8th May 2005, 06:13

The Musso is an awful, badly built and laughably unreliable car. I have six pages of faults which I am not going to list here, but the one thing that I will mention will tell you more about the manufacturers attitude to safety & quality than I ever could.

The seat belt retainer worked itself loose effectively meaning that the car had no drivers seatbelt. Imagin what would have happened in an accident!

I know I only said I'd mention one thing, but this just came to mind. I was travelling along the road when the spare wheel worked itself loose and fell onto the motorway. This caused a truck to swerve to avoid onto the other side of the road. I never had a puncture therefore I could not have incorrectly attached the spare to the underside of the vehicle.

A truly awful car,

Damien McGrath.

29th May 2007, 06:54

I disagree; I like the Musso so much I got two of them!

The Merc running gear is great, and they can't be beaten for value for money. I even found a club website for all the Ssangyong or Daewoo badged Musso and Korando's (www.ssangyongclub.co.uk) where you can download the workshop manuals and save a fortune on service and repair bills.

Jason from Bromley.

31st Dec 2008, 23:13

I still have a 1996 3.2L petrol Musso I bought new - one of the original mostly assembled in Germany models. It has done 140,000 KM now. There was a front linkage problem with that model, but mine was fixed under warranty with a modified linkage released by the company.

Its shock absorbers were a bit soft, allowing some body sway when trucks passed, and I replaced them with better quality ones from a specialist off road outlet, and have had no problems driving along creek beds in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia - bearing in mind the limitations of ground clearance.

I have had to replace one door locking mechanism, and a fuel pump, and because I cut costs there and did not replace the whole fuel pump assembly I do have the problem of the unreliable fuel guage once you drop below half full.

The only other issue is the nuisance value of having problems re-starting the car until it cools after the air conditioning has been working hard - I have been told there is a thermostat that causes this but I haven't tracked it down yet.

The only thing I am unhappy about really is the poor second -hand value. It has proved more reliable than the Range Rover it replaced.

22nd Jul 2010, 23:11

My friend has a 1999 Musso with the 3.2L engine, which she cannot drive at the moment because it will cut out intermittently. On long drives it can cut out completely, and won't start again for indiscriminate periods. A Ssangyong dealer had it for three months; couldn't find the problem and charged $800 dollars to change plugs and leads, which has not fixed the problem.

I have taken it upon myself to find the problem, and have had no joy. I have located a clicking noise under the dash that coincides with the engine cutting in and out. I have had the fuel pump relay changed, the ignition contacts cleaned, and am just about to take the thing back to the auto electrician to show him exactly what it does, as he had driven it yesterday and hadn't cut out on him at all. I have been on the Internet searching for people having similar problems (there are plenty), but I have not seen any solutions to this problem as yet.

21st Jun 2011, 08:16

Hi I'm in the same boat with my 1996 Ssangyong Musso IL63200.

One minute it drives fine; the next minute it stalls and dies, splatters and farts.

The front indicator works when it wants (a new thing). Changed the globes, all OK, then just starting today, the lights on the dash cut in and out every time you apply the brakes; there's also the stinky fumes.

Shall I continue?

A door that won't open, fuel gauge that doesn't work... I haven't got all day... when it wants to go, it goes fine!!! But the fuel bill is killing me.

Funny, I've been searching online for some time; lots of people list similar problems, but no one has any solutions to advise us how to fix the crap bits that don't work properly.

Please help.

24th Aug 2011, 03:37

I have got a 1999 Musso diesel turbo. If I switch the ignition off, the motor is still running. I am from South Africa.

10th Sep 2011, 21:01

This may have a turbo cool down system installed. Most turbos come factory fitted with this type of system, they will usually turn off after a short period of time. If you are concerned, get it checked by a decent mechanic. Hope this helps.

Jodie from Australia.

16th Jan 2012, 05:49

I have a 1996 Musso, and I've only had it for a month, but I already have problem; it stalls on me when I get to an intersection or reversing, and when it's idling, it has a massive miss, which can't be the plugs, leads or coils, as these were replaced not long ago.

Also, when you drive along, you can't put your foot down very hard, or it nearly stalls and farts until I take my foot off and slowly apply it again, therefore going up hills nearly kills it. I have ordered a new fuel pump, cos that's what I was told it sounds like, so I will let you know what happens after it is in, and I take it for a spin. The fuel gauge also doesn't work properly under half a tank either, so it sounds common, because a few people are stating the same problems with theirs.

Tamara from Aus.

21st Jan 2012, 05:59

Hi Tamara from Aus, I used to own a Musso and it was a superbly reliable car. The main issue with them is that most mechanics don't see enough of them to understand them.

I had an issue that sounds very similar to what you are suffering from with it once. It would hesitate on acceleration, cough, fart and lose power up hills.

Guess what the fault was? - Rusty spark plugs (I steam cleaned the engine and got them wet a few months earlier). Total cost to fix was just the cost of a set of plugs and the mechanic's time.

Take it to your local Ssangyong dealer, or a Mercedes specialist and get them to have a look at it. The early Ssangyongs have genuine Mercedes Benz engines in them, yours should be one of them assuming no-one has removed the original engine.

22nd Jan 2012, 22:16

Hi, I have a 1999 model Musso. It has always taken 2-3 times to start up, but once started was fine. Last week it just stopped starting altogether. I have found no spark is coming out of the leads, but all fuses are fine, and have replaced the computer. Still not working. Does anyone have any ideas?

7th Feb 2012, 02:03

I had this problem with my new Musso years ago. Turned out to be the vacuum hoses, which had shrunk and come apart at one fitting. Loss of vacuum = engine runs on.

13th Feb 2012, 02:05

That sounds like a crank angle sensor to me.