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.