Comments 03 - 77k km - Quest for a patrolie

[Peter Connan]

Dieselfan I think that chassis has been straightened. Also, while I have put two Patrols into low range, they were both very easy to get into low with the correct action. You do know that you have to push the lever down to get from high to low and from low to high? If you did push it down and it is difficult, I would be worried. Also, you would probably find it almost impossible to get Nissan to honour any warranty with that service history.

If you are still interested, I would definately have the wheel alignment checked to see if the chassis is straight, and the price must come down a lot.

[Sias]

There are two other 4.8 GRX's on Gumtree today...

[dieselfan]

Thanks. Although this is the first Patrol I've ever driven something don't know what just didn't feel right. I saw the address of the previous owner, I suspect the reason the LR was stiff was it was never used? After a few tries it did ease up.

BUT is it normal for me to have to reverse, go forward and reverse to get difflock engaged? It was flashing for most the time. Then when engaged I had to "rock" for a while to get it off eventually reversing 3m and then forward go it "out".

As it was with my cell, the underbody pics are blurry , there were paint marks like that around the back right too but not back left.

[Peter Connan]

Diesefan the diff will only lock when the dog teeth line up, thus after switching the switch on you have to turn one of the rear wheels more than the other. The best way of doing this is to drive with the steering turned somewhat (1/2 a turn or so). It should then engage within say ten metres or less. When disengaging, the dog is probably under load, and needs to be relaxed. Again the best way to do it is to turn slightly, but now you may not know which side it is loaded to, so you may need to turn one way for a couple of yards, and if it doesn't disconnetc, turn the other way.

If you miscalculate an obstacle and don't have room for this procedure, just switch on the difflock and start the obstacle gently, trying to prevent wheelspin by being gentle with the throttle until the diff lock has engaged.

If the above doesn't work, the problem is probably with the difflock solenoid. It is fitted in the engine bay on the firewall, quite high up on the passenger side. The inputs are all on the passenger side (there should be a pipe splitting into two just before the solenoid) and the outputs point forward. If you unplug the two output pipes with the engine running, you should be able to hear the switch sucking, and using your finger you should feel suction at one of the two pipes. Switching the difflock on should cause the suction to move to the other pipe.