A Wait Ends and a Journey Begins: Mitsubishi Pajero Sport Silver AT


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Sirji, I have stuck to the option they have as standard from Motul (mitsubishi preferred and tested) - simply go for the synthetic liquid gold for now - i dont want to take a chance during the warranty anyways - beyond warranty i might explore mobil, but for now just stick to the ones from the SVC , they would do just well!

Unless you are planning an extreme trip up north - stick to the usual one.

Cheers
IR
 
Thread Starter #32
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Second service report:
Quite an eventful affair, and in the end, after several hair raising moments, ended satisfactorily.
I had issued instructions that my Pajero Sport oil should be synthetic oil (Motul 8100 X-Cess 5W40), and was given a quote of Rs1750 per litre, and for 8 litres, so Rs14,000 just for the engine oil. Fortified by advice in this group that it should be no more than Rs8,000 and that for 6.4l, I investigated further, and discovered that I had been given a wrong quote by the guy who does not deal with engine oil replacement but has been put forwaqrd as a front to deal with customers. Further that he had imagined that this was for a 2.8l SFX which apparently needs more oil.
I soon straightened this out, and went over the list of items needed by me, principally some scratches made by arrogant policemen scraping past my vehicle when I was stationary at a signal, and by careless guards at my office parking lot during the very first week of ownership. Subsequently I had changed the parking slot itself to a very difficult and remote corner and after subjecting myself to continuous pain, have prevented any further scratches from happening – but these two scratches needed an honest attempt.
I stood over and saw the Service Center staff give my vehicle a working over, including draining the engine oil. The time came to put the new oil, at which point they discovered that they did not have stock of the oil, and that the nearby dealer also did not have. I was quite irritated by this time, hungry, and it was past noon, given the sleepy pace at which things worked here. I was given the helpful information that the oil would be available in their workshop by 5pm. I asked if it was being specially imported and was informed that it was being supplied by another stockist in Bombay. I offered to get it myself and be back before 3pm. In the end, they managed to get it by 2.30pm. The Engine oil change was done, completed, at last.
Meanwhile the painter’s assistant had become more enterprising during his master’s lunch interval, and had made too vigorous an attempt to remove scratches. He had suceeded the wrong way, by removing the silver paint itself. Now there were big oval patches on the door panels of all doors measuring 10x the length of the original scratches. After a lot of huffing an puffing, approvals, repainting etc. they delivered the car a week later.
A dent had been caused by a truck intruding in my office parking area on day 2 of my ownership and had given me many months of remorse, especially since it was at a height of 5 feet, and there was no way that it could be repaired economically. The service people removed that also quite graciously free of charge.
Now the car is as good as new, running beautifully, and I can raise the speeds as I want. But Mitsubishi service is poorly managed, and while they have people with good intentions, they are inefficient.
The total cost came to Rs14,000 including engine oil broken up as follows:
Oil Filter – Rs1000
Air Filter – Rs4000
Engine Oil – Rs7680
Taxes – Rs1320
I am quite happy at the end result, though I realize that I will have to be far more vigilant and think ahead on their behalf quite a bit, if I am to save myself trouble in future. From now on to concentrate on interesting upgrades, taking the lead from IR and AG.
 
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I stood over and saw the Service Center staff give my vehicle a working over, including draining the engine oil. The time came to put the new oil, at which point they discovered that they did not have stock of the oil, and that the nearby dealer also did not have.
Very interesting. They discovered that they do not have stock of the synthetic oil, and also not having with nearby dealer. Height of frustration. It should be known to them before beginning the service job. Our experience with Mitsubishi dealer at south Kerala is excellent (we had a Mitsubishi Lancer). Qualified front office staffs. They are offering pick up the vehicle from your house for service, and drop back. Nice that you are happy at the end. The same service of Fortuner is less than 10K.
 
Thread Starter #34
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Mathew, sorry, forgot to clarify - the Air Filter I mentioned is the AC Air Filter. I would not know the equivalent price on a Fortuner. The engine oil is standard pricing. So really it cannot be cheaper than this. Rs14k it had to be.
 
Thread Starter #36
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Chetak, the issue was this - I was aware of the lower price, but my dealer would not have put it in the warranty period. He had a firm price on this item, and that was that. Even on the Engine Oil, I was forced to take it from him, since the warranty was on, but at least the price was transparent. In this case, I could not see a way out.
 
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Chetak, the issue was this - I was aware of the lower price, but my dealer would not have put it in the warranty period.
Ideally speaking, the ac filter should not have affected the warranty at all. Anyway, bygones are bygones.
What is the FE you get in the city and on the highway and at what speeds?
Also, how are your tires holding up?
 
Thread Starter #38
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I agree - the AC issue is a case of holding me to ransom. My FE is 8.5 in city and 11 in highways. I drive at fairly high speeds on highways or get stuck in major jams. I recently went to Dandeli tiger reserve (great place, near Goa) and the return route was terrible, with just too much traffic. I managed 11 on that route.

