Goodbye Nissan Patrol Y61

Submitted: Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 06:52
ThreadID: 105423 Views:8461 Replies:8 FollowUps:8
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After a reliable 13 years I have decided to get rid of the trusty Nissan Patrol.
The decision was not easy and stemmed from a friend who's horror story goes like this.

They came to Adelaide from Canberra to stay in the caravan which they have towed all round Australia with the Nissan Patrol with the ZD30 3.0 litre diesel engine. It has done about 150,000 kms. All was going well on the way back home when trouble struck, the engine blew 10 k's out from leaving the caravan park at West Beach. A tow-truck was arranged to take it to a mechanic. The caravan was towed up to relatives and parked out the front. Mechanic advises him that the engine will cost about $16,000 to replace with a new engine. no such thing as a recon 3.0 litre he says. Repairs were commenced and finally he got the vehicle back and was told you need to do a 1,000 km's first to run it in. Sounds easy you say, well he didn't get that far and comes out in the morning to discover a pool of oil under the car. Rings mechanic and the Patrol gets towed in again, suffice to say friend is not happy! Mechanic tells him that the rear main seal on the engine is leaking, so friend says surely it's covered by warranty. Mechanic rings Nissan who supplied new engine and they say after being told what has happened that "No warranty applies" due to the fact the new engine was bolted to old parts and not new. At this stage the smoke out of our friend's ears is very noticeable. After a bill over $20,000 and stuck in Adelaide for 72 days he drives back to Canberra with caravan in tow. Since then I have looked through many 4X4 forums and the comments all too familiar, that the 3.0 is a grenade just waiting to explode.

My Patrol had 138,000 kms on the clock and never missed a beat, but I sure don't have a spare 20K for a new engine, should the inevitable have happened.

Anyone else had this experience? Comments

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Reply By: Penchy - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 07:42

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 07:42
The patrol4x4.com forum will have more people with first hand knowledge, and may have even given you some advice on how to prevent your mates issue. I thought the engine blow ups were only on the early models of the GU, and Nissan have fixed the causes for the blow ups in the last few years? Again, better check with the patrol guys. With the customer service from Nissan, yes I've heard similar stories to that. There have been more than a few Nissan fans switch teams based on their customer service only.
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Reply By: Robin Miller - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 07:45

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 07:45
I think it was 1998 that my brother invented the term grenade for that car Safirey and it stuck.
I have always advized people not to get them unless they have an insurance plan in place.

Yours sounds like an excessively bad version of the story though with many being fixed for much less and many others being modded.

A friend here has one with nearly 500k on it (has anti=grenade mods).

They are quite a different car from the petrol version.

To be fair they have got better over the years and now many still love them as they are almost the only mainline car left with solid axles / coil springs etc.

Get yourself covered for mechanical breakdown , better still trade in for the 4800 petrol version, effectivily cheaper to run and a lot more capable.
Robin Miller

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Reply By: Graeme - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 10:19

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 10:19
I had a 3.0 Patrol which I bought as a demo and at 146000 it blew. I had done all the reliability mods on it and serviced it properly at the required intervals.
It cost me $11000 for a new motor and then I got rid of it.
I have since bought a new Land-rover Discovery and in less than 2 years I have done 55000km and has been totally reliable and a pleasure to drive. By comparison the Patrol is a truck, but that is purely my subjective opinion.
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Reply By: SAFirey - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 11:50

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 11:50
Thanks for the feedback so far, mine was a 2001 GUII, and I will pass these comments on to him. He had some of the mods done previously but that didn't guarantee it wouldn't breakdown.

Some of the Patrol owners on the forums I have read have had them let go at 50,000 k's and others at anything over 150,000 and they either blow through the top or the bottom of the engine.

The issue with the GU's seems to be the thickness of the pistons in the ZD30 diesel and Nissan rectified this some time later.

One thing about the Patrol is they are solid and built tough axle wise but the engine was the let down, maybe I should have gone for the 4.2D after all, however at the time it was the only one the dealership had.



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Follow Up By: olcoolone - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 17:08

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 17:08
Diffs may be strong but the housings are not as strong as you may think, I have seem many with cracks in the diff housing.

The later ones are worse and a built cheaper using spot welds and thinner materials.
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Reply By: Michael ( Moss Vale NSW) - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 13:17

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 13:17
For the 5 grand extra my 4.2 TDi has been terrific! 360,000ks and except for the alternator a while back it is completely original! Even the clutch! And it's still worth half of its original value! You can't complain about that!
Patrol 4.2TDi 2003

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Follow Up By: Mudripper - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 14:45

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 14:45
You can't beat the old TD42!
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Follow Up By: Michael ( Moss Vale NSW) - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 17:49

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 17:49
Yes you be overtaken by a push bike but they are reliable! Michael
Patrol 4.2TDi 2003

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Follow Up By: duck - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 18:54

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 18:54
The old 4.2ltr just keeps going
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Reply By: Kumunara (NT) - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 14:13

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 14:13
SAFirey
I got rid of my 2000 GUII patrol and bought an Amarok.
Was very sorry to see it go. It had only done 250,000 so had plently left.
I bought the 4.2TD as I knew about its reliability.
I sold it for $18,000 less than I paid for it. That is good for lots of years of use.
A friend of mine has his ZD30 go so he bit the bullet and had a chevy diesel fitted. Has turned it into an absolute beast.
Life's great and it just keeps getting better

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Reply By: Member - Bentaxle - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 17:15

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 17:15
An interesting read. I had a 2000 3L GU Patrol, I bought it with 88k on the clock when the motor expired it was registering 340+k on the clock. I replaced it with a 2006 3L engine ($8000)with 60k on the clock, then found then discovered I could have bought a NEW complete block for $9000. All up it finished up costing $11500, some of that cost was as a result of mis-information by a local Nissan agent.
May the fleas of a thousand afghan camels infect the crutch of your enemy and may their arms be too short to scratch.

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Follow Up By: Michael ( Moss Vale NSW) - Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 20:12

Monday, Dec 09, 2013 at 20:12
340,000km is fantastic, not bad considering most failures occur around 150,000km. Thats a good run! Michael
Patrol 4.2TDi 2003

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Follow Up By: Robin Miller - Wednesday, Dec 11, 2013 at 07:47

Wednesday, Dec 11, 2013 at 07:47
Plenty of good stories out there all right Bent.

I was thinking that Firey started this post with the words "13 reliable years " and I think many non-3lt owners out there would be pretty happy to be able to say that.
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Follow Up By: Member - Bentaxle - Wednesday, Dec 11, 2013 at 14:32

Wednesday, Dec 11, 2013 at 14:32
It was just on 12years old when she expired.
May the fleas of a thousand afghan camels infect the crutch of your enemy and may their arms be too short to scratch.

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Follow Up By: SAFirey - Friday, Dec 13, 2013 at 16:36

Friday, Dec 13, 2013 at 16:36
It was a privilege to have got 13 years out of it, and would love to have kept it a bit longer.

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Reply By: Member - Jeff (Luvmud)(NSW) - Tuesday, Dec 10, 2013 at 12:42

Tuesday, Dec 10, 2013 at 12:42
Hi,

Just traded in my 2003 GU ZD30 with 245,000kms on the clock, no NADS, spent last few years towing a camper with no engine issues. Only issues over the past 10 years were a pre-tensioner pulley and dirty fuel pump due to bad fuel.

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