[Calsonic]

Well I tried to defy the odds. After buying my 2000 GUII over a year ago, I have been hoping that the dreaded motor death would not find me.
However, on the way home to Brisband from Coffs Harbour in the early hours of Sunday morning, There was a sudden loss of power and a plume of white smoke out the back.

When the mechanic tried to start it today, it made a horrible noise like a piston hitting the valves or something to that effect. The mechanic at Highway Diesel looked at me with a look that just oozed expensive.

Patrol is now at Motsons automotive awaiting the final verdict. However, I have been told to expect it to be arounf $10k :-(

No idea how to pay for it yet, but I wish I had found these forums before I bought this car. I still have 2.5 years of payong for it so Im stuck between a rock and a hard place....

I'll keep you all posted as to the outcome.

GT....

 

[Dylan]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Should be able to get a rebuild for less than $10K depending on what needs to be done. Mine was $5500 for new bottom end. They re-used head, turbo and accessories. Done by Motors Nissan in Tassie.

 

[Bsben]

i feel your pai, same thing happen to me 3 weeks ago, have had it rebuilt costing me $6200, all the best,

 

[T0nka]

condolences mate, i know your pain

 

[GUTourer]

I don't. 8 years ago I searched for a GU 2002 series III with a 4.2TD with sub 30k's ... took me 12 months but I got one ...... guess what ... I still got it today ....

 

[geeyoutoo]

I don't. 8 years ago I searched for a GU 2002 series III with a 4.2TD with sub 30k's ... took me 12 months but I got one ...... guess what ... I still got it today ....

Here we go again! Borrrrrrring, same old, same old.

In 2000 I searched for a good manual 3L turbo, took me 5 minutes to find it and guess what? I still have it today!

 

[kendacre]

Oil

Hi

Out of interest what oil were u using. Its stated by many mechanics that the early GU problem was people not using synthetic oil which has a far better cooling ability, hence the fix from nissan was a bigger sump so people who did not use recommended oil were saved by the greater volume of oil.

K

 

[Deccers]

Has anyone blown up there 3.0 with NADS?

 

[truckster]

Strange. There seems in the last 2 weeks another glut of failures. There havent been many before that for months.

Im wondering if it has anything to do with time of year/weather and something to do with servicing or lack of maybe?

It just seems very strange that they come in waves of ****.

 

[T0nka]

and something to do with servicing or lack of maybe?
.

guilty

 

[Deccers]

Mines been sitting on a patch of grass since early december. Is there anything I can do or should I even bother doing anything besides let it run for 5-10 minutes every week or so?

 

[geeyoutoo]

Mines been sitting on a patch of grass since early december. Is there anything I can do or should I even bother doing anything besides let it run for 5-10 minutes every week or so?

For a 3L to go in the classic way there needs to be a particular set of circumstances come together which won't happen if your perfectly good 3L vehicle is sitting on a patch of grass being started every few days, you biggest danger is loosing your battery!.

Yes sure there is a weakness there and heat and high speed play a part in that deadly combination, but there are also a lot of fallacies out there.

There is always someones uncles, cousins, brothers, nephews mate who had one blow up because he was christening it one night.

Lets face it many hundreds, possibly thousands, of engines of all descriptions go bang every year, most of these are because of the way they are driven or not maintained. And there would be a good few ZD30 in that list.

I think it was Dronus who touched on a very good point a few weeks ago, something along the lines of people join forums for several reasons and one is to complain so we hear about the Grenade effect, in reality for every one that goes bang there are many more that just keep on going, you don't hear of these because their owners are not on bloody forums.

Sitting in a restaurant in Kenilworth a while back and a GU the same colour and model as mine (and that is one that did let go, and I know the reason) pulled up outside and he and his wife came in and sat near us. I started talking to him and asking some questions (not leading questions) and not mentioning the grenade effect either, any way it turns out this guy has over 250,000 on the clock and the only thing he had a problem with was his alternator, now I was shocked, if I had known these things had weak alternators I would not have damn well bought mine *&$%[email protected]^*`><?=-!!!!!!!:headwall:

 

[sudso]

Dont you ZD30 owners feel too bad.

