Should I convert Cruiser or risk keeping NIssan

Bad advice.

Why recommend a motor that is in the final stages of being phased out ?.

Try to buy an auto 4.2.

I didnt realise that being phased out made it automatically a bad unit. Considering its probably the most reliable motor out there in a 4wd.

I dont see him asking about an auto do you? No, didnt think so.

Truckster,
Good advice as far as I'm concerned too. Phasing out is only cos of our wonderful friends.....the greenies.
I don't think we'll ever see the likes of these tough old donks again in any vehicle short of a prime mover. I wonder how long it'll be before some do-gooder will even put the mockers on the Chevy V8s as being too thirsty or dirty?
The all-singing, all-dancing, nancy-boy donks that we're starting to see now in vehicles (with those "sexy" plastic covers over the top etc) are, unfortunately, the sort of thing we're going to have to get used to.
Sad.............:-(

Roachie you know those covers are only for looks don't you ?

If by a nancy boy donk you mean more powerful , more efficient and more reliable then I totally agree with you.

sorry truckster.

Please show me the part where he asks for a manual.

Nice try twonk, but your the one that brought the gearbox into it.. So you show me where he asked for either? No didnt think so..

More reliable with the Nancy Boy Donk? Please show me where the New Nancy boy donks are more reliable. I'll give you a tiny example.
The new ALL CONQUERING 3.0 Nissan V The Ancient 4.2 Nissan..

Go for ya life... I eagerly await the figures.

Bye.

I never thought i would end up with a 3litre Gu after all the crapped engines out there but i did and hope i dont live to regret it...
I definately can get used to 12lites per 100 around town and 10 in the country sitting on 115kmh...
133kw and 420nm torque....with dtronic..
It is merly Nissan trying to break out of the stoneage and keeping up with the other manufacturers.....
But each to their own....
I went away last weekend with the dude who bought my last GQ and the difference was mind blowing,,,,,, in sand-duning and mainly the drive there and home over 500kms....The ol GQ just kept turning into a spec in my rearview mirror......You just treat overtaking like you are in a V6 commodore...

G'day Voxson,
No arguments from me there mate. I hope your GU goes well for you for a very long time. Everything you say is true; heaps of grunt and fuel efficient.
However, where my thoughts lie are in longevity. I am reasonably confident that my old banger will get to 500,000klm without needing to do anything more than routine maintenance to it. I would not have this confidence in a 3L model.......in my mind they are like a Formula One racing car motor; extremely good at what they do, but designed to have a (relatively) short lifespan.
Each to their own.
Cheers mate
Roachie

ROTFALMAO, I havn't heard "twonk" in SO long!! LOL

I reckon both sides are right.

OK, let's look at it. New EFI "PETROL" motors are lasting longer than ever. Why? Because they burn more efficiantly, are always in perfect tune have variable on-the-fly valve timing, less carbon build up, rev limiters, more even burn, machined to the n'th degree in manufacture, computer engineered, beter oil circulation etc etc etc etc etc.

New EFI Diesel's will most likley have all of these advantages too, making them in theory, more powerful, power efficiant, and longer lasting.

I reckon longer lasting and more reliable are two slightly different issues. Just because your squeasing more horses out of a motor doesn't mean your squeasing the life out of it, hell look at a 3.8L VT Commodore vs the old Red motor in a kingswood. Sure the 3.8L is slightly bigger but it's got OOOOOOOOOOOOOOODLES more power with arguably better reliablilty, longivity and economy.

Of course the more fruit you put on these things, espically with mud, water, extreme temps and dust the more chance of a failure.

The Question is, will these electronic failure's blow the motor up, will they leave you stranded or will they be a small inconveinence that slows you down a bit with a marginal repair bill when you get home.

I think the 3.0L Patrol blowing up motors has got nothing to do with it being a powerful common rail diesel, I think it's purley to do with bad engineering and design, end of story IMHO. This I think Nissan have almost worked out the bugs in. It will be interesting to see how all the other brands of Common rail go, D4D for example, even the new nissan pathfinders diesel, the hyundia jerrycan etc etc. I think that will probally the proof of the pudding.

But who keeps a car for 500k km's?? I know I certainly don't. The only people that it may concern are the ones who can't afford a new car and have to buy second hand one!!

