Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

It is now roughly two months ago that we got the Green Mamba (TD42, 1999) and I thought to give a quick feedback: Oh boy, she is sluggish on the road but once in her natural habitat, she is great fun.
And it was on tar that I met a challenge. Already when I picked her up from Graham, I had difficulties on the highway to shift back from 5th to 4th gear. He told me: “Relax and forget about the 5th. The car runs fine with 4 gears only.”
For two reasons I ignored his advice at first: I’m a stubborn German and I enjoy cruising at 2000 RPM. In September we went on a longer trip with our camping trailer (XT75, so nothing really heavy) to the Drakensberg. I was surprised about how quickly the car loses momentum (esp. in 5th gear) on the slightest incline. Hence, I decided to research the 5th gear issue a bit better. I checked this forum and the Aussie one. Then watched a couple of educational gearbox videos (by that stage my girls thought I had lost all my marbles). Eventually, I came to appreciate Graham’s advice and understand the inner workings of a Patrol gearbox a bit better. I decided to use the 5th gear only in an unloaded car without trailer when I’m cruising 100+ with no incline in sight. This strategy also improved the shifting down from 5th to 4th which I now master without breaking a sweat (mostly).
Does anyone have similar experiences with shifting from 5th to 4th?

Up to now I visited the filling station 5 times:
1st: 12,8 liter/100km (in Joburg traffic)
2nd: 12,6 (Joburg traffic)
3rd: 11,8 (trip to KZN)
4th: 13,8 (bumming around the hills, about 30% in 4x4)
5th: 14,3 return to Joburg)
I’m curious what my consumption will be when I ignore the 5th gear when pulling the trailer.

When we got the car, I thought of fitting a drawer system but now have second thoughts about it. A) It appears to be quite costly to do it right. B) When done right it adds a lot of weight. C) Once it’s in there, big shopping trips become an issue (loss of flexibility). And D) I’m actually quite ok with our aluminium box packing system. It may be gypsy style but is light and cheap. And, what do we have the trailer for?
So far, I added one upgrade. It still has the original tape deck but my old tapes sound like the cats peed on them. So, I bought one of these little thingies that play music from a memory stick or phone via the radio. Now I can drive the girls crazy with my old Rolling Stones album.

I freakin loved that car. A buddy of mine took it for a test drive. Fell in love with it. I don't really like diesel, but that 4.2 was amazing. A worker through and through.

Herr Klaus, that 4.2 Diesel without a turbo is a Led Zeppelin.... it won't blow up, but it is slow, however it will take you everywhere.... eventually.

Adding weight to the Patrol will not significantly worsen your fuel consumption at all in my findings ( I got my best fuel consumption (12.2L/100km) fully loaded, roofrack and all going Mozambique a few years back, but only drove no faster than 110km/h as we were following a landrover ). Not using 5th would drive me insane on my Patrol, as i drive 120 - 130 and my rpm at 2600 is high enough and generally over 120km/h my fuel consumption climbs a bit, but luckily nowhere near as bad a a petrol motor ( sorry, I had to have a dig at the petrol heads.... )

Your best solution to make that Patrol a dream to drive would be a low boost (0.5 bar boost) if you want to be super cautious/ conservative or even up to 0.7 bar still reasonably conservative, and you will not believe what a pleasure it is to drive and overtake other vehicles when needed with confidence.

Micheal from SOJO does a mean diesel turbo setup, from low boost to some radically crazy boost, which I don't think is your kind of Schweinsbraten, but you will be a very happy German, or if you were an Oesterreicher, then you would be ecstatic....hahaha ( the Austrian blood flows through my veins....haha ).

My Patrol is boosting at 0.9 bar, and it is a daily driver. I cruise up Van Buuren hill on the highway at 120 without breaking a sweat. I love the smell of diesel in the mornings..... I hope this helps

It was designed to use all 5 gears!
There’s an issue there, I’d get it checked out.

When I bought my NA 4.2 I told myself I didn’t need a turbo, I was gonna keep it stock. That all changed on the VERY first long uphill I came to where I had a slight ‘oh sht’ moment, thinking I wasn’t going to get to the top of the hill!
It’s amazing how quickly they lose momentum on a hill.
But yes, on the long open road it was actually a dream to drive.
Enjoy!

Just take it ro micheal and put a turbo we went to klerksdrop me and Peter to fetch a double cab mog and we did 120 to 130 all the way behind the mog back we did 90
Got 9.2 km per liter wn you stay in 5th gear all the way ....hope you enjoy your lorrie man have you booked a place for 70 th next year at goera pan ?

Tinus lotz wrote: ↑15 Oct 2020 19:33 Just take it ro micheal and put a turbo we went to klerksdrop me and Peter to fetch a double cab mog and we did 120 to 130 all the way behind the mog back we did 90
Got 9.2 km per liter wn you stay in 5th gear all the way ....hope you enjoy your lorrie man have you booked a place for 70 th next year at goera pan ?

I couldn't stay in 5th behind the Mog. That dropped me out of the torque curve on the long hills, where it dropped down to about 60...


Klaus, on a more serious note, I very much doubt that NA engine can break that 5th gear. It just doesn't have the torque. I only drop out of 5th if I need over 0.9 bar on a hill when towing, and so far it's lasting. I believe that's at least 80% more torque than the maximum your engine can deliver.

Hi Klaus

I have exactly the same vehicle as yourself-2000 model ,but not the same symptoms , only on long steep inclines.
On the level stretch between Gweta and Maun 140 towing a fully loaded echo 4 and packed roofrack without any problems,must add I had the injectors re done.

If you ever in Pretoria area you are most welcome to drive it to compare with you own.

Brilliant vehicle.

To measure is to know . Take it to mr steyn put it on the dino let him do timing check all the diesel stuff thats what he does if it makes 50kw and 200nm on the wheels it correct for that motor

Who is Mr Steyn and where can he be found

Micheal steyn so jo auto motive in centurion hy is die diesel expert