Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

I have to agree with Alex. Yes I am biased towards the diesel against the Petrol, purely from a cost and economy point of view. But having said that, town driving still pushes me up to around the 17L/100Km, but load the Iron Maiden up and hit the open road and drive nicely at around the 110Km/h mark and I have had mine down to 12L/100Km, which is not too shabby considering its old technology, no computer management style engine. Yes, its a bit of a donkey on the uphills through Machadadorp, and doesn't perform exceptionally well in the sand dunes in Namibia or Atlantis in the Cape, but for overlanding the 4.2TD motor ( with turbo) shines like a new penny. You still have to watch EGT's, but then that is a must in my opinion on ANY make of diesel motor.

I think getting a scrapped 4.2TD motor from a Patrol Pick Up Bakkie is worth it ( you must get the VIN number from the vehicle. This will make your life much easier). You could take that motor and if you wanted to open it up, give it a good full clean up. Replace all bearings ( big end etc) and front and rear crank seal.... Check first what parts you can get for the 2.7 Nissan diesel first ( you will save a lot of money for the exact same part, you might just have to buy 2 more for the extra cylinders). Then get a Genuine Nissan head gasket ( don't mess around here ) for about R 2000, and rebuild the engine if all other parts are still in good condition. This will cost next to nothing. I would also replace the 6 injectors ( +/- R450 each) and then you have a new motor that will last you I would say.... forever !!

Tour de Frans, here on the forum is a legend on these motors, he gave me LOADS of advice when I rebuilt my 4.2TD motor, and has done the ZD30 to TD42 conversion on a patrol

One thing that may be a concern.... the radiator size may need to be changed. These 4.2's carry a lot of water to circulate....haha

Peter Connan wrote: If it was me, I would swop the car for a 4.5, and make peace with the fuel consumption and range...

I agree with this statement.

How much have you thrown at this motor already?.. R30k on this trip alone,.... now add to that the cost of a replacement motor.... how much PETROL could you have purchased with all that money? a good few holiday fuel slips worth i imagine.

I believe the 4.5Petrol to be the best compromise, and safest bet overall. Good, reliable, strong, old tech,lighter than the 4.8....MUCH more reliable than the ZD30.

Either that or find a TD42 and make peace with the lower output and overtaking etc, cause its noticeable.

Good luck, keep us posted.

Tony wrote:Horses don't interest me, I want a long distance cruiser that can pass without any hassles, climb hills without gearing down too much and sip juice rather than glug!!

Tony, I ma really very sorry for the issues you are experiencing.

Unfortunately the reality is that *small* capacity (relative to vehicle size and weight) turbo-diesels will do what you want but not on a long term basis without risk of failure. They are hugely efficient engines and if treated like cut-glass will last a very long time. The problem arises when they are expected to also deliver the capabilities of a low stressed large capacity petrol engine. As a general rule they will not provide the hill climbing, overtaking and towing capabilities of a large capacity petrol over hundreds of thousands of kilometres without trouble. This is also a reason why one needs to be exceptionally careful buying a second hand TD. Remember too that only too often damage cannot be detected without opening up the engine first.

IMHO either one goes for a big petrol engine and learns to live with the consumption or you find a big turbo diesel and go with that. The Toyota 4.5 TD is maybe an option I think but I'm not sure what the consumption is like on those and I also don't know whether they are totally reliable or not.

I live with the consumption of big petrol engine. It is range limiting but that is a known factor that I can work and plan around as necessary. We travel solo when we do and sometimes into fairly remote areas (or at least we used to in the previous car) and so reliability becomes a very big thing - it outweighs every other consideration. A petrol failure is usually resolvable with some lateral thinking and a few tools but a diesel failure is often catastrophic.

Unfortunately, when it comes to engines, there is hardly ever a "best of all worlds" option.

Turning back to your specific issue, by the sound of it you would do well to get dispose of that car and replace it with another unmolested Patrol unless you can find a decent engine replacement option that can be done by someone who has done it many times before - otherwise you're into Peter's teething problems territory.

Hi Tony,

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Another option that should cost a lot less is look at fitting the 3TDI Harbody engine as a replacement. I am under correction but the block is the same. Only major difference is the head, turbo and pistons. Have the HB 3 tdi chipped and cooled a lot better and you should have a very reliable diesel with a much cheaper cost in your troll. Thabbies on this forum has a shorty with the harbody engine in.


You can also discuss this with Gerhard at SAC Centurion as he converted hi 3lt harbody into a Patrol engine. Good Luck

Grant, the block is NOT the same, and it DOESN"T FIT on the patrol gearbox.

Says so on this forum somewhere.

Furthermore, I don't see any advantages?

Thanks manne, I've been chatting to Glyn Demmer as well, but from what you've shared with me, I think the 4.2 might just be the answer. Just lekker to share ideas and experiences with you guys!

That was my choice.

Thats what i did, 4,2N happy as a pig in " S ''' Mud, no not missing the ZD30 at all. For those of you who have visited Swazi I live at the top of the Mallagwan and work at the Bottom 700m diffs in Altitude and only 10 KM's. Look, I am not up their first, but I get there shooooooooortly after the STI's.

Will do it again or on second thoughts, next time I will not buy the ZD 30 to start with.

Good Luck

JV

Jean

The Nissan club has been threatening and half-planning (but not to fruition) to do a trip to Swaziland.
We should make an effort to rendezvous then.

Maybe 2014 - Ricster?

Thats a plan Alex!!

I am confused now.... I thought the ZD30 motor in the HB was the same basic block etc as the Patrol ZD30 motor, with just a few minor differences in the head...... Maybe Thabbies can give us some input if he looks in here...

Spoke to him yesterday the block needs to be drilled to line up with patrol gearbox he used the patrols cooler and the patrols turbo