2008 Nissan Patrol 3.0 L Common Rail Fuel Consumption

Submitted: Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 17:51

ThreadID: 85490 Views:33237 Replies:13 FollowUps:2

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ghostgum28

Sorry for going over old ground here.
I've read heaps on this issue, but I'm still not sure if I've got a lemon in the fuel consumption arena given what I'm doing, and I'm booked in to a Nissan Dealer for a warranty assessment tomorrow and I am after some ammo in preparation for the fob off.

I am a recently converted long term Toyota owner, and purchased my first Nissan: a 2008 Patrol GU - DX, 3.0L Common Rail TDI - Auto. Its pretty standard, having a factory steel front bar, and Warn winch, and Rhino 3/4 alloy roof cage. I have fitted dual batteries and thats about it.

In the first few weeks of driving it, mostly highway / freeway running at 100k or less (mostly about 80-90) I didn't get any better than about 15-16L/100k which really surprised me after owning an 80 series Cruiser of the 4.2L non-turbo variety which used to get about 11-12L/100k on the same trips, also fitted with full steel roof cage and drawers etc.

I have just driven down to Adelaide via the scenic route towing an off road camper which probably weighs about 1000kg fully laiden. Although I expected to see an increase in fuel consumption, I did not expect to see between 19.5-20.5L/100k doing 90km/h on the Hay plains and similar roads. This is what others seem to get on Fraser Island driving on sand......

I've read all about the issues with the MAF sensor and increased fuel consumption, but in speaking with the Nissan dealer when I booked it in, I raised this, and he seemed to think it may not have the correct engine oil and my roof racks would be causing it. Its only even been service by Nissan since new, so I can only assume they use the right oil, and I hardly see how a set of roof racks could make what I assume to be 4 L / 100k difference in fuel efficiency. I have also detected an oil leak in the front of the engine which they are looking at too, not sure if its related.

Has anyone had any recent success stories with Nissan in reducing fuel consumption stats ? Any hints I can use? Just by chance I read the latest 4WD Action mag which had a writeup on the Nissan 3.0L engine and usual issues which confirmed all the reports on the net I have read.

Thanks again for your time, sorry for going over old ground.

Matt

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Reply By: Nutta - Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 18:25

Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 18:25

Go over and have a yak to the mob at patrol4x4.com, there is a long thread on this issue.

Ive got the di 3.0l and have never had better than 15.5 per hundred, that was even taking my roofrack off for a few weeks just to check, seems it cant be fixed, i also put in a new maf to no avail.

Good luck, dont hold your breath with nissan they dont want to know about it.

Cheers
Wayne

AnswerID: 450599

Follow Up By: Nutta - Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 18:28

Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 18:28

I just checked, its actually a sticky in the gu section.

Cheers

FollowupID: 723071

Reply By: Notso - Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 18:27

Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 18:27

Have you been on the Nissan Forum

Nissan Forum

I have heard that fuel consumption is quite variable so worth seeing what they are saying over there

AnswerID: 450600

Reply By: crd patrol - Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 22:51

Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 22:51

Matt,

Patrol4x4.com would be your best place to find things out (as others have said above). But below is some things that I have found out by trial and error.

The first thing I would do is go and get the Patrol weighed to see how heavy the thing actually is, as this may suprise you. I would also get your camper weighed as you may think it may be only a ton but it may be a bit more, so if you get it weighed you will know exactly how heavy it is, I say this because I thought ours only weighed a certain amount and then found with it empty it weighed quite a bit more.
An alloy (rhinorack) roof basket will add about a litre or so to your consumption (if ours is anything to go by), and just adding extras (bullbar, winch etc) can up the consumption as well. When our 2007 CRD auto is empty I can get it down into the high 12's, but start adding the gear back on it creeps back up to the 15's+ again, plus throw in a headwind and the auto doesn't really like it (well ours doesn't anyway).
Our consumption on a trip with the patrol and camper fully loaded returned around 25L/100k at worst and around 20L/100k at best. We did have a bit of headwind for days on end (but you get that sometimes).
With regards to your oil, I have had 3 seperate Nissan dealers (1 in WA, 1 in SA and my regular one in Qld and they have used different oil. 1 was full synthetic, another semi synthetic and other was just the regular 15w40, all this was "Nissan" branded oil. I don't think any oil was better than the other when it came to fuel consumption as it didn't vary much at all between changes, maybe this was due to the roads I was driving on or headwinds coming across the Nullabor. I know my speed wasn't a huge factor as I was only doing between 95-100kph all the way home.

