New owner with some questions
Good morning,
I have bought a 1999 IO with 200 k km's on the clock over the weekend. I a living in Pretoria, South Africa and bought the vehicle from the previous owner in Georg SA. I flew down on Friday, took delivery of the vehicle and drove it back to Pretoria over the weekend. Distance travelled 1260 km. I had to add 500 ml of oil and average fuel consumption at 115km/h (GPS) was 8.9 km/l.
I need advise with the following. The eprevious owner had the alignment checked (he owns the tyre centre) but despite this the car pulls strongly to the left. The suspension is lifted- what can the cause be?
I also have a situation where the front wheels and centre lock light on the dash display keep on blinking. How do I fix this and can the left pulling be relatd to this?
Any independent Pajero workshops in Pretoria who will be able to assist with maintnance and repirs without braking the bank?
Albert.
Flashing front wheel & center lock lights
can be caused by all sorts of things - bad switches, broken wires, bad VSVs (vacuum solenoid valves) & loose vacuum hoses - it's not difficult to fix, but it does require some amount of patience and a willingness to get out a test meter and do some troubleshooting - the alternative is to take the dealer's approach and just swap out all the switches and hand the customer the bill.
The switches work in pairs - one switch senses the selection the driver makes and the other confirms that the mechanism has engaged or disengaged - so for example, you select a locked center and one switch will change position and if the center does not lock the light will flash, deselect a locked center and if the center does not unlock, the light will flash, if you select lock & it locks the light stays on, if you select unlock & it unlocks, the light stays off get the idea?
The front wheel light setup is similar but a little more complex, a similar two switch setup - one on the transfer case to sense when you select a 4WD position paired with one on the front axle to detect when the axle freewheel clutch engages - it's a little more complex because there are actually two switches on the transfer case that are switched when you select a 4WD position - the second one controls the VSVs that control the axle clutch - these VSVs are mounted in the engine bay just above the right side frame rail.
The light display controller is mounted under the driver's seat and requires removal of the seat and much of the carpeting to reach it, so start by checking the switches which can be reached fairly easily if you're willing to get under the car - there are five switches on the transfer case and a sixth one on the front differental housing - the detals on how it works are in one of the transmisson sections of the shop manual..
It's unlikely that the pulling to the left is related to the flashing lights.
Thanks very much for the
Thanks very much for the advice and explanation of how the system works. Yesterday I have tried downloading the workshop manual but the system did not permit me doing so. I will try again and if succesful, tackle the job next weekend.
Regads.
Albert.
Hello Albert, I am also
Hello Albert, I am also reasonably new to the forum and have found it very helpful.
I recently had the front wheel drive lights blinking on my 1999 io with 195000km on speedo. After checking the front wheel diff solenoid under the vehicle to make sure it was clean and working ok i then went to the front diff solenoid freewheel valve which is screwed to the inside of front shock absorber section of front mudguard under the bonnet. I removed the 2 wire fittings with black and yellow wires that clip into the top of the solenoid valves and gave them a clean and a bit of WD40 / CRC spray and replaced them. This appeared to work for me as my lights do not blink anymore. If the lights are blinking your io is most probably still locked in 4 wheel drive, test it by putting blocks in front of a wheel pull the hand brake on hard and start the motor in 2 wheel drive put in drive with motor idling and then see if the front wheel drive shaft is free to turn. If you can turn it freely its ok but if it wont turn then it is still locked in 4 wheel drive. You should be able to try this without getting under the io, just reach under for safety sakes. I have heard that the solenoid does freeze up from lack of use if only using the vehicle in 2 wheel drive. Do not know if this has anything to do with the pulling to the left but could happen i surpose if that left axle was somehow still engaged and the right one was freewheeling ?.
I have now replaced the front diff solenoid freewheel valves with a new set as i read on the forum that one of the two valves does give out sometimes, $75 eBay, it is also working very well and should last my io out.
Cheers,
terry_oz
The front wheel lights will flash when there is a mismatch...
If the controller senses a mismatch between the front axle freewheel and the transfer case selections the lights flash - you could be in 4WD in the transfer case & "2WD" in the front axle (the freewheel clutch disengaged) - OR - you could be in 2WD in the transfer case and "4WD" in the front axle (the freewheel clutch engaged) - if both say 2WD the lights will be off, if both say 4WD the lights will be on, and there is always the possibility of a bad switch or broken wire, in which case the controller won't be able to see the true state.
Based partly on knowledge of how the system works and also on personal experience I would say you're more likely to have them flashing whilst in 2WD - the system defaults to having the freewheel clutch engaged - if it looses vacuum, it will engage, if the VSVs fail, it will engage, if the switch controlling the VSVs fail, it will engage, if any of the wires breaks, it will engage - I have been driving my car for the better part of a year with the lights flashing when in 2H because of failed solenoids - it probably costs me 1 mpg or so more, which is neither here nor there.
Be careful buying the VSVs on ebay, there's a lot of cheap chinese that doesn't last - go ahead, ask me how I know this ;)
Also just so you're aware of it - the vehicle has an open front diff - so if one axle free wheels, they both do, and the free wheel clutch actually disconnects the left CV axle, making it virtually impossible to have the left axle engaged whilst the right isn't.
Thanks for your extra
Thanks for your extra information on the flashing lights.
Sometimes my io would appear to half move into four wheel drive at take off in two wheel drive and make a not so good noise and i would stop, select reverse and move back a little to free it, other times it did appear to be in four wheel drive when the 2 lights were blinking as i could not turn the front drive shaft and the front wheels would dig in on turning the vehicle, other times it seemed ok. I did notice that when the lights were flashing and i had been driving for a while that the front drive shaft was very hot and i did not think that that was a very good sign.
Thanks for the tip on the chinese made front diff solenoid valves, mine is probably one of those sets but i put my old one in the box and kept it just in case, must of had that feeling. New one surpose to have a 2 year warranty.
Every thing is made in China or simular place these days, my Pirelli tyres just replaced (50000Km on Xtrail) and Toyo tyres made in China, Kumo in Korea, Dunlop and Goodyear in Thialand and Maxxis in Taiwarn, all tyres i have seen in the last week since fitting my new Dunlops, so one can only think that spare parts are heading in that direction also.
Cheers.
Syndicate
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If a tyre place cannot fix the pulling can mean that they do not know or something is wrong with your io. If you have the wheel alignment reading that could be a good start to check those figure. Tyres can be the problem, and swapping left to right could be an easy test to do to see if the car is still pulling to the left. And this also can happen with new tyres.
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My io is now SOLD Thankshttp://pajerio.com/forum/claudes-io-2002-zr-built-thread-onlyhappy-io