How good are the late model Nissan Patrol 3 ltr Diesel Auto-s

Sorry to Hijack the thread Daza, but why couldn't you roll start your manual Leroy?

I am of the same opinion as Leroy, regarding Nissan. No more new Nissans for me of any model. You could MM Greg S Daza, as he has had one of the new c/rail 3lt Patrols for a while now and I am sure he will fill in the blanks for you.

Cheers guys,
Trevor.

If the battery is dead flat there would be no power to turn on the computer or fuel & just roll starting would not get the alternator going fast enough to produce enough volts.
Cheers Craig...........

that's exactly the case Craig. Fortunately I had my boat so I popped in the boat battery and carefully swapped back in the dead patrol battery. I now have a redarc dual batter setup installed and can now jump start myself lol

Leroy

I wouldn't buy the first run of any engine. Just me!

Leroy

Daza
I'm like Muzzgit I've got a year 2000 3Lauto with 286000+km on clock and have had no serious probs, apart from faulty injector sensor amd have just replaced glow plugs. Only real fault I find with the Nissans is the dealerships, they need to be re- educated on customer relations.
Mike

Robin,

I have just purchased a new manual common rail diesel about a month ago, and just to let you know, that for the first approx. 1000 klms, it had no guts at all in third, fourth, and fifth gears - any, and I mean any, hill would cause it to slow, and cause me to change down gears.

After the first 1000 klms it started to loosen up a bit where now at 2500 klms, it is starting to pull like a train, and hopefully it will continue to loosen up even further (Most people say that they really begin to loosen up at 20,000 to 30,000 klms).

This is now my third 3 Litre Patrol, first common rail, and I can't remember the other two being anywhere near as tight when they were new. My recommendation to you is not to base your opinion on buying one from a test drive of a new one alone, as if I had have test driven my new Patrol before I bought it, there is no way I would have bought it ( I reckon I could have got more power up hill, by turning off the key and getting out the back pushing). Lucky for me there was none in the country to test drive before I purchased, because I .
My last two Patrols had the Dtronic chip installed, and I was beginning to wonder....(Maybe I should kept the old one)....???

I do agree with you on the woeful brakes - they are simply not up to scratch when you compare them to the 4.8 Brakes.

Before you base your opinion, try one that's run in a bit, and hopefully, slotted rotors should fix the brake problem.

Mic

Hi Mic

I'll certainly be on the look out for a manual one to drive , as the torque boost sounds worthwhile , even a Ditronic may not add that much.

How do you find yours on take off before the turbo comes in or do you clutch alot on take off ?

Driven a few 3lt auto's including over some decent tracks to, and they usually get there ok except in real heavy sand/mud etc.

One auto I have driven now has some 300,000km up on it a lot of which has been towing a 3 ton plus drilling rig, so than can do it.
The 16 seconds to a 100kmh can keep you up with the traffic but often find I need the sub 11 seconds of the 4800.

A lot of people must drive them flat out around town also , as I often see them charge off from the lights ahead of me, and I guess that doesn't help with economy.

One part of my thinking is that I need to get sub 10lt/100km
and I think that is achieveable with the manual if set up as per my 4800 which has always run under its 17.5lt rating at 16.5

Robin,

The new common rail is so much better on take off than the previous models ( 2001 manual and 2003 manual - can't comment on later 04-06 versions - others say that they are better than the first motors). With the old models and 33" tyres, I needed the Dtronic to help in removal of the off-boost flat spot for nose uphill, hot ambient temp take off. With the new model, I have have found none of the off-boost problems that us owners have complained about in the past. As a matter of fact, I have to try hard to stall the new one in comparison to the old one, where it would stall regularly if you weren't concentrating, or feathering the clutch.

I guess the test that we can most believe is the wife, who preferred not to drive the old one because she once stalled the last one five times at a tricky intersection (fully loaded on a hot day, pointed up a steep hill ), took the new one out on the weekend on a 100 klms round trip, came back smiling and said "wow, the new truck has got some go".