Part of the reason is the Michelin tyres - they make the car interior absolutely silent, there is absolutely no body roll, ride is not bumpy at all, the vehicle seems to just glide all the time. I am pretty sure all these things add a tiny bit to FE. I run on 32pts Nitrogen throughout, and get worried enough every two weeks to check and top up.
 
Thread Starter #39
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I traveled in May on a 2500km round trip to Kanha National Park and back While going my route included Lonar (the crater formed out of a meteorite crashing into earth 500,000 years ago) and Nagpur for a night halt. While coming I also halted at Melghat Tiger Reserve, which is genuinely undiscovered wild.
While going, the roads were very good upto Nasik, thereafter quite lousy upto Amravati, and thereafter very high quality almost till 50km of Kanha.
While coming back, upto Betul, the roads were fantastic. Probably the best in the country. The roads were recent, and traffic was sparse, and it was very difficult to keep the Pajero from racing away. It begged to be allowed past 150, poor guy. Since it was very hot outside I avoided driving at high speeds for fear of tyre bursting (this has happened frequently on Mumbai Pune expressway where temperatures are much lower).
From there to Melghat and then to Dhule, the roads were quite poor, and the Pajero Sport showed its mettle, and gracefully negotiated all that came its way.
From Dhule, right upto Mumbai, the roads were very good, but winding (unlike the roads in Madhya Pradesh) and trafficky. The worst part was that every 2 km, there were rumble strips, which created many dangerous incidents where people ahead of me suddenly slowed down after belatedly spotting the rumble strips. The rumble strips are there in order to slow traffic down so that folks can make U-turns. What quaint thinking!
The Pajero is a brilliant long distance champion, and gives the feeling of being in complete control, which partly comes from the very good quality brakes (though only front brakes are disc brakes). Somehow the car at once feels very heavy and safe and agile.Inside the jungles I naturally only used the local jeeps, as they were open jeeps. I got an average of 10.1kmpl in very hot weather and AC on all the time and the equivalent of 5 adults (had my family with me plus plenty of luggage).
The Pajero is performing flawlessly. Nevertheless, when giving for second service, I will point out the following:
1) When at slow speeds I brake and bring it to a halt, like during start-stop traffic, there is a grinding noise coming from underneath
2) The compartment below the music console rattles. I can fix this by inserting a paper wedge, but there should be a better way to do it.
3) The hood comes loose and rattles. I am not sure how this happens. I have checked the spring action of the lever below the dashboard and that seems ok. Fortunately the hood is prevented from flapping up and hitting the windscreen while driving at high speeds because of the spring loaded mechanical lock that one has to manually lever out while opening the hood.
 
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3) The hood comes loose and rattles. I am not sure how this happens. I have checked the spring action of the lever below the dashboard and that seems ok. Fortunately the hood is prevented from flapping up and hitting the windscreen while driving at high speeds because of the spring loaded mechanical lock that one has to manually lever out while opening the hood.
This is a serious safety issue. I would suggest getting the hood adjusted at the earliest.
 
Thread Starter #41
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Hello friends. It has been a terrific journey so far. I will not bore you with details of servicing. I am summarizing below. But I have changed my earlier opinion about my ability to value add in this forum, so this post.

I had been quite in awe of the knowledge of members like AG and Iron Rock and Chetak etc. and when they contribute, nothing really worthwhile could have been be added by me except that it had been rewarding to read their forum posts and enjoy the fruits. However, recently I met during service, a few fellow Pajero owners, who are also members here, and it doesn’t quite seem that members are doing the basics right.

This post will cover service history, general experience, the most recent service (somewhat eventful again) and the “basics”.

Service #3, 9-Jul-16, 10579km, Oil filter 996, Fuel Filter 1,785, Motul 8100-Xcess 5w40 7,800, Misc and Taxes 1,410 = Total Rs11,991/-
Service #4, 7-Jan-17, 14181km, Oil filter 988, Motul 8100-Xcess 5w40 7,731, Wheel Balancing & Alignment 1,800, Misc and Taxes 3,870 = Total Rs14,389/-
Service #5, 21-Jul-17, 20782km, Oil filter 1,016, Fuel Filter 1,820, Motul 8100-Xcess 5w40 7,170, Engine Flush 680, Service Labour 2,875, Misc and Taxes 4,866 = Total Rs18,427/-
Brake Pads change, 8-Nov-17, 21370km, Service Labour 6,920, brake Pad Set 4,727, Brake Fluid 300, Misc and Taxes 2,653 = Total Rs14,600/-
Service #6, 3-Mar-18, 24952km, Oil filter 1,016, Fuel Filter 1,821, Motul 8100-Xcess 5w40 6,858, Air Filter 2,195, Rear Link Bushes (4 nos) 1,536, Service Labour 3,196, Misc and Taxes 3,648 = Total Rs20,270/-

The general experience has been delightful. Whether it is long drives – I drive to Kanha, Dandeli, Udaipur, all from Bombay, at times with more family members (total 7 people), and the Pajero Sport behaves nonchalantly, taking the extra load without fuss. There have been no malfunctions of anything at any time. Till now the returns are 100% everywhere. The ride quality is incredibly smooth, and I frequently let my wife drive and sit in the 3rd row all by myself, and with kids in the middle, and enjoy the serenity. Whatever good things Pajero owners have written – they are all true.

