Holiday WA

Submitted: Friday, Jul 01, 2005 at 22:03
ThreadID: 24365 Views:1876 Replies:5 FollowUps:6
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Just returned from 3 month holiday to Wa from south to north WA.
To the people who told me or other forum members spots to see thank you very much
To the people who advised people to get Jan Hollands books Priceless Camping in Wa- I have to say what great books they were - our bibles when travelling and working out where to stay. We even had locals saying to us how did you know this or that spot was here to camp. The number of tourists we spoke to on the trip who saw our book and what it contained made note of it and went and brought the book for their own purposes.
We did over 17000ks. The Nissan 4.2t went well till the rush home where it did 5th gear about 400ks from home, collected a kangaroo about 1km from our overnight stop, wrote off one new for the trip Cooper tyre with a rock through the tread about 15ks out of Halls Creek on the Duncan H'way. We were unable to come home on our planned way The Tannami then the Plenty due to road closures thanks to the unseasonal rain, only added about an extra 1000ks to come home except we gained about 400ks by going via the Duncan and Butine.
One disappointing thing was we didnt see any cars on the way with an ExplorOz Sticker on. Was looking forward to having a chat with fellow forum members. Oh well next time and there is the forum.
Cheers
Robyn J alias Jenkie
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Reply By: Tessysdad - Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 10:01

Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 10:01
Hi Robyn,
Good to hear you had a great adventure. Its a marvelous country isn't it. I am interested to know some of the details of your Nissan 4.2t in relation to the 5th gear dropping out. I have a GU 4.2t which has been a fine machine, dong much of what you have done, but a year ago. We intend taking off again early next year but I don't want any nasty surprises along the way. I am interested in the compliance plate details of month and year of manufacture, and the number of K's it had done. Sounds like I might need to get one of those stickers too.
Happy camping,
Mike.
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Follow Up By: Member - Robyn J (QLD) - Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 17:29

Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 17:29
Agree with you we have a marvelous country. Our GU is a April 2000 dx 4.2t which now has 144,000ks on it having just done just over 17000 ks on the trip. We were towing a camper trailer with a boat on top mainly towing at 95ks most of the time until we had to rush home due to a family member being ill. We left Barn Hill about 100ks south of Broome 10.30 ish Wednesday and arrived Brisbane Hospital 4.30 pm on Monday doing 4163k. The road closures of the Tannami and Plenty at the time didnt help meant 1000ks extra driving and the time spent at Hall Creek working out if we could do the Duncan and the Butane Rds to save some ks and the flat tyre and return to Hall Creek to get repaired but in the end replaced held us up as well. We stuck to the speed limit well sometimes just above it the new tyres mean the speedo reads slower than what the gps says.The car was driven long an hard on these days and the car just jumped out of gear and would not go back in boy was it hard then to remember not to put it back into 5th. The car also has had a 3inch exhaust and tuneup adjustment done which gave it lots more power. A visit to Nissan next week for them to confirm the problem and hopefully a repair from Nissan although told on phone we are on the border line for time and ks.Keeping kingers crossed.
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Reply By: Keith_A (Qld) - Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 11:52

Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 11:52
Hi Robyn - I also have 4.2td. On the subject of 5th gear, is it possible that you or the previous owner towed a camper/van/boat using 5th? I understand this is the most common cause for failure. The warnings not to tow in 5th are not prominant in the manuals, or widely known. Would appreciate your feedback. I have also heard that in some later models Nissan is aware of a design problem, and are replacing the spindle/cog as warranty.
regards.............Keith
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Follow Up By: Member - Robyn J (QLD) - Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 17:35

Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 17:35
Hi Keith
Please read the response to the previous followup. We dont beleive it was used as a tow vehicle it was a Qld Rail vehicle used to bring change of crew to the trains but it did come with a towbar so cant be sure but we did tow in 5th on trips to Fraser and Moreton Islands but of course not the number of klms we did on our trip to WA doing both dirt and bitumin travel.
Robyn
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Reply By: Bob of KAOS - Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 12:11

Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 12:11
Robyn
sounds like a great trip. Will we get a more detailed account at some stage?
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Follow Up By: Member - Robyn J (QLD) - Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 17:47

Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 17:47
Hi Bob
Was a bitter sweet trip thoroughly enjoyed WA wished we had more time but got bad news on day 20 of 80 day trip and even though we continued the trip as we were told in no uncertain terms that we were not to come home it was on the back of our minds all the way. Telstra made a lot of money out of us as we were ringing home every 2nd day.There were places we could have stayed for a week places we stayed extra time because we needed to keep in phone range. We will certainly be going back one day but will certainly do it with a lot more time.
When everything settles down here at home, I will certainly give a more detailed account of the trip.
Cheers.......Robyn
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Reply By: trendy - Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 15:50

Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 15:50
Robyn, Mike and Keith,
The 5th gear problem that is occurring is quite often being fixed by Nissan even on vehicles outside their warranty so talk ( strongly dissapointed ) and relay your concerns to Nissan. My Uncle just received a $1500 cheque from Nissan as he had to get his fixed in Norseman by a private repairer. Cost him $3000 all up but then he got the 1500 back so he was stoked.

On another note it sounds like a great trip and I hope the roo didn't do too much damage.
Cheers Trevor.
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Follow Up By: Member - Robyn J (QLD) - Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 17:54

Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 17:54
Trevor
Thanks for the info, we are taking the car to Nissan next week for them to check it out. Have read now all about the problem with the 5th gear but unfortunately hadnt read about it before we left in April so will be working hard on them for repair.
The trip was great. Too short kept saying we needed at least another 3 to 4 weeks but even if we had the extra time this trip and used up more long service time would have had to come home when we did and the leave would have been wasted.
Robyn
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Follow Up By: Member - Robyn J (QLD) - Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 18:02

Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 18:02
Forgot to mention the Roo didnt do huge damage. Took off the door trim on the passengers door which we found on the road still in one peice but missing clips. Bent the stone sheild on the trailer which has just left a crease in it where we straightened and broke a plastic crate which stored the boat fuel tank which was a real bummer because it was the only one at home we had amounst quite a few that was the right size to fit on the pole carrier next to the boat motor. MIght have to make a wooden one as we havent seen one like it again and it was years old. The thing that was really annoying was we were only about 1k short of our overnight stop. It actually started the bad run of 3
1 Kangaroo.
next day
2 Rock on windscreen with star crack
3 Tech screw in new this trip Cooper type which went down slowly allowing a rock to go through tyre on Duncan. Result unrepairable and we had to purchase another tyre so we had the 2 spare tyres
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Reply By: Member - Ross (ACT) - Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 16:31

Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 16:31
Hi Robyn,

Trip sounds great...I have also had my 5th gear replaced by Nissan even though I was out of warranty. I was on holidays at the time and went into the Nissan dealer at Coffs Harbour. They were not suprised to hear that this had happended and ordered the parts without hestitation. I understand the problem has been rectified in later Patrols. Mine is a 2000 gu 4.2 turbo and yes I tow.

Regards
AnswerID: 118559

Follow Up By: Member - Robyn J (QLD) - Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 18:04

Saturday, Jul 02, 2005 at 18:04
Ross
When did this happen. Nissan told us on the phone that we may be borderline for them to repair, so would be interested at what mileage and how old your car was at the time. Ours is a 4/2000 and now has 144000 on the clock.
Thanks Robyn
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