Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi folks, my optima yellowtop of now 17 months age seems to have dropped cell, as my voltage is never higher than 12.7V, even on a CTEK charger. It seems that my constant use of the beer fridge in the summer months has cycled the battery, and my daily commute of 40mins each way is not enough to replenish the auxiliary battery, and I also have had my main starter fail in 11 months, luckily swapped in warranty.

I am told that my 4.8 alternator of 70AMPS is a little weak for dual batteries, and that is what is supplied on our engines here in the Middle East, do the good folks of Africa have a upgrade solution for the alternator to keep the amber nectar chilled. Plus the family were most disappointed with the 1st world problem of having to drink luke warm water on weekend trips.

Your wisdom would be most useful on alternative alternators that are an easy fit with atleast 50% higher amp output, the extra 50% should do the beer....and soul good.

That is an absolute crisis...

If I recall correctly, Cedric (ricster) upgraded his alternator for something beefier. I'm sure he'll be around shortly...

I hear you brother... warm beer is a big evil....hahaha

I did replace mine many years back to a 90 or 100amp/h unit.

First off have a read through this thread.... Very informative !!!!

http://patrol4x4.co.za/viewtopic.php?f= ... ATOR+DELCO

and here is a short follow up, but leads back to the thread above

http://patrol4x4.co.za/viewtopic.php?f= ... ATOR+DELCO

I would presume that the 4.8 's alternator won't be much different to the 4.5 or our old oil burner donkeys.

Let us know how it goes !!

Hey thanks folks. "Sipping a cold one in the middle of now where" is a worldwide mission statement. The innovation that comes out of your continent never ceases to amaze me.

You should have a bush mechanics section on solutions that were used. For example I heard bananas in diffs stop seal leaks!!

just for laughs I posted on N. American expedition portal, the solution from 1 gent who spent time in Camaroon and Djibouti was to increase my stored capacity to 600Ah and add 600W of solar panels...hmmm weight was not an issue for the terrain he choose, or was forced to do I guess.

Over hear most of our innovation goes into more HP, very little with remote travel requirements. Most of the garages here are just glorified parts fitters that cater to the FJs and wranglers to get up a tall dune a few seconds quicker.

.... yip....banana skins do work for a noisy and leaky diff... but only for a few Km..... ... don't ask why I know that ( it was on a Toyota though....)

Bush mechanics...
I've done some pretty questionable things in order to get home before Not by choice, but rather out of necessity.

I've :

1. Patched a hole in a petrol tank by jamming a wet bar of soap over the hole to form a patch.

2. Packed a tire that slashed the sidewall badly with long grass to fill the void where air should go, drilled holes and cable tied the cut closed.

3. Braced a snapped leaf spring by cutting thick branches and lashing them to either side of the spring with ropes and straps to form a makeshift split.

4. Charged my friend's Land Cruiser battery in my Nissan Hardbody because his alternator died in the middle of the mountains. Started mine, then took battery out (engine still running) and swopped with his battery so my alternator charged the dead battery and he used my charged battery to start and drive home.

When you don't have any other options, you quickly make a plan to get home.

Electrical issues are my kryptonite though. If I can't see it physically doing work, I haven't got a clue how to fix it.

Oh yes, and of course there was also the time that same dodgy 60 series Land Cruiser of my friend stopped in the sticks because the fuel pump packed up, so we drained the windscreen washer bottle, filled it with petrol and ran the pipe to the carb so he could drive a bit, then squirt petrol into the carb every now and then to feed it fuel.

Dustin wrote:Oh yes, and of course there was also the time that same dodgy 60 series Land Cruiser of my friend stopped in the sticks because the fuel pump packed up, so we drained the windscreen washer bottle, filled it with petrol and ran the pipe to the carb so he could drive a bit, then squirt petrol into the carb every now and then to feed it fuel.

.... that is true brilliance !!!!

Heh. Bush mechanics...

A friend of mine bent his Hilux's steering arm on a trail. After that, he could only turn left.

Our attempts at bending the steering arm straight with jacks and similar were not 100% successful.

We eventually hooked the winch to the steering arm via a snatch block on a chassis member and used the winch to bend it straight. Well, not straight, exactly, but straight enough for him to drive the 20-odd kilometres home at a moderate speed.

I've actually got the entire incident on my GoPro - except that most of the interesting footage you see is with the bonnet open whilst winching. Meaning your get a fantastic opportunity to view the awesomeness of the Patrol's bonnet, as that is all that one can see....

A 70 amp alt on a 4.8 with air con el windows
Etc etc will never work and i''m sure its not original
It should at least be 90 - 110 amp...
A toyota yaris comes out with 70 amps