Pajero 3.2 DiD

Were the revs under 2000 rpm when under load?
If under 1800/1500 rpm in 4th or 5th it could be a type of pinging.

no revs are generally above 2500rpm. The car is auto. The 'pinging' starts as you get part way up the hill as though the combustion chamber is getting hotter. The temp guage shows temp is normal. If it was a petrol motor I would say it was definitely pinging...but I didnt think diesels would suffer from this.

Steve...........do you always only use premium fuel?
if i use regular unleaded in my pajero it pings its head off !
when i use premium..........NO PING!!!
cheers pips

OOPS ! Diesel........LOL sorry!
an embaressed pips

This is very common, unfortunately nobody seems to know what it is. I've asked a few diesel experts and they couldn't give me any answers, other people have asked Mitsubishi and they have no idea either. It certainly sounds like a pinging, only happens under heavy load when towing and generally doesn't start till about 2000rpm, changing down a gear and lesening the load makes a difference, also backing off on the throttle makes a difference. For some reason I first noticed mine making the noise when I fitted cooper ST 265/75 tyres, and had about 40k on the clock, maybe the larger tyres increased the load slightly due totaller gearing, but there are plenty of people with standard tyres who also have the noise.
Anyway it's more normal than abnormal so don't worry too much, but if you do get an answer to what it is drop over to www.pajeroclub.com.au/forum and let us know.

I have heard of a similar problem discussed on this forum

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On the 3.0 TD Jackaroo. I beleive the problem for those afflicted was narrowed down to faulty coolant sensors. They replaced the sensors and the noise dissappeared.

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