Nissan Problems

The default purchase for somebody looking for a mid-sized hybrid SUV is the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. But if that’s too big, there’s the Toyota Yaris Cross Hybrid, C-HR Hybrid and even the Corolla Cross Hybrid which sounds like the marketplace is getting crowded but is really just a reflection of the appetite right now for cars like these. And that’s the catch; the waiting times for a brand-new example of some of these cars is out to many months and even years. So your plan to shop second-hand makes plenty of sense, but don’t expect any bargains in a market currently being dominated by lots of demand and less supply.

Beyond the Toyota brand (which has been doing hybrids longer than just about anybody else) there’s also the Mazda CX-30, Subaru XV Hybrid, Haval Jolion Hybrid, Kia Niro, Subaru Forester Hybrid, Nissan Qashqai e-Power, MG HS, Honda HR-V e and more. For something a bit bigger, try the Kia Sorento or Hyundai Santa Fe hybrids. There are others out there, too, that are probably bigger or more expensive than you need, but it's very much a growing scene in the Australian marketplace.

This issue will always come down to the documented service history that each car comes with. A switched-on previous owner will not only have serviced the vehicle by the book, but will also have kept the relevant receipts as proof of this crucial work being done. We'd always choose the vehicle with a big wad of service receipts over a similar car with no (or less) evidence of scheduled maintenance.

Beyond that, the Nissan clearly has almost 50,000 fewer kilometres on its odometer, so all things being equal it probably nudges ahead at that point. In either case, the CVT transmission fitted to these cars is likely to be the major source of mechanical grief down the track. Both brands' CVT transmissions have been known to give trouble. If that bothers you, then perhaps the one to buy is the Outlander AWD with the turbo-diesel engine option. In that guise, the vehicle has a conventional automatic transmission rather than a CVT.

The engines in the 2014 X-Trail were tuned by Nissan to run perfectly on 91 RON unleaded petrol. That means that if you use the more expensive Premium ULP available (95 or 98 RON) you’ll basically be wasting money. That’s because an engine that isn’t tuned for the Premium brew won’t run any better or use less fuel on PULP.

The other bit of good news is that your vehicle is also compatible with ethanol-blended petrol. That means, you can fill up from the E5 or E10 pump at the service-station and maybe save a few cents per litre in the process.

Clutch life in most cars is determined by the type of driving you do and the type of driver you are. Cars that do a lot of urban running or towing will almost always have a shorter clutch life. Those used for highway journeys where the gears aren’t being changed as frequently tend to have longer clutch life.

But it’s also true that a driver who is gentle with the clutch and gearshift (as opposed to one who makes fast, hard changes) will also stretch the clutch’s lifespan.

I don’t think 100,000km out of a clutch is any reason to complain and suggests that you’re one of the gentle drivers out there. But before you commit to replacing the clutch, make sure that the slipping is not from poor clutch adjustment or oil on the clutch from a leaking engine seal, rather than a truly worn-out clutch. Of course, even if it is a worn oil seal (the rear-main seal is the most likely culprit) the gearbox and clutch must be removed to fix it, so a new clutch at 100,000km would be a good idea anyway to avoid having to remove all those components later for a clutch change.

There are plenty of brands around in the aftermarket that claim to offer better performance and durability. Stick with a known brand and perhaps contact your local four-wheel-drive club or off-road specialist for specific brand advice. Somebody in the club is bound to have a Navara with an upgraded clutch.

The good news is that there are local manufacturers that can provide a heavy-duty clutch for your vehicle, so staying local is probably a good idea if there are any issues or questions down the track. Even better news is that for the NP300 Navara, Nissan switched from a dual-mass to a single-mass flywheel. This means you can fit a heavy-duty clutch kit without having to replace the flywheel itself, saving money. Don't forget to closely check the condition of the flywheel, however, as it may require machining for the new clutch to work properly.

Towing and off-roading place immense loads on a clutch, and this is a common upgrade for those who use their vehicles in this way.

Honestly, this problem could be caused by anything from a transmission that is worn out to one that is simply low on fluid. It could even be caused by a bad earth somewhere on the car or something as simple as a blown fuse.

You need to take the vehicle to a workshop that can electronically scan the vehicle and hopefully turn up a fault code that will pin-point the problem. Without doing this, you're simply guessing at what the problem might be and will end up replacing parts you didn't need to.

I'd be ignoring the Nissan dealer in question and taking the car to an auto electrician. You might just find that the problem is something much simpler than all four windows needing replacement. Generic parts will probably not be an option, but wrecking yards are full of Tiidas with electric windows waiting to be fitted to other Tiidas.

Meantime, I'd be very suspicious of the Nissan dealer's quote. For a start, replacing the windows really shouldn't cost that much. Also, why do all four windows need replacing? Did they all fail together? If they did, it's far more likely the problem is with a fuse, relay, a switch or the body computer, rather than four individual assemblies failing in unison. If the dealer doesn't want to do the job (which is what the quote is telling me) they should just say so, and not come up with ridiculous quotes like this one.

Mileage is a very important factor in the retained value of a car like this. The more kilometres it has covered, the less it will be worth. There’s also a sort of kilometre-cliff over which a car will plummet in residual-value terms once it breaches that distance-covered.

Even though you’ve cared for the car and serviced it properly, most buyers will be a bit leery of a car like a Pulsar with so many kilometres on board. Even in otherwise good condition, it would probably struggle to fetch more than about $3000 in the current market.

Engines and transmissions need to operate across a wide range of temperatures, from zero (or lower) on a cold morning, to extremely hot (when towing a trailer across the Nullarbor in mid-summer). Sometimes these differing operating temperatures bring out different behaviours.

The problem of selecting gears is often caused by wear or a fault in the transmission’s valve body, or it could be something else within the gearbox such as a worn clutch-pack or band. On a simpler level, you could be looking at something as easy to fix as a mis-aligned or mal-adjusted selector cable. Another possibility is a low transmission fluid level. If this is the case, you need to find the source of the leak, not just top up the level, as a transmission is a sealed unit that shouldn’t need topping up.

From what I can see in the owners’ manual, the X-Trail has the ability to display the vehicle’s current speed as part of the trip computer’s read-out. By scrolling through the various pages offered by the computer, you should be able to find one that gives a readout of current and average speed.

Later model X-Trails had a proper digital speedometer, but the trip computer version is the best you’ll get in this model.