[aus.patrol]

Hi, Thanks to the members of this forum, my '98 2.8 GU Patrol with 250K no longer has hot start issues after spending $40 bucks and less then 1 hour with the spanners.

Last year my car started to develop hot start issues. Car starts fine when cold, but once you drive for a few minutes or more, turn the engine off and try to start again before it had a chance to cool down (2 hours), it would take up to 6-10 seconds to start. Over time, this became 16-20 seconds. After having to restart the car a few times within an hour, the battery would be flat and the car would need to be jump started.

The "specialised" diesel shop I took the car to told me that it was the Fuel Pump which needed to be replaced at $5000 or revised at about $3000. Note: this was the same shop that convinced me to replace the turbo for a new one at $1500, when all it needed was a revision kit at $150 and 2-3 hours of work.

Hence I went to look on-line and found an old thread telling me about a modified cover plate (for the fuel pump) which could resolve the issue. I thought to give it a try..

Then, the Nissan Dealer in Sydney could not help me with this as they had never heard of it. First I called them, then I visited the service centre and even after giving them the correct (Nissan Genuine) part number, they still could not source it...

Again thanks to this forum, NIZZBITS came to the rescue. I emailed them, they sourced the item and had it delivered to my door for 40 Bucks (thanks guys). One hour with the spanners later and my truck was as good as new.

I obviously need to see if it lasts, but so far so good and I'm very happy I've been able to avoid or at least postpone a very expensive alternative fix.

 

[aus.patrol]

Hi Chas, only smokes a little on acceleration, going uphill and at high revs, but nothing more then before. It starts great though. No more counting seconds and hoping the battery doesn't go flat .

 

[bennoGU28]

Got an EGT gauge?

 

[RustyNails]

Does anyone know if it is possible to go back to the old plate after the advance plate has been fixed.
I saw a post on here recently that had the part numbers for the advance plate and when I checked back on my old receipts I saw that Nissan had fitted one just after I had bought the car. The car had gone in for a slight miss and they explained it away as saying an o-ring had a leak and the plate was corroded and needed replacement.

It has been blowing stacks of smoke for a long time and I was wondering if it is possible to go back to standard.

Thks
Paul

 

[aus.patrol]

Hi Benno, Nope, don't have an EGT gauge. My engine is fine (after total rebuild at 200K), never had over-heating issues, the exhaust is still stock and looks fine after 250K. What sort of issues does the EGT gauge prevent?

 

[aus.patrol]

Hi Paul, I don't know what'll happen if you put the original one back, I guess it depends on the reason for putting the modified one in. However, it is easy to try... It's only a cover plate held by 2 bolds at the outside/bottom of the pump. I you're handy with the spanners you can do it in 10 minutes. It took me about 40 minutes (tentative mechanic. If you're not happy with the result, put the modified one back. The part itself is about $10-15 bucks.

 

[aus.patrol]

After I posted this thread, I have had some people contacting me with problems they had upon installing the Modified Plate.

The first one had the problem that the car didn't start at all after putting in the mod plate and had the old one put back. I advised him that it was probably because of the (in)proper positioning of the O-ring, therefore not sealing correctly. He went back and had the modified plate put in again paying extra attention to the positioning of the O-ring and he reported back that it is now working properly and the hot start issue is gone.

The second one contacted me and said that putting in the new plate fixed the problem initially but after 1 week it came back. The only thing I could come up with was because of the positioning of O-ring again. It might have been OK for the first few starts but after the engine had got hot, the ring might not seal a 100% any more therefore leaking pressure which is what the pump is for.

The cover plate is in a difficult to reach position on the side/bottom of the pump. You are basically working blind when taking it off and putting it back on. Positioning the O-ring is not easy to establish and mistakes are easily made. I used a mirror and a torch to check if the ring was properly positioned before tightening the bolts. Also, I suggest you put a tarp under the car when you work on this as it is easy to drop the ring, bolts, tools or plate when you're working in the blind and just on feel. The tarp will make it easy to find your parts back after you dropped them .

 

[bennoGU28]

Hi Benno, Nope, don't have an EGT gauge. My engine is fine (after total rebuild at 200K), never had over-heating issues, the exhaust is still stock and looks fine after 250K. What sort of issues does the EGT gauge prevent?

EGT prevents melting the internals of the engine and also for comparing fuel burn and injected amounts after modifications.