3.0D Trouble....need I say more?

[Sias]

I've got a nice 4.8 for R35 000 if you're interested...

[Peter Connan]

Hi Langman

I guess that pretty much sums up what we all want: Cheap, economical, reliable performance. Unfortunately we live in an imperfect world, and we have to compromise. Now each of us has to decide what to compromise on. In my opinion, and please note that it is only opinion and quite controversial at that, good performance and low fuel consumption can only be combined through the use of high technology in the form of engine management, carefull selection of gear ratios and a host of other factors being very carefully combined, and in the absence of extensive and expensive testing and development this is very likely to result in a reduction in reliability. My limited experience with engine transplants is that the results are normally not as good as expected in virtually all respects. Performance is usually less than expected, cost is always more and reliability can be terrifying, and the higher you aim the greater the shortfall is.

As an example of the above, in my first attempt at an engine transplant, it eventually proved impossible to drive an alternator from the engine and I had to drive it from the drive shaft, which was fine on the freeway but in traffic the battery would die, and I had to sacrifice a lot of boot space. Another issue was that whenever I drove through a puddle the electrics got wet and the car died. It also killed it's first ECU because it got too hot. On the second attempt, the car has lunched six very expensive fuel pumps and an ECU. Nobody has yet been able to determine why the ECU died, nor where the plastick bits came from that killed the pumps, as the fuel system was thoroughly cleaned several times.

There is no doubt in my mind that there are guys who can do succesfull transplants, like Frans, but usually these guys don't work cheap. If it were me, with my particular set of priorities, the only engines I would consider would be the TB45 or the TB48. They fit into both the car and the wiring harness and therefore the actual cost of the conversion is kept low and the reliability of the electrical systems are not compromised, they give reasonable performance with horrible fuel consumption but they are reliable and with the money you are likely to save on unforseen conversion costs you could buy a hell of a lot of fuel.

However, as Stefan says, get your car checked thoroughly first, as I think your problem is probably something minor.

Good Luck
Peter

[JG Shields]

I agree with Stefan. We tend to be over sencitive towards the 3.0Di because of its questionable reputation. Have it checked out asap by someone who knows. I also had a similar problem with my 3.oDi way back. It turned out to be a gasket right at the flange connection between exhaust and turbo. Small money and I was back on the road.

[Pieter du Toit]

Langman

I know this is not the route you want to go - and you most probably will remember my posts as well. But this is my hapiness wih the decision I took when my 3.0 Di went up in white smoke!!!

I went from the 3.0Di to the 4.2 Td - factory turbo'ed engine without intercooler - and the cost was minimal compared to figures being thrown around here. My conversion cost me less than R55 000-00 - and that includes the R26500-00 I paid for the engine and Frans's labour. I spent afterwards a further +- R7 000 on an oil cooler conversion and having my aircon condenser moved to the underside of my car - this was to overcome the overheating problems I was experiencing and it worked well.

All in all I am very very happy with my conversion. I have just returned from a Lesotho / Transkei overlanding holiday with a heavy heavy loaded roofrack, a very heavy Conquerer Conquest trailor in tow and 5 adults in the car. I only experienced the following problems on my whole trip:

My car overheated twice on the first Lesotho mountain pass I tackled - and after the second time I put the Patrol in 4x4 high range and drove those mountains out fist / second gear - yes it went slow but I never experienced any overheating problems again and when I am on holiday I am in no rush to get anywhere - the scenery was unbelievably beuatiful and breathtaking and I was actually able to take in where I was driving without everything going past in a flash!!

The second problem was caused by my oil cooler conversion. One of the braided hoses chaffed through my power steering pump pipeline and I lost my power steering. Luckily it was a very very small hair line type crack and I was able to fix it next to the road. Less than 2 hours and I was back on the road and fortunately I always take extra oils and lubricants with - so no problem there. It is going back to the guys who did the oil cooler conversion - they must fix there mess.

AND THAT WAS IT - THE EXTEND OF MY "PATROL PROBLEMS" WHILST ON HOLIDAY!!!

I had to do 3 fairly deep river crossings in Lesotho - and I never exprienced any poblems wth the aircon condenser at the underside of the car - it is still working fine. In Transkei were had pouring rain for days on end and the roads was extremely muddy and puddles and puddles of water - not an single problem once. On Sunday I spent the better part of three hours with my high pressure hose to get the underside of my car clean - that much mud was cladded to the chassis and wheel arches. I could hold my own mud wrestling competion in my yard by the time I was done!!!

So yes my point is - firstly stick with a Nissan engine that will fit the Patrol - a lot less "come backs" on those kind of conversions. Petrol or diesel - well that's your decision. I just shudder to think what it would have cost me if I had a petrol engine - the power and everything is nice but you pay a steep price for it when under these kind of conditions like had now.

