Drove a Pajero yesterday

[isuzurover]

And OMG was I glad to get back in the 110!!!


Checked out a Pajero for a friend yesterday. It was in quite good condition for its age, apart from a few minor dings and a split CV boot. Had a reco engine.

Drove up in my 1987 4BD1T county.

Hopped in a 1989 2.5TD Pajero (noticed they have a VE pump - same as the TDI), Manual, PAS, etc... So similar spec to my 110.

Apart from the PAS and smoother shifting, it felt like I was driving my IIA. The engine was gutless and doughy, until you got it up over 2000 rpm and the turbo started working. The interior was spartan, and it felt like it was 10 years OLDER than my 110, rather than 2 years newer.

I was SOOOOO glad to jump back into the 110. It felt like a rolls royce by comparison.

[scarry]

Off subject a little,drove a mates 4.2 turbo nissan tray back,last of the model,i couldnt believe how nice it was to drive,light clutch,gears went in easy,pulled pretty well,quiet in the cab,etc.

I couldnt cop the fuel economy though
View over the bonnet is average as well

Give me the disco any day.:)

[Sprint]

the later pajero's, 2003 or so onwards are great around town and on the highway, but more than a lil disconcerting to drive enthusiastically on twisting country backroads....

the turbo diesels have a disgusting amount of grunt for a 3.2L 4 cylinder diesel.....will happily pull to in excess of 180 km/h, unlike prado's which, i can assure you, wont do more than 155 downhill

as for the patrols, i had a GQ trayback for a while, and i still miss its thirsty, underpowered presence in my driveway

[rovercare]

And the finished pics and write up on your 110 turbo fit are???:mad:

[LandyAndy]

Hey Ben
Advise your mate to leave it well alone!!!!
Those motors are hand grenades.
It is the 4D56.
We had a 1988 Trytoo,4D56 2.5NA,it died of a porous head(no gasket failure)/bent rod because of.Replaced it with a 4D56 turbo,good performance,dropped a valve 12 months later,destroyed the mojo and turbo.Replaced it with a 4D56 intercooled turbo,WOW lots of get up and fly,impressive power gain over the turbo,never mind the NA model.
Anyhow,it started using water,not the head gasket,probably porous head again as they are well known for it.THE GRINCH filled it up with water before heading to Boddington,she forgot to put the cap back on,boiled the kettle and cooked the mojo 30 ks from town on "TRYTOO HILL" as we now call it.
Better fish in the ocean,if he likes the Pajaheros,pay a little more for the newer shaped model with the 2.8D,apart from a few early issues they are pretty good.
Goodluck
Andrew

[isuzurover]

Hey Ben
Advise your mate to leave it well alone!!!!
Those motors are hand grenades.
It is the 4D56.
We had a 1988 Trytoo,4D56 2.5NA,it died of a porous head(no gasket failure)/bent rod because of.Replaced it with a 4D56 turbo,good performance,dropped a valve 12 months later,destroyed the mojo and turbo.Replaced it with a 4D56 intercooled turbo,WOW lots of get up and fly,impressive power gain over the turbo,never mind the NA model.
Anyhow,it started using water,not the head gasket,probably porous head again as they are well known for it.THE GRINCH filled it up with water before heading to Boddington,she forgot to put the cap back on,boiled the kettle and cooked the mojo 30 ks from town on "TRYTOO HILL" as we now call it.
Better fish in the ocean,if he likes the Pajaheros,pay a little more for the newer shaped model with the 2.8D,apart from a few early issues they are pretty good.
Goodluck
Andrew

Thanks Andy, great info!

However SHE has already put a deposit on it, but it has an reco engine, AND a reco head, after the reco engine snapped a rocker shaft!!! She only needs it to last 6 months, so I think it is a reasonably buy (I wouldn't myself though).

Matt - what pics do you want to see???

[rovercare]

Matt - what pics do you want to see???

End results of the engine bay and how you find it? how much boost, extra fuel etc?

[CaverD3]

What is it that Pajero means in Spanish? ;)

[isuzurover]

What is it that Pajero means in Spanish? ;)

Indeed - Pajero (pronounced Pa-hey-ro) literally means "straw shoveller", "straw maker", "straw merchant" and sometimes "farmer" and "manure shoveller". However the slang definition is ******/tosser, etc...

Interestingly, there is also Pajera - the female equivalent - the mind boggles...

Matt - will post pics once the intercooler is installed and I have tidied a few things up. But so far - 100% happy, and it goes very well.

