Patrollie motor radiator spook storie

[Bikechaser]

A year ago die Patrollie-motor went for its 105,000km service at the local Nissan dealer. Note, this not a dealer-bashing post. The Nelspruit Nissan dealer workshop team must be one of the most efficient and helpful teams I’ve come across.

Upon receiving the vehicle from the service I was informed the radiator reached the end of its life and couldn’t be repaired effectively. I was advised to replace it with a new unit for myriad of reasons which I double checked. The only issue was a radiator supplied by Nissan was priced in the excess of R12,000……. I did what any normal person would have done and priced a replacement unit at the local Silverton Radiator outlet, which came to R7,000 odd and promptly booked the vehicle for the transplant.
I had to leave the country at the time of the repairs to earn a living (and pay for the Patrollie`s repairs) and my Lady of Leisure (spouse) collected the vehicle from its repairs. Within one km of receiving Patrollie it refused to travel and came to a halt with the motor still running. I received a SMS depicting her situation and demanding guidance regarding her next action.

The Nissan dealer was called from far-far away who promptly responded to our need and retrieved the vehicle to their workshop as a transmission fluid hose connecting the gearbox with the oil-cooler came undone. The oil-cooler is an integrated unit with the new radiator. Nissan connected the hose with bigger and stronger hose clamps and filled the transmission with oil. Die Patrollie-motor was back on the road again. This incident was relayed to the radiator repair shop and they repaid the costs incurred at Nissan.
A month later the Leisure Lady picked me up from Jhb airport and we drove back to the Lowveld when I noticed the gearbox changed “strangely”, and the tiptronic would not engage, prompting me to go straight to Nissan upon entering Nelspruit. They connected their magic faultfinder to die Patrollie-motor which indicated no-issue and the gearbox was set to factory settings. This done we were back to normal again.

Over the next few days I noticed Patrollie-motor would have normal gearshift when cold but once on normal operating temperatures the changes became sluggish again without the option of tiptronic – so back to Nissan – same as above. Although, we made new discovery, the gearbox temperature was running 135`C. Nissan’s technicians were upfront with me by explaining they were at a loss with my problem, for which I have a lot of appreciation. At least there were no raai-raai-riepa…… The gearbox needed the attention of a gearbox expert and advised me to the local gearbox repairman. On my way out of the workshop I priced a new box, just in case – to gauge what I am in for, if the worst case scenario pops its head – R120,000!!! I researched the gearbox operating temperature on the internet and found an Aussie site indicating the normal gearbox operating temperature should be in the vicinity of 85`C.

The gearbox people promptly wanted to strip out the box to be sent to Joburg. This was not an option in my books. I had too many auto gearboxes repaired/ reconditioned to know the result was never a happy one and prompted me to revisit experiences of owning amongst others, a troublesome automatic Ford Granada, a Chevrolet Caprice Classic and a Ford Sierra, all had gearbox issues. The caused me to rethink the possibility of the radiator people mixing the different type gearbox oils, and to revisit the hose which came off the radiator. I proposed an experiment to the gearbox man, to flush and drain the gearbox, analyze the oil to see if it might have overheated and/ mixed of different oils. To fit a separate oil cooler and fill with new oil according to factory spec, and assess the result. The friendly gearbox man quoted close R4k. R4k compared to R120k - a very reasonable difference, definitely worth an experiment.

The above experiment/ installation was done and the findings – 1) The new radiator oil-cooler had an internal block, zero circulation; 2) the oil did not change colour and no indication of overheating, 3) a mix of different gearbox oils - aka gearbox man.

Die Patrollie-motor was her old self again, all issues resolved. The Nelspruit Silverton radiator people became deaf and without understanding to my experience and I decided to cut my losses and walk away from the issue, too glad to come-off it so lightly – could have had the Nissan supplied radiator in the first place……….

[Herrie]

Glad you came right

[Russ Kellermann]

I go pale and vomit a little at the sound of this kinda thing. I'm very chuffed you sorted things out. Well done! now you can just enjoy your vehicle. Good stuff, thanks for sharing the story.

[davejones]

R120K ... vomitus maximus !!

Good work on rationale patrol-owner trouble-shooting

[Grant]

They deserve to be x&^$#$@#@@#