Hi, All Looking at buying a Gu Patrol

A 2.8 is a four. A 4.2 is a six

Go to the Patrol Forum and ask your question there.

Then go and buy a Toyota LOL

From one who has owned both makes.

I bought a 1998 GU 2.8 Diesel 5 speed new and put all the accessories on it and we had it for 5 years and loved it. BUT, you must drive it on boost to get real get up & go from it. If you drive it like a normal vehicle it's sluggish at first but when the turbo comes in at 1800rpm away you go. We were in the country and lots of straight long roads & for some reason my wife & I remarked how the vehicle just got up to 125k/pH basically by its self it just seemed happy at that speed I know it sounds silly but unless you watched your speed you would all of a sudden realise you were speeding. When using low range keep it in a gear that is pulling revs so it's on the "boil" (Turbo on) example a friend would ascend a steep hill in low 2nd in his cruiser turbo & then have plenty of pull. I would have to go up in low 1st on boost because once in fell away in revs you had to go for the left foot & gear change which can be hazadous because the vehicle is dictating the gear change not you. Apart from that it was a great vehicle & took us everywhere. The vehicle doesn't mind the revs I think from memory it's redlined at 5,000rpm. Basically if you won't torque & go drive it like you stole it. It only has one reversing light & the sub tank only holds 32 litres not 40 it was a design fault. I wired up the rear tail lights fitting GMH globe holders which gave me tail and stop lamps if you haven;t noticed the big red lenses have nothing behind them Hope this help.

Mrbrush,

No good for towing on sand.
No low down torque before the turbo kicks in = burnt clutch.

Had one for years and wouldn't recommend it for that purpose. As a long distance traveller it's hard to beat though, and will tow all day at 100kmh with no problems and good fuel economy. Brilliant handbrake, quiet and comfortable too.

cheers,

Had one, good tourer, but with that many miles, unless they are giving it away, forget it........................

A guy I work with has one of these and other than the lack of torque, as others have mentioned, the car is faultless.

The lack of torque can be overcome with plenty of revs, but ask yourself what has the vehicle been used for in the past? If it's been used as a tow vehicle, expect the clutch to be knackered. If it's done a lot of sand/off road driving, then the engine has covered a lot of revs to clock up that 250,000k's.

Look at the service history too.

How much $ ?

The heads are notorious for failing 200,000-250,000km. That would be something to get checked by a mechanic as they are not cheap to repair.

Plenty of info here Patrol Forum

Had a 98 GU 2.8 from new and recently traded it on a D40 Navara 2.5 Auto. I did a shade under 300000km on the GU which included many trips into the Vic High Country and 3 trips to Cape York all towing my 1.4 tonne Kanga Campertrailer. Off the turbo it was a slug...but on turbo it would work all day with no problems at all. Mine still had the original factory clutch in when sold and there was no shudder or slipping apparent. Early on I removed the auto hubs and fitted a set of AVM manual hubs...this allowed me to use low range on the bitumen/concrete so I didn't have to ride the clutch to overcome the low down torque problem.
Apart from routine servicing and adding bits and pieces it didn't cost be anything. I believe that the head gasket problem was mainly with the GQ 2.8 turbo.
Couple of things to keep and eye on though:
1. The Jesus nut on the harmonic balance pulley - check torque this every 20000km or so. Some have been known to come loose and wear the keyway...and a fix for this can be very expensive.
2. As the engine ages you can get blowby problem which will result in oil mist condensing in the turbo...and you will get a small leak. The fix for this is to install a catch can which I did myself for around $80 or the local diesel fitter quoted $250.
All in all it is a great car expecially for long distance touring. Frugal...I averaged 12.3 L/100km for the 300000km I had mine which is much much MUCH MUCH better than I am getting thus far from my auto Navara which is averaging 14 L/100km.