to be honest i havent heard or read anything about the 2.8 having any big end engine troubles. If your big end bearing were worn enough to make a seal fail you would feel a bad vibration through the engine.They only suffer cracked head issues.
Anyway your leak can only be coming from two place the rear main seal on the engine or the input shaft seal on the gearbox.
Either way the gearbox will need to be removed to reapir.
your should be able to get a rough idea by the colour of the oil thats leaking. If its black it will be coming from the engine and if its a little cleaner (asuming the gearbox gets regular oil changes) it will be coming from the inout shaft seal on the gearbox.
Niether of these jobs are very difficult and i wouldnt think they would cost a lots either. Should be in and out within a day if you go to a machanic who has done this before.

Stick with the Patrol!!!
Good luck

 

If its engine oil it could also be the sump gasket. Easy thing to check first.

 

Thx for that guys, the oil is pure black and I am pretty sure that it is engine oil, I haven't managed to get under it properly yet as it rains the whole time here in Ireland and it is always dark when I get home from work!!, but I don't think that it is the sump gasket. There are no vibrations apart from the normal sound of the engine running and the 6 cyl sounds real sweet when revved. Also I discovered that the last oil and filter change was a year ago and it has only covered about 4,000 miles since then, so I believe that it has been parked for a few months and the rusty spots on the undercarriage confirm this, I am praying that this lack of use has caused the seal to perish and that it is nothing more serious. I will change the oil and filter when I get the prob sorted.
On another note, what is the recommended oil change interval?, I have read 3,000 miles and 5,000 miles and use 10W40 or 5W40.
Many thx again for your help

 

Mechanics talking out his arse. They do that over here too

 

Mechanics talking out his arse.

Yes.
Mate first thing you have to find out, is it engine oil or gearbox oil.
The mechanic can't do this over the phone but you should be able to pick the difference between engine oil and gearbox oil.
The low K's combined with the excellent bottom end of the RD28 rules out an engine oilseal leak to me, and for the same reason I'd doubt the gearbox front seal was leaking unless the car has had a big swim.
But the sump gasket likes to leak,especially around the oil pump and the fan will blow it all over everything.

 

lol, I hope he is, am not going to go near a main dealer as they are full of crap, will stick to the independant guys

 

Rear main seal more than likely. Is the leak enough that you are dropping oil when its parked over a short period? If so then you will probably need to replace it at some point. If its dropping a lot then it will need immediate attention. The engine doesn't need to come out. Just the gearbox.

 

Budget to whack a HD clutch kit in while you are there, IF its coming out mate kill 2 birds for the expense.

Good luck

 

Hey folks, thx for all the replys you all have been real helpful . Just an update, first of all the mechanic could not see me today so will try to make it to him tomorrow (this has been going on all week, dispite being in a bloody recession)!! In the meantime, I managed to get under it earlier for a look and I am beginning to think that it may afterall be the sump gasket (hoping and praying that it is). It is def engine oil, and it seems to be coming from the upper side of the sump on the gearbox side, the sump pan itself on the gearbox side is covered with oil and it is dripping down along the engine bellhousing flange on to the sump guard and also collecting at the bottom point where the engine and gearbox are mated together. It does not seem to leak while the engine is running but only for a little while after the engine has been switched off. One other thing that I noticed was that there is a piece of foam located between the sump pan, between it and the engine bellhousing flange. Maybe it was put there by somebody to hide the leak, however it seems to be moulded and fitting too perfect for it to have been cut out by anybody but needless to say it is saturated with oil. In any event the oil seems to be coming from the top down, I would imagine that if it were the crankshaft oil seal, it would be coming out somewhere at the bottom of the bellhousing between the engine and the gearbox. There is a little rubber plug with the letter 'R' stamped on it and I will unplug that at the weekend to see if anything comes out and if I can't get to meet the mechanic tomorrow I will do some ripping myself at the weekend to see if I can get to the bottom of this. I will also try to take some pics and post them on here if I can.
Once again thx for the help, its great to communicate with you guys from down under as ye have diesel in the veins and know how to put 4x4's to the test....

 

First step is clean it all with degreaser and then look for the leak as it will make it easier to see where it is coming from.

 

Its 5000kms (3000mile) and/or 6months engine oil change interval for the 2.8.

Fuel filter every 10,000kms

Air filter as needed or every 20,000kms.

A pump of grease in each of the nipples (in the front/rear propshafts and the uni joints) at every oil change.

Repack the wheel bearings every 40,000kms (for me)

And the timing belt (and ALL pulleys and tensioners, with the harmonic balancer bolt loctited in, every 100,000kms).

