Nissan Problems

I assume you mean it’s higher than normal, because these were thirsty trucks to begin with. The 4.8-litre petrol six-cylinder engine could easily consume 20 litres per 100km at freeway speeds and a lot more around town or in the bush. Even the turbo-diesels were no sippers.

But a sudden jump in fuel consumption can often be traced back to either tuning or a glitch in part of the fuelling system. Make sure the car is serviced and has a clean air filter and new spark plugs (if it’s a petrol engine). You can also have the fuel-injection system checked to make sure you don’t have a stuck injector that is pouring fuel into the engine when it doesn’t need it.

If the engine is fit and healthy, you can then make sure the car doesn’t have a dragging brake or another mechanical problem that is – literally – dragging it down. Don’t ignore the other basics, either; under-inflated tyres can also cause high fuel consumption. And, have you fitted a roof rack lately? These can easily add a full litre per 100km to your overall consumption figures, just through wind-drag.

Let’s start with the black exhaust pipe. All cars that run on unleaded petrol have a sooty black exhaust. The soot will be thicker if the car isn’t tuned properly, but really, the blackness is just a by-product of burning ULP.

Your oil use of about a litre every 1500km is getting towards the top of what is acceptable. Even then, it’s more than this engine should consume. The fact is that all engines use some oil, but it’s usually not enough to require topping up between oil changes. But with your usage rate, you’d need to keep a close eye on the dipstick.

The oil is clearly going somewhere, so check on the ground under where the car is parked each night and look for a pool of oil that suggests the problem is an external leak rather than internal engine wear. From there, have a workshop conduct a compression and leak-down test. The results of this will tell you if the engine’s internal parts are worn and leading to the oil being consumed.

I’m afraid to say, David, that it sounds like you’ve prematurely ended the engine’s life. I’d say a blown head gasket is just the beginning of your woes here, and it’s likely you’ve `cooked’ the engine; a mechanic’s description for getting the engine so hot inside that the piston rings have lost tension (hence no compression) or parts of the engine have even melted internally, with obvious results. It’s also common for this type of thing to have the engine more or less weld itself together, at which point it won’t even turn over on the starter motor.

You might be lucky and simply have to replace the head gasket, but even then, you’d be wise to have the cylinder head checked for straightness. If the cylinder head is warped (as a result of the heat) then you might need a new one, at which point you might find the cost of repairs suddenly goes beyond the actual value of a 2006 X-Trail. The moral of the story is to keep an eye on the temperature gauge and not to ignore the first signs of the engine beginning to run hot. Pulling up to add water after the thing has overheated is a classic case of shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.

If you do wish to keep the car, my advice would be - once you’ve established the extent of the carnage - to find a good second-hand engine from a wrecked X-Trail and have that fitted. It would almost certainly be the cheaper option in the long run.

The very fact that you’re looking at two vehicles that fit into your budget but have travelled such vastly different distances should tell you all you need to know about the Nissan. Frankly, the Navara D22 and D40 don’t age well. In fact, many owners have found out the hard way that a Navara just can’t match the Toyota HiLux of this vintage for longevity and the ability to cop punishment over time.

I’m certainly not saying that the HiLux was perfect, but compared with the Navara’s litany of faults and problems that covered everything from rattling timing chains to coolant leaks and odd design elements such as the bottom of the radiator being lower than the lowest part of the chassis cross-member (not good for off-road work) the Toyota was much better. Granted the Navara you’re considering has very low mileage, so it should be okay for a while…just about till you hand it over to your son to break.

It sounds as though the vibration you’re experiencing is coming from the driveline. Perhaps it’s the engine but more likely it’s something in the transmission since the problem is worse when the car changes gear. That the problem occurs when climbing a grade suggests that it’s related to the engine being under load at which point the whole driveline – gearbox and driveshafts – are also loaded up.

It could be something within the transmission itself, a bent driveshaft or even something relatively simple like a worn CV joint. Carefully, and when it’s safe to do so, find a big, open area like a deserted car-park, turn the steering wheel all the way to the left and drive slowly in a tight circle. Now do the same on full right-hand lock. Can you hear any clinking or clunking noises? If you can, you have worn CV joints. If not, you need to dig deeper into the cause and that will require getting the car on a hoist and inspecting the driveline.

If it’s the front indicator globe that’s blown, you need to open the bonnet and work from inside the engine bay. The front indicator globe is held in a plastic component that forms part of the whole headlight assembly. The bit you need to find is right at the outer edge of the headlight assembly, right in the corner of the engine bay. Once you’ve located that (it will have wires coming out of it), a half clockwise twist will allow you to remove the plastic globe holder and change the globe.

If it’s a rear globe, you need to open the hatchback, remove the screws that secure the tail-light assembly and then slide the tail-light free of the car. Turning it over, you’ll see the wiring and some plastic clips that fasten the globe-holder to the whole assembly. By unclipping this holder, you can remove it from the rest of the tail-light and reveal the globes which can then be removed and replaced.

This model Navara was known for a couple of faults that could cause it to enter limp-home mode (which sounds like what’s happened given the engine is no longer making full power). The first was a batch of dud exhaust-gas temperature sensors which had a habit of dying young. If that happened, the engine would go into limp-home mode to avoid overheating (and damaging) the turbocharger, even though there was no actual problem beyond the sensor itself.

The other problem with the 2.5-litre turbo-diesel was that the primary timing chain was a single-row item that was, frankly, underdone and could stretch before the vehicle had covered even 80,000km. If that happened, the camshaft-position sensor would become confused and could trigger a limp-home condition. There’s a replacement timing chain that is actually double-row (stronger) that many owners fit as a solution.

There’s absolutely no correlation between body styles (hatchback versus sedan) and the propensity for leaking brake cylinders. The difference between your mum’s and your previous car and the Tiida is probably all down to the quality of the parts, not whether it’s a hatch or sedan.

Brake cylinders leak when the rubber seals inside them fail. But because the cylinder is hidden within the brake drum, a leak is often only found when the car is being serviced or inspected for a roadworthy certificate. And as you’ve found, that’s often too late to prevent the brake shoes becoming contaminated by the leaking brake fluid.

The best way to avoid leaking brake cylinders is to have the braking system flushed regularly. It’s also important to replace any leaking wheel cylinder with a good quality unit. I’m tipping the reason your cylinders failed the second time was because the original ones were replaced with cheapies (possibly sourced online) which simply weren’t as good as the Nissan originals. Always beware when buying replacement parts of any sort that they’re good quality, particularly when it comes to critical safety systems like brakes.