Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Peter Connan wrote: ↑19 Apr 2020 07:48 No fuel gauge in my aux tank.

Keeping it simple! Nice.

It has both pros and cons. I am seldom sure how much fuel I have on board, as the filler to the aux tank is just an open line from half-way up the main tank. As a result, driving steep inclines can transfer fuel from one to the other in unexpected ways.

To be honest, my system is far from perfect, and had I designed it, it would have been rather different. But it's also a hell of a lot better than no system at all, and works reasonably well once you understand it's foibles. Maybe one day I will change the setup.

Talking of that, can you share some detail about how the fuel gets into your aux tank? Thanks.

A question I have on the sub tank. I see there is a 'pressing' on the body floor under the rear seat that looks like the the access hole in the rear to the fuel pump. Can that not be cut out and the same pump and fuel gauge system inserted into the sub tank and using a solenoid valve and switch similar to the Land cruiser system. You fill both tanks separately and they stay separate. When the main tank switch is activated only the main tank works to feed the motor, when the sub tank switch is activated only the sub tank feed's the motor. Plus each tank has it's own fuel gauge.

Morning

My Patrol model, Y61 - 2014, has two fuel inlets ie 1 per tank. When I fill up then I can choose to fill either or both tanks.

The auxiliary tank pumps into the main tank and then the main tank pumps to the motor. Both tanks have their own gauges.

The above is standard setup for this model I believe.

I have read that some guys modify the setup so that each tank pumps to the engine separately as opposed to routing via the main tank.

Pumping fuel from the sub-tank to the main tank takes a few minutes even with the standard tanks let alone the bigger tanks that I now have. With the standard tanks I used to wait until the main tank was at 50% and then pump from the sub-tank to the main tank because I then knew that the entire contents of the sub-tank could fit in the main tank. As said earlier I've not had enough time to drive sufficient distances to figure out how the new setup affects the timing of when I should pump from the sub-tank to the main tank. Hopefully there will be a gap after lockdown to figure this all out.

P.S. The access to the sub-tank fuel pump through the floor panel is under the drivers side passenger seat.

Thanks for the explanation

I had forgotten that the GU is built for dual tanks. Silly me.

In both my Terrano and my GQ Patrol I had second (aux) tanks fitted, the one in the Terrano was built and fitted by Gerbers on the East Rand and the one in the GU (65lt) I made up in cardboard and duct tape myself and I made sure it fitted so as to make maximum use of available space.

I had Uys of Stofpad Products laser cut, bend and weld it up for me from the cardboard sample provided. He designed the baffles for me. I fitted and plumbed this one myself and with the 149lt Northern Offroad super large replacement main tank that I fitted a year earlier, my GQ had a 210lt plus fuel tank capacity.

Both had a 30mm feed pipe to feed from the main tank and both had a ball bearing type one-way valve (my specification) to prevent it feeding back into the main tank. The 30mm feed pipe ensured the fuel gravitational feed from the main to the lower aux tank was pretty fast and caused no delays, as is often the case when dual tanks share a single inlet.

In both cases I had a 8mm fuel pipe and a fuel pump on a dedicated switch to feed fuel from the aux back to the main tank, a la the GU Y61 setup minus it own filling point.

Pumping 65 lt back into the main tank was slow, at about 10 to 15 minutes to transfer the 65lt, but there was never any hurry needed.

What I liked about doing it this way was when I had old fuel in the aux tank, i would pump the aux tank's content into the main tank when the main tank was full. The excess fowed back into the aux, making sure it mixed pretty well.

On both cases I had the two tanks with 8mm breathers, both teed into 10mm single breather that fed up into and back down the rear roof pillar, then into a fuel filter.

In the Terrano this worked faultlessly for the 13 years I had the vehicle, and in the Patrol had this set-up working trouble free for nearly 5 yesrs when I sold the vehicle.

The auxiliary transfer function can be "automatic" by pressing the transfer button it will only transfer from auxiliary to main when the main is about a 1/3 and fills main to about 80%. If you just had a larger auxiliary put in you may risk overflowing the main!! Something to keep in mind.

The larger main should handle the auxiliary capacity provided the gauges are set up right.

Hey Biggles.

You make a good point.

What I've noticed with my setup is that the standard controls still apply with the upgraded tanks ie the pumping from the aux tank automatically stops when the main tank is full. In fact if I try and activate the pump to pump from auxiliary to main when the main tank is full, then it doesn't switch on at all. Same rule applies if the aux tank is empty.

Kirbster wrote: ↑08 May 2020 18:58 Hey Biggles.

You make a good point.

What I've noticed with my setup is that the standard controls still apply with the upgraded tanks ie the pumping from the aux tank automatically stops when the main tank is full. In fact if I try and activate the pump to pump from auxiliary to main when the main tank is full, then it doesn't switch on at all. Same rule applies if the aux tank is empty.

Cool, I did not know the auxillary will turn off if the main tank is full. That is good to know.

Any of you looked into the Titan Trail Trekker - HDPE build, mounted on the spare wheel carrier?

I guess this is more a product to vers the Jerry cans and is for that once or twice a year long trip.

https://www.off-road.com/blog/products/ ... nk-review/