How to fix the faulty temp gauge on a Pajero/Shogun/Montero NM (2001-1003)

One of the common problems of the Mitsubishi Pajero NM ( (Montero/Shogun 2001-2003) is the “crazy temperature gauge”.

The symptoms are simple, suddenly, with no notice, the temp gauge shows that the engine’s temperature is in the red area, if you’ll stop and check, you will see that the coolant is not boiling and the engine is not really hotter than usual. In that case, you may suspect that you gauge shows the wrong state.

It is very important to verify that the problem that you see is due to the faulty gauge and not a real over heating. You should do that before taking your dashboard apart…

The problem occurs due to a bad resistor soldering, the fix is simple, solder it again…

Now, while you are sure that the faulty gauge is the problem, let’s fix it.

The work with take something like 30-60 minutes.

Required tools:

1. Philips screwdriver

2. Pointy soldering iron

3. Something pointy to hold the resistor in place, I used a toothpick.

The work itself:

1. Turn off the engine, turn off the switch (you may disconnect the battery, but it is not really needed), lower the steering wheel to the minimum location.

2. Remove those 2 bolts and carefully pull that plastic cover out:

3. Unscrew the following 4 bolts (Philips) , carefully pull the gauges panel towards you, there are 3 connectors on the top of it (at its back) so be careful.

4. You should have the panel in your hands now, look at the 5 bolts on the white plastic cover, remove them and pull the cover carefully.

Be careful, there are pins in the connectors, you don’t want to check their flexibility (hint: there are not flexible at all…)

5. Remove that screw, carefully take the board out:

Now, you can see the resistor that cause the issue, it is the R10 one, circled in the picture below:

You may not see that the soldering is broken, I didn’t, till I touched the other soldering with the soldering iron and the resistor fell.

6. Hold the resistor in place with the wooden toothpick (or your other special tool) and solder it to its place – both ends.

Be careful not make the solders too big or “outside the lines” on the board.

7. Put the board and the white cover back in place, screw the bolts of it.

8. Wouldn’t it be nice if all we have to do now is to install everything back in place?

Well, it would. but it won’t 🙂

One of the common problem after that fix is that the speedometer is not working, let’s fix that before the installation.

9. Remove the perspex (clear plastic) gauges cover by pressing and pushing on the clips. In the picture below you can see the 3 clips at the bottom, there are 3 more at the top of it:

10. Carefully, put the perspex cover somewhere safe and with clean hands, press the plastic gauge near the LCD panel with your thumbs till you’ll hear ~4 clicks

11. Gently, push the pointer up, if it falls down slowly, you are just fine. If it is not, check that you didn’t tighten the bolts too much and check the clicks again.

12. Now it is the time to put everything back together. You may want to replace the bulbs of the dashboard while you are already there…

13. Connect the battery and verify that all of the gauges work.

Good luck 🙂