Do something close to this and it will give many years of service

 

Cheers for that bennoGU28, I will look in to doing that soon. The latest update is that I managed to get to the mechanic this evening and we gave it the once over on the underside, the only probs was that there was some rust on the bodywork near the rear shocks, which is a result of the vehicle starting its life out in the UK, where there are salty roads in the winter, so I will have to give it a good powerwashing and coat it with a protective spray.
The best bit was when we got to tracing the infamous oil leak and while he was probing with a screwdriver, he lifted some rust from the sump pan and next thing it starting pissing oil. The screwdriver went through the sump pan, we could not believe it...lol. I put it down to that foam piece which he says is in all the patrols, it obviously gets wet and with it resting against the sump pan it corrodes it. The irish climate is very damp and wet and is an ideal environment for promoting corrosion. He will take it down on Monday and he will try to weld a plate to it using the MIG welder and if that fails I will get a new one. Its highly unlikely that the crankshaft oil seal is gone but you never know, he also thinks that the gearbox has been out before due to the fact there is gasket paste about the flange.
Hope that its only the pan thats all thats wrong.

 

Thats sounds encouraging.

 

I know, fingers crossed

 

Rust on any part of the car is not what i would call encouraging.

 

No def not 1TUFFGQ, don't think that it is too serious tho, will have to give it a good powerwashing and maybe repair some bits and treat all the underside. Rust is a part of life here particularly with older vehicles that had no galavanised body panels, Nissan/Datsun, Toyota and Fiat were the worst for rusting, they would almost disintegrate before your eyes. My Patrol came from the UK and there they put salt on the roads in winter for ice so that affects all cars old and new

 

There is some electronic rust protection thingies you can buy which apparently work really well.

I would also suggest when you change the Rear main seal, put a speedy sleeve on it as well. But if its the sump gasket its a easy fix. Good luck

 

The electronic rust protection systems may work on salted roads as they do in mines where the water has enough electolytes in it to conduct charge.

If you do not have salted or highly mineralised water alot on your roads then there is no point having one. They cannot work (simple physics) without a conductive medium. If you were to park your car in a pool then they will work for any metal beneath the water but none above.

The only real rust proof coatings are time tested sealants such as MING or the the cheap arse fish oil (or old sump oil) and a drive on a dusty road.

For 95% of people who buy them they have wasted thier money.

 

Hey folks, have no updates, mechanic was working on my sump pan yest, don't think that it was as straight forward to Mig weld as he initially thought, haven't spoke to him today but am sure if he were having probs I would have heard about it by now. As for the underbody rust I am looking into products by Hammerite which are available on this side of the world, am not sure whether I should just powerwash, allow to dry and coat or will I do some sanding first, have no pit so would have to crawl under the 'trol and try and sort it out while lying on my back. Have also ordered a workshop repair manual by Max Ellery from Ebay Oz so can't wait to get my hands on that. This site is brill, spend hours browsing here, and have come to the conclusion that you guys know more about the 'trol than the so called techies at Nissan. All main dealers are the same, try to fob you off with bullcrap, quick to change parts without diagnosing things properly and screw you in the process. Hope to have news tomorrow or Friday regarding the new love in my life

 

Hey Guys, have my 'trol back, wooooooooo hoooooooooo!! . Oil leak sorted by welding the sump pan, the rust was caused by the foam piece resting against it over the years. He said there was a little leak coming from the bell housing but it is not really noticable as in it is not dropping on the ground which is the main thing, he also said there was a plug missing from the bell housing, bet it is the one stamped 'R' he prob lost it while working on it but will forgive him for that. The axles, diffs, transfer box, suspension, body etc are all perfect, he couldn't believe it was in such good nick for a 10 year old. He also checked the oil pump bolts (I told him what I had read on here) and gave the oil pick up strainer a good clean along with the sump pan. Am sooooooo happy to have her back, I do find her a bit gutless on the road and the back end feels a bit gammy. I am used to driving my car which is an 09 turbo diesel toyota avensis, my friend's 3.0 D4D SWB Landcruiser or the trucks (Volvo FH12 460 & 500's, Scania 164 580 V8) but I suppose it is unfair to compare the 'trol to them. I think that I will have a go at cleaning the intercooler and turbo pipes as some of the guys here have done and see if that helps. One other thing, is it easy to fit an EGT & Boost sensor and what brands would ye recommend?
Many thanks again guys, really appreciate all the help

 

For me VDO or Stewart Warner.

A few fit Autometer but I find them unreliable in boats, why I didnt fit them to the trol. Also very $$$

 

Are they easy to fit Benno?, wudn't fancy too much drilling through the exhaust unless I knew what I was at. I don't even know if I can these things over here, wud prob prob prefer to buy from over there anyway where they have been proven

 

Boost is very easy, you just put a t piece in the line that runs from the rear of the intercooler to the turbo wastegate actuator (the flying saucer looking thing).

For the EGT you do need to either drill the exhaust and use a kit with a hose clamped pyro ( I wouldnt reccomend) or have a nipple welded on to the exhaust.

You can try many of the online shops for them; I have used jegs.com or carshopinc.com for some of my gauges in the past. 7 days via fedex from Ohio US to Australia.