rust in new pajero 4wd

annoyed
That is a sorry story.
I am buying a new Cruiser and it will see the beach so I am interestede in any practical advice you receive from owners who have kept rust at bay.

For interest, did you hose after beach?

Electronic rust prevention - if this really worked, wouldn't Mr Mitsubishi and all other makers install it?

EV700

You really need to scan your warrenty into a pdf form and let the other members have a look at it and its exclusions. Haveing not seen mitsu's warrenty I cannot coment. However good luck as If I remember holden warrenty I only covered construction and materials prep work in the body. Not general rust due to elements.
You might have to get it looked by an professional and see why it is rusting out.

shadow.

what a crock of bull.... 2 1/2 years is nothing , is the 5 year corrosion warranty in writing ?? It might be worthwhile contacting Mitsu aust head office, seeing as they are on a public relations push about the 'best backed cars' at the moment, threaten to go to the media if needed. Especially as the dealer fitted the electronic device to prevent rust, then the product did not perform as described in the transaction and therefore a refund is due at a minimum.

BTW which 'black magic' box ofbleepe did they fit ??

Not like you work in a coal mine is it ?? no reason for rust at that age.

Hi there, Ok if its got an electronic gizmo on it, get on to them. It will be interesting to see who they are going to pass the buck to. By the way, what brand of device is it? regards Michael

We rang the electronic rust proofing people first. They passed the buck to Mitsubishi as they say car has 5 yr corrosion warranty. Brand is eco-pro.

Personally I think there is no better rust prevention than a physical barrier and a physical check and clean. I wouldn't trust my 4x4 to an electronic device such as this as they are just not proven in the auto arena yet.

You say that you have been beach driving for 20 years but not in this vehicle. As you would know there are crap loads of places sand can get and I just found another place in my Rodeo that I have had for 4 years. You will NEVER get all the sand out regardless of how well or how many times you wash.

Having said that my Rodeo is 7 1/2 years old and I have had it for 4 years as I said above. It has been chemically rust proofed since I got it and it has zero rust in it. I inspect it regularly. So I would bebleepif I was you and had rust. However my friend has a 1999 Suzuki Jimny he has had since new and it has rusted right throught the floor where the jack is (under rear carpet) with flaking rust in the nearby seams due to incorrect cleaning techniques. I also saw a 2001 Prado which had rust under it in a car yard. The front bash plate had rusted right through! So it doesn't take long for rust to set in if you don't look after it properly.

Kick Mitsubishis arse anyway.

annoyed..where are you, who is the dealer?. I have just gone through the hoops with mitsubshi over extremely bad ethical sales practices in their Zupps dealership in Bris. Your story sounds like their form. I ended up walking away and by the sounds of it I was lucky as I spend a bit of time on the beach. By the way my 2001 Jack has not got an ounce of rust in it after 4 years. I can't see why the erp crew can just walk away with their hands in the air. It's their gadget that has failed.

Denying your claim is standard practice unfortunately. They probably think its funny (though sick). If you start making the right noises they will most likely come round soon. Its crook, but you have to work harder on them. See Paul Vahry's tale of woe from NZ re his Jackaroo with a broken chassis (search for chassis, this forum) - he was told to go away - he did his homework at great length with quite some time expended - he now has another loan vehicle while they try and find out what to do with his ! Worst of all, they denied his claim even though they would get Isuzu recall notices - a recall that Paul unearthed. Get the picture ? (his car was about 10 years old, but they are now entertaining the claim).They cannot disprove you claim for good maintenace and effective washing away of salt residue....they even sold you a rust proofing system !! You should be on a winner, but they sure as hell will be need to dragged to the conclusion. Though head office would need to foot the bill for repairs, the dealer must make nothing or they would be into helping you. Re the rust proofing system - if that is a 3rd party add-on, it might be a complication but that is not your problem. While being polite, just show them that you are going to persist AND take careful note of everything they tell you for future reference - its more likely than not that you will come out of this without a cent lost - your time and effort is another issue.As others have mentioned, their vehicles have survived years with little or no rust - my Mazda Bravo went 9 years with no rust and no leaks - Our current Jackaroo seems the same - I never buy extras either - no proofings, no tinting - with respect, I just see them as scams - just pay for it as made and go. Hell....the Exceed has everything anyway !

I have a 2001 NM Exceed which has had limited beach work and although have surface rust where I have scrapped the bottom of the vehicle over rocks have not not noticed any serious rust.

You could always send a letter of demand to both Mitsu and the Dealer and see what happens.

its the same old saying the squeky wheal that gets the oil.
i have had nothing but bad experence's with mitsui's, bout all my mates now run toyotas coz they last better, ditch the leather trim and go for lifespan.

Park the thing out the front of the dealership on their busiest sales day, or any day as Milton Rd is quiet busy, especially in peak hour in the mornings. Put a sign on it saying LEMON or similar. Leave a note on the window for people to read stating the hassles you have had with this dealership

I hate to tell you this mate but you are on your own with this one. The corrosion warranty only covers for "normal use" of which beachuse is not normal use. As soon as the manufacturer knows you have taken that vehicle onto the beach you void all warranties for corrosion ( including additional protection warranties ) . Read all the small print and you will see this is the case.

I know a guy who is a professional fishermen and he takes his Hilux onto the beach for all of his work , it has electronic protection and more gunk sprayed on it than you could throw on by hand. He trades is vehicle every 2 years as it is rooted by that time. Any vehicle will rust if takne onto the beach regularly , it is a chemical reaction which cannot be reversed.

