Frederic

Totally agree ! Happy Chinese New Year !

For many among us, switching between 2WD and 4WD happens with a lever or a flick of a switch, and as soon as your green lights on your dashboard are illuminated to confirm you are in 4x4, you are happy and good to go. That is, until the system fails on you all of a sudden, and you are left frustrated, not knowing what to do.🥵 I recently found a nice diagram that shows the functionality of a Part-Time 4x4 system, that uses vacuum (created by your engine) to operate the 4x4 system and engage or disengage your front axle and turn your car from a 2WD into a 4WD. I am not a specialist in this matter, but merely collected what i could find and what i have encountered on my own Pajeros. A few items we will be discussing which are vital components to the 4x4 system and also the first ones to check in case of any issue: Vacuum solenoids. (VSV1 and VSV2 on the diagram) These are basically just relays or valves which open or close based on a 12V signal and will block the vacuum or let it pass through. They are located in the engine bay next to your air filter box. Due to engine heat, wear and tear, they eventually break down but can be replaced in a matter of minutes. Vacuum Actuator This actuator works like a cylinder. When applying vacuum to it, the piston will start to move. This actuator is mounted on the front axle and will engage or disengage the axle from the front differential. The actuator is being controlled by the solenoids VSV1 and VSV2. Now lets look at above diagram and chronologically explain what happens when we engage the 4WD system. Don't forget to put your vehicle in N first and keep your foot on the brake whenever switching to 4WD or back to 2WD. Engage 4WD: 1) In the old pajeros (up to 2000) when selecting 4H, you are mechanically coupling the transfer case to activate the front prop shaft. On the newer Pajero models, this happens with an actuator motor. Upon selecting 4H, the dashboard indicator will start to blink to indicate that the 4x4 engaging process has started. 2) The front axle has a vacuum actuator (like below photo) which will now disengage as well and couple the front wheels to the front differential. 3) Once the system has detected through the sensors located on the transfer case and the front axle that the vehicle really is in 4WD, the lights on the dashboard will stop blinking. 4WD is now engaged. If they remain blinking this indicates that either there is something wrong with the vacuum system, or the sensor is not detecting the actual position. 4) As your car is now in 4WD, the power coming from the engine will be distributed via a 30/70 ratio between front and rear axles in 4H, or 50/50 ratio in 4Hlc. Once you are back onto tarmac, you will want to get the car back into 2WD: Engage 2WD: 1) Move the transfer case lever back to 2H. The lights will start blinking on your dashboard. 2) The transfer case will disengage the front prop shaft, and the front axle vacuum actuator will start to disengage the front axle. 3) Once the sensors on the front axle, and the one on your transfer case are showing the correct position, the lights will remain (rear wheels only). Question: If in 2WD your front prop shaft is being disengaged by the transfer case, then why do you need the vacuum actuator to disengage the front axle as well ? Well, at this stage you need to start thinking in reverse. What i mean with that, is that when you are in 2WD, the engine is not providing power to the front axle, BUT, because the front wheels are turning they are turning the front prop shaft and the front differential. All this is basically lost energy and would only increase fuel consumption, so by disengaging the front axle with the vacuum actuator, the front axle will actually be "freewheeling" and avoid your prop shaft and front diff from rotating. And this is the main reason why 2WD saves a bit on fuel (less rotating mass to carry along). Additional point: The Pajero has a front independent suspension with CV axles, which are basically always rotating (even in 2WD). Many 4x4 vehicles that have a serious lift, suffer from premature wear on these CV axles due to the increased angle. Installing manual locking hubs on the wheels is a good option, as it basically disengages the front wheels from transferring movement towards the front axle, with as a result that your CV axle doesn't have rotate in 2WD (which could be a good recovery option if it breaks down in the desert), but also would mean that you can remove all this vacuum and freewheeling stuff. Many oldskool offroaders go for this option as less electronics and less solenoids in the desert improves reliability. Troubleshooting: If at one point your 4x4 indicators keep blinking, have a look at the following 1) Open the engine bay and look where the vacuum solenoids are. (nearby the air filter box). Inspect the electrical connection and the vacuum hoses that are connected to it. A cracked hose will not be able to create vacuum and will be the reason of your failure. 2) Look underneath the car and locate the vacuum actuator at the front axle. There will be 2 vacuum hoses connected to it. Inspect both hoses, and also pull back the rubber booth to see if the piston is not blocked by any debris or sand. You can use a brush to clean the piston that moves back and forth. If your car is in 2WD and you pull off one of the vacuum hoses on this actuator, you should actually see it slowly closing. 3) Be aware that sometimes the system only engages or disengages after driving a bit forward or backward. Many times i have seen the blinking lights disappear only after 10-15 seconds of driving. It is good to engage the 4WD system every week. Not using it often gets the system to seize up. Note: Mitsusbishi has thought about this system quite well, and did not want to leave anyone stranded in case the solenoids fail. By Default, if there is no vacuum, the front vacuum actuator should close by itself and keep the car in 4WD. This basically means if you pull of one of the vacuum hoses, your front axle should be engaged and it should work in 4WD. Of course you will have blinking lights because the sensor will be confused, but at least you could continue to drive in 4x4.