Hope it goes well at the dealer.

cheers
CRD

P.S I have learn't to not worry about the consumption anymore as it is the way it is. It is a heavy square block with a little engine and it is trying to push it and all the other stuff we add to it around.

AnswerID: 450629

Reply By: Johnw14+ - Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 22:57

Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 22:57

The following is my fuel consumption per full tank since I purchased new in March last year. 2009 badge vehicle. Litres/100. The higher consumption is when I am towing the van or camper trailer. Have done 17300 klms.
12.12121212
13.64902507
12.98701299
12.89398281
12.29357798
12.93467337
14.10377358
13.05810398
11.02272727
12.25882353
14.85
14.5707196
15.99112426
15.84415584
13.93728223
12.97435897
12.8342246
14.99239544
15.23140496
13.19204152
13.51744186
13.81909548
14.28721174
18.97435897
17.15568862
18.89908257
14.59369818
17.30103806
18.18181818
13.24144487
15.5994152
14.84875
17.90782123

AnswerID: 450631

Follow Up By: fisho64 - Friday, Apr 08, 2011 at 03:47

Friday, Apr 08, 2011 at 03:47

wow-have the patrols got a small tank? 33 fuel ups for 17000ks? Thats only 500 each time?

FollowupID: 723113

Reply By: shanegu6 - Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 23:56

Thursday, Apr 07, 2011 at 23:56

HI Ghostgum 28, I own a 2008 Patrol 3.0L and my fuel economy when I first got the car was around 13.5l/100. After installaing numerous accesories over the last three years the patrol now returns around 15l/100. The weight of the patrol is 3600kgs consistent and has roof racks on all the time.

I also tow a van weighing 2200kgs and have a tinnie on the roof and I return consistent fuel economy of 22l/100.

The car has done 100000kms.

Shane

AnswerID: 450636

Reply By: fisho64 - Friday, Apr 08, 2011 at 03:58

Friday, Apr 08, 2011 at 03:58

Just out of curiosity, why are you a "recently converted long term Toyota owner"?
Even on paper using the government figures as a comparison the ZD30 has been unable to match either the 4.2td or 4.5 V8, either in its original form or CRD, so it cant be too much of a suprise?

AnswerID: 450637

Reply By: Robin Miller - Friday, Apr 08, 2011 at 09:55

Friday, Apr 08, 2011 at 09:55

Hi Matt

From just reading your post I can't see is insufficent information to approach the problem properly.
Indeed a lot of stuff in posts is also based on poor data.

Your car should be able to achieve the posted figures (somewhere around 11) driven quietly without excessive traffic holdups - but you need to provide better data for Nissan to sustain a case.

Your car seems standard enough - although you make no mention of tyre size, or if tyres pressures are right so presume standard.
You should increase its rated fuel use by its approximate increase in weight over standard (know its weighbridge weight)

You need to record every drop of fuel you put into the car and know that the odometer is correct.

My new 4800 petrol patrol is rated at 16.4 combined cycle and delivers 14 on highway cruise and 17 overall including everything (some 4wding almost every week).

I can be certain of above because it now has 10,000km on the clock and every bit of fuel going into it is logged against odometer and GPS odometer along with related notes.
E.g. I regularly change wheel sets - each has different diameter and a correction is applied.

NOTE on Fuel use standards
---------------------------
Up to 2003 city/urban cycle complying to AS2877 (on road test) from then its UN ECE R101 , a simulation, which gives figures 5% higher based on an 11km drive average speed of 33.6kmh.
2/3 of drive simulates urban 1/3 country @ 100kmh+

Robin Miller

Member
My Profile Send Message

AnswerID: 450665

Reply By: ghostgum28 - Friday, Apr 08, 2011 at 17:47

Friday, Apr 08, 2011 at 17:47

Thanks to everyone who had something to say here. All good stuff.

I guess I should not have been surprised by the increased fuel consumption over the Toyota engine range, if I had have checked it before I purchased !.... I made an uninformed assumption about what an intercooled 3.0L turbo engine would do in comparison to the older style oil burners and I was wrong......

Firstly the vehicle is standard, no big wheels, high lifts or anything like that, other than the accessories I have previously listed.

Just of note, I just picked it up from Nissan and the sales guy gave me the speech I guess I was expecting, no surprise there. So the fuel consumption will remain unchanged at this time anyway.

