Nissan 3.0 Diesal

John@com
dont touch one of those with a barge pole get a 4.2 or something else plenty of threads on the forum with a continuing amount of problems.

Cheers Steve

I have found the series III Nissan GU 3.0TD a great replacement for my aging 1HZ 4.2 standard cruiser. But I would avoid the series II as its only the series III that has the upgraded engine. The series II gearbox 5th gear issue was fixed after a few months, but do not have the exact timeframe at hand. It affected all GU's, not just the 3.0TD.

While you will most likely not have a problem with a series II engine (only a very small percentage do) the series III has been upgraded and to my knowledge there has been no problems (heat/oil related failure of engine/pistons) reported to date.

The easiest way to tell at a glance the series of the 3.0TD is the rear tail lights. Series II are all red/orange while the series III have a large clear/white section.

Cheers

Captain

John,
I'm a Nissan bloke thru & thru, but I gotta be honest and say that I wouldn't have a 3L jobbie if I could get it at half price!!!
Even an older GQ 4.2L Diesel would be a better option IMHO.
I'm very pleased with my 4.2GU and I'm stuffed if I can see how Nissan can justify the bigger price tag when (on paper) the 3L is supposed to be a better vehicle.
Cheers,
Roachie

Hay Roachie, watch what you say about the Bridgestones. Mine got 60000 & only 2 punctures & no chipping not like the new Coopers or BFG

John, we have a 2000 3.0ltd Auto & only problem has been a crook air flow meter replaced under warienty 60000 k's ago & no trouble since, now has 75000 & going strong . At least half that off road & 15000 towing the camper

There is no substitute for cubic inches get a 4.2! They are supposed to have better economy than the 4.2's, but l own a 4.2 deisel cruiser and a mate has a very unreliable 3L patrol(he regrets buying it) and on a trip we decided to see which used more fuel, over a distance of about 250k's the cruiser used exactly 4.7 litres less than the not so mighty patrol, and both cars have exact tyre brands and sizes, but it your choise

Can't let the Captain fight this out on his own!!!

I'm not going to slag the 4.2 or the 'yota 100 'cos I've never owned one. But I can tell you the GUIII 3.0Di is a damn fine vehicle, particularly as a tourer in Auto, which I have. It's cheap and easy to modify etc etc. The GUIII had other upgrades besides the engine, like better dust sealing for instance. Go a GUIII if it fits the budget. You really have to live with one for a bit to appreciate how good this engine/gearbox combo is, particularly towing.

Regds

Bill

Ask Nissan for their history on the vehicle, then you will be able to tell whats been done/not been done to it. The 3.0l came out with series 1 GU's and the series II had a lot less problems than the series 1

There should be a rule that only people who actually OWN one of the vehicles in question should be able to reply.
So sick of the ignorance.

For what it's worth. again.
2003 GU III 3.0 5-speed.

Just clicked over 40,000klm. Plenty of serious off-road ( Wattagans on Saterday, and not just the fire-trails ! )
Still absolutely perfect in every way.
Never had a warranty claim on anything. I go to Robinson Nissan for my servicing and would recommend them to anyone. ( ask for Adrian )

For $47,600 they would have to be just about the best value car / truck / whatever on the market in Australia today.

Josh.

I WANT ONE OH SO MUCH....

Would that Como be in the Shire in Sydney??

If so, I hear they rebuilt the Como Hilton down on the cricket ovals since it burnt down, any chance of some photos, spent years down there playin cricket, 18 years actually!

Have a look at thread 10292

John,

Don't quite fit the bill but close. I have a Series 3 GU 3.0TD, auto.

Got it in November and travelled 12, 500 K's.

Car is fitted with a roof rack, steel bull bar, a couple of minor home made drawers in the back [about 50KGs], carry 2 adults and 2 adult sized kids for most of the time.

Of that 12 500 Kms about 6-7 K has been long distance [NW of WA to Perth]

Fitted with cruise control and sit on 100 or 105 all day towing a Bushranger camper loaded with gear for 4 [ and two of them is girls what don't understand load restrictions]

I am averaging 14 litres per 100 K's. That includes one trip of 650 K's going relatively quick into a cyclonic headwind trying to beat Cyclone Monty home from a holiday spot. Made it with about 3 hours to spare before a main bridge got torn apart on the highway which would have meant 3 or 4 days stranded and then an additional 1000K's on the trip. Averaged 22.5 litres per 100 for that trip.

Only problem to date was an airconditioner that cut in and out when it felt like it. Got it fixed about 3000Km ago [just a required update to the pressure setting for a switch, something to do with the radiator and heat up here in the north]. Took about 15 minutes to correct and seems to have worked.

Lot like Captain I graduated from a 4.2 but mine was 100 series. Gutless by comparison to what the Nissan does although I would agree that the build quality of a Toyota seems "tougher". Just a feeling I guess but for what I use the car for [medium type offroading, nothing extreme and highway driving over long distances] I am more than happy with it.

A mate of mine has the Series 2 manual. he is a reporter and travels everywhere at Mach One. Did the gearbox [fixed by Nissan out of warranty] and I reckon the clutch is almost buggered as well. He's done 120, 000 K's in 2 years and intends to update it in the near future to another 3.0 TD but I reckon his missus will get her way and it will be an auto.

Listen to the owners, not the doomsday grim reapers. As has already been demonstrated in this thread [and I don't say it was deliberate or untruthful] what some people percieve to be a huge issue is actually a serious misrepresentation of the reality. The involved owner has already identified that the perception was incorrectly interpreted by his friend. Or maybe he just heard his mate going off on a bad day.

We all have them.

Dave

Hi all,
Correct me if Im wrong Please, thought I would throw in some info.
The problem in the gearboxs started when they released the 3.0 ltr motor right through too 1 November 2001, this includes the 4.2 ltr in that time frame.

Is this correct?

That would be series II and some series III, i have a october 2001 Patrol 4.2 TD and I know Im in that time frame. Will just wait and see what happens, check the gearbox every 10K since new but have only done 30k in it so far....early days yet. I keep waiting for the oil colour to show signs.
Me..well Im sorry but I wasnt going to be the lab rat while Nissan test out new models, yes its a good thing as change canbe and they are on the right track. Give them time and Im sure the 3.0ltr will be a good thing.

Just to throw the proverbial cat amongst the pidgons,, go the ford explorer,now 180,000 and never a spanner needed in anger.

I am currently in the market for a replacement truck and was considering a 3.0 patrol however the stories in lots of places must have some grain of truth in them. They can't all be porkies. Is there a listing of whats been done to what in the engine. The thing has been used in europe in the renaults for some time with apparently few failures. If nissan has listed anything then where is it. I have been told by some owners of engine failures that have been fixed by nissan free of charge however all were under warranty, and the owners therefore were extremely happy with nissan. I have also been told by some owners that the 3.0 is the best thing to ever hit the 4WD market. Personaly I am a little bit scared to spend that much money on a possible lemon. I realise the failure rate is small but its still a failure rate.
The 100 series cruiser now has an extremely good record with few failures, My last cruiser had 385,000 on the clock, a gutless wonder, the old 2H engine was slow but it proved to be fairly unbreakable. I have had two disco's since then with zero faults, thats probably a record in itself. The lousy towbar downward weight has me worried and that has prompted the change to a vehicle that has supposedly better weight capabilities. (Toyota and nissan change them to suit/match the other ones specs). I wish LR would do the same but they have idiots for engineers in both england and australia.
Meanwhile I am still in somewhat of a quandry as to what to spend my dwindling dollars on to continue my travelling bug. I should have stayed with my smaller van.