car with some nice 20% limo tint and fixed some of the dints in the bumper. He bought it for the same price we were selling.

Anyway so yes we loved our Paj. Sad day to let that car go but I grewd up and it was inpractical for the parents anymore.

i got one today a 1996 3.5l 7 seater needs work i got it for 1300 needs motor and i just found out a mate of a mate got same one written off rear ended so looks like im going to be busy for a few weeks bargains are out there if you take your time taken me 4 months to find the car for the price i wanted

nice buy mate youll have to post some pics

nice buy mate youll have to post some pics

yeah it arrives tuesday will post pics my next project needs work but thats half the fun

i got one today a 1996 3.5l 7 seater needs work i got it for 1300 needs motor and i just found out a mate of a mate got same one written off rear ended so looks like im going to be busy for a few weeks bargains are out there if you take your time taken me 4 months to find the car for the price i wanted

great you found a car dude! goodluck with the project.. and thanks everyone for the helpful responses and advice... Im still on the hunt.. Ive generally found that the pajeros in my price range (5-6k) all have between 250k and 300+ on the clock.. ive looked at a couple of NL's with the SOHC 3.5 but both had 300+ Ks... obviously my price limitation is getting down my options..

but what about a 1992 base model GL NH with the 2.6L astron on dual fuel? 5spd manual...? Taking into account that im not going to be towing anything anytime soon.. im looking for space most of all and a capable off road vehicle for camping.. no hectic 4wding.. 2kids.. 2adults..

I noticed that the base model GL is only a five seater.. does it have the set up for a third row seat.. can you put one in?

any feedback appreciated on the GL NH :) just remember im not after a beast... just space, reliable, cheapish to run.. and affordable.. thanks yall

I wouldn't touch anything with the 2.6L Astron engine in it.

A well looked after 300,000kms Pajero is not a problem really. Might just blow some smoke and need the valve stem seals replaced. As long as it's been serviced it should be fine.

I wouldn't touch anything with the 2.6L Astron engine in it.

A well looked after 300,000kms Pajero is not a problem really. Might just blow some smoke and need the valve stem seals replaced. As long as it's been serviced it should be fine.

is the astron that crap?? I thought it was OK in the magnas.. i guess theres a difference between the two uses.. the pajero is a bigger vehicle...

is the astron that crap??I thought it was OK in the magnas.. i guess theres a difference between the two uses.. the pajero is a bigger vehicle...

Yes.

Also, the Pajero will be close to 2 tonne by the time you get yourself and wife in there, letalone kids too, getting pulled along by a 4 cylinder petrol engine with 79kW and 192Nm. It will be horrendously slow and pitiful, not to mention dismal on fuel.

Ive had mine since i sold my magna now ive got a deal of a life time to start my own business so i need to sell mine u have to get the 3.5 sohc engine its the best engine they have used heres mine for sale ill sell it to a AMC member for $8500 (http://tassiecars.com.au/detail.jsp?id=50417&pic=0&ti=true&ce=ShytSCnAYkMj67tFPFYtY3)

nice buy mate youll have to post some pics

here it is
http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92052&p=1446838#post1446838

hey mighty mag... would be awesome.. but as a private sale.. out of my price range... i only have half that disposable... if it was through a dealer at that price.. (my gf told me that at 8000) it would be the absolute maximum... and i must adhere to the bosses rules lol

i did hve a look at a 3L NJ manual GLS today.. engine sounded strong, pulled ok, transmission changed smoothly, no issues with the high range 4wd, no dirt around to try the low low range.. im no expert.. but it drove ok.. a couple of things i picked up on were.. 1. the guy had the car running in neutral for about 10mins before i got there to get the aircon running.. then when he pulled it out of the caryard there was a little bit of white smoke.. didnt seem to smoke again.. but it also didnt instill of vote of confidence in me for the condition of certain engine components... 2. the car smelt a little bit mouldy when i first opened the door.. now is it possible that this was from the aircon system? besides that.. the engine bay and car looked brand new... cleanest ive come accross.. but that doesnt mean its mechanically the best.. anyways, any advice appreciated.. i really liked the feel and drive of it.. felt good, not sure about the smoke and smell.. cheers :)

i know the 3L are thirsty.. but theyre more in my price range.. and a 98 or later NL manual is slim pickings at the mo... oh and i did check the NJ for signs of mould in the floor mats etc but all seemed fine..

a puff of smoke after an idlling period is generally a symptom of valve stem seals or just general wear in the motor. ask around at the Pajero Club of Victoria forum .
note that if you find a normal car expensive to run , a 4WD will be a lot more exe!

a puff of smoke after an idlling period is generally a symptom of valve stem seals or just general wear in the motor. ask around at the Pajero Club of Victoria forum .
note that if you find a normal car expensive to run , a 4WD will be a lot more exe!

thought it may have been the valve seals.. or those things that house them that wear down too... had a bit of a look around.. seems quite common.. but not the end of the world... im going to look at another NJ.. bout 3500 cheaper with reg, rwc.. see how it goes... yeah, theyre not cheap.. but its only going to be the wknd getaway slash 2nd short drives car... :) thanks man

Yes.

Also, the Pajero will be close to 2 tonne by the time you get yourself and wife in there, letalone kids too, getting pulled along by a 4 cylinder petrol engine with 79kW and 192Nm. It will be horrendously slow and pitiful, not to mention dismal on fuel.

so the pajero is about 1500kg... then... oh hang on... you calling me fat???? lol jokes

so the pajero is about 1500kg... then... oh hang on... you calling me fat???? lol jokes

-_-.

The Pajero you're looking at is 1700kgs according to Redbook.

i dont know about pajero's but im looking for a 4wd as well and the nissans that i really want are out of my price range

but anyway, the GQ patrols are a good bet as well as a pajero

my dad currently has a 89' GQ and runs well and it runs reliably, not a hiccup

Ive had a Pajero NL GLS it went almost anywhere i wanted it to go, A Tad heavy on fuel but good ill buy again Maybe sooner than i think really lol

I have an old NF Turbo Diesel shorty - Hasn't missed a beat in 400,000+ kays .
That said the body has rusted apart around the mechanicals . ( due to a leaking sunroof that I have never been able to get to seal )
I now use a Jeep Grand Cherokee for a 4Wd ( worst POS) I have ever owned - Should have bought another Pajero .
Too late now , I am stuck with the Jeep - Can't sell it ( I couldn't stick someone with it ) - Can't trust it to go bush unless I go with other vehicles .
No such issue with the Shorty . but sadly QLD transport has decided the shorty is past it's use by date .