Thread: ZD30 engines

I have heard over the grape vine that the V8 sumps are corroding (there alloy) in some of the pits.I don't like the idea of plastic induction pipes either. Pat

A ZD30 Patrol that is a member of the 4x4 club in the Alice let go big time a few months back I've been told.
Hopefully one of the Alice Springs people can fill some more info in.

There are a number of new V8 79 Series around here, but I haven't heard of any problems yet (or no one is talking....)

An friend had his zd30 explode 18months ago, so checked with him yesterday.
Bought new from Gaukrogers Inverell, Nov. 2003, blew up in April last year just out of warranty.

The symptoms were towing a 15' tinny near Grafton at about 90kph. when suddenly no power and dense black smoke.
Diagnosis was holed pistons, without being dismantled, and reported to him as being a "one off".

Three months later he was still waiting for some action from Nissan when I read on Exploroz the contact name at Nissan in Melbourne.
He contacted the lady who then got the ball rolling. The engine was replaced with a recon one, he had to pay for installation and "fluids", a total of approx. $2000 plus the cost of flat bed truck Grafton to Inverell.
The day after he got it back it was traded on a petrol Rodeo twin cab ute!

Regarding the v8 Toyotas running out of oil, the 1hz has a low oil level light as standard. If this has been abandoned as well as other failings, its a poor reflection on Toyota.

I have a '97 300tdi Disco and a '97 1hz Toyota trayback from new.
Both have been faultless.

llandro

Originally Posted by PhilipA

Not trying to hijack but on the subject of Jap diesels, I was told by Willy the Toyota (mainly) mechanic in Mataranka that there were several failures of the new Toyota V8 diesels caused by them running out of oil before the first service.
Nobody checks oil any more but apparently the V8 has a significant problem with oil usage. I was told somewhere else that Toyota had stopped selling them for a period while they investigated the problem.
The cockies who were there when I draining my tank didn't like the new V8 jobs and swore by the sixes.

Just to add to the thread, a friend has a 2003 ZD30 and sent us an email about 12 months ago that their auto had **** itself at West Wyalong and was going to cost them $4500. They tow a 22 footer and the car had about 120K on it. So not only the engines.
Regards Philip A

I was talking to the owners of a major 4WD park here in QLD (which Toyota just happens to be the major sponsor of) a couple of months ago and they were complaining about oil consumption in their new V8 cruiser utes. They mentioned a figure of about 2 liters every 5000km which while not great, would be within what a manufacturer would call 'normal'. I woudnt be happy with that on a new vehicle either.

Just to follow through with the outcome of this saga, I have orderd a new long motor from Nissan, arrives next week. The Crankcase pressure was unbelievable. I disconnected the breather tube from the rocker cover, at idle, 5 seconds with the thumb over it and it would blow a 'Hiss' of oil smoke and fumes. This was why the front crank seal started to rustproof the under side of the vehicle in a similar fashion to vac pump and oil cooler line leaks on a defender Tdi


The rest of the vehicle is fine, at less than 110K it has lots of life in it yet.

I will be fitting a pyrometer and boost gauge to it also.

JC

Originally Posted by justinc

Just to follow through with the outcome of this saga, I have orderd a new long motor from Nissan, arrives next week. The Crankcase pressure was unbelievable. I disconnected the breather tube from the rocker cover, at idle, 5 seconds with the thumb over it and it would blow a 'Hiss' of oil smoke and fumes. This was why the front crank seal started to rustproof the under side of the vehicle in a similar fashion to vac pump and oil cooler line leaks on a defender Tdi


The rest of the vehicle is fine, at less than 110K it has lots of life in it yet.

I will be fitting a pyrometer and boost gauge to it also.

JC

Funny how much blowby you get with a hole in a piston!

Originally Posted by rovercare

Funny how much blowby you get with a hole in a piston!

Too right! I had that on an Integrale a few years ago - blew the side out of a piston!!

Originally Posted by rovercare

Funny how much blowby you get with a hole in a piston!

Hasn't actually holed a piston yet, it still runs on all 4, and has reasonable power available. It is just SOOO close to meltdown that we're changing it out before it leaves him and his 20ft van stranded somewhere

The first problem was when he noticed a severe front seal leak...Nissans don't leak oil, unless . As I said earlier, as soon as you remove the filler cap, 'thar she blows!' even with the crankcase breather disconnected and venting to atmosphere, she can't cope with the blowby! While cranking, there is a definate 'chuff, chuff' out the filler cap, from 1 cylinder. I'm taking bets on it being number 4...

JC

JC