[Traveler]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

I have Geolander HT/S on my Yeti and you are spot on. Have done 3 trips to the himalayas in the last 4 months and came unscathed. Have not altered the alignment nor the balancing and the handling is awesome for a crossover. Regarding ISI issue, what about sourcing the yoko geolander AT/S from grey market?

I can swear on the quality of Yokos, they lasted me 50K and were still good for another 10K. I tried everywhere but the AT/s pattern was just not available. However only recently they have started the HT/s pattern and that is available.

Originally Posted by MAS

@ Traveler

Thanks a million for the frank report of Apollo Hawkz AT. I was also of the opinion that Apollo (considering the kind of investment they have done to put up a new factory in Oragadam, TN) would make good quality tyres. I was surprised at how bad they are when compared to Yoko or Michelin.

I am sorry that you had to go through hell to get them replaced. Thanks once again for the eye opener.

You are welcome, I am glad that my experience is not going waste.

Originally Posted by Aroy

When the tyre is not "built" up properly (their tyre building station has not been calibrated properly. In that case all the tyres will be unbalanced), you require "Dynamic Balancing"

Dynamic balance is required when the weights on one side will not balance the tyre. Weights on both sides of the rim are required. These machines are quite expensive and found rarely.

One method that I have found to be of use is
. Check the Rim balancing on their machine - it should require no weight
. Mount a tyre and then accept it only if minimal weight is required. Any thing above 10g or 15g should be rejected.
. Carry this on till you get a set of properly balanced tyres
Of course this requires a knowledgeable and a cooperative dealer

As you correctly stated, this requires a cooperative dealer. In reality no one is willing to go this far with you. I sometimes wish I had my own garage with all the equipment, maybe one day I will end up doing this.

Also another technique to balance tyres is the Road Force Alignment. I came to know about this technique recently where they use a machine to simulate the tyre under actual road conditions and then balance it. I don't think this is available in India yet. Just Google for Road force balancing. Here is a video that shows a Hunter Road Force Wheel Alignment machine http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct...TicTA1_s0OD5kw

Originally Posted by raul

Traveler - Congrats on the Michelins and resolving the issue. Nothing pisses me off more than this kind of experiences where the customer is take for a ride with a clearly defective and deficient product and neither the dealer not the manufacturer takes responsibility. This is not business, its fraud. If our our legal system was faster.

Not only does it cost the customer a lot of money, but time and mental peace to get it resolved. Pathetic behavior from the dealer and Apollo. You should escalated it to Apollo and demanded a full refund and compensation for your balancing efforts.

I honestly had run out of patience, time and peace of mind. I just thought it would be wiser to get rid of the pain rather than to try and recover damages. I agree that the company should have stepped in to rein in the dealer, but they were honestly quite helpless.

[Traveler]

Got the 55K service done this weekend. Actually to put it in the right perspective I think I should say "Did the 55K service this weekend"

So I got the usual stuff done.

1. Bought the engine oil Mobil 10W30 - 6ltrs - 1400/- (Had 500 ML at home that I used to top it up and bring final to 6.5 Liters)
2. Oil Filter - 550/-
3. New brake pads all around - 3500/-
4. Front wheel bearing tightening for both wheels - 150/-
4. Air Cleaner cleaning - 0/-
3. Got the Clutch fluid changed too this time DOT4 two 250 ML bottles - 180/-
4. Labour for all of the above - 300/-
4. Washing - 250/-
5. Caster adjustment and alignment done to front left wheel to solve slight left pulling - 500/-

Total Spent - 6830/-

The clutch pedal has become super light and smooth, in-fact I think it is lighter than it ever used to be even when the vehicle was new. The vehicle tracks absolutely straight even on slightly cambered roads and the engine has become buttery smooth. The brakes are sharp and the bite is really good. Overall it is worth the effort and pretty easy to get everything done and I guess cheaper too especially on the labour front.

[D.V.R]

Are you getting the pajero serviced at a Mitsubishi A.S.S?

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by D.V.R

Are you getting the pajero serviced at a Mitsubishi A.S.S?

No, I get it done myself.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Traveler

3. Got the Clutch fluid changed too this time DOT4 two 250 ML bottles - 180/-
...
The clutch pedal has become super light and smooth, in-fact I think it is lighter than it ever used to be even when the vehicle was new.

