Srikumar

Yes a cold air intake would enjoy much better in performance. Regarding the cone filter, check once on the legality and whether you can get your vehicle passed annually.

I had been to the desert alone only once, when I had to take someone to shoot some sunset shots in the desert. I was in the Qudra lake area, and mostly took the flat track as much as possible. Kept it very simple and was also more relaxed once I hit the tarmac.

I have always used a OEM air filter for my Jeep. If you are referring to the cheaper after market ones then I would say definitely forget it, as you wouldnt want to take the risk of sanding entering your engine while offroading. Regarding the performance air filters, like K&N, they work with the principal of letting your car breathe easier, which in a way means that more sand can enter your engine. Also, there is a huge headache of cleaning the air filter after each drive as it gets choked with sand. The only person I know who is using a K&N air filter in our group is Gaurav, and I dont think he also feels there is a big difference compared to the headache of weakly cleaning.

Yes with Nitrogen, if you intend to keep it with Nitrogen. Else it will eventually just become normal air filled tyres. Regarding the pressure it depends on the condition of your tyre. Normally for good tyres you can keep it at 35 psi, but with worn tyres and summer approaching I would suggest reducing to about 32-33 psi

@syedyaseer just like what desertdude said, all engine oils are multi - viscosity. So you have one viscosity reading for winter (first number) which is suffixed by 'W' and the second number which is for the summer. Those numbers donot indicate the actual viscosity but infact represent a scale for comparison between the various grades. So in your case for UAE weather which never will see sub zero temperatures, you can choose either 5W-30 or 10W-30, as the summer viscosity (in this case 30) is the same for both the grades. You can decide which one to choose based on availability. Always better to put fully synthetic oil. Also, referring to one of your earlier comments, I also have started buying the brand of oil that I prefer along with the original oil filter and give it to the mechanic to replace them. They charge AED 20 - 30 to do the oil replacement and I have complete peace of mind on what is going into my vehicle. It also works out to be cheaper for me as well.

@LewisCocks90 thanks for sharing this info. I shall check it up in my car and update.

If you manage to drive 60,000 km a year, you can probably go ahead with a late 2017 production date Tyre. Else, its better to get at least an early 2018 tyre

@Sharme you are most welcome. @Rahimdad and @Gaurav taught me how to be patient when I started offroading, so that credit definitely goes to them. Regarding your vehicle, since you are not sure of what all has been serviced by the previous owner, I suggest the following as a minimum to be checked or replaced 1. Transmission Oil and Filter - Change with the right grade of oil as per your owner's manual. 2. Air Filter - Check and if required change 3. Spark Plugs - Change 4. 4x4 Transfer Case - I am not sure if your car is a mechanical linkage system from below or is it a closed box. Since you had serious difficulty in changing it from 4L to 4H, I suggest you get it checked. 5. Engine Oil and Filter to be changed every 5000 km with the right grade of oil. The reason I have said 5000 km is because you are offroading.

I have been driving a Pajero 3.8 which was initially supplied with Dunlop, and then changed to Yokohma and then currently Nexen. Onroad frankly, I have not noticed much of a difference between any of them and they have all lasted till about 80K km. So I would just suggest to choose the one with the best deal. But if you intend to do offroading with them, I would suggest you as well to look at Yokohama ATS. There might be a slight decrease in mileage compared to the HT but it will help you to reduce the tire pressure upto 10 psi while doing some serious offroading.

One more point, if you are driving the 3.8 version the smallest rim size that would fit is the 17 inch rim die to the larger front disc brakes

For offroading the smaller the rim with bigger tyre wall, it will be better as when you deflate you get a longer contact point than with a bigger rim. So that results in better flotation. So a 15 inch will be better than a 16 inch rim and a 16 inch rim will b better than a 17 inch rim and so on The most common rim for offroading is 16 inch as they are easily available in comparison to a 15 inch rim. Regarding the point of ground clearance after Tyre deflation, there will be a half inch difference between a 16 inch vs 15 inch rim. But the longer contact point will offset that slightly better ground clearance. P.S. If you are driving a Pajero you should forget about cornering at high speeds. Then you have just bought the wrong car

@razeen hasan the real fun starts in Ramadan and for that you need a bit of experience and have done atleast a few drives and reached Fewbie level.

There are no time restrictions for Al Qudra. To access the lake a sedan would do as long as you stick to the track. There is a track from last exit till the lakes without touching the desert.

Periodically check your spare Tyre. Recently in one of my cars I had a flat and when I checked the spare Tyre (which had not been used for the last 10 years), I realised that was flat as well. 😋

And if you have the patience drive at 90-100 km per hour. You will get really good mileage. On my Pajero 3.8 LWB, I get a mileage of 10.5 - 11 litre per 100 km when I drive in a relaxed manner

We have a drive every Friday. You can check on the forum for a Newbie drive and join

If your spare Tyre is located below the vehicle it's a single tank. If it's on the rear door it's a double tank

The 2006 Pajero 3 door doesnt have the issue of sand cooping, so you can do without getting any skid plate done. Regarding the air compressor, you can get them in Dragon mart. It would cost you between AED 230 - 350 depending on whether its one or two pistons. Else, if you want a better quality you can go for the air compressor's from Ace Hardware. They would cost you approx AED 550 and above. For offroading, I suggest you to join the Carnity Offroad Club, where you would start by learning the basics of offroading in a safe environment. We have an all level drive coming up this Friday afternoon. If you feel upto it you are most welcome to join.

Not attempted, so no comments You need to sit in my car to see how good the AC works. There was a time when it would cross 140. It can still manage with a lot of parts shaking. But I feel it's too much of a torture to put the old lady through

For a second I thought you were referring to my Jeep XJ 😋

I had the same issue and used WD40 as well. It's sand that is causing the noise.

@Praveenmp if they have quoted AED 2000 that means they are replacing the entire control arm and not just the bushes. Easier fix for them at your cost.

Check you rear differential mounts. As when you accelerate there is load on the rear differential and if they are worn out they might also cause this issue.