Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi All,

I have a 1998 GR 2.8litre Diesel Y61 Patrol that has been a beast for some time. It has fairly high mileage at close to 200,000km. I have had an issue with an oil leak spilling out over the engine block, but for the last 30-40,000km have never been able to locate the source of the oil, nor have I been loosing excess amounts of engine oil, so rather than tinker and cause a possible issue, I have left it and it has caused me no dramas.

I recently sent it in for some routine maintenance; basic service, replacing stabilisers, tie rod ends etc. and I also bought a replacement head-gasket set (not the cheapest). The mechanic I sent the vehicle too and gotten in touch an mentioned that he took the car to have the wheel alignment done, and noticed that the water in the NEW radiator had gone, filled up and went to the wheel alignment. Leaving, he had to refill the radiator again and apparently noticed oil in the radiator. *As a side note, I recently travelled 3,500km on some shocking roads in Zambia, in 14 days, and had absolutely no issues- water never went low once in the radiator.

He has suggested that the oil is coming into the radiator as a result of a buggered head gasket? He now wants to lift the engine and do the replacement. I am not entirely comfortable with this, but would like to hear anyone's advice, whether they have had the same/similar issues, or if there are any alternatives to look at first. Can he do the job with the engine in the car? Am I being hood-winked?

Many thanks in advance,
Cheers.
Matt

Is this the same guy who fitted the head gasket recently?

If so, in my opinion this should be a warranty job.

To deal with the mechanics of your question, it is possible to replace a head gasket in the car, but it may not be the best option. Remember that a relatively small piece of dirt falling into an open engine can cause you a whole lot of drama later.

And if the block is left in the car it's a whole lot more difficult to determine if eveything is flat as it must be.

Peter Connan wrote:Is this the same guy who fitted the head gasket recently?

If so, in my opinion this should be a warranty job.

To deal with the mechanics of your question, it is possible to replace a head gasket in the car, but it may not be the best option. Remember that a relatively small piece of dirt falling into an open engine can cause you a whole lot of drama later.

And if the block is left in the car it's a whole lot more difficult to determine if eveything is flat as it must be.

Thanks Peter,

Its way beyond warranty (used car from the UK). I have given the guy the go ahead to do the work, he is doing it with the engine in place. I think all in all, the gasket I think had gone a while back, and the replacement job was always on the cards, I just didnt want to disturb anything if I wasnt having any issues. I am treating this as solution and prevention. Just hope he does it very carefully- we pretty remote so access to world class facilities is very difficult.

Cheers.

Sorry, i mis-unddrstood when you said you had recently bought a new head gasket...

Thought it had already been fitted, and this is what failed.

Doing the head on these motors is luckily not a delicate dainty job as the head is a cast iron heavy chunk of metal and not aluminium. So yeah it can be done in the car, its just a little more difficult when positioning it back onto the block when putting everything back together again and keeping dirt out of the internals.

One VERY important thing he MUST check is the sleeve protrusion above the block. The sleeve top must be flush or protrude according to specs 0.02-0.09mm ( on a TD42 motor, but I'm sure it will be exactly the same on your motor too. If the sleeve has dropped below the level of the top of the block, then this can cause other major issues. While the motor is open, its always a good thing to check. One can always "piano wire" the block if the sleeve has dropped a fraction.

Keep us posted

ricster wrote:Doing the head on these motors is luckily not a delicate dainty job as the head is a cast iron heavy chunk of metal and not aluminium. So yeah it can be done in the car, its just a little more difficult when positioning it back onto the block when putting everything back together again and keeping dirt out of the internals.

One VERY important thing he MUST check is the sleeve protrusion above the block. The sleeve top must be flush or protrude according to specs 0.02-0.09mm ( on a TD42 motor, but I'm sure it will be exactly the same on your motor too. If the sleeve has dropped below the level of the top of the block, then this can cause other major issues. While the motor is open, its always a good thing to check. One can always "piano wire" the block if the sleeve has dropped a fraction.

Keep us posted

Cheers, will pass onto him and let him know to check it out. Bit worried about any dirt falling in too, could cause issues later.
Thanks for the advice. Will let you know how it goes.

I assume they will take the bonnet off to get better space to work in.... so all should be fine

African_mzungu wrote:

ricster wrote:Doing the head on these motors is luckily not a delicate dainty job as the head is a cast iron heavy chunk of metal and not aluminium. So yeah it can be done in the car, its just a little more difficult when positioning it back onto the block when putting everything back together again and keeping dirt out of the internals.

One VERY important thing he MUST check is the sleeve protrusion above the block. The sleeve top must be flush or protrude according to specs 0.02-0.09mm ( on a TD42 motor, but I'm sure it will be exactly the same on your motor too. If the sleeve has dropped below the level of the top of the block, then this can cause other major issues. While the motor is open, its always a good thing to check. One can always "piano wire" the block if the sleeve has dropped a fraction.

Keep us posted

Cheers, will pass onto him and let him know to check it out. Bit worried about any dirt falling in too, could cause issues later.
Thanks for the advice. Will let you know how it goes.

New gasket put on, engine fired up and ran nicely, flushed the radiator as a formality...then water showed up in the oil. Any ideas?

Did you have the cylinder head pressure checked?
Oil end water mixing is usually a blown head gaskit (which you have proven not to be the problem), cracked head or cracked sleeve/engine block.

My experience on engines when oil and water are mixing is
1) when head gasket has blown between water jacket and oil gallery,but this normally only happens when engine has been overheating ..
2)oil cooler has cracked or blown o-rings
3)the o ring on the wet sleeve engine has has perished
4)if auto the radiator has gone

hope this helps..