GU Patrols ZD30

There is a survey on the Patrol Forum website www.patrol4x4.com/forum

Good luck

The 2000, had all the problems so they say, but there is still the odd failure with the later ones. My june 2000 build has done 180,000 and is doing nicely. You just don't know what is causing it. No-one at Nissan wants to let on.

Wasn't there a thread on here just last week about a 2003 going bang??? I may be wrong but I do seem to recall something like that. About 130 000km on the clock.
I am sure the archives here will tell a tale or two.....if you have the time to read through them all.

Trevor.

Despite being fastiduously maintiained, my April 2001 Build Series II with ZD30 went bang at 244,000klms. At least 2 cracks in every piston, nice hole in No.3 and the head was cracked in 8 places. From what I have read on this forum and others is that to date there have been no reports of Series III ZD30's busting pistons. When I called Nissan HO to find out when they fixed the problem, all they would say is and I quote "over the life of any engine, we always make improvements"

Hi Guys,
From the survey results which have been running on a few forums it is clear there was no specific cutoff date for the early engine. It seems that there was series of mods which have reduced the fail rate and this was on a continuous basis. It looks like some early built(not registered as this could be much later) 2003 models had the older engine.

When the problem came to light the early 2000 failures were failing mid 2001. If we work back the way we should be seeing 2004/05 models failing but as yet none. Still a sad state of affairs but hopefully mid/late 2003 onwards are fine. But only time will tell. Plus you also have to take into account that any time a ZD30 fails everyone will shout, told you so, when indeed it might be nothing to do with the early failures. Lets just see if we get any significant number of 2003 fails as yet only 1 first hand.

As a owner from new of a 3lt 2000 patrol 98k from new(also my father in law did owned a 2000 now has a 05 model. I beleived that the oil problem was only one small issue but the pots burning out were cause by a faulty air mass sensor which caused the engine to over fuel and burn out the pots the air mass sensor failure was fixed on the later models. ALSO please note that Nissan has changed the oil spec for the ZD30 motor as they are still having engine failure due to oil issues (or as they think)

Below is a service bulletin from Nissan.

First Published: 30th September 2004
Bulletin No: MAO4-001
Re: Revised Engine Oil Specification
Applied Model: Y61 & D22
Applied range: ZD3O Engines

Please be advised that the specification for the 011 fill on the ZD30 has been revised. Engine Oils that meet the specification listed below are the only oils that are permitted for use in the ZD30 Engine. 011 Specification: ACEA 83 or JASO DH.1. Nissan strongly recommend that a viscosity rating of 10W40 be used. For specific viscosity relating to ambient temperature ranges please refer to the viscosity chart in the relevant workshop manual.

Note: API CG-4 0118 must never be used In the ZD30 engine.
To support the revision in oil specification, Nissan has developed a
semi-synthetic 10W-40 engine oil that meets all the operational demands of this engine. The revision of the new oil specification is retrospective and will apply to all ZD30 engines.

The oil will be available from Nissan Parts & Accessories in 51t and 200lt Quantities using the following part numbers.
51t- B3005-10W40PK
2001t- B3200..10W40PK

Authorised by:
R Bahn
Manager. Engineering Support
National Service & Engineering Department

NISSAN MOTOR GO.
Locked Bag 1450. Dandenong South, VIC, :3154 Phone. (03) 97974111 Fax. (03) 97974400

Our local ARB outlet advises that penrite 5-40 oil be used for 3l patrols,other info apch4/sl HPR diesal5,it would seem different to nissans buliten ..any advice please...

yes, I am one of the many who have had this problem - only a fortnight ago, 2 holed pistons. well serviced, 130000km, late 2002 model GU, as they say there is no substitiure for cubes, if it was a BMW they would have got rid of the Nissan 3L eons ago. Will hopefully have it back on the rd in the next fortnight. Will see how it goes, but if happens in the next 100000km will probably put a chev in it - otherwise i am happy with the cars set up for touring. Its just unfortunate that we knew about the early 3.0L GU problems, and that is why didn't buy an early model. But it will continue until they replace the small GU engine. Never again, and I will not be encouraging anyone to buy a 3L GU.

G'Day Garry78. I am not sure of the exact production date that the early ZD30 problems were addressed by Nissan as I have a series 4. Before purchasing my vehicle I was aware of the ZD30 history and researched technical information from all sorts of places before weighing up all the pros and cons and deciding to go the ZD30 route. Why would I buy a 4.2L that has less torque, less horsepower, is gutless to drive and uses more fuel? In précis the early ZD30 problems have been caused by the piston cooling under-crown oil spray nozzles being incorrectly installed in production and Nissan fitting the wrong dipsticks that were too long resulting in insufficient oil capacity as well as some turbo over boosting caused by faulty/dirty mass air flow sensors causing the variable vane turbo provide more boost than actually required with the first warning of this problem being air intake hoses blowing off. To date mine has run like a bird and on a recent 3000km return trip from my home south of Perth to Onslow taking 14.5 hours each way including fuel and comfort stops (the dog has a weak bladder:-) it returned an average 22.8mpg as it consistently does "around town" in between trips. Through my work I see many ZD30 Patrols every day and always make a point of asking how they are performing and when driving in outback WA you will see literally 1000's of them from all parts of Aus and I would estimate the ZD30 Patrol outnumbers most other makes by about 2 to 1. Sure some have had problems as have many of the other big name diesel engines if you talk to service personnel that are engaged in repairing them but it is important get to get the full story. Some I have heard of were using the "bolt-on" computer chip upgrades to improve power which obviously interferes with the engine management systems controlling fuel/air ratios and turbo boost etc. Others as can be seen almost daily on this forum believe their lubrication engineering ability is superior to that of the engine manufacturer and choose to run an engine oil that is different and in some cases against the Nissan recommendation. As far as ill informed comments go regarding the engine being not up to the job due to it it's size and being a 4 cylinder it seems odd that plenty of others are around including Prado, Hi-Lux, Pajero, Terracan, Landrover, Rodeo, Triton, Challenger but then I suppose manufacturers like Toyota, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Isuzu & L/Rover are only small backyard operators aren't they? I will now await the deluge from the "experts".

so what are the real numbers??

Going on publicly available numbers, there are something like 45,000 Patrols out there built from 2000 on. Assuming 70% are 3L that means about 30,000.

I know one is too many and obviously the 2000/2001 had problems but lets be scientific about this. Looking at genuine reported incidents (ie first hand not my brothers mate type stories) on this website and others we are not talking large numbers. Assuming not everbody who has problems will report it on a website we are probably talking in the hundreds, Australia wide.

Yes I own a 3l Patrol and no I do not have my head in the sand