Interesting.
In case of Pajero, is the brake/clutch fluid same or different? Did you have to purge clean the brake circuit by pulsing the ABS motor via OBD?
I have been struggling with my Tucson's heavy clutch and forced the service guys to drain the entire brake/clutch fluid and replenished with new. It took them almost 3 hours.

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Interesting.
In case of Pajero, is the brake/clutch fluid same or different? Did you have to purge clean the brake circuit by pulsing the ABS motor via OBD?
I have been struggling with my Tucson's heavy clutch and forced the service guys to drain the entire brake/clutch fluid and replenished with new. It took them almost 3 hours.

Yes both the oils are same spec, DOT 4. The Pajero has a completely mechanical engine assembly. There is no ECU so to speak of except one for the Airbag and ABS system.

However the Pajero clutch line has two bleeding screws and you need to start by bleeding the one near to the master cylinder first and then move to the slave cylinder one. It took me 10 minutes along with the mechanic who was under the vehicle loosening and tightening the bleeding screws while pumping the clutch pedal.


I still need to change the brake fluid and will be doing that at 60K. Will update my experience on bleeding the brakes once I complete that part.

[anandpadhye]

So in case of Pajero, the brake and clutch fluids are of same spec, but the reservoirs and plumbings are completely seaparate?

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

So in case of Pajero, the brake and clutch fluids are of same spec, but the reservoirs and plumbings are completely seaparate?

That is correct. All plumbings are completely separate. In-fact most of the other cars that I have owned also had these separate. Does the Tuscon have a common plumbing for the clutch and brake?

[anandpadhye]

Yes, Tucson has a common reservoir for the clutch/brake fluid.
When one needs to drain the clutch fluid, the brake and ABS circuit has to be drained as well...

[Traveler]

Here is the 60000 Kilometers update for my Pajero. I completed the milestone today, exactly 649 days after I purchased the vehicle on 13th April 2011. It has been a wonderful ownership experience so far.

I think I have taken good care of my ride and in return have been rewarded by zero downtime. The Pajero has been performing it's duty day in and day out for each one of those 649 days without fail.

I have been part of the Raid-De-Himalaya in 2011 October and gone all the way till Leh with no trouble. The rest of my travels include a daily run of almost 104 kilometers from home to work and back.

The vehicle has consistently delivered mileage figures that hover around 10 Kmpl give or take .5 kilometers. I have been changing the Engine Oil and Oil Filter every 5K kilometers without fail.

The latest service was done last week when the vehicle was a shade less than 60000 kilometers. To be precise it was serviced with the Odometer reading 59250. The 60K service is a major service for the Pajero. in-fact every service at the 30K interval is a major service requiring a number of consumables to be changed.

So here goes my 60K service update. As usual I got the service done on my own at my trusted mechanic's garage.

Consumables replaced.

1. Engine Oil - 1800/-
2. Oil Filter - 500/-
3. Front Wheel Bearings, Drive Shafts and Chassis Grease - 500/-
4. Gear oil, Transfer Case Oil, Front and Rear Differential Oil - 3200/- (Had to change it again a week later, more on this below)
5. All Three Fan Belts - 1200/-
6. Coolant - 1065/-
7. Fuel Filter - 1200/-
8. Brake Oil - 300/-

Labour

1. Total labour 1500/-

Total Amount Spent 11065/-

Now here is the interesting part. The owners manual states that the Gear, Transfer and Differential oil needs to be changed at 80K. I however wanted to get it changed earlier and was hunting for the right oils since the vehicle crossed 50K. After a lot of effort and time the best I could find was Veedol 80w90 GL5 for the Differentials and Castrol 80w90 GL4 for the Gear and Transfer boxes.

The Pajero requires 75w90 GL4 for Gear Box and Transfer Case plain EP 90 GL5 monograde oil for the Differentials. These two are not available in the India market. The closest I could get were the oils I mentioned above in the consumables list.

Right from the next morning I could feel a change in the vehicle driving behavior. The second gear slotting was pretty stiff till about the first 10 kilometers after which it became okay. Overall the gear shifts were taking slightly more effort then earlier.

