Nissan Diesel Performance Options

Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 15, 2005 at 23:50
ThreadID: 21257 Views:3598 Replies:1 FollowUps:9
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Hi to all,
To all the Nissan Owners, I Suppose I run the risk of criticism but we recently upgraded from a 1999 GU 2.8 TD to a 2005 3.0 TD. Mainly for an auto so my navigator can drive. We are now down to one vehicle.
With the 2.8 manual I was very successful with boosting the performance (TURBO GLIDE) which took it well past a standard 4.2 TD. This was good with the Van both in fuel consumption and power/torque etc..
I appreciate the loss of torque with an auto transmission but my question is:
What experiences have you folk had with boosting performance on the 3.0 litre diesel.
appreciate any help
cheers
Donald
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Reply By: Chaz - Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 01:11

Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 01:11
Hi Donald,

I have added a Dtronic and fitted a Transmission Shift Kit to my 3.0L Patrol and found that these changes have made the car much better to drive on and off road. Fuel economy hasn't changed much, but the car is much quicker through the gears and the extra torque is a bonus for low speed off road work. It has always been excellent on the highway, but now it drives and overtakes like a petrol car.
Definately worth a look.

Chaz
http://members.bettanet.net.au/~conody/index.htm
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Follow Up By: tigertough12 - Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 09:50

Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 09:50
don't forget that you are now also adding greater stress to this little nissan engine. Theres a reason why the 4.2TDi costs an extra $7K
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Follow Up By: Chaz - Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 11:22

Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 11:22
tigertough12

I agree that it could be easy to over stress the 3.0L motors, but that would have to have more to do with the way they are driven. The reason the 4.2 is $7000 more is based on the fact that they are only produced for two vehicles and the one in the patrol is only produced and sold in Aus. Supply and demand! The 3.0L patrols are sold worldwide. I would be interested to see the numbers that nissan sells. 4.2 against 3.0 worldwide. Personally, I could not believe that the 4.2 costs any more to produce. Old technology thats been around for a long time along with its tooling, would have paid for itself along time ago. New technology costs big bux to develop. Lets hope they get it right!

Chaz
http://members.bettanet.net.au/~conody/index.htm
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Follow Up By: Member - Captain (WA) - Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 11:22

Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 11:22
Main reason the 4.2TDi costs an extra $7k is that Nissan is ripping off all 4.2 buyers. These engines have been around for donkey years and all development and tooling costs are well and truly paid for.

Without getting into the debate about which engine is better, by rights the 3.0TD should cost more, go figure why Nissan charges a $7K premium for a 20 year old design!!!

Now Chaz, I too have a Dtronic on my 3.0TD and reckon its great. Adds noticeably more torque at low revs. Apparently these engines are tuned for Eurpoean emmision laws and the dtronic adjusts injection timing/quantity to achieve the power gains while still within Aus emission laws.

Cheers

Captain
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Follow Up By: Chaz - Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 11:26

Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 11:26
Captain

You must have just snuck in before me.
I agree with what you are saying, and I have heard it from many sources.
It seems the 4.2's days are numbered and I'm hearing that this year will see the last of them produced.

Chaz
http://members.bettanet.net.au/~conody/index.htm
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Follow Up By: Member - Captain (WA) - Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 12:38

Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 12:38
Hi Chaz

Yeah, the current 4.2TD6 will be killed off due to 2006 emmission laws. Aus is about the last place on the planet that gets the 4.2TD6.

There is rumour that the 3.0TD will be the only diesel Nissan has, but I cannot see that happening. I think they will do a "toyota" and put a new head and fancy pump/injection on the "old" 4.2 and hey presto, an engine that meets ADR emissions.

One earlier rumour was a 4.5TD (3.0TD plus 2 extra cylinders) but there would have been some "mules" out and about by now if that was the case. Hence the grandfathers axe approach to the old 4.2TD. It makes economic sense, the 4.2 is one reliable beast and if the new head/injection gets past ADR emissions, then they will have reduced development and tooling costs considerably.

