Re the 3.0 L GU TD patrol

Such insightful post from someone who, it seems has never owned a GU

Correct.
Never owned one as I have to work on too many customers ones.
Sorry but I couldn't afford to keep one repaired.

Well I have had mine for 2 years and 60,000 and it is ticking over just fine, I will be buying another when it's time to update. 3 friends also have them and all only have good things to say.

80s Cruiser or GU?......... think I'd take the Patrol

I'm with you Darren!!!!!!

Mick

60 000 is still a baby.
Out of six of my customers with them 5 have exploded engines, one twice and the other hasn't done an engine yet but has done two clutches. Two clutches in 124 000km.
The other engine failures were
88 000 km and then again at 95 000 km. This one also done its clutch at 59 000 km.
110 000 km.
116 000 km.
85 000 km.
and 102 000 km.
I do believe the newer ones are better but please excuse my scepticism as I have had a really bad run with them just in engines. Other troubles I won't mention.
One thing I am happy with is I am getting pretty confident with them and am able to repair them alot quicker now which cuts the labour cost down for customers.

and they still keep coming back.....?

Sounds like you should not have your car worked by 80scruiser if his customers have so much trouble.

Well done guys.
I'll pay them comments. (Said with a sense of humour)

80"s
mate i respect your knowledge and i know you have see a few of the stuffed ones but mate i think nissan produce a reasonable 4wd and after sorting out the 3.0 l td engine probs say mid to late 2002 i feel its now worth the risk - and i cant afford a cruiser 100 ser 4.2 td auto and any way the wheels fall off

thanks for the offer re your 80 toy mate and if a i could find one with 35,000 kms and with almost 3 years factory extended warranty like the 2003 nissan auto 3.0 td i am looking at i would buy it - but your 300K kms is a bit many for me mate sorry

by the way are you related to truckster

One thing I forgot to mention, my mechanic drives a (series 3) 3.0l GU!!

LOL Greg, like your passing comment above.

thanks for all the info guys
actually i decided at the last minute not to buy the 2003 2nd hand 3.0LTD auto with the 35K on the clock

walked into a nissan dealer and did a deal on an 04 demonstrator with 10K on the clock for a change over figure i could afford and not much more than the change over for the 2003 2nd hand unit - so i bought a 2004 3.0 L TD auto in black with 10K on the clock with factoru warranty plus bull bar, spots and towbar plus a few other bits and pieces (apparently the black is not selling well) plus a $3000 free fuel bonus as an 04 model

i think i did pretty ok but i rang 10 dealers to get the deal i wanted

so its goodby to my well liked 2001 TD 3.0L auto with 125K trouble free Kms on the clock

see you greg

Chaz, does the FAST catalogue show any change to the ECU or harness? I remember someone who had an early engine replaced saying that all of this had to be swapped too. The theory being there were more sensors and so forth on the later series engine. FWIW I have a July '02 and remember the Series 3 (with the clear tail light lenses) had been out for a good couple of months before I got mine, maybe as early as late '01. Perhaps the July '01 head change is the date of the GUIII changes since by the time they made it to the production line, the vehicles built, shipped and pre delivered they would not be seeing the road until October or November '01.

Outbacktourer
Going by my copy of the FAST catalogue, it seems that Nissan has only one current part number for the Engine Control Harness and the ECU. I would imagine that all previous parts were superseded by the newer ones if that was the case.
I think you are correct in saying that the series 3’s were produced from July 2001, because I chased up the front indicator lenses and rear taillight assemblies, and that was the time that they changed part numbers as well. Regardless of when you took delivery of your Patrol, its build date is the important thing. It’s stamped on the radiator cowling.
Also, I know for a fact that the engine recall in Europe happened around mid 2001.
Unfortunately my FAST Catalogue is a European one and there are some differences to the local product, but as far as manufacturing dates go, it shouldn’t be conflicting.
Hope that helps.

Chaz
http://members.bettanet.net.au/~conody/index.htm

I know of one extra sensor.
It is located on the banjo bolt securing the oil feed line from the engine block to the turbo.
The later engine has this sensor but the earlier one doesn't. One of my customers had their engine replaced, earlier this year and it is a 10/01 model Series III. It originally didn't have the sensor and when it came back from Nissan with the new engine it still didn't have the sensor. I'd say Nissan just put the new engine in without the extra sensors or wiring which doesn't surprise me as our local Nissan dealer isn't reknown for their customer relation skills or workmanship.