Secondly, the vehicle wasn't rolling as effortlessly as it used to earlier. It seems like there was something slowing it down and it sounded like the engine was working a bit harder to maintain the same speed. The effortless coasting on highway was missing.

I zeroed it down to the Gear and differential oils since they were directly lubricating the drivetrain. However the correct oils's were not available from anywhere. Even the authorized service stations are not sure what oils they had (or did not want to disclose them to me).

After substantial research I finally found a single oil that satisfies all the requirements. The oil I identified was the Mobilube 1 SHC 75w90 Synthetic. The next problem is that even this is not available at any retail outlet. The minimum you can buy is 20 Litres bucket and that too only from a distributor. It is both GL4/GL5 rated and is intended to a single driveline oil. It is expensive but after using it I guess it is worth it.

Today I finally bought the 20 Liters bucket for 16995/- and replaced all the oils in the Pajero. Overall the Pajero takes approximately 11 liters of transmission and gear oil. I was left with approximately 9 liters and i went ahead replaced the gear oil for all of my other cars (Zen, Esteem and Baleno) as well . I still have about a liter left.

Anyway, the whole driving experience of the Pajero has been transformed. It is actually much smoother then it was ever before (even when it was new). The NVH levels of the Pajero have gone done drastically and it pulls away cleanly from low rpms even when in a high gear. I can almost feel the vehicle gliding. I am impressed with the Mobilube 1 oil.

Rest the vehicle has been trouble free with no issues till now. I have not encountered any problems (touch wood) and the journey continues . The best thing I like about the vehicle is it's reliability, simple mechanical design and clean lines.

The Pajero we had in India was based on the 1991 model and even after two decades it is hard to find a match when it comes to it's handling, ride quality and reliability.

It is so easy to service, maintain and keep in good shape. I guess that is why it is legendary . I am sad that they stopped the production of this legend last year, but I am happy that I got one just in the nick of time.

[benbsb29]

Thanks for the regular updates Traveler. At 60,000 kms this report deserves to be in the Long Terms ownership reports section.

[maheshramaling]

Thanks for this amazing and detailed report!

Have a quick question; does Pajero's come with cabin air filter or not?

In my Paj, I was getting a foul smell when I switch on the AC - hence, asked the A.S.S folks to clean the cabin air filter - but to my dismay, there wasn't one but only a plastic housing.

Just wondering - if this is the way Pajero comes? Any idea or alternatives?

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by maheshramaling

Thanks for this amazing and detailed report!

Have a quick question; does Pajero's come with cabin air filter or not?

In my Paj, I was getting a foul smell when I switch on the AC - hence, asked the A.S.S folks to clean the cabin air filter - but to my dismay, there wasn't one but only a plastic housing.

Just wondering - if this is the way Pajero comes? Any idea or alternatives?

Where exactly did the A.S.S. look for the cabin filter in the Pajero ? I think it is behind the glove box but I have never opened it. Let me know where to look for and I will double check in my vehicle and update you.

All cars develop this smell problem especially after the rainy season and the easiest way to get rid of the odour is to run the blower with the heater turned on to max for 5 minutes with the recirculation mode on. This is quite effective in getting rid of all the musty smell.

[Sheel]

Thanks for putting up the details & these relevant bits.

Can you confirm that the Pajero has a day/night internal rear view mirror or not. The one which I drive doesn't.

It has done a bit over 40K

Originally Posted by Traveler

3. New brake pads all around - 3500/-

Why were we quoted 8K for pads? Are two varieties available?

Thanks

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Thanks for putting up the details & these relevant bits.

Can you confirm that the Pajero has a day/night internal rear view mirror or not. The one which I drive doesn't.

It has done a bit over 40K

Why were we quoted 8K for pads? Are two varieties available?

Thanks

My Pajero has a dark anti glare mirror with an inbuilt LCD for the rear view mirror. There is no seperate day night setting. I have had no problem during night as the anti glare and the dark tint is quite good. This was OEM fitment when I bought the vehicle.

I bought the brake pads from a good after market spares shop. The brand is Roulunds and they are they OEM supplier to a lot of automobile companies. See
http://roulunds-braking.eu/ for more details.

Hope that helps.