Mitsubishi Pajero Pricing and Specs

Provided the blown head gasket is the engine’s only problem, then you can certainly squeeze plenty more kilometres from it by replacing a blown head gasket. It’s a pretty involved process, however, and requires removing the cylinder head, cleaning the surface, and fitting a new gasket. You also need to check the mating surfaces of the cylinder head and the engine block to make sure they’re straight and able to form the seal the engine requires. So, it’s pretty specialised work.

The wild card comes in the form of what else is wrong with the engine. If it’s worn internally and burning oil, for instance, it might not be worth spending the money to change the head gasket. In that case, a full rebuild or a replacement engine makes more sense.

From memory, the centre orange light on this vehicle indicates whether the locking centre differential is engaged or not. When the light is on, the diff in engaged. When it’s flashing, it’s in the process of engaging electronically. For this process to occur, the main transmission needs to be in neutral, so trying to get the vehicle to move and change gears while the diff is somewhere between engaged or disengaged, might be the problem.

I’ve also heard of problems with the sensor that detects whether the centre diff is engaged or not on this make and model. Sometimes the sensor can die, other times it’s just a wire that has fallen off, but it could mean that the vehicle is confused about what to do and the transmission is stranded in neutral as result.

Try rolling the car forward a few metres (if possible and safe) to see if that small amount of movement allows the diff to engage and normal operation to be restored.

This sounds – on the surface – very much like a problem with the car’s body computer. The body computer controls all the electrical functions you’ve just listed as well as potentially being responsible for controlling the immobiliser. If the computer isn’t telling the immobiliser to switch off, you could easily find that the engine will turn but not fire.

It doesn’t work every time, but one way to reboot the body computer is to disconnect the battery and leave it overnight. This will sometimes restore the computer to factory settings (for want of a better term). If the computer is on the way out, however, this reboot may not be permanent. The other thing to check is the battery inside the ignition key. A flat or weak battery here can also mean the immobiliser doesn’t switch off and the engine will refuse to start. If none of that does the trick, an auto electrician is your best bet.