My brother in law bought a GQ late last year with a fully recond TD42t and after 5000 kays a piston let go and disintegrated taking the cylinder liner with it and knocking the crankshaft 3 thou out
It had only done a few hundred kays when he bought it but he was a bit concerned about a "rattle" noise it made, more than the usual TD42 diesel noise.
He was very disheartened having just forked out on it and being his first Patrol he was very impressed with the rig and it's pulling power.

He pulled the motor down and took the lot to a diesel reconditioner who said the liners hadn't been installed properly so they all had to be redone too, so be wary of buying a recond diesel from a certain auto dismantler/reconditioner in Adelaide but hopefully it was just a one off.
He's put it all back together now, in and running sweet, and going to get tuned by Bridge Diesel for good measure.

 

[Zoltan]

Strange. There seems in the last 2 weeks another glut of failures. There havent been many before that for months.

Im wondering if it has anything to do with time of year/weather and something to do with servicing or lack of maybe?

It just seems very strange that they come in waves of ****.

My ol man mentions to me about situations where a spurt of the same model cars going through the same kind of problems at around the same kind of time...within a year. His opinion is that they just wear out at the specified kilometers and break or they are simply not maintained. Most of the time things go wrong because of the lack of knowledge on HOW & WHAT to maintain to prevent issues.

I have known a few dissillusioned people that have lost engines after treating them like their on eggshells. Some drive them forever ... It's too hard to pinpoint.

The bottom line is...Automobiles don't last forever... even tho we hope that they do. People get shocked when things break after 200,000 odd kms. Horses for courses. The 3 litre is a great engine but is heavily worked...hence it pushes higher kw than the 4.2. She runs under much more strain. In-tern, tollerences become much much finer. I have a Yanmar 5.9 litre turbo for my boat. This thing pushes out 440hp. It is severely tricked up. Here again...it is known that she has a habbit of dropping valves under high speed. All because the demand of the engine performance high & creates that crucial wager of whether it pops or not. So preventative maintanance is imperative.

Alot of people demand more from their engines these days & or do things with it that is beyond it's ability & push it to it's maximum limit. Some get lucky but most ...not. I have tricked mine a little so now I have placed myself in that gambling arena. But if I am willing to gamble then I should willing to expect a loss too. Fact is that the more you demand from an engine above it's average rating, the less it lasts.

Sorry to hear of your engine failure mate. Tho it's a downer...the positive is that you get to start it's life again from zero...

 

[scrawni]

Sitting in a restaurant in Kenilworth a while back and a GU the same colour and model as mine (and that is one that did let go, and I know the reason) pulled up outside and he and his wife came in and sat near us. I started talking to him and asking some questions (not leading questions) and not mentioning the grenade effect either, any way it turns out this guy has over 250,000 on the clock and the only thing he had a problem with was his alternator, now I was shocked, if I had known these things had weak alternators I would not have damn well bought mine *&$%[email protected]^*`><?=-!!!!!!!/QUOTE]

Mines got 270k on it and goes like its on fire (sits with fingers crossed he hasn't jinxed it) so its not a bad engine.

 

[DAN87N]

i noticed at the dealer they would come in waves.. none for months then 4 or 5 in one go. never any similaritys in kms or anything just usuallly hot weather.. but not always.

 

[EX-Toyo]

This thread once again proves that most of you blokes don't know what you're talking about!

A grenade requires a deliberate act before it can explode: you need to pull the pin, then you throw it. Now, I know some people throw it before the pin is pulled but that doesn't count.

So 3.0 and 2.8 engines are clearly NOT grenades........





They are TIME-BOMBS!:skull:

 

[geeyoutoo]

This thread once again proves that most of you blokes don't know what you're talking about!

Conversely, maybe the opposite is true . But 10 out of 10 for originality

 

[truckster]

Never any similaritys in kms or anything just usuallly hot weather.. but not always.

Exactly, theres are so many variables...

The day Roly's let go the first time after our Patrollers brekky in Sth Melbourne, cool morning in the CBD so not going hard. BOOM.

Klms are always different, with MANY not even making 80,000klms before letting go, with the usual Nissan GAGF answer leaving people out 10's of thousands. Service histories different, tyre size different, accessory loads different, 'must use only XYZ brand fuel' different.. but as said they come in waves.. Very weird.

 

[champ]

How many K's it done?