New to Monteros/Pajeros

[pigdogg]

Hey guys,
Spent a fair amount of time browsing this website and the wealth of information on this sub-forum!

I am swapping cars around a bit and am having to downgrade (price wise) from my 2011 Toyota Tundra crewmax 4x4.

I was looking at LR4s for my wife a bit and continued to see great stuff about the Pajeros (Monteros here in the US) and figured it wouldn't hurt to take a look at one.

I found a 2009 Pajero locally about 15 miles from my house and thought it would be worth taking a look at. http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/5215854096.html

He has a wealth of information listed on there and the mileage, all things considered, is pretty low.

When I go look at this car what should I look for that could be going wrong? Control arms? Corrosion..? (it's been a California car it's whole life)

Looking to have this be my daily driver and weekend warrior. I have 3 kids, 2 in car seats.

Thanks in advance for input!

Jon

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Offer him $5500 cash and see if he accepts, many of us have bought 98/99 models for under $4k with similar miles on them.

 

[nckwltn]

That looks like a really cool Montero and I don't doubt that the guy has that much if not more into it, but to be honest you can buy one with similar miles and probably in similar condition of the same year for between 2-4k having also been in so cal it's entire life.

the missing 5-7k would give you A LOT of play $$ to make it your own.


Look for smoke coming out the tail pipe after you goose the throttle when it's been sitting at idle for a few mins (indication of bad valve seals). Look for oil leaks around the valve covers, look for oil leaks at the back of the heads on the rear cam seals. look for records on when the timing belt/water pump had last been changed. it's not a difficult DIY job, but it is time consuming... and will cost ~$1000 if you take it somewhere to get it done. Look for your normal stuff too (uneven tire wear, bad smelling fluids, etc)

The timing belt is really the only killer of these engines.

Most of the issues are pretty easy to fix but do takes some time.

 

[billygoats]

I'm putting mine up for sale soon. Going to ask 6.5