Likelyhood of original GUII ZD30 blowing up after 117,000km without an issue?

I would trade it on the next one, rather than own it, as murphy says this is most likely when it will fail ;-)

Trade-in is good. My brother traded in his Nissan 720 dual cab on a Patrol a few years back, and the dual cab's engine blew up within a week. Good timing I'd say. Now if he'd sold it to a family member, that would have caused a bit of discomfort. BTW he had no idea that it was about to go belly up.

Cheers

Hang on to it.. would you risk it? How bout you buy it off him, and take your chance at a $15k engine, or $5k gearbox, or $ clutch, or $ turbo.etc

I'm getting a brand new one - so no I'm not keeping it :p

BTW truckster - clutch is $2500 and when the ZD30's turbo goes usually the whole motor with it. ;-) Garret make a fine snail...

bingo

You fellas seem to be missing the point, its a Nissan not a Toyota :-P

But yeah thats what I worry about with the series 2...

typo "so far Nissan has replaced all series III blown 3.0TD for free" should be
"so far Nissan has replaced all SERIES II blown 3.0TD for free" (and replaced with series III motor).

If it was mine,i'd be driving it around in second gear for a few weeks, mmmmmm new motor,than sell it LOL

SHHHH Michael :-P

Captain - the clutch must have been dragging since new ;)

Yeah its been like it since new. Heck cleveland nissan only just got the handbrake working properly in its last service. Seriosulybleepty service...

Thanks for your replay mate - its one the better ones here!

Funny.... you dont see 4,2 owners asking these questions,,

The 4.2 doesnt suffer these issues - its an 18yr old engine, all issues were sorted out yonks ago :p

Te ZD30 is relatively new. One must expect problems...

hehe I can give as much as you give guys :p

ha, i'm gonna cop some flack for that bodged statement :p

yep - i think running lean was the ecu issue

i think its still an issue in the new ones - if it was just an ecu problem, wouldnt it be logical to just reprogram the ecus as they came in for their services ;)

heh Nissan could have done a Mitsubishi...

what makes you say it's still an issue in the new ones..ie Series III onwards??

I dont know for certain - for nissan to change the fuel maps and stop it running so lean they would probably kill the excellent emission standards the motor gives them (putting the ZD30 in the same boat as the SR20DE...)

added to that slight increase in fuel consumption, mabye even changes in power output.

Which brings another Q - that Safari Dtronic, what does it do to the ecu's signals to give the impressive torque figures? Something im very interested in knowing.

Anyone know if any ZD30s have blown up with the Safari DTronic installed?

Hi guys,

My understanding of the blown motors is that its virtually always been a holed/melted piston on 3/4 cylinder. I believe its a lack of cooling from the oil and that the series III had larger oil galleries, 2nd oil pickup point and more oil cooling sprays plus more sensors for the ECU. Also, pistons 3/4 get less natural air cooling, hence the reason they go first (or could be to do with the oil gallery design?)

Running lean on a diesel decreases piston temps, the opposite of a petrol vehicle so I don't think a simple ECU fix would help. I run a Dtronic on mine and it gets the same, if not better, fuel consumption while giving a really noticeable power boost, particularly at low revs.

I have searched widely on the net and have yet to come across a single proven case of series III engine failures. There are some reports of them, but NEVER from the owner, always someones mates uncles brothers dogs best friends aunty and when pressed for details, do not even know for sure if its a series II or III. But there are many first hand accounts of series II failure (too many!!!). I obvioulsy have not heard of a series III Dtronic blowing (if mine ever does, you will all be the first to know, followed very closley by Nissan!!!). There are many series III now with 200,000kms+ on them, a good sign for sure that the problems have been fixed.

The most common series III fault I have found to date is the EGR valve. It can seize and this results in the motor shutting down. However, I think thats an ECU shutdown to prevent running with a seized EGR as the volume of exhaust gas should not stop the motor from running at all. But I have not had this confirmed. Also, the type of oil you use can affect its operation. The latest CI oils are designed specifically for EGR diesels. I believe they somehow assist in lubricating the EGR valve, but early CI oils suffered from oil usage between service intervals (probably vaporised some oil to lube the EGR valve?)

The biggest "problem" with this motor (and virtually all modern diesels) is the multitude of sensors that can stop it and all you get is a single engine fault light. Often the ECU will shut the engine down, yet it is quite capable of running abeit with a loss of power. Probably Nissan saving on engine damage (warranty cost!!!).

Cheers

Captain

So do you genuniely believe that $1500 on the dtronic is really worth it?

Hi nissan_nut,

All depends on what $1500 worth to you !!! I can now idle my 1.6T van up my drive in lowrange, used to stall before so had to slip the clutch or back too fast. Reckon I will save this in clutch usage alone.

As I tow regularly, the extra (read noticeable) power increase is worth it IMHO. But if I never towed, hmm... a diff lock sounds good!!!

Cheers

Captain

sorry about the typo's

so its a series 1 motor

my thoughts as to the fact that there is more to the series 1 and 2 ZD30s than just ecu programming are firmed in a bit harder.

Heh

Thanks for the info captain - thats certainly what i have read but it seems my probably less mechanical mind has come to slightly different conclusions. :)