Now, me speaking again, it will still be slow on take off compared to the 4.8 - in fact that is where you will lose most of your time in comparison, but once you get it moving speed is then not an issue.

I haven't yet towed or really loaded up with the new one, so can't give you any comment from real life, but my current thinking is that I will have no issues even fully loaded - i guess time will tell on that one. For me now, I will get a Dtronic or similar - not to mask engine issues, but to have the most power available for when I need it. Turbo seems to not cut in noticably, like the older ones - whilst I know it isn't, it seems to be almost linear in performance.

My economy at the moment is somewhere between 11-12.5 litres per hundred - I can't give you exact, as I have filled up to nozzle, but haven't then re-filled again to the nozzle, only to full.

I think I passed you one day on Stud Rd ( because from your descriptions on the forums, it was very very similar to your vehicle, if not identical) so I guess I am one of those charging off ahead - although I did hover next to you for a while trying to get you to look across.

I have driven the 4.8 and was most impressed with the power output, and I don't know if this helps, but before I purchased my first GU, I drove the old 4.5 for a 2 hour test drive and was not impressed at all for the size and supposed output of the motor. I would rate the 3 Litre performance wise between the two.

Mic

Hope I was on my best behaviour Mic - every once in a while
I charge off when a 3lt is baiting me.

I go down all of stud rd most days at 7am and come back up at 5pm so it probably was me. I'll look out for a new common rail (what colour?).

I was really hoping that Nissan would at least put in the 5 speed auto to seal the deal as I think the 4 speed is a bit off the pace
and makes the manual more attractive to me.

I will have to tempt you to drive up to Yarck one day where you can check out your car on our tracks without worrying about scratching it.

I find its often the subtle things that can make a car, and you don't usually get a true picture from magazines.
It could be that our natural action of reving a little as we drop the clutch and the improved common rail manual torque combine to give enough off the mark go such that it feels more linear as you suggest.

Hi Robin,

You mention 11.8lt/100km fuel economy, where do you get this figure from please?

GregS (responded above you) is getting around 16lt/100km (last time I spoke to him anyway) which is VERY DIFFERENT to 11.8. His is auto so maybe this has something to do with it but surely not an extra 4lt/100km over the manual???? Either way.....$hit fuel economy from a new crd truck.

Still think your 4.8 would make it difficult to go back to diesel, especially for towing.

Cheers, Trevor.

Robin,

Mine is white - and yes I would love to go out and hit the tracks one day soon. Not really woried too much about scratches, as it gets used for intended purposes regularly.

Normally go away every long weekend, but sadly this weekend will be spent making up brackets to mount the new model ARB compressor, as the buyer of my last Patrol wanted most of the old bits left on it.


Trevor,

After reading peoples stories about their fuel usage, I had been quite worried about the changeover in trucks. So far, my economy has been quite good, with me putting around 70 litres in for around 600 klms of driving ( not 100 percent accurate though as I haven't filled up nozzle to nozzle ). Mine is a manual though, and the mauals haven't suffered as bad. I'll wait until I put the bigger tyres back on it, and the drawers back in with all the recovery gear, and we will see then.

Mic

Hi Trevour

11.8 was the posted fuel consumption on the sticker of the new CRD I drove.

The manual is a bit better than the auto in this 3l model, I have driven one to about 11lt/100km

Whereas in the more modern petrol GU auto the posted figures are the other way around i.e. auto marginally better.

Any vehicle can better its adr rated fuel consumption conservatly driven , its only when we modify them with bigger tyres etc that they tend to get worse.

Daza,
ZD30 engines only rearlly had a problem with pistons up until late 2002. I too have plenty of blown pistons lying around the workshop. I have found in most cases if you support the product (ie servicing at the dealer, extended warranty etc) then the product (nissan) will support you.The only repairs on these I have done where nissan havent rendered assistance have been vehicles that havent lived up to service requirements etc or have been abused. The current model patrol is a great 4wd, just make sure its an auto.

Cheers Mate