Cheers

Captain
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Follow Up By: Chaz - Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 13:56

Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 at 13:56
Captain,

It's interesting, some of the rumours that are getting around. At the risk of changing the subject of this post, the latest that I have heard from a nissan mechanic, is that there are strong rumours about an all new diesel, but maybe not for a few years. On another forum there are suggestions of a 4.6L (zd46) which come pretty close to those that I have heard. I would imagine that if a new engine was to appear, it would be hi tech, and that would elliminate any use of current 4.2 components. I think putting an OHC head onto an OHV block would be a nightmare. (Although it has been done before) Also to meet emissions, it would have the zd30's M-Fire system.
Have you seen the engine specs on the new diesel Pathfinder? 130Kw and 400Nm from a 2.5 Litre. Now wouldn't that be a stressfull little engine! Personally I think there is plenty of room for improvement in modern diesels. Only time will tell.
Cheers

Chaz
http://members.bettanet.net.au/~conody/index.htm
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Follow Up By: tigertough12 - Friday, Mar 18, 2005 at 08:47

Friday, Mar 18, 2005 at 08:47
Chaz, you state that "I agree that it could be easy to over stress the 3.0L motors, but that would have to have more to do with the way they are driven"
Can you elaborate on your statemement? In what way driven....heavy towing?

Can you also explain to me why the cab chassis(ute) doesn't come in a 3.0L?
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Follow Up By: Chaz - Friday, Mar 18, 2005 at 18:33

Friday, Mar 18, 2005 at 18:33
tigertough12,

To answer your first question, I am certainly no expert, but I have over the years developed some mechanical knowledge, and to my knowledge you can't over stress an engine (particularly a diesel) by overloading it. Overloading a motor will cause excessive heat which will in turn stress the motor, but if heat can be controlled there is no stress. Also over fuelling or over boosting a turbo diesel will cause excessive stress, but what I was referring to in my statement was mainly over revving. You can load an engine till it stalls with no adverse results, in fact I've seen it done on a dyno. It’s a different story with a petrol motor because it will cause detonation which will do damage, but not a diesel.
In my honest opinion, fitting a Dtronic will not do any harm provided that the car is driven in the way that it was intended to be for example kept within its rev range and not over boosted. The 3.0L Nissan diesel has no heating issues, so a fair bit of load on the motor should be achievable without any problems. Certainly driving a car hard will shorten its engines life and if you drive any car on the rev limiter, you won't have it for long and I think the same goes for the 3.0L Nissan, but with the dtronic, the extra torque means you don't have to rev the motor to get going. I rarely get over 3,000rpm in mine, even towing up hills.
All I have ever learnt about fine tuning engines, is simply burning the fuel and air that you have as completely as possible to make them run more efficiently, which is another reason I don’t think the Dtronic is harmful, because it doesn’t make your engine use more fuel.
I think the other issue to consider here is that of exhaust gas temperatures and combustion chamber temperatures which is something that is irrespective of water temperature, but perhaps more detrimental to over stressing a diesel engine, and I’m sure all 3.0L Nissan owners would be hoping that Nissan have finally got that one right.
As for your second question, I would imagine why, in their wisdom, Nissan didn’t produce the cab chassis in a 3.0L because the low down torque of the 4.2 made it more suitable, and after all, they do promote the 4.2 as their workhorse motor, so it stands to reason that they would use it in their workhorse vehicle. The 3.0L auto doesn’t have the turbo lag problems of the manual, but the auto doesn’t have the load rating either, which would make it unsuitable for the ute.
Why don’t they offer the 4.2 wagon in auto? Because I’m sure there would be a market for it, but perhaps they don’t sell enough 4.2’s worldwide to warrant the production of an auto.

Chaz
http://members.bettanet.net.au/~conody/index.htm
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Follow Up By: Member - Donald_L - Monday, Mar 28, 2005 at 20:28

Monday, Mar 28, 2005 at 20:28
Thanks Chaz,
Have fitted the Dtronic and I am interested in details regarding the Transmission Shift Kit , I have also put some feedback on another new Forum PostID: 21561 regarding experiences with the Dtronic
cheers
Donald
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