Congrats @Andrew McCarthy!

Congrats @KAMALIO !

Congrats @Trekado!

Congrats @Mo. !

Well deserved !!

And especially more money out of your pocket when you destroy your transmission....

General Infos This drive is organized in full compliance with the COVID19 guidelines. We expect every member that joins this drive to go through below information and and strictly follow these guidelines in order not to jeopardize someone's health, and to ensure we can keep organizing these drives safely. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions Mandatory Safety Requirements Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Newbie and above (All Levels) When: 6 Feb 2022, Sunday Meeting time: 7:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/X2WEzPXtaduL7bxcA Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Your Offroad Gear (Offroad Flag, Radio, Shovel, Compressor). No Gear - No Drive Approximate finish time: 11:00 AM End Point: Mahafiz Limited Spots Available: Limited to 12 cars only. RSVP will close on Sat- 9 AM. If the RSVP is full and you wish to join, please mention your name on the drive thread to add on the waiting list. Latecomers will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Members without RSVP will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others. Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month. PLEASE RSVP ON THE BELOW CALENDAR EVENT

Faqa's Foggy Flavours... It was a wonderful morning, seeing everyone arriving on time and putting up the flags while the sun was rising. It was still a bit foggy but as soon as we started driving the veil started to lift and before us we could see the mighty dunes appear :) The plan was to "brush" alongside Faqa and not venture in too deep, as we had a long track ahead of us if we wanted to exit on the Bab Al Shams area. Due to the construction at Solar Park i rather keep away from there for the time being. A few minutes into the drive we had a pop-out, and this was also a reminder to all of us that the sand was still compact in most areas and that we needed to steer gently and avoid sharp turns. This was easily fixed and we resumed the drive quickly. We came across technical sections, big long range dunes, and practiced some sidesloping and the occasional ridge-ride practice. Everyone did so amazingly well ! The Patrol guys @Kishore Venkat @Yesu Yarlagadda @Eli Zandro Hamoy were gliding over the terrain effortlessly, just like the Xterra friends @Mohammed Sirajuddin and @Zulfikhar Naiyar. Overall we had very little refusals or stucks, so @Srikumar could turn up the radio and enjoy the scenery in the back ! @Rajeevan Vickneswaran was an excellent support in the middle of the convoy, it's good seeing you back in the sand buddy ! @Federico De Chirico was my second lead, and did that brilliantly. His buddy @Federico Galbieri was doing a shakedown of his brand new FJ Extreme. Congrats buddy it's a fantastic offroad vehicle and from now on there will be no limits to what the car can do under your guidance. @Amr Aydin, hailing from Abu Dhabi, you drove superb. Great to see you with us in Dubai ! @Emanuel with the silver arrow Pajero, you drove amazing as well. Must be the experiences from driving in Canadian snow while steering clear of any deer 😁 @Eduardo sos the FJ is a fantastic offroader and its good to see you're finding your way in it drive after drive. Well done ! @Gerrit Bus made the drive "instagrammable". Thanks for joining us with the great looking Gladiator !! @Alfred Alinazar you had the honor of driving in front of Sri, i hope you were able to keep him from playing around too much at the back. 😁Well done !! @Nadeem Ansari if you join Carnity Offroad Club for the first time, you will need to sign up for an Absolute Newbie drive first. We have those every weekend in Al Qudra area. After completing that drive, you will be a Newbie level offroader and can start signing up for Newbie level drives. Take some time to read your introduction email with the various articles. Don't be afraid to post your questions on the forum if you have any. See you all in the sand soon again !

Oh yes. Loving the Hilux 4.0 Adventure. An alternative was the Ford Ranger Wildtrak which is a Diesel. Should be a great off-roader due to its power / weight ratio and Toyota reliability.

@Ishaq Muhammad this is a Fewbie Plus level drive. As you are not on this level you are not eligible to attend.

The nearest shop for you will be Speedex in DIP. They have all these things.

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Totally agree with @Zixuan Huang - Charlie. Use what you currently have to learn the skills. Every offroad vehicle has its own pros and cons. Join our weekly drives and have a look around and talk to owners of many other 4x4's to make up your final mind about what you are particularly aiming for.

Hi @Krishna R welcome to Carnity ! For your first drive with Carnity you will need to sign up for the Absolute Newbie drive tomorrow. There is still available space. Once you have completed the Absolute Newbie drive, you are welcome to join Newbie level drives. You can signup for below drive:

Thanks for informing @Thian, see you next time !