It is tough to keep away scratches – I park in my own garage, at work and at home, have never hit anyone, yet I have a minor driver side dent on the door at 5 feet height – how on earth could it have happened?

The most recent service happened after 8 months gap instead of six months gap. I saw that Shakti Motors had closed down, and in its place Autotech Mitsubishi, owned by Sinha Cars pvt ltd. has taken dealership with a service center located at the same place. It does all brands, so traffic is good enough to support costs, I hope.

I discovered that 1) air filter is extremely unclean, so while it is cleanable and should be changed at 40000km, I opted to have it changed right away – one can still only clean and live with that, but mine was terrible and such an important part costs only Rs2100, and to me was a no brainer 2) the rear linkage bushes were worn out on both sides, so I had them replaced, and 3) the engine oil had lost all its viscosity and drained out like water instead of oil, so I was actually two months too late, and in future will never let anything get in the way of a prompt service. In fact I wonder how Fortuner owners can afford to do a service once a year – it has to be done six monthly in my opinion regardless of what the manual says.

After this the vehicle, which was already behaving like a glider, is hard to keep grounded – it seems to be now floating as well. Acceleration is sharply improved as well.

Other dos and don’ts – I met some other Pajero owners during the service, and one in particular had done up his vehicle so elaborately that I shrunk in shame at the sight of it – after all I had done no mods at all. We struck up a conversation and he started off by asking me about mileage. My answer of 9.5 in city, and 11 on highway, and 12 if driven conservatively at modest sub-80 speeds stunned him. He climbed into my car and verified it for himself. He was getting only 7.5 on his vehicle. Both over 3 years and 25000KM and both AT.

I explained that I use the best engine oil – Motul 8100 X Cess 5W40, and that I had changed the tyres on day 1 of ownership to Michelin Lattitude Cross, and got a 50% jump in performance with these two changes, and filling nitrogen at 32PSI all round. That I get no wear, don’t bother swapping or rotating tyres, don’t keep getting balancing and alignment done unless I experience some problem, and generally don’t tamper with the car. That I had put an AC air filter as well.

He initially reacted skeptically, but after he took a look at my tyres (still new and good for as much more), and his tyres (totally worn out at 25000km, despite having done alignment periodically), he noted down the details and decided to change.

So guys and gals – be conservative in periodicity of parts changes relative to manual, use the best oil, use the best tyres immediately, change filters, don’t get anything done which need not be done, drive with minimal braking (don’t speed up to a red light). Your car should give you brilliant service. If you are about to buy, don’t react with “don’t give me that crap / I think I will try the stock tyres out / I haven’t thought about it” etc. Just drive desperately from the showroom to your tyre guy, and swap for best in class tyres immediately on day 1.
 
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Thread Starter #42
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Not being able to post pictures despite reducing them to less than 1MB file size. Will post when this is sorted out. Pictures relate to 1) tyre quality mine when new, mine when 25000KM old, and fellow pajero owners stock Apollo Apterra tyres at same stage 2) linkage bush old and linkage bush after replacement 3) washing facility at Autotech Mitsubishi.
 

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Welcome back after a long time sir, nice to read the updates!

Great to see your tyres after 25k at this condition, i unfortunately couldnt update on the day i bought and still rue that. I have crossed 60k recently and still on stock brake pads and stock tyres - i think i could easily last another 15k on my tyres but dont think my patience with those will last that long. My FE hovers between 12.3 to 13.3 range tankful readings.
 
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Rear Link Kit bush replacement at 25K is surprising. An advice I got was to use the link kit bushes from Pajero SFX - the kit turns out to be more expensive as you have to buy the entire kit but these bushes in that kit are better and are a straight fit in the Pajero Sport link kit.
 
Thread Starter #45
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Well, Iron Rock, it is you I owe a drink, as I bought them blind on your reco...they have been a great choice. But unbelievable that your tyres and brakes are going strong at 60k - makes me confident I can carry on for long. I think I got ripped off on the brakes as I thought the pads were thick enough to last another 10k but got convinced by them to change...

AG...since the bushes did wear off I assume there must be movement and friction though I wondered why the upper two bushes on each side had no wear but the lower two had.
 

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