Get the Pajero cleaned up and detailed and get rid of it !!

Go to the state consumer affairs,you can find this on the web.
In victoria you can lodge your complaint on line also.
They are obliged to follow through and the company to respond.
If your are stuck with the problem fish oil is the solution,sprayed inside the panels it will creep through all the gaps and kill the rust.
Good luck

Johnno 1,

I have warranty in front of me. I can find no fine print relating to beach. The owners manual has instructions for sand driving and also for crossing streams. If it was not designed to do these things, why give instructions on how to do it?

Maybe all of the 'metal' ships should keep out of the water as obviously salt water and metal don't agree with each other

The electronic gizmo must be causing the rust by creating stray currents. These gizmos don't prevent corrosion, but stray currents will cause it. I have never heard of or seen rust in any modern Japanese car, including Pajeros driven on beaches. What makes your vehicle different? Answer - the electronic gizmo. You are dealing with a shonky dealer, and your particular vehicle has rust - I don't think you can label Pajeros rust buckets on that basis.

We do not want to fight with any one. The reason for post in the first place was purely to find out if any one else had experienced similar problems.

This makes you laugh though.

Q.

2005 MODELS
At Mitsubishi, we are so confident in the quality, reliability and durability of the cars we build that we are backing all of our 2005 models with our most extensive warranties. This list is headed by a 10-year/100,000 mile Powertrain Limited Warranty*, a 5-year/60,000 mile fully transferable Bumper-to-Bumper New Vehicle Limited Warranty, a 7-year/100,000 mile Anti-Corrosion/Perforation Limited Warranty and 5-year/Unlimited-miles Roadside Assistance. So now, when you drive off in your new Mitsubishi, you'll leave with even more peace of mind, knowing you can enjoy it to the fullest for many years to come.

http://www.mitsubishicars.com/company/customer_relations/warranty/warranty_faq1.html

smocky,

Thanks for your encouragement. Our particular warranty says nothing about being 'limited'. Of course it was written to apply to 2002 model cars. Obviously the new warranties are worded differently and are being pushed to attract sales. I was wondering if johnno worked for Mitsu. By the way, we have everything in the hands of our solicitor. I'll keep you posted.

Just a note: We are not commercial fishermen. I wouldn't think two trips to the beach in 2 1/2 yrs was excessive beach driving.

Dont know what your long term plans were for the vehicle but I would suggest you try to get rid of it sooner than later coz once rust starts it can only be slowed. i hope you get some satisfaction but just as a guess I would say something has happened to your vehicle at some stage probablly pre delivery. We bought an f truck that spent alot of time in a dealers yard in a coastal town before we bought it new and converted it into a camper it also started rusting prematurely despite an inland location

I have an NP that has had small signs of rust which sound similar to yours but only in one spot on the edge of the chassis metal where it's welded to the floorpan, also on the edges of metal sheet around the radiator, it was pretty much there from new and hasn't got any worse, I checked a few brand new ones at the dealer, most had some signs of rust on the edges of metal around the front apron. Mines 2 years old and I've driven on the beach and it hasn't got any worse, it looks exactly the same as it did 2 years ago, although i recently sprayed some fishoil around the front when i put the bullbar on. I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Now for all the experts do you have the Pajero corrosion warranty in front of you??? well if not it mentions absolutely nothing about beach driving, driving on the beach does not void your corrosion warranty. Also all corrosion warranties, holden, nissan , Toyota, whoever... are perforation only, as in you need to have a hole in a panel caused by rust to make a claim. A bit of surface rust on the edge of a panel under the car does not warrant a claim. I do agree there shouldn't be any, but it's not that bad. If you have any pics you can email them to me if you like and i''ll compare to mine.

Annoyed

Very sorry to hear your troubles. Certainly wouldn't want to be in your shoes. Even if you win your battle it's the time and stress that really takes it out of you.

As for the warranty being given AFTER you buy the car -
There was a case a few years back where a girl bought a ticket to a concert (at festival hall I think) the concert was for over 18's only. She wasn't over 18. So naturally they wouldn't let her in and wouldn't give her a refund. The conditions, such as no refunds and no under 18's, were printed on the back of the ticket. However, the conditions were not available to her until she bought the ticket. She took it to court and won.

Also - as to electronic rust prevention read Triple J's Dr Karl's comments,
Car Rust and How to Stop It

as a matter of interest, Dr Karl does a lot of travel around australia and has many theories relating to outback travel. Such as corrugated roads, metal fatigue, engine oils and magnetic turtles with gps.

R.

Annoyed,

There's lots of good opinions and advice offered here. That facts are that -

1. Mitsubishi offers an warranty against corrosion.
2. The electronic anti-rust device fitted also has a warranty.
3. Your Pajero is rusting ... it shouldn't be.

Cut through everything, get all you correspondence together and just head off to Qld's dept of fair trading equivalent. The sooner the better.

Mitsubishi, the dealer and the anti-rust device manufacturer are all liable and they will need to work out amongst themselves how this gets fixed. You will need the dept of fair trading to arbitrate on this one as none of these parties will willingly accept liability. As soon as one of them does, the other parties will absolve themselves of any responsibility which could have flow-on affects for the rest of you warranties.

As for sand samples, i can park near a wind blown beach and get sand blown up into the chassis. The samples prove nothing, it does not prove that the vehicle has been on the beach or in salt water.

Get to the department of fair trading (or whatever there is in Qld) asap!