Patrol GU 5th Gear failure
Submitted: Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 at 18:40
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nevyn
Yep, it's happened to me. Failed on the way back from the Centre a couple of weeks ago.
My Patrol was built in May 1999 and it has done just under 100,000 easy km. No heavy towing or low speeds in 5th.
I got quotes from a couple of transmission repairers who told me it was a fairly common problem with the earlier GUs.
Then I read all about it on this
forum. Why can't you find out about inherent problems in the early days when there is a chance to do something about it??
I booked it into my local Nissan dealer where I bought and serviced the vehicle and asked them to send the paperwork into Nissan Australia to ask if they would cover the repair out of waranty. Guess what. The answer was NO. They must have decided on a cut-off date because they said my machine is "too old".
$2,234 later.
My brother has the same model built 6 months later so he has sent his VIN number off to Nissan and is biting his nails waiting for a reply.
Can anyone who has had this gear failure and had it repaired by Nissan please reply with some info like the date of manufacture of their Patrol, date of failure, mileage at time of repair and whether Nissan came to the party with costs?
The RACQ Legal bods suggested that I send a nice letter to Nissan asking them to reconsider. I haven't any reason to approach them from a legal standpoint because the Patrol was out of warranty and Nissan can stop repairing things under "good will" whenever they like.
So now starts the paperwork.
(sigh!) why did it have to happen to me?
P.S. If I had a GU built during or before 2001 then I would be contacting Nissan to see if my vehicle was on the susceptible list.
Nevyn
Reply By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 at 19:52
Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 at 19:52
Mine is a 6/2000 build and I was very lucky......
I moved from NSW to SA in October 2002 when truck had about 83,000klm on clock. It was due for an oil change; and I always did my own. However, all my tools, ramps etc were still at Yass, so I (reluctantly) took it to the local Nissan dealership to do the engine oil change. When I went to collect it that arvo, the service manager pointed out that they'd done a
check of oil levels/quality in other areas (diffs, g/box and tranny case) and had found that the g/box oil was slightly "coffe-coloured" which he went on to tell me was a
sign that 5th gear was about to let go. Get this...............he then asked me if I'd like to have it done under warranty!!!!!!!! (bear in mind it hadn't let go yet).
Well, you can guess my response to that offer.
He told me later that it would have been a $3,500- job if it had happened outside warranty. However, he said it was a
well-known problem in the early g/boxes of the GU.
Accordingly, I would be inclined to go back to the Nissan Head Office and politely (but firmly) point out that this is a
well-known and documented issue with your vintage of GU. The fact that you didn't do a heck of a lot of klicks during the warranty period should not preclude you from having them fix this problem under warranty........it is not the sort of issue that arises due to the amount of time elapsed since the vehicle was purchased; it has everything to do with how many kilometers the vehicle has travelled.
I would also suggest that you refer the PR people at Nissan to refer to this website (and this specific post plus others that you can enumerate by doing a search of the archives....I know I have talked about this issue at least twice before on here).
Good luck.....I reckon you have a good case for at least the cost of parts and probably 50% of the labour cost.
Cheers
Roachie
AnswerID:
122379
Reply By: Member - Glenn D (NSW) - Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 at 20:07
Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 at 20:07
Hows it going Nev
This happened to me on the opposite side of the country ,
Perth . The dealer in question tried to rip us off by charging labour and saying we were lucky to get the parts, cause our vehicle was out of warranty ,after assuring us they had approached Nissan Australia.
It was only that we had problem with their exchange box that we found out that Nissan usually paid for this problem in full.
We have an August 2001 3.0td at the time just had 100,000 km on it.
Easy money earner for either the dealership or just the guys scaming, claim warranty from Nissan and get paid to do the same job.
I think to say your vehicle is too old is B***s**t. I wrote a letter to Nissan Australia in
Melbourne , mentioned that I thought the failure was a result of substandard design and engineering and was a time bomb ticking since the vehicle was new. Also said the failure ruined our round Australia trip and I got a Patrol as a result of 4wd magazines favourable reviews of which many mentioned the Patrols driveline as bullet proof, also said I wish I had bought a Cruiser.
I was very surprised that within a week they called to say that the full labour cost would be refunded.
I think the precedent has been set for repairs out of warranty .
I definitly wouldnt believe anything anyone at a major dealership told me , If you approach Nissan Aust you may be surprised.
Hope this helps you out.
Glenn.
