1994 SWB Pajero - 3.0L or 3.5L ?

[vudu]

Hello,

Any Pajero owners out there able to advise which car may be better for a newb like me out of the following two options? :

1.) 1994 SWB Pajero - Petrol 3.5L V6 DOHC - Auto - 150,000km
2.) 1994 SWB Pajero - Petrol 3.0L V6 - Auto - 140,000km

Reliability is the key for me, some light 4WD but no heavy-duty offroading at this stage. The 3.0L V6 SWB is far cheaper and my understanding is that the 3.0L V6 engine is far more common than the 3.5L DOHC, and therefore easier/cheaper to maintain. What do you reckon? Another option is a 1994 Bighorn Lotus LWB with 3.1L Intercooled Turbo and 150,000kms.

All advice welcome.

[WACKO]

either paj will be good. id say the 3.5 will be better power wise but like you say its not as common. the 3.0 mtr is also found in v3000 cars so its very common. mine has done (3.0) 186ish kms and its starting to get a bit smoky and use a bit of oil. but i suspect the biggest cause of the oil usage is the tapet cover gasket on the left bank.

diesel bighorns... hmmm.. there are some horror stories floating around for them.. and being diesel they are even more expensive to repair.

if its just light offroad id say a well serviced and maintained 3.0 paj would be a good one to go for.

Sam

[vudu]

I've heard that some of the Pajeros suffer from smoky engines. Is it as bad as it looks, or quite manageable?

Cheers

[NJV6]

A mitsi using oil - Never!

If it was a Jeep, you'd say, It's a Jeep thing - you wouldn't understand. So its a Mitsubishi thing...

It is the valve stem seals that get a bit hard and let oil through when the motor is under vacuum, such as idling and on overrun down hill.

3.5's suffer from it as well as 3.0's, in fact most mitsi's older than 10 years. My 3.5 uses a couple of litres between changes (10k) but it is only used for offroading, i doubt it would even need topped up if only used on the road, the time you see a wee puffof smoke is on a long decent under closed throttle such as dropping 1000m in the SI high country - conditions you will never experience on the road.

It is not a major problem at all and they kepp on going and going are even though they need topped up between changing they are reliable. They can quite easily be replaced on the 3.0 but a bit more work on a 3.5.

Mine is a 3.5 and I wouldn't go back to a 3.0, they are a nice motor, there are quite afew about now so parts arn't aproblem. The 3.5's are a similar motor to what the Diamante's have except they are SOHC vs the Pajero DOHC.

Glen

[vudu]

Great feedback. Thanks.

3.5L DOHC sounds good. Here is a picture of the engine... what do you reckon? Looks pretty tidy at first glance.

[KiwiBacon]

Hello,

Any Pajero owners out there able to advise which car may be better for a newb like me out of the following two options? :

1.) 1994 SWB Pajero - Petrol 3.5L V6 DOHC - Auto - 150,000km
2.) 1994 SWB Pajero - Petrol 3.0L V6 - Auto - 140,000km

Reliability is the key for me, some light 4WD but no heavy-duty offroading at this stage. The 3.0L V6 SWB is far cheaper and my understanding is that the 3.0L V6 engine is far more common than the 3.5L DOHC, and therefore easier/cheaper to maintain. What do you reckon? Another option is a 1994 Bighorn Lotus LWB with 3.1L Intercooled Turbo and 150,000kms.

All advice welcome.

Bighorn will be WAY cheaper to run and have a much longer range on a tank.

[gimmemud]

Hello,

Any Pajero owners out there able to advise which car may be better for a newb like me out of the following two options? :

1.) 1994 SWB Pajero - Petrol 3.5L V6 DOHC - Auto - 150,000km
2.) 1994 SWB Pajero - Petrol 3.0L V6 - Auto - 140,000km

Reliability is the key for me, some light 4WD but no heavy-duty offroading at this stage. The 3.0L V6 SWB is far cheaper and my understanding is that the 3.0L V6 engine is far more common than the 3.5L DOHC, and therefore easier/cheaper to maintain. What do you reckon? Another option is a 1994 Bighorn Lotus LWB with 3.1L Intercooled Turbo and 150,000kms.

All advice welcome.

Bighorn will be WAY cheaper to run and have a much longer range on a tank.

Apart from when you have to fix the blown turbo and head

[KiwiBacon]

Apart from when you have to fix the blown turbo and head

It'll still be cheaper.

[RJ]

To add my 2 cents worth.
We bought a SWB 3.0 v6 auto about 8 months ago, stock standard.
This has been a great little truck. have done a body lift, some mud's etc and other mods. The beauty is that, with the help of the team off ORE, we have been able to do all the mods our selves, so far. Parts have been easy to come by, as there are a few of them sitting in wreckers. The parts for the mods aren't overly expensive and readily available. Also the interesting thing is, we have the only Paj in our club and a lot of the old hands etc were surprised as to how well it went. Also I had the valve stem issue, its not really a major as they were able to do them in place, so not gretly expensive. Can't really comment on Isuzu. So there you go.