[jezz]

That reminds me when i drove the work ute Triton 4x4 Diesel geeeeez could not understand y it was so slow and has the worst turning circle on the planet, make’s me think how lucky I am to drive a V8 Disco,,,,

[2 rocks]

Apart from the PAS and smoother shifting, it felt like I was driving my IIA. The engine was gutless and doughy, until you got it up over 2000 rpm and the turbo started working. The interior was spartan, and it felt like it was 10 years OLDER than my 110, rather than 2 years newer.


Hi IR
Not surprising really - the NA Paj debuted at the 1981 Tokyo Motor Show, so you'd imagine the design phase back then (what's a computer?) would have started in the late 70's. Apart from engine and trim changes, they remained relatively untouched inside and out through to '91. And yeah the base models were pretty spartan, but the up-spec ones were pretty good for their time. I'd hazard a guess that the only other 4WDs to offer cloth seats, carpet, aircon etc would have been RRs and 61/62 Series Land Cruiser Saharas. Both of which would have been substantially more expensive. ;)


Hey Ben
Advise your mate to leave it well alone!!!!
Those motors are hand grenades.
It is the 4D56.
We had a 1988 Trytoo,4D56 2.5NA,it died of a porous head(no gasket failure)/bent rod because of.Replaced it with a 4D56 turbo,good performance,dropped a valve 12 months later,destroyed the mojo and turbo.Replaced it with a 4D56 intercooled turbo,WOW lots of get up and fly,impressive power gain over the turbo,never mind the NA model.
Anyhow,it started using water,not the head gasket,probably porous head again as they are well known for it.THE GRINCH filled it up with water before heading to Boddington,she forgot to put the cap back on,boiled the kettle and cooked the mojo 30 ks from town on "TRYTOO HILL" as we now call it.
Better fish in the ocean,if he likes the Pajaheros,pay a little more for the newer shaped model with the 2.8D,apart from a few early issues they are pretty good.
Goodluck
Andrew

Andy
That's a real shame, I've had three, two of the 4D56Ts and had absolutely no problems with any of them (apart from the lack of kilowatts). In fact the last one I was so sure of, I sold it to a mate 12 months ago (his first 4WD) and he loves it. :cool:
Cheers
Mike

[DeeJay]

We visited a mates farm in my wife's disco a few years back. He took us for a drive over the same road ( corrugated gravel) in his new pajero. I could'nt believe it was the same road. It was noisy and juddering.
I felt sorry for him, but he buys new vehicles every few years anyway & the paj certainly wasnt replaced with a newer model..
Unless he has 60psi in the tyres, I would'nt look at one for us.

[walker]

I think he might have had his tyres up a bit high.

We compared Disco's with the new Pajero and Prado on a recent trip. While the D3 was far ahead of anything else, the handling and ride quality of the Pajero was much better than the D2's.

[redrover3]

I've had 2 early model Pajeros, both LWB. First one was a 2.6 petrol and the second a 2.5td. They were pretty good cars, both reliable. The 2.6 was a bit thirsty and lacked power. The 2.5td was good though-better power and economy than my 300tdi discovery, probably due to about 300kg difference in weight. Front suspension was a bit agricultural. The interior was basic but OK, probably no more dated than the county. Did a Simpson Desert trip with it, fully loaded and it out performed the GU 4.2td Patrol that we were travelling with on the dunes and much better economy. So they're not a bad old bus.
Tony

[George130]

Our Paj is not to bad. Very gutless but once you wind it up it copes ok. It can flat tow a rangie up steep hills on the freeway at a blistering 40kmh

[LandyAndy]

Our Trytoo 4WD dualcab(same chassis as the same age Pajahero) was actually a good vehicle in the 12 or 15 years we had it,economical and actually reliable,was EXCELLENT on the gravel and with the fairly tight LSD it more than made up for no front suspension travel.It was at it useby date,backseat was too small for our beheamoth teenager and the 3rd mojo failure was its demise.
Andrew

[Ace]

I had the pleasure of doing a test with 4wd monthly in feburary and we tested the new 3.0L patrol cab chassis and the new 4.5L TDV8 Cruiser cab chassis.

The engine will be the only thing that sells that vehicle, the rest is the same as the old one. The interior is the same as the old early 90's and late 80's ones my uncle had when i was a kid, nothing has changed. But OMG that V8 Engine is unbelievable, its pulls up anything in 5th, you barely need the other 4 gears.

The patrol was much nice to drive, the 3.0L isnt as underpowered as we are led to believe, i think for the price difference if i had to chose one the Patrol would get my vote.

But as for the comment on the power of the Pajero, they do have plenty of grunt, i drove a new triton a few months back with the same engine and geez it went. But then i tried a new ford ranger and that was even better, an awsome engine for its size. Matt

[George130]

I should clarify our Japero is a 91 model.

[CaverD3]

So no LandRover products then?
If you got to drive the RR sport TDV6 you would say the same thing. Pity they won't put it in the D3.:(