Thanks for that. It sure seems like July '01 was when the "major" engine upgrade was done. I'd like to know the inside story on all of this. If they were able to roll out the changes as early as July '01 then they must have known something was wrong pretty early on. By the time changes were discussed, agreed, approved, engineeered, prototyped, tooled and then productionised quite a few months go by. This means there must have been bells ringing by at least early the second half of '00. I'm not sure anyone had detonated one by then, so maybe they knew about faults from thier own testing? I've heard Nissan "inherited" this engine from Renault so perhaps the testing was done to Nissan standard AFTER the decision to fit it had come from France? Like I said it would be interesting to know the inside story.

thanks for the info chaz
the series 3 patrol i am looking at has a jan 03 build date
so should be fine i feel
it would seem the mid to late 2002 ones onwards had the engine up grade changes in place for the 3.0 L td - whatever they were - re extra oil sensors and or better control of engine temp etc

interestingly it would appear that the navara 3.0 tds have rarely had a problem with engine failures so maybe they have always run a bit cooler
see you greg

thanks angler
mate do i dislike those torsion bars and ifs that rely on them
why the toy went to them is a mystery to me

mate the early failures are more than an urban myth i have personnaly spoken to six people in brisbane who owned or bought an early 2000/2001 3.0 L td that had an engine failure or had had an engine swapped before they bought it secondhand - now thats scary

interestingly mine has been fine (mid 2001) and so has my mates but his is an early 2002 build and his may have been in the early partial engine upgrades but mine is right in the middle of the ones that do go bang and it now has 125K absolutely trouble free kms on the clock - but you never know and if it did go bang nissan have to fix it any way - as i have extended warranty - and then id hang on to it and not upgrade as why upgrade if i have a new engine

yea mate i would love to buy a new one also but with out the 17 inch wheels so id probably swap over my 16 inch 275/70 at bfgs anyway but i just cant afford a new one so i will buy the best 2nd hand series 3 / 2003 model i can find

and as i always buy an auto - 5th gear is not an issue for me

what a shame they did not bring out the good old 4.2 td in an auto
id have bought one long ago

see you greg

Gregr,

Me too I would have much preferred a TD42 with auto, Mine is also an auto. Great car, good auto box, good economy compared with most others. I do have a dtronic sio the low end is much improved and coupled with the auto is just great. I will be getting extended warranty as well when it gets nearer to the end of warranty. So far nothing has needed work except for the console cover that has worn paint on it. I will get it replaced this year sometime under warranty.
I have put on savero's as they are fairly cheap and have excellent wear figures as well as a great ride. I would have preferred eldorados but they are only available in 75 size and I wanted to stick to original size tyres. Maybe next time I will change to larger ones..

Gday Angler
I also have a 9/00 model with 127 000 km and going good with a Tunit on it now. Its had clutch troubles but we fixed that with a solid state clutch and new kit. No more dual mass flywheel and no more troubles.
We have had a 10/01 engine go but it was ex police and also a 3/01 go also ex police. The 10/01 had clear lights but I presume it was the last of the series II with new lights. I've had no 02< models go yet so heres hoping its fixed.
There has been an odd timing chain fail causing damage but that can happen to any car at any time. Very rare.
Cheers

thanks for all the info guys
actually i decided at the last minute not to buy the 2003 2nd hand 3.0LTD auto with the 35K on the clock

walked into a nissan dealer and did a deal on an 04 demonstrator with 10K on the clock for a change over figure i could afford and not much more than the change over for the 2003 2nd hand unit - so i bought a 2004 3.0 L TD auto in black with 10K on the clock with factoru warranty plus bull bar, spots and towbar plus a few other bits and pieces (apparently the black is not selling well) plus a $3000 free fuel bonus as an 04 model

i think i did pretty ok but i rang 10 dealers to get the deal i wanted

so its goodby to my well liked 2001 TD 3.0L auto with 125K trouble free Kms on the clock

see you greg