Advice for a diesel newbie

Lyds,
Chalk and cheese, as long as you make sure that you do servicing oil change etc on a regular 5000k basis you should be right, there are 27,453,625 threads on the things you need to do. I don't know if you are buying from a dealer or private, from a dealer make sure you have a warranty, there are gearbox and clutch issues out there around the 100k mark from what I read, check the previous history this will be your most valuable asset knowing what has happened before you bought your new fourby.
I don't mean to be negative but I was thinking about doing what you are doing and I've now decided to stick with my 92 turbo diesel GQ, maybe in a few years when the new GU's have as good a write up as GQ's I'll look again, and no I'm not going to by an LC either, everything has it's problems some more costly than others. If you break the diesel its's going cost you a lot more to fix so looking after up front is most important, correct coolant, correct oil, OEM filters (IMHO) etc.
Good luck and happy fourbying. Keep the shiny side up

Hi Lyds,

I have recently gone from petrol to a Diesel (2003 Patrol ST). I drive it exactly like a petrol making sure the motor has warmed up before pushing the car to hard. The new Patrol's only need to be serviced every 10,000Klm.

Phil P

I'd take that with a grain of salt 5,000k services are far better than let it got to 10.

Lyds, i've had my 3ltr diesel since new 2000 auto, best move i 've ever made, sure, servicing is more regular but fuel savings make up for that, i warm up for a short while only but you need to remember after running at a higher constant speed for some time allow the motor/ turbo to cool down prior to switching off, this is where it is so important to have good oil in the motor, run down times is only a few minutes, i always do it and to date have nothing but praise for the motor, enjoy.

Got a diesel (Toyo) best advice is fit a good filter/ water separator unit for about 120 bucks , the one with the cheap -$8.00 replacement filter unit ... as the experts say fuel filtration is the most important thing in a diesel, and I must say that after fiting one of these units i agree.... i get up to 28 mpg on a trip in the bush !! ...albeit keeping the revs down.