Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi Guys after putting on 33"Muds onto the 98' 4500 its killing me on pulling power with the XCape. I've had it at the dyno tuners twice for pinging at 3200rpm -its a lot better but still pings under heavy load.

I've heard with the chip I have I can fit a 7th injector in the intake somewhere so if this can eliminate the pinging I can rev the motor to peak torque then I will be happy... if not then I really need to look at doing something - maybe sell and buy the 4.8?

I struggle to see how adding more fuel can prevent pinging. As far as I know this is generally only used on aftermarket turbo installations?

Retard the distributor by 5 degrees and see if that helps.

Which Octane petrol do you put in your Patrol ?
I was driving oom Kobus' [Herrie op Safari] 4.5 down to Richtersveldt and it was also pinging 'erg' around 3 000
At and Springbok they only had 95 octane [oom Kobus always put 93]
Within 20 - 30 Km later I could feel the performance had improved and by the time we climbed Aninous Pass the pinging was gone.

Peter Connan wrote:I struggle to see how adding more fuel can prevent pinging. As far as I know this is generally only used on aftermarket turbo installations?

Retard the distributor by 5 degrees and see if that helps.

I agree totally,
detonation is a combination of timing & octane problems - either you need to retard the timing or up the octane to find the sweet spot.

I would suggest you check that the Knock sensor is connected and is working correctly..
When people service the vehicle and replacing sparkplugs they break the wire where it plugs in at the wiring harness

What everyone above said and remove the chip........... There are various threads on pinging 4.5's dating back almost 10 years and the 3 main causes are -

1. Octane
2. Timing that has been advanced too far - As yours has a chip it has obviously been to a tuning house and the easiest way to find power and economy on the 4.5 is to advance the timing. It is fine under normal conditions but as soon as you put it under load it will ping.
3. Remove the chip - The chip does nothing for our old school pushrod motors other than cause it to ping under load. That is why the tuning houses advance the timing so they can show some power gains as they actually got nothing from the chip.

Another reason for lack of power is the fuel pump that no longer gives the required pressure. Has previously been discussed in detail but get Graham to send you the correct one. Even Nissan supplies the wrong one.

And then finally replace the PCV valve which you can get from Nissan for about R 400.

And if it is still sluggish check the compression. Mine had a stage 2 upgrade done by a tuning house in 2002 and in 2016 blew the head gasket between cylinders as they had installed an aftermarket one. Took 4 000 km to work out what was wrong as it did not overheat and only lost 6 kw.

Thanks for the advice guys I almost got a 4.8 but missed it by a whisker... I'm off to work for a few weeks then I will get hold of Francois here in Capetown and see what he can find. Pump was replaced by the tuner, just hope with the right pump.

David M wrote:What everyone above said and remove the chip........... There are various threads on pinging 4.5's dating back almost 10 years and the 3 main causes are -

1. Octane
2. Timing that has been advanced too far - As yours has a chip it has obviously been to a tuning house and the easiest way to find power and economy on the 4.5 is to advance the timing. It is fine under normal conditions but as soon as you put it under load it will ping.
3. Remove the chip - The chip does nothing for our old school pushrod motors other than cause it to ping under load. That is why the tuning houses advance the timing so they can show some power gains as they actually got nothing from the chip.

Another reason for lack of power is the fuel pump that no longer gives the required pressure. Has previously been discussed in detail but get Graham to send you the correct one. Even Nissan supplies the wrong one.

And then finally replace the PCV valve which you can get from Nissan for about R 400.

And if it is still sluggish check the compression. Mine had a stage 2 upgrade done by a tuning house in 2002 and in 2016 blew the head gasket between cylinders as they had installed an aftermarket one. Took 4 000 km to work out what was wrong as it did not overheat and only lost 6 kw.

David maybe you should entice him with one of those aircleaners to enhance his power....

Goeie dag
Retard die camtiming! Dis al wat gaan help. Jy gaan dan inboet met lae rpm torque en gain vanaf 3500 rpm. Dit sal die ping uitsort punt
Die krag wat jy lae rpm verloor is nie so baie sodat jy gaan sukkel met wegtrek of bulte in 1ste rat nie. Jy gaan so 10 nm weggooi onder en dit bykry bo.
Ongelukkig suffer daai engines met ons octaan brandstof. Hulle was ontwerpmet hoer brandstof octaan...
Retard die cam met 3 tot 4 grade. Jy gaan n sprokket moet modify vir dit, maar die moeite werd.
Groete
Frans