Regarding my oil leaks however: The first leak point at the front of the chassis in the front nearside wheel arch, he said it was residual from an oil change that had obviously leaked oil into the chassis rail when they changed the filter and it was leaking out of the chassis.... not sure how that could be still dripping off a bolt head after 400km of rough dirt driving and about 2000km all up since it was changed, but anyway I told him I thought he was wrong but it didnt help.... the second leakage around the bottom front of the engine, below the bottom pulley he said was 'weepage' not 'leakage' and was just a little damp and was not an issue........So all up I get the impression I just had a Royal fob off in every regard. I guess that will be the case until it runs out of warranty anyway, then there will be some repairable items I assume.....

Anyway in looking past the engine, Im still happy with the change to Nissan.... I like the truck in every other regard, so Im not completely unhappy with my change from Toyota, just a bit disappointed I guess in the fuel consumption / Nissan Service areas...

I will start more comprehensive trip logs from here on to use down the track if need be, but I dont think Nissan are going to assume it is out of their expectations, therefore not their problem. I am looking into one of the various Chips which seem to increase fuel economy in the long run.

Matt

AnswerID: 450713

Reply By: zolle - Saturday, Apr 09, 2011 at 01:18

Saturday, Apr 09, 2011 at 01:18

Hi Matt
I have a 2008 CRD manual and get good fuel consumption of around 10.6 l/100km local running not towing and on my main trip last year towing my 3.1t Kedron over the GCR, Plenty Hwy, Birdsville, Savannah Way and GRR averaged 18.3 l/100km.
My tips are to buy a Scangauge and learn to drive the Patrol economically by controlling your right foot according to the consumption shown on it and fit a Digi chip.
Also my egr does not work and using 2 stroke at around 1/350 appears to make a difference for me.

You will not get my consumption figures with an auto but maybe only use 10% more.

Nissan will not help and by all reports have never helped anyone to the extent that they are in full denial that there are any fuel consumption problems with the CRD.

There are several owners on the 4x4 Patrol web site who have got nowhere trying to improve their fuel consumption so unfortunately there may be lemons out there.

Cheers

AnswerID: 450746

Reply By: Shaver - Saturday, Apr 09, 2011 at 12:53

Saturday, Apr 09, 2011 at 12:53

Perhaps Matt you should have stayed with Toyota. I have a 2008 200 Series V8 VVTI Petrol with a bit over 14,000 Ks & always return between 12.3 & 12.9 ltrs/100 on a trip & I don't drive for economy. The diesel 200's are getting around 10 - 12 L/100 I believe, with some below 10 at times. I would probably surmise that the 200 is also a heavier vehicle than the Nissan. Yes I know that the 200 is a dearer vehicle to buy, but there is a big difference in refinement which equates to a better drive on a trip.

AnswerID: 450768

Reply By: garrycol - Saturday, Apr 09, 2011 at 13:42

Saturday, Apr 09, 2011 at 13:42

I am surprised by the heavy fuel consumption of the Nissan. My RRS weighs nearly 100kg more, has a smaller engine but much more power and torque and averages around 9l/100 combined town and highway. Can get down to 7l/100 on a gentle highway run.

I would have thought a Nissan would be able to get similar so maybe there is an issue with this particular vehicle.

Garry

AnswerID: 450769

Reply By: pepper2 - Sunday, Apr 10, 2011 at 09:06

Sunday, Apr 10, 2011 at 09:06

i have the same problem with a 2007 auto 3litre,it uses 6klm/litre on average general driving not towing or off road,this is my 3rd patrol all 3litres i did approx 550000 klm on the first two patrols (both manuals) average consumption 8.5 klm .
Battling with nissan re warrenty claim for fuel consumption,I transferred all the accessories from the ist to 2nd to 3rd patrol so no real difference in added weight,NOTE you can see unburnt fuel emitted from exhaust virtually all the time.
I have taken mine off the road as the company i work for has judt provide a new company car,the patrol goes to a dyno this week to try and sort it out,will pursue warrenty claim with nissan.
Nissan is aware of this problem as with exploding patrols but will not publically acknowledge it.

AnswerID: 450826

Reply By: HumphreyAM - Sunday, Apr 10, 2011 at 21:52

Sunday, Apr 10, 2011 at 21:52

Hi Matt,

I just bought a 3.0L CRD 2010 Patrol Brand New. I have put two tanks through so far, and out of the 125L of diesel got around 850km total. Works out to roughly 15L per 100km. I hope it gets better once run in a bit.

Regards,

Andrew

AnswerID: 450886