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4M41 2003ish model reliability?

Tech Talk for Mitsubishi owners.

Moderator: -Scott-

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Joined: Sun Mar 06, 2005 6:23 pm

4M41 2003ish model reliability?

Post by liftedlux »

Pajero/Triton owners.

I'm looking at buying a 2002 - 2005 pajero with the 3.2 turbo diesel with an auto trans. I think it's the 4M41 motor?

I've only ever owned toyota's but alas I can't justify spending $40k just to buy a cruiser with reasonable km's on the clock. I recently drove the new diesel pajero and was amazed! I was towing 3 bikes, a bit of gear and 4 people and it was a pleasure to drive. Now I know the pajero I'm looking at is much older but I was wondering if anybody could comment on the performance and reliability of the earlier 3.2 motors and the auto's attached to them. These models fall into an affordable price range and I'm getting used to the way they look.

Cheers
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Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2004 11:36 am
Location: Adelaide

Re: 4M41 2003ish model reliability?

Post by -Scott- »

Yes, 4M41.

We don't have too many of them here, and I'm far from an expert on them, but here goes:

It's an evolution of the 4M40 2.8 td that was in Pajeros from late '93, and was introduced here about the end of the NM model along with a 5 speed auto. Other than the obvious larger capacity (not sure if it was bore, stroke or both that was increased) it came with 4 valve head, direct injection (2.8 was indirect) and electronic controlled rotary injection pump. From memory, max power was 125kW and torque about 360Nm. If you've driven a later model it could be the common rail version, with something like 147kW and 440Nm.

I'm not aware of significant issues with them. I think the biggest issue with the 2.8 was cracking heads, which I believe (but I think others will argue) is primarily due to poor maintenance of the coolant leading to corrosion in the alloy.

With the 3.2 I was vaguely aware of some overheating problems that were associated with the coolant "gelling" in the engine. I believe this issue has been resolved. There have also been some issues with a small timing chain guide wearing; this is easily accessible under the rocker cover, and again, I believe there's a "fix" for it.

There has also been an issue with rear half shafts working out of the rear diff, which seemed more prevalent when towing. A redesigned clip seems to fix the problem, and I think there was an official factory "service campaign", so you should be able to determine if a vehicle has been "fixed".

Beyond that, good transmission, strong drivetrain, good rear LSD. They'll take 33s without problems, diff locks are available for front and rear if you're so inclined, and if you get really serious, you might be able to obtain some crawler gears for them.
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Re: 4M41 2003ish model reliability?

Post by date »

As far as I know, the 3.2DID is a reliable unit. I have not heard of any major problems with them. Some of the first common rail units had issues with the particulate (soot) filter in the exhaust. It goes into limp home mode whilst it burns off the soot. This only happens if you do a lot of short runs. The general consensus is that they pull like a steam train. Everyone agrees that they are noisy, but that doesn't worry me because I am getting deafer by the day.

I am about to buy a new Pajero and hope that they have sorted out the bugs by now. The new motors still have the diesel knock, but it is much more suppressed than it used to be.

The early NM models did have problems with the front wheel bearings. They seemed to fail at about 100000 km - less if you went swimming with the car. The bearings were not replaceable, and you had to buy a new hub. I think that problem has been sorted now, and any early NM should had had its bearing fail by now and be fixed. They also had dust sealing problems, but this was an easy fix. The rear drive shafts seemed to slip out of the diff if the vehicle was raised, but for normal usage they were OK.

The early NM models did have some issues with the brake boosters and ABS. I imagine that all would have been recalled by now and they would be OK.
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Re: 4M41 2003ish model reliability?

Post by Ian Sharpe »

Dont expect a 2002 3.2 to be equal to the new 3.2. The 3.2 was substantially upgraded in power & torque for the NT range .

From memory the power went up to 147kw & torque went up to 441nm. It was about a 20% improvement.
NL 3.5l auto with front & rear lockers,winch, custom 3.15 T/C gears
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