Radiator Needed for a South African Pajero IO 5Dr Manual

Hi All

This may or may not be in the right section but I if anyone could help that would be great!

I recently bought a Pajero IO 5DR 1.8 manual from a reputable dealer (Nissan Milnerton) in Cape Town South Africa. I paid a bit more than market value, but I thought “it’s from a good dealer, so I shouldn’t have any problems”. I got the ok from my mechanic before purchase, it looked like a good deal…so it seemed.

After “passing” roadworthy, a whole host of issues appeared during its first service (two weeks after purchase!).

• ·        CV Boots where missing, old or cracked
• ·        Steering rack end play
• ·        Reverse light switch was not working
• ·        Prop shaft joints ceasing
• ·        Rear break cylinder leak
• ·        Rear suspension bush was work away (resulted in a scary wobble under load!)
• ·        Radiator was cracked and leaking!

How could this vehicle have possibly passed roadworthy?

After I huffed and puffed and after the original dealer rep had resigned, I was pretty much left in the dark. I had to go to Nissan South Africa for anyone to pay attention to me after which the manager at Nissan Milnerton finally returned my call.

After much talking, back and forth and a lot of frustrating phone calls, they eventually took the car in, leaving me with no transport (courtesy cars are not their policy) and promised to take a look at the issues. After a week, all they had done was replace the CV boots…

You can only take so much and so I decided to cut my losses and do the rest of the repairs myself! Dissapointing.

Besides the above issues, the car is in good order. So where I am now is that I have to replace the radiator. I have received two quotes, R3000.00 (250$ USD) for a custom radiator replacement or R6800.00 (550$ USD) from Japan! Ouch.

So my question is, where can I get good IO parts in South Africa? I don’t mind buying from overseas if I have to if anyone has had any experience with it.