I don't want to talk out of Frans's garage - but his Ford conversion would have cost him a lot of money if he was not capable of dealing with all the come backs himself. Fortunately he is a very skilled person and can deal with all the hic-ups. Guys like me and lots of others have to pay other people to attend to these matters - and then the "wrong kind" of conversions can become very very expensive.

That's my

[Langman]

Thanks for all the advice...knowing that you guys tend to follow up on these threads like I also do let me tell you how the story ended. After taking my Patrol to a few mechanics locally I was astonished to see how many idiots there are out there working on poor unsuspecting people's cars. The diagnosis of problems ranged from leaking intercooler, blown manifold gasket to dead turbo.
I personally think some of the mechanics were just too short to reach the centre part of my engine where the problem was. Langman not being a mechanic and with a few pointers in the right direction by the forum members suspected that there was indeed a leak somewhere where the turbo was connected to. This I suspected because when idling you could not hear that blowing sound and only when you accelerate to the point where the turbo wakes up the blowing starts...common logic dictates this. As a result I lost tremendous boost which made me fear the worst as per my earlier post on this thread. As I said though most mechanics argued with me and swore to leaking manifold gasket and with that quotes were dished out in excess of R2K for this repair only...that excluded the gasket from NISSAN which cost R680 bucks or so. Now the money did not bother me that much what bothered me most was to let these clowns work on my van because none of them really seemed sure.
So Langman pulled the van into the sickbay to do his own diagnosis. After taking off the plastic cover on the motor I got my son Jason, who is 10, to rev it up a little and followed all the pipes into and out of the turbo with my hand. What I discovered validated what you all suspected...it fortunately was not the intercooler (damn that thing looks scaringly expensive). The pipe between turbo and intercooler had a 20mm tear just above the clamp and was hissing out the sweetest sound I heard in a long time because I now know I had identified the problem.
After one or two stops by smaller parts suppliers in town I managed to get a brand new pipe(Still want to phone NISSAN for quote to see to what extent they are willing to rip one off) and fitted it with the aid of a few CASTLE's. So with engine conversions merely a figment of my imagination I happily continue my 3.0D experience for now....

We tend to be over sencitive towards the 3.0Di because of its questionable reputation.

This is so true....
1 hr and R120 bucks later the sound was a thing of the past and now my 3.0 feels like new. Thanks manne...this just goes to show I did not ignore your suggestions.

[Peter Connan]

Yeehaaaa hy's reg en dankie tog.

Dankie vir jou terugvoer, en ek is baie bly dit was so eenvoudig.

[JG Shields]

Uitstekend Langman! Ek ken daai vreesbevange gevoel wat jy gehad het die satisfaksie wat jy nou het so goed. My oorlede pa het een keer vir my gese: 'n Man moet weet wat hy nie weet nie. Hierdie woorde skiet dikwels in my kop op, veral wanneer ek myself "over sell". Ek wens egter ons kan hierdie basiese beginsel in werktuigkundiges se koppe inkry. Dit kan nogal baie help.

Ek het ook weer so iets oorgekom om oor te lag. My seun ry 'n 1.6 Corsa Classic. Sodra hy net varsity toe (in die stad) ry versleg sy brandstof verbruik stelselmatig totdat hy sukkel om 5km/l te kry. Elke keer vertel Delta vir ons daar is niks verkeerd nie, maar hulle moes die "kar reset", wat dit ookal in hulle taal beteken. Ek aanvaar hulle delete alle fout kodes op die ECU. Daarna is die brandstof verbruik weer vir 'n rukkie lank reg, maar versleg weer stelselmatig. Op 'n dag toe vererg ek myself en pluk die MAF sensor uit, spuit skoon met Carb Cleaner en wha-la...alle probleme op 'n einde met 12km/l in stadsverkeer. Delta weet nie wat hulle nie weet nie..............

[Stefan]

Baie bly om te hoor. Goeie werk om die probleem self op te los!

[Zantus]

Langman, by wie het jy die part gekry? Ek hoop om self binnekort 'n Patrol te koop en dit sal goed wees om te weet waar ek parte in PE kan kry anders as Nissan.

[Kagiso II]

Eeeoooaauuwww Bro - Oompie is very very glad your 'Trol is A-OK again.

When I get really mad at Ousie Marta when she does those incredibly dumb-stupid things, Dwergie admonishes me with: If she was learned and intelligent she would not work as a Cleaning Lady .. and she is right. But Ousie Marta gets paid accordingly
Now, if you want to argue that we should accept the stupidity of those mechanics ... Why is it that they still charge top-dollar for incompetent unprofessional non-service? More than double than my G P charges. [en ek lewe darm nog]