Nissan Problems

The bottom line here is that even if the vehicle was incredibly cheap, you might find it’s a false economy once you have to start making repairs. Regardless of what make or model four-wheel-drive you’re looking at, the first thing to do is determine how it’s been used and how it’s been serviced. Check the service handbook for signs that correct maintenance has been performed, and try to gauge how much off-road work it’s done. Any example with mud tyres and a winch can be assumed to have led a hard life.

On a model-specific basis, this was not Nissan’s finest hour in turbo-diesel engines. The 2.5-litre four-cylinder diesel is notorious for suffering stretched and failed timing chains. And repairing that could easily be more than the value of a 300,000km example. EGR (exhaust gas recirculation, part of the emissions-control equipment) coolers can also fail expensively. There are better choices, to be honest.

In conventional automatic transmissions, a delay when selecting gears (often reverse) indicates worn internals and the need for a rebuild. Your Nissan is fitted with a CVT transmission rather than a conventional auto, but it still operates on the basis of hydraulic control. Which means that the problem could still be one of internal wear. A transmission specialist is likely to be your best point of contact for this problem.

The first thing to do, though, is check the level of fluid in the transmission. A level that is low can mean delays when selecting gears and even slipping of the transmission under load. However, if the level is low, there must be a leak somewhere as these are sealed systems and should not require regular topping up.

The Nissan Z originally debuted as the Nissan Fairlady Z, or Datsun 240Z in some markets, in October 1969.

Fan belts and other rubber drive belts can squeak or squeal if they’re not correctly adjusted for tension. Usually, a too-loose belt will be the cause, and to fix it, you need to slacken off the adjuster and tighten the belt to the correct tension.

In some cases, though, you may find the noise is coming from a partially seized or worn bearing in one of the pulleys. You could try a little squirt of penetrating fluid on the bearings to see if that makes the noise go away. If the bearing is really worn, however, it will need to be replaced.

Sometimes the noise will be caused by coolant or water getting on to the rubber belt. Check the radiator and its hoses for leaks that could be allowing fluid on to the rubber and making it squeal.

This is a very contentious question and depending on who you talk to, you’ll get a bunch of different answers. Overall, it seems that Navara D22s from about 2007 to 2010 did, in fact, have a DPF fitted as standard. But only if they had an automatic transmission; manual versions don’t seem to have been fitted with a DPF. Why? Who knows.

In any case, the definitive answer can be obtained by looking under your vehicle. The DPF will appear as a large cannister, mounted next to the chassis rail, just behind the transmission and is part of the exhaust system.

I’d be interested to know what makes you think the dealer who delivered your brand-new car has changed the tyres. Were they showing signs of wear? Did they make the car handle or ride strangely? Did they just not look 'right’?

I can’t imagine any dealership would be stupid enough to fit partly worn tyres on a brand-new car. You bought a new car, it should come with new tyres. Simple as that, and anything else is pretty shifty to say the least. The dealer might have switched to another set of brand-new tyres if one or more of the originals was damaged, but that’s not what you’ve suggested here. I’d definitely be taking it up with Nissan Australia’s customer service division as selling a brand-new car with second-hand tyres just seems crazy. Not to mention legally questionable.

If it’s simply the case that the tyres’ tread didn’t look brand-new, then the 26km it’s already covered could explain that by taking the shine off the tread. That, and the fact that the sidewalls were probably still very shiny (dealerships love tyre-shine products) could make the treads look worn when they really weren’t.

The faulty tyre-pressure monitoring system is a separate issue and can be fixed by replacing the dud parts. This is a simple warranty claim, and even though tyres are generally not covered in a new-car warranty, selling a brand-new car without brand-new tyres is a new one for me. If it really did happen, you’d be well within your rights to demand brand-new tyres.

You could be dealing with a broken or worn clutch that is not disengaging as it should. This would explain the notchy shifting. But the whining noise makes me think you could have a worn or dry throw-out bearing. This is part of the clutch that allows the clutch actuator to disengage the clutch while the engine is running. If it’s worn or it runs out of grease over time, it can start to make a shrill noise and can cause iffy shifting.

A car that continually breaks the same component time after time probably has a bigger problem than simply the part that keeps breaking. It sounds like you need to have the transmission and torque converter checked for alignment and correct interface. Any problem with the way they fit together could explain why an O-ring keeps failing. Continuing to replace the O-ring won’t fix a more complex problem.

Either that, or the mechanic who is changing the O-rings is making the same mistake over and over again and not using the correct lubrication or fitting procedure.

The last decade of dual-cab four-wheel-drive utes have emerged as the tow-vehicles of choice, and you see them everywhere filling roles exactly like the one you have planned. Popular models include the Ford Ranger you’ve nominated, Toyota HiLux, Mazda BT-50, VW Amarok, Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara and Isuzu D-Max. But there are also cheaper alternatives including makes like the South-Korean made Ssangyong and various Chinese brands like LDV and Great Wall.

Just make sure you know exactly how much you need to tow before making a decision as some of the cheaper models don’t have the same outright towing capacity and even if they do, some of them don’t have the engine performance to make towing as easy as it should be. For parts availability, the Toyota would be king in really remote areas, but any of the major brands are pretty well covered in Australia.

Meantime, don’t rule out ute-based wagons such as the Ford Everest, Isuzu MU-X, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Toyota Fortuna. These offer better ride comfort when unladen thanks to more sophisticated rear suspensions and most have as much or almost as much towing capacity as their ute brethren.

The check-engine light on any modern, fuel-injected car is there to let you know there’s something amiss with how something within the driveline is working. However, precisely what that thing is could be one (or more) of about a thousand things. The absolute best advice is to take the car to a workshop and have it electronically scanned. The onboard computer (which is what triggers the check-engine light) should have recorded what was at fault and should then be able to tell the workshop’s computer where to start looking.

Until you have this scan performed, you won’t have a clue what the problem is, and the causes could be anything from a dud oxygen sensor, to a stretched timing chain, and a dead spark plug wire to a blocked fuel-injector.