Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi all

I've been looking at your forum for a while now and found it most informative. I'm a greenhorn when it comes to things mechanical, but I have a keen spirit to learn more. I've bought a second hand '96 4.2 SGL Petrol with about 200k on the clock. I basically use it as weekend toy, and try to extract as much fun from it as a Saturday or Sunday afternoon would allow. During the week, however the Trol takes a rest. I took it on a week long trip to the Ceres Karoo where it performed quite well - apart from a hole in the radiator inlet pipe which was repaired in the bush to the extent to bring me safely back home. It has a new pipe now. After this I noticed that it sometimes was hard to start after a week of rest. On examining a few things I found the carburettor to flood on a cold start. If it eventually then starts, there is a lot of smoke and a heavy smell of petrol. I took it to a mechanic who cleaned the carburettor. He also mentioned difficulty setting the timing right. We later found the distributor cap to have a crack, and after some difficulty getting the right part (Nissan claiming it to be an import and not being able to source the part) had that replaced. Now the timing is right, but cold starts (after a week of rest) is becoming close to impossible. When you open the large air filter bay, you can see the fuel gushing up and into the carburettor (manual choke closed, accelerator left alone) when you crank the engine. I have an idea that there is a problem with the seal between the float and the seat. How can this be confirmed? and fixed? I have also heard that normal carburettors don't like steep gradients. Would this be a problem for the TB42 carburettor - it is an off-road vehicle after all? Why doesn't this problem occur when you start it after you drove it the previous day? Would you guys recommend an after market carb like a Holley? Also would like to know if LPG conversions is done in SA. I saw a lot in Oz and was contemplating the viability here?

I'm looking forward to any advice.

Thanks, Louis

Hi Louis, since I had an electronic ignition fitted by replacing points and that other thingy my cold starts are something of the past, not that it really gets cold here but that surely helped a lot in that department. You can rebuild the carb ( carb replacement kit ) according to the mech who worked on my lorrie that is what they did, my lorrie became a bit jerky of late but that is now all sorted. You need to get it to a mech that knows carbs, have a look at some of my topics where TourdeFrans made some comments, if I had known how I would have created a link.

Welcome to the forum, you have an aweome lorrie there, gooi some pics

Shalom
Jules

Jules

Carb kit is what the mech suggested, only it seems a bit hard to find one. I'll ask him about electronic ignition as I don't know what that is and how it works. I'm thinking of trying ignition by matches... I saw your post on the jerky Troll and already forwarded that advice from TourdeFrans to the mech. They seemed very impressed with my jargon!

I've tried to attach a pic of our trip to Kagga Kamma - says something about a board attachment qouta. (qouta's everywhere)

Blessings
Louis

Hello Louis

I also have a 1996 4.2. Mine is Australian, so I have the very same parts issues with Nissan. On the Y60's you can usually tell from the VIN number where it came from. The first letter normally represents the country of manufacture.
I fitted a carb kit myself, sourced from Carburettor City, 171 Main Street, JHB, tel (011) 334 4433. It costs less than R1000.00 if I remember correctly.
The electronic Ignition Jules mentioned comes from Ignitor in Cape Town. (021) 786 1007 and costs about a grand. I have not fitted this yet, but there is another trick that might work: On the standard system there is a resistor in the coil circuit. It is an oblong white block about 100mm x 20mm x 20mm, and is mounted somewhere next to the coil. If this is there, try measuring the voltage on the coil when the car is idling. Measure the from the + low tension on the coil (one of the thin wires) to the battery earth pole. If the voltage is less than about 11v whith the car idling, you can get somebody to bridge out the resistor. The disadvantage of this is that the points will not last as long and will need to be adjusted more frequently.

The other thing I want to say is that mine cold-starts best if I pump the throttle twice before I start, but I only pull the choke out about 2/3 of the way.

regards
Peter

Peter you are correct the Ignitor is from Cape Town. That I had put within the first year I had my Patrol on advice from Freakazoid and offroad that is the best investment you can make my car idle's in low range on 200 rpm over obstacles I do not even need to put foot by the petrol pedaal, climbing steep hills 40degrees plus and vehicle at steep side angle not even an indication of possible stalling, hierdie LORRIE gaan net vorentoe

Some mech can see I look a bit stupid about cars but then through my EXTREMELY CLEVER FORUM FRIENDS I floor them everytime

Shalom
Jules

Peter

Thanks for the info - especially where I can find the parts. The guys at Nissan reckons my Trol was made in Germany - ja whol! No wonder the Jap is a bit confused in Africa. I'll definitely look into the bypassing trick once the flooding problem is sorted. Who knows, maybe I will also challenge some obstacles and gradients in the near future, like Jules. I believe your pumping the throttle and choke out at 2/3 is only in the after carb kit days. I'll pump and choke as you say and give some feedback...

Blessings
Louis

Some feedback so far: I am still waiting for the carb kit , but in the meantime the mech has suggested that I start the Patrol at least every second day and have it idle for a few minutes, just to keep everything wet I suppose. Been doing that now for two weeks and never had a starting problem since. He reckons the seat sealing rubber is worn, and when it becomes dry from standing for a week it doesn't seal. Whether he is right or not, I cant tell until I've opened the carb, but the advice seems to be working.

Blessings
Louis

Latest update on the flooding problem: My uncle - who used to be a mechanic visited recently. I told him about my problem and immediately started working on the carb (22:00 Sunday evening). Started taking the carb apart from the top. When he got the needle, he noticed a spring-loaded bracket that was wrongly attached to the float. He fixed that. Also noticed the float level being too high. He fixed that. Put everything back together, and started the engine. It started on the first turn. He said the timing was out. I doubted that because the original mech showed me the timing at exactly the recommended 15 degrees. He said the exhaust gas is too hot, and a straight six should say 'tik-tik-tik' Fiddled with the distributor, felt the exhaust gas until he was happy. The Patrol haven't sounded as creamy as this in a long time! Not running as hot now as well. Old school I tell you...

Blessings.

Louis please send your uncle here to Zoeloeland, my Troll is not idling smoothly and I am very scared to take it to anybody because everytime it goes in for something to be sorted out they manage to stuff up something else.

Shalom
Jules