Nissan Patrol S/wagon with a 2.8 litre diesel (late 1990's I think)

Hi John,
I'm pretty sure that the 2.8's don't have much torque down low untill the turbo spools up. They will overfuel until the turbo spools up causing smoke.

If it is a prob just tell him to use low range with the hubs unlocked to save the clutch.

Cheers
Dave

Yep..what Tour boy said.
However these little motors are pearlers if looked after properly...and an absolute dream to drive long distances with.
BUT...they ARE a little motor...and need to be driven appropriately.
There is a few mods that will make them go heaps better and spool up sooner.
Fit a 2.5 inch or larger exhaust WITH a muffler you can see right thru.
Fit a snorkel...andf if possible..if its a GQ that is....ditch the original factory air cleaner in favour of one from a GU ZD30.
Block off the EGR System with a blanking plate (probably not really legal...but does make it go a heap better)
Service it properly ...with good quality filters and oils...at no more than 5000 K intervals.
Keep the cooling system right up to spec with good coolant ...and regular clean out at least every 2 years.
I own one of these in a GQ ...and I wont part with it. We tow a Goldstrean 4X4 off road camper all over the place with it and it has proved extremely reliable.
There is more info on them on the Patrol . com forum. The doomsday sayers are there as well...but IMO ...a lot of them are just that ...and a probably not a caring owner...or even one at that.

HTH.

Cheers Keith

If it is a GU I had one for 5 years...great car but at times you had to drive it like you stole it!! We were at a Motel in MtGambier & the driveway slopped down towards the units.Well the Wife could not reverse the 2.8 & kept stalling it & was getting really peeved. So I explained about the motor requiring revs to bring the turbo on boost & with a little squel of the rear wheels, backwards she went & from that moment on she never had a problem. When we were 4WD my mate would ascend a steep incline in low 2nd in his T/D Cruiser I had to go up in low first to keep the motor on boost or I was forced to change gears in places where you wouldn't want to change gears. For some reason on the open highway our GU just wanted to sit on 125K/pH true story my wife & i were amazed how the vehicle just seemed to creep up to that speed and sit really nice on the road but unfortunately you can't do that speed legally in most states!! As others have mentioned use the gearbox & transfer & he'll soon get use to it. You sound like you know what your about John T...I am sure you will both overcome a minor problem. Hope this helps.

g'day John,
we had a GQ 2.8 and always religiously replaced the fuel filter every 20,000 km's, a pretty easy job .Because a mechanic mate who also owned one told me if you didn't you could run into fuel pump problems and other problems down the track.It's not a big job and pretty cheap to do, so maybe that would be worth looking at.we sold our old 1997 GQ with 240,000 km's to woodleys in Tamworth about 4-5 years ago but could be just a coincidence.hope this helps anyway.
Cheers John.

I had the GQ 2.8 for 12 years and like they say, it was a reliable and robust vehicle. But Slow.

I agree about the midifications suggested and had done them all. Als, fit a manual boost controller and a boost gauge, then dial the boost up a but. Helped a lot.