AnswerID:
122382
Follow Up By: Member - Ray - Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 at 12:24
Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 at 12:24
Glenn, Name the dealer so we in
Perth don't have to deal with the P@#%k
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: joc45 - Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 at 14:15
Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 at 14:15
Hi Glen,
Under my extended warranty, I had to pay a $100 excess. Did they charge you any excess?
Gerry
FollowupID:
377706
Follow Up By: Member - Glenn D (NSW) - Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 at 21:10
Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 at 21:10
Was Giant Nissan , I think the suburb was
Scarborough ?.
I didnt get charged any excess, but they still stung me. $50 for work
shop materials , lot of rags . Had to pay for an idler gear that wasnt interference fit on the main shaft , $500 , wondering If they are still laughing about that .
With the first replacement gearbox only got to the Margaret River area before we realised we had trouble ,and had to go to Bussletown Nissan to get it checked , this was the other end of the spectrum as the guys there couldnt do enough to help and pointed us in the right direction to contact Nissan Australia .
We had to go back to
Perth to get another box ( ended up being our box reconditioned ) where I asked the maintenance manager if it should have been warranted , he paid for fuel and accom but said Nissan said no , another guy there said I was being " greedy ".
At
home I do 99% of work on my own vehicle , but even a box rebuild is a bit beond me , how do you find someone reputable on the other side of the country, the only theory I had was to go to a Nissan dealer because they should know what is going on , and they are nationwide.
Can this be defamatory when it is the truth ?
See if it gets mediated
Hope this helps members in WA
Glenn.
Wasnt
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: joc45 - Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 at 23:44
Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 at 23:44
Yeh, Glenn, Giant Nissan did my rebuild, and I got hit for the $100 excess. Didn't charge me for anything else.
Had a few issues with them on other sloppy work. They don't do my servicing now.
The excess on the idler gear sounds a bit shonky. I would have gone to Consumer Affairs with the labour charge issue. Sounds fraudulent to me. Greedy? They're the ones who've stuffed you round and ruined your holiday.
Gerry
FollowupID:
377807
Reply By: Member - Robyn J (QLD) - Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 at 20:57
Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 at 20:57
IOur Nissan gearbox failed 400ks from
home after traveling 17000ks trip from
Brisbane to WA and back late June. Contacted local Nissan who approched
Melbourne fo repair costs under warranty and guess what they have knocked us back too. We contacted Nissan as
well to be told it was too old 144,000ks 4/2000. Have sent a follow letter to service centre who havent replied tothe letter although they are asking about fixing the car which is still sitting in their workshop taking up room. We are going to follow through with a letter to
Melbourne regarding no response from local service centre and futher explanation as to why it is not to be repaired under warranty. We too are going to ask RACQ advise.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: nevyn - Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 at 21:21
Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 at 21:21
Hi Robyn,
I would be extremely interested to hear if you have any better luck than me.
It seems like Nissan might have decided its time to phase out their liability for this problem.
RACQ told me there is nothing they can do for me due to it being out of warranty. They suggested a polite letter to Nissan requesting them to reconsider their stance. I have not sent the letter as yet. I planned to send a letter to Nissan Customer Relations first, then to Nissan Australia General Manager then to Nissan Japan if necessary.
Next would be Office of Fair Trading or Dept of Consumer Affairs. Then maybe Off Road magazines and the TV media to advise every other poor sap who is blissfully unaware that their pride and joy has a manufacturing defect.
Hopefully it won't get that far but I think it will. It would be good to know that there are other people around complaining as
well.
Col
FollowupID:
377573
Follow Up By: Member - Robyn J (QLD) - Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 at 21:40
Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 at 21:40
Col
We were first quoted around the same price as you and then the price was dropped to $2000 all this without even opening up the gearbox to know what was wrong. When going to
check on the car etc my husband saw the gearbox out of the car but not even pulled down.Then have had the car for since the 29th JUne so I would say it is becoming a pain in their workshop. send me your email address at jenkie@optusnet.com.au and I will keep you informed on what happens.Would also like to know how you go
Robyn and Lindsay
FollowupID:
377580
Follow Up By: joc45 - Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 at 00:40
Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 at 00:40
Nevyn,
forget the Offroad mags - they still haven't heard about Nissan's engine blowups, gearboxes, or Toyota's IFS problems, or don't want to know, and aren't likely to want to know. Too much at stake for their part to mention those sort of things.
Gerry
FollowupID:
377620