People,
In these threads I read consistently about the rugged reliability of the trusty Nissan 4.2 diesel motor, I have one myself and I'm of that opinion as
well, however, I recently installed a 4.2 turbo engine which I rebuilt from a tired out normally aspirated engine I snaffled from an engine wrecker, the engine had done moderate k's around the 200 thou I was told, with the internal wear this seemed to fit, when it came to the cylinder head it was cracked in two
places, the biggest crack being in the number 4 cylinder, I then searched high and low to find another cylinder head, a good crack free head was impossible to find, rare as rocking horse droppings after a couple of months I found one with a certificate from an NDT mob telling me it was crack free, I must of looked at 15 cylinder heads to get this one, I only had two crack tested, the first one failed.
A work collegue has just gone through the same exercise, whilst away his engine started using water there was no external evidence, only a little bit at first but as he crossed the
bridge in
Perth on his was back
home the engine expired, his GQ got him
home and didn't die in the scrub, see they are reliable and bomb proof. This head was cracked through the no 4 cylinder and also number 2.
Tonight I've just taken the old cylinder head off my original engine which had done around the 195 thou and wasn't using water, again the head is cracked through the number 4 cylinder exhaust to pre comp chamber, there is evidence of a slight moisture around the crack, but this head is U/S. I was planning to do the engine up and sell it,
well that plans gone out with the tide right alongside the cylinder head.
A new cylinder head is around the $1400 mark with out anything like valves and springs and other important bits, it cost my collegue over $3000 to get the head replaced by the garage, he took the easy option.
This is an information thread more than anything else, only based on my experience others may have better experiences, just be aware.
I'm not rushing out to buy a Landcruiser, sorry, all makes and models have their shortfalls, this is one I wasn't aware of when I was changing the engines over in my GQ, I had to jump over a pile of Landcruiser camshafts to get to my recon head, but that must be another thread.................