OK this is happening on a regular basis here in Australia, this is a copy and paste from ExplorOz forum here in Aust.
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On 16th November my 2001 Nissan Patrol 3.0 litre engine failed. It had 109,123 km on the clock and was just 6 months out of the extended warranty. We were just 10 km from home, fully loaded with camper trailer in tow, and were on our way to Coral Bay for a week. We had just reached cruising speed when the engine went bang, car started shaking, and smoke galore was billowing out the back. Armed with knowledge gained from this forum, I had a fairly good idea what the problem was. After making a few changes to our holiday plans, I rang Val Davis to discuss what options we had. Because we live in the heart of “The Pilbara”, it took some time to evaluate where to send it. In the end we decided the best option, and surprisingly the cheapest, was to send it to Perth. Once in Perth it was compression tested, then stripped and assessed where they found a hole in no. 3 & 4 pistons. The initial offer of repair by Nissan Australia was fairly poor, they would supply new pistons, rings and gaskets, and I was to pay for labour. I am still in discussions with Nissan now trying and improve on this. Most of the discussions however have been with Val at Nissan Australia as I get the feeling the Nissan dealership doesn't really want to go into bat for me on this.
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the replies
Hi Bushmark,
Sorry to hear of your travails.
I suffered the 5th gear problem on the Nullarbor, but fortunately, I was till within the extended warranty, so Nissan came to the party. The 24-hour assist was partly useful, but would have come nowhere near covering for accommodation and fares if the gearbox had been fixed in Esperance or Kalgoorlie. In the end, I drove it back to Perth in 4th (with their permission).
Interesting to read an article in this weekend's Australian newspaper of Bracks talking of introducing "lemon" laws in Vic. Too long have we been made mushrooms by vehicle mfr's with respect to known design faults in vehicles. They went on to describe the laws in the US, with some states making it an offence to hide known faults from the public. That's certainly what's happening here. Nissan will never publicly admit the engine fault nor their gearbox 5th gear fault.
A mate recently bought a s/h troopy, of the era when they had a spline problem in the gearbox. He negotiated a purchase price which factored in the upgrading of the gearbox, so was happy with the deal. He rang Toyota to ask what price they would do the job for, but they disclaimed any knowledge of the fault, even tho they put out an upgrade kit. Similarly, Toyota never admitted to the oil transfer problem with the transfer case on earlier models. The b@stards will admit to nothing.
Stick with it, don't let up. Nissan have a moral responsibility to come to the party with a known fault and an engine that's done as few kms as yours, even if it is just out of warranty. Consumer affairs would be your next step.
Hope your holiday wasn't too screwed up.
Good luck
Gerry
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Hi Gerry
Interesting to read what you said about Brack introducing lemon Laws into Vic.
On my recent trip, which ended in my Patrol 3.0 litre blowing up, I punctured the side wall of a new Cooper A/T tyre (it had 2500km) on a gravel road near Mt Dare.
A friend from Canada said that if that happens in Canada or the USA it is regarded as a "road" and replaced free of charge. I still have the tyre - does anyone know if Cooper here have the same obligations or protection in Australia?
Be good if our laws protected the consumers here rather than allowing the manufacturers to hide behind "we were unaware of the problem" or it is your fault, the tyre shouldn't be on the road.
My 5th gear was in extended warranty when it "expired" and replaced under warranty.
Cheers
Ron.
It just goes to show all 4WDs have there problems, even Nissan.
Throw in 100s cruisers cracking front ends IFS and blowing front diffs, and that includes 79series too makes you think.
I'm not brand driven like some, i could quite easely buy another brand when it comes time to get rid of the Disco, we have even tossed around to idea of getting a Jeep as our next tourer.
So there you go food for thought.
I would not wish this on any 4wd owner.
Here's a link to the thread
http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/View.asp?ForumQID=39766&Page=%2FForum%2FDefault%2Easp%3Fs%3D0%26PN%3D1
Baz.