Leroy

Why the personal attacks truckster ?

Do you know me well enough to take such liberties.
Just as has been pointed out I am totally correct in my statement re new motors vs old.

I am of course talking of other manufacturers than Nissan though who seem to revel in mediocrity.

I didnt think you could back up your claims.

Please do yourself a favour and reas your claim above. You see it was you who made the claim about old motors being more reliable.

This is a ridiculour statement for which you can provide no proof apart from the Nissan comparison.

Jeff, sorry to be a pedant but the 3.0Di is not yet common rail. Fingers crossed the next version may have it and 40 more KW.

Regds
OT

"Jeff, sorry to be a pedant but the 3.0Di is not yet common rail. Fingers crossed the next version may have it and 40 more KW."

Oh crap, fair enough, I thought that's why it was so noisy and only had a 17:1 compression ratio?

I'll stand corrected.

Might as well throw my 2 bobs worth in as well. I agree with Truckster and Roachie, obviously thinking along the same lines as I also have a td42. In the future there will be no choice due to emission laws and an electronic engine will be all that is available.
While there is a choice the td 42 make good sense in a 4wd. Great reliability a longevity in std form, they have been round long enough to hit 500-600k no worries. Uninspiring outright power in std form but great tractable delivery and easily doctored for better power whist retaining reliability. Easily serviced by home mechanic, valve clearances, injector removal etc.
Electronic engines haven't been round long enough to show too many high mileages. They have shown power and economy, though the power appears higher in the rev range. This seems to be at the expense of complexity and a disturbing tendency to fail. It appears the power and economy is coming at the expense of longevity and reliability.
Where I work the vehicles have now got smaller capacity common rail diesel engines (Mercedes Sprinter). These have replaced F250 powerstrokes. A success in terms of primarily purchase price and economy, however what we have now is a disposable item, they are an unreliable piece of $hit and a decrease in the service life has to be factored in, they are a liability once the warranty is up.
If you are buying a 4wd you plan to modify and thus spend money on that will not be returned come resale it makes sense to keep it for a while. The td42 has the proven track record to make it a viable proposition long term.
If you plan on changing over vehicles frequently get another computer controlled wonder with an extended warranty

Warthog, like I said before I agree with both sides, I do believe the 4.2 is a strong and reliable engine, however I also believe the EFI diesels have their benifits.

Also I disagree with this statement:
"Electronic engines haven't been round long enough to show too many high mileages."

EFI Petrol's have been around since late 70's early 80's, 2.4L Nissan Skyline comes to mind, VL Commodores/Skylines, all well proven high milage EFI Motors. The 1KZ-TE has been a proven motor and is an EFI Diesel that has been around for 12 years!

I personally wouldn't go back to pre efi days. They have proven to be extemely reliable and have clocked up high mileages to prove this. The 4.2 is old tech and reliable and I wouldn't deny this but technology always moves forward and the next 4.2 may come out as a common rail job that's more efficent, more powerful, and will last just as long.
Look at the 3.0 petrol in the GQ. If that was EFI instead of the carby, that would be a heaps better motor.

Leroy

Efi petrols sure are good, I just don't reckon small capacity diesels throwing out big numbers are reliable. The 1KZ-TE is well down on power compared to these latest small capacity diesels and that is probably why they are more reliable. The old td42 is a dinosaur and its days are numbered, but it is a reliable dinosaur that can be made to perform without sacrificing reliability which is what these latest motors seem to be sacrificing in the case of the patrol in particular. They are the future though, I just reckon 3lts is too small for a big heavy vehicle like the patrol.

