Nissan Problems

Our Nissan specialist, Jerry Newman, says the only timing chain failures he has had to repair on the Navara are because of poor maintenance, mostly because the oil hasn’t been changed, and the tensioner has failed leading to the failure of the guide and the chain. It’s vital to keep up the maintenance.

Our Nissan specialist Jerry Newman services a dozen or more turbo diesel Pathfinders and he hasn’t seen any with overheating problems. The only issues he has seen are related to the variable build quality coming out of the plant in Spain, and they’re usually rattles and squeaks etc.

It could be a stray current, or it could be that the concentration of glycol in the coolant is too low. There should be 30 percent glycol; if it’s too low the radiator can corrode. More likely it’s a stray current, probably caused by a bad earth on an accessory that’s been fitted to the vehicle, or it could be a bad earth the engine and the body.

It’s quite common for Patrol owners to turbocharge the 4.2-litre diesel, it gives the best bang for your buck of all the available performance enhancers available. You could fit a better exhaust, a chip, or a cold air intake, but they would only give you a modest improvement, whereas the turbo will give you a decent increase in performance.

The owner’s book will tell what oil you should be using, but it’s generally a high-grade gear oil, like 81-40 GL5.

There are systems available for the Navara and there are vehicle running well on LPG, but some specialists have reported problems getting the gas injection timing correct with the Nissan’s variable valve timing system. One uses a liquid injection system, which has the same injection timing as the Nissan’s petrol system along with the same combustion temperature, and that appears to work well. If you’re going to do it make sure you choose an experienced and competent installer, and perhaps consider the liquid injection option.

The door locks are a known problem on the Maxima and you might be able to get that fixed free by Nissan if you go to a Nissan dealer. The company has a service alert out on the problem and has been fixing cars free of charge. Otherwise the Maxima is a reliable, sturdy car with no serious mechanical issues.

For some reason it’s going into ‘limp home’ mode and the reason for it doing that needs to be found and fixed. You have clearly had the runaround from the dealer and Nissan, and you would appear to have been extremely patient, but it’s time you got nasty. You need to take control of the situation and demand that the car be fixed. Ask for a meeting with the dealer and a Nissan rep and request a plan of action they will undertake to fix the problem. If that fails use the powers you have under the new national consumer law to pursue Nissan. Don’t worry that Nissan’s warranty might have expired, because the company is still responsible for the product under the consumer law if it has sold you a car that is unfit for purpose or they have failed to fix a problem with it. I think you have a very good case against the company under the provisions of that law. Phone the ACCC on 1300 302 502 or go to www.accc.gov.au for more information on the law.

The concern is that ethanol attracts water and fuel system parts corrode as a consequence, so carmakers tend to be very conservative when making recommendations like are being asked to with E10. E5 fuel contains five percent ethanol, a very small amount, whereas E10 has 10 percent, still a small amount. I would run it on E10 if that were all that was available, and I really doubt you would have any problem with it.

Like it does with all of its models Nissan doesn’t recommend that you convert the Pathfinder to LPG, but that’s because it doesn’t want to carry the can for any problems that might arise because of the conversion. Aside from Nissan’s aversion to LPG there isn’t any real issue with converting the Pathfinder as long as you use an experienced and skilled converter and a recognized system. The system you will find you have to use is the more expensive vapour injection system, which does a good job but costs more. I would believe the Pathfinder would be a good car for your wife if she’s comfortable with the size, but it would be relatively heavy on petrol, and with the mileage I guess she could be doing it might not be viable to convert to LPG. I would consider the diesel.