Thread: Price vs Age - D3 or D4?

Originally Posted by letherm

My two cents worth is that I did a 6 month test in my last car (Pajero) - 3 months on ethanol ulp and three months on Vortex ULP 98 non ethanol. The 6 months concerned I did the same type of driving - mainly city (Sydney peak hour) commuting to work about 20kms away and return plus other usual stuff like shopping and the odd trip. Results were quite definite. When I used ethanol for 3 months I used more fuel and the car was noticeably less powerful and responsive. When I ran non ethanol petrol for 3 months the car ran better and used less fuel. I kept a log of cost versus mileage and the non ethanol, despite being more expensive, cost less to run overall and the car ran a lot better and was more responsive. My mechanic who has been in business for 30 plus years has seen numerous fuel tanks rusted out because of water separation with ethanol fuel. He actively warns people not to use it because of the problems he has seen. I understand this may not be the case for everyone but that was my experience. Martin

I get what he's saying. I agree PULP would be higher quality. But diesel tanks also attract moisture when warm unused fuel is returned to the tank. Most fuel tanks are plastic these days. Moisture should be filtered/separated out by the usual 2 micron setup for CRD motors.

Thanks for the replies guys

I should point out that I specifically mean the 94 octane rated E10, not the 91 stuff you get in a lot of places. From what I understand both motors require 95 octane?

Cheers

Dan

Originally Posted by Nomad9

Hi Discotastic,
...
What I did for all my sins is I bought a cheaper petrol D3 4.0, they are cheaper and plentiful, I use this for my daily drive and excursions at the weekend. Because the D3 is very capable "out of the box" I have done very little to it apart from buy a good set of tyres and put them on 18 inch RRS rims, bit of tint on the windows, being black it looks great and puts a lot of other fourbies to shame when I rock up in basically standard guise and out perform.

This is the sin part, I have bought a relatively new Patrol with all the fruit, it has live axel, 17 inch rims, a drive train that will survive a nuclear attack and when you rock up at some outback station and tell them you have a problem, if you mention either Nissan Patrol, Landcruiser or Hilux they don't look at you like you landed from the planet Zod. You've got half a chance.

I know people will tell me that the have been everywhere and not had a problem, that's great, I have also heard first hand of some nightmares something I don't want to put my family through on the off chance. ...

Hah hah.

I met a fellow a few years ago at Wilson's Prometory, in the camping ground. He had a new Prado VX D4D, towing at Trak Trailer Topaz (the new Mk1 version).

He had had several Patrols, but the last one he bought was crap. The Renault gear in it failed. He was up at Weipa and his gear box failed. They did have Nissan service there - but the Nissan guys had a three week wait for a new gearbox. In the back they had 13 broken gearboxes - my friends made that 14.

good luck with the Nissan. And if you want to tow, good luck with its power plant.

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

I wouldnt use any ethanol fuel.Especially if you are not doing lots of ks.It attracts water wich causes corrosion issues in the fuel system.
Andrew

Yep, and lots of crap on the plugs and top end I've heard.

Hi Melbourne Park,
What other parts of the Nissan are Renault? The engine is a Renault derivative and there was problems, there have been several revamps and modification since conception in 2000, the early Pootrols suffered with oil starvation which resulted in all sorts of issues including melted pistons. I've now had two GU's one was an early one which I chipped and maintained myself, never had a problem, regular oil changes etc using a quality oil no issues.
No matter what anyone buys there will be horror stories. The Pootrol I have is a series VII, chipped with a 3 inch mandrel bent system and a high flow intercooler, goes exceedingly well actually. Just towed my 1.8T camper trailer up North and back never missed a beat. Wasn't as comfortable or as refined as my D3, my old RRS or the LC Sahara I had, also doesn't have the suspension I had in the Sahara that could have cost me $8k to fix if I hadn't done it myself. The Pootrol doesn't have all the gadgetry however it is functional and fit for purpose.
At some point I'll I suspect go back to a RRS or a later D3 maybe even a D4, having my petrol D3 for my daily drive and weekend playmobile suits me fine.

Hopefully I won't have gearbox number 15.

Knowing what I now know from personal experience, with a budget of $30k ... I'd buy a V8 D3 HSE.

If I could stretch to $45k then I'd be happy to shop around and buy a low kilometre TDV6 D4.

The D4 is a better vehicle and has far less issues. The 4.4 V8 gets rid of many of those potential problems though.

Originally Posted by TerryO

Knowing what I now know from personal experience, budget under $30k ... I'd buy a V8 D3 HSE.

If I could stretch to $45k then I'd be happy to shop around and buy a low kilometre TDV6 D4.

The D4 is a better vehicle and has far less issues. The 4.4 V8 gets rid of many of those potential problems though.

Thanks Terry.

I'd love a diesel D4 but at this stage it's still a bit too much of a stretch for us. (Un)fortunately our current car is still going strong and though I'm impatient (I literally dream of owning another disco! ), I still plan to wait as long as I can.

What issues does the V6 have that the V8 doesn't? In fact, apart from the oil pump cover, what common issues does the diesel have that the others don't?

Cheers

Dan

Mate you are well ahead with longevity if you plan to hold onto the petrol v6 versus a diesel. No turbo replacment issues. Cheers
Ps flame on!