Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

I will be driving Cape Town to Kenya (Malindi) this Year in my 2000 Patrol GRX 4.5 towning a Conquorer Comfort Trailer (heavy). The car has done km 220,000 so I am concerned that the high mileage and age may cause reliability issues along the way. Can anyone advise me on possible replacements/checkups to make before I leave? Am I mad to even try it?

You will not have any issues with the 4.5 - the only problem might be the clutch at about 250000km. The only thing you need to watch on the petrol Patrol is the fuel gauge.

Am I mad to even try it?

No.

I would like to recommend you carefully check all the water hoses?

Hi Chris

The 4.5 is a beast ( ) and I don’t think you will have any problems. You are not mad ( WWW ), we are for not joining you.

When leaving, make sure you know your car. Get a Service manual. Here is the link: http://www.filestube.com/e9e8f5ffb04d4b ... l-Y61.html. It is a PDF download of about 140MB. There are guys in Cape Town that can give it to you on a CD if you do not have the downloading capacity. You can maybe contact David on the forum

As Peter said, check you cooling system. Make sure everything is OK. Maybe flush the system and take the radiator to someone that can make sure everything is fine with it. Check the wheel bearings that everything is OK there and the Diff’s, transfer case and gearbox also. If the car has a full service history at Nissan, make extra sure that you check these. They do not do all the necessary checkups and take some shortcuts sometimes ( ). Also make sure the brake pads are in a good condition and the brake fluid too.

There are some forum members on you route to Kenya ( ). Patrol TZ is a forum member that lives in Tanzania. He can help if you run into trouble there. You can contact him before you leave. He works for the Nissan guys in Tanzania.

Remember to take lots of photos and post them on the forum.

Good luck on your trip.

Hi Chris,

You won't have a problem, did a trip in 2010 and 10 000Km further with no problems what so ever. I did not tow however.
You will see lots of patrols in Tanzania, so I don't think you will have any problems with spares.
Because this is a such a fantastic touring vehicle, you are not even worried about the fuel gauge!!

Enjoy the trip!!

Wilfred

Marino4x4 wrote:Hi Chris

When leaving, make sure you know your car. Get a Service manual. Here is the link: http://www.filestube.com/e9e8f5ffb04d4b ... l-Y61.html. It is a PDF download of about 140MB. There are guys in Cape Town that can give it to you on a CD if you do not have the downloading capacity. You can maybe contact David on the forum

Hi Marino

Where can I get the modern 4.8GRX auto manual (that sounds weird)...for safe keeping

Marino4x4 wrote:If the car has a full service history at Nissan, make extra sure that you check these. They do not do all the necessary checkups and take some shortcuts sometimes ( ).
Good luck on your trip.

So where do you recommend a good service? Most of the guys I know all started off great until they got busy and used um help. Then they "managed" their staff...

make sure your wiskus is ok they tend to need replacing at 200000 ask peter and wilfret

Roy, I can give you the manual - I'm in Kempton.