Never could see the sense in converting a 4by to gas - less power, less range worse economy and that is not even taking into account the amount of people that have gas related problems and to top it off if you actually want to go bush - no GAS and if they do then it can be approaching $1.00pl. Then there is the cost 2 grand pluss and then more if you havnt already gort a rear wheel carrier. I was always told gas conversions only make sense when gas is less than 1/2 the price of petrol. Well I had to go to town last night and gas was 65cpl ulp 125.
Perhaps it makes sense in the big smoke but the onlt gas powered vehicles I see round here have victorian plates.
And Jeff M using vl commodores to prove reliability is a bad move as cracked heads were more common with them than blown GU 3.0l very few go past 150k without cracking a head. skylines never had the same problem apparantly something to do with radiator placement

"vl commodores to prove reliability is a bad move as cracked heads were more common with them than blown GU 3.0l very few go past 150k without cracking a head. skylines never had the same problem apparantly something to do with radiator placement"

I think you'll find that skyline owners had them service by nissan and commodore owners were "she'll be right" types of people putting water in a vehicle with an alloy head instead of coolant. My old man had a VL that had nearly 400k on the clock AND it was gas converted, it has a few oil leaks but wasn't burning any oil as the exaust pipe was clean as a wistle (when running on gas obviously). The major problem with VL's (apart from heads, due to lack of correct coolant and correct cooling system services IMHO) was auto gearbox's as they were mount directly behind the engine with no way to be air cooled, unlike the skyline. Tranny oil coolers were almost mandatory after the first gearbox had gone just to get a warranty on the rebuild. Of course none of this has anything to do with it being EFI.

The 1KZ-TE is down on power, but only by 22kw and that's a MAXIMUM which of course is going to be higher in the ZD30 as it's only got a 17:1 compression ratio allowing it to rev higher and consequently get a higher "maximum" power rating. The 1KZ is still running 21:1. It would be interesting to see dyno reports to see where and for how long these maximum power ratings last for and where they are in the rev range, I think you'll find that the added stress on the ZD30 is very little indeed and that as I stated previously it's more of a fact that the design was flawed to start with.

1KZ-TE
Maximum torque 343Nm @ 2000rpm
Maximum power 96kW @ 3600rpm

ZD30
Maximum power 118kW @ 3600rpm
Maximum torque 380Nm @ 2000rpm

It is the same with the crd sprinters at work; big numbers out a small donk pulling substantial weight for its size. There is a trade off, shortened service life and until they get them right, which they probably will one day, poor reliability. You don't get that horsepower out a small motor without increasing internal stresses.

there must be some one out there who has got a in with nissan who can find out the truth about the 3.0ltd motor ie:what the problems were,when they were rectified,how many motors have blown,
CAN SOME ONE PLEASE TRY,so us 3.0ltd owners can get some SLEEP.
here's hope'n
regards toohey

I sleep fine. I don't need to know how many early 3.0l bit the dust but there haven't been any probs much with the later ones (which I have).
There were probs with Holdens 5.7l v8, prob with cruiser big ends in the early 90's. In the end the probs get ironed out.

Leroy

Go up North and count the Nissan badges and then count the Toyota badges.

You would be forgiven for thinking they don't sell Nissan at all up there.
Toughness and reliability are key in tough terrain so therefore Toyota is the manufacturer of choice year after year after year infinite.

Sorry, but this is an emotional and erroneous statement that surprises the heck out of me.

I wouldn't be calling Nissans "weak" (which is essentially what you're doing) if you were involved in competition circles. I know that competition has little do do with day to day driving, but it IS an indicator of toughness. I can't remember how many Toyota CV's and front towers I've seen destoyed in competition compared to the equivalent Nissan units. You calling Toyota's drivetrains as big, heavy and tough as Nissan units (maybe apart from the 3.0L gearbox)?

When you see a 100-series in a comp.... let me know. I'd do my best to get there and see it hang together!!!

Oh.... I think that agressive marketing for decades is the main reason that there are so many Toyotas around.

I like both brands so don't get up me for one-sidedness thankyou.

"Toughness and reliability are key in tough terrain so therefore Toyota is the manufacturer of choice year after year after year infinite. "............LOL!! I needed that!

Chrispy wrote "
Oh.... I think that agressive marketing for decades is the main reason that there are so many Toyotas around. "

No . Their success is due to peoples experiences and word of mouth advertising. Do you think Toyota would be number 1 for 30 years on advertising alone ?? LOL !! Come off it mate !!..

Superior product and the whole of Australia know that .

Aha.... sounds to me like have youe own opinion... and believe me - you are intitled to it ;)

Ask CAT about injectors in C16...... Cummins signature motors, great horsepower out of a 14 ltr motor pity they only last about 400k pulling triples. Too much power out of a small motor. Compare that to the larger k19.