Cheers

[vudu]

Cheers for all the feedback,

I went with the 3.5L V6 (1994 SWB). Checked it all out and had a test drive. Definately felt the extra grunt compared to the 3.0L. Nice ride overall.

A couple of stupid quick questions:

1. When topping up with oil... What type of oil is best to use for this engine? ...15W-40?
2. The lever below the steering wheel with the pic showing oil dripping out of a hose (adjacent to the bonet lever)... Im assuming this pops the fuel lid??? Very stupid question i know, but i couldn't get it to pop open... had to unlock the lid manually with the key instead. Just wanted to make sure this doesn't flick open something else in the engine???

Cheers.

[NJV6]

O no, you didn't pull that lever!!! Thats the oil change lever and dumps it all on the road!!!

But alas your right - it is the petrol pump thing. Mine doens't flip the lid open but it unlocks it so it doesn't need the key. It looks like it doesn'twork but does so nicely.

Glen

[vudu]

What an awesome vehicle!
I have just finished a massive roadtrip all round NZ in my Paj... 4000km in 3 weeks, putting the car through its paces. I mainly drove on sealed roads, but managed to do plenty of offroading and some beach driving. Suprised at how economical the 3.5L engine is on the open road too... I was getting well over 400km worth of cruising to a full tank. Haven't seen a hint of any smoke either... no valve stem seal issues to speak of. Timing belt on this vehicle had been replaced at all major servicings (<60K)... nice. Joy to ride.

[KiwiBacon]

What an awesome vehicle!
I have just finished a massive roadtrip all round NZ in my Paj... 4000km in 3 weeks, putting the car through its paces. I mainly drove on sealed roads, but managed to do plenty of offroading and some beach driving. Suprised at how economical the 3.5L engine is on the open road too... I was getting well over 400km worth of cruising to a full tank. Haven't seen a hint of any smoke either... no valve stem seal issues to speak of. Timing belt on this vehicle had been replaced at all major servicings (<60K)... nice. Joy to ride.

How big is the tank?

[vudu]

I believe it is a 60L tank.
I remember filling the tank up, from empty, in Hanmer Springs - about 60L worth. I then drove to Picton via Lewis Pass, through Murchison, through Nelson, through Havelock and into Picton on the Queen Charlotte Drive (The Scenic Route). All up about 415km. I then drove about 35km back to Havelock where i filled up again. So about 450km, which i reckon was unbelievable for a 3.5L V6. Pretty cruisy trip though... 100km/hr most of the way. Certainly don't get this kind of mileage driving stop-start around town though.

[NJV6]

Try 75 litres! Was that 60L with the fuel light on?

But as you say to get it full takes about 15 mins of patience so I don't bother. The breather goes well into the tank so it gurgles and pops and farts for ages.

I get mine down to under 12l/100km on a trip driving at about 100km/h

[northland_pajero]

petrol cap opening.... my pajero does it fine, my old mans nissan didnt, until I adjusted the spring in there, that is assuming that the cable isnt broken

[vudu]

Once the fuel gauge on my Paj hits about 1/5th left, the gauge seems to stop... so if you take your eye of the gauge for a while and then look again and see that it is 1/5th full... you could either have no fuel at all, or upto 1/5th full. Im probably filling up when there is still plenty of juice left. I usually stop the pump as soon as it starts to gurgle too.

Does anyone know where you can have the underside of your car comprehensively washed to get rid of all the crap that builds up in there after offroading... mud, grit, sand, salt... etc. A simple hose down or sprinkler underneath doesn't quite seem to cut-it and because i don't live in NZ (I commute over to NZ from Aus whenever i can for road trips/holidays cos there's not much to see but dust where i live, in Victoria)... i never have time to do a comprehensive clean. Do the commercial car washes (BP, Mobil, Shell... etc) get in underneath the car?

cheers.

[NJV6]

ONly way to get it really well is to drive in a river. A couple of good river crossings usually gets the underside looking pretty dam impressive.

[chchzookfan]

ive been wondering about this stuff to with the 3l v6 versions, they look cool an seem like theyd have abita grunt in them.. not sure what i think about smokey mitsubishis though, i heard bighorns were the worst on the market because the heads go on them alot(mechanic told me) good to see you found a good one, my wrx gets around 500 k's off a 50L tank an its very quick...

i was wondering what is it like around town on petrol? also steam cleaning is best way to clean underneath of car but make sure you dont get an idiot do it or he'll stuff your electronics around the engine bay(true story lol)

[NJV6]

not sure what i think about smokey mitsubishis though, i heard bighorns were the worst on the market because the heads go on them alot(mechanic told me)

Ya gotta love the old 'I heard' stories......

The mitsi's get worm valve stem seals which leads them to smoke. It is not a major and a relatively simple fix but it is very common and doesn't look good.


I could just get 500km off 50L in my Turbo Subaru if I drove it supremely nicely! The Paj is worse than that, mine being a 3.5 manual.

viewtopic.php?t=2159