GU 4.5 Petrol with oil and coolant leaks - Seeking advice please

[Captain Slow]

Hello folks.

I'm looking at buying a 98 ST4500 Petrol, and it's got some issues shall we say.

Primarily i'm concerned about a coolant leak, and a lack of power problem.

The owner has been kind enough to let me take the vehicle to my house for a bit of a look over and after degreasing the crap out of the driver side of the engine, I can now see what looks like coolant slowly bubbling out from between the back of the block and the gearbox/sandwich plate, right next to where the starter is.

Here is a pic



The leak is right about in the middle of the picture between the two clean spots on the curve

Now i'm not too familiar with Patrols, but would I be right in assuming that it's most likely to be one of the rear welsh plugs behind the flywheel?

As I said, I had to clean alot of oil from the side of the motor. It seems to be pretty much only from the oil filter down, the filter head was fairly dry. I check the filter and it was tight, but is there anywhere else around there that would cause a leak. Is the filter block a common leak point?

And lastly, bearing in mind I have not driven a patrol of any kind before, this one definitely seems very sluggish and hesitates quite alot when accelerating. I suspect possibly a blocked catalytic converter however it sounds fairly solid when tapped with a hammer. Are there any other things that would cause lack luster performance that I can somewhat easily check before potentially buying this thing?

I realize i'm probably leaving this wide open for the whole petrol/diesel argument, but I just have to assume it's meant to have more power than it does, it really is feeble lol

Thanks in advance everyone, I know this is alot to throw out there for a first post.
I'm not afraid of a bit of work, but I'd like to know where I stand roughly before investing a pretty serious amount of time fixing all the little (and some big) things wrong with the car.

Ben

[Bob]

Clean the MAF Sensor and disconnect the Battery for half an hour and then check performancr

[BigRAWesty]

Welcome captain slow.
We ask all members to Jump over to the intros and introduce yourself.
Cheers

[spoonie]

Rocker cover gasket goes hard and oil will leak all over the place, mostly towards rear of eng, down back of eng and into bell housing. I think there is a welsh plug in the rear of the head, can see it with a small mirror. Would check dum things first for the water leak.

How many ks? What's the coolant look like in the radiator?

[Col.T]

G'day Captain,
guess by now you're a Patrolan or not.
If not intros won't matter much.
If still looking, 'though I've not had a petrol troll, I'd be hesitant about a unit that has the donk covered in grease and crap and a leak of any description oozing out from under it all.
Just me is all. Always do my own maintenance and look very suspiciously at what appears to be a poorly treated vehicle.
Service rec ords?????. Condition of oil and coolant?????
As Spoonie says, more detail required but looks very iffy to me even sight unseen
Regards
Col

[Captain Slow]

Hey guys, thanks for your responses so far I very much appreciate it.

I had to return the vehicle not long after my initial post, but i've yet to commit to the purchase.
I'm definitely thinking about going ahead though for reasons i'll outline.

The vehicle I believe is very cheap
The current owner probably has neglected it to a degree, they definitely don't believe in washing it ever!, but it has had a new exedy clutch done, along with dissy cap and rotor and quite a few other things in the last few years, but the previous and first owner was fastidious and there is a stack of paperwork to prove it. Allegedly it had a "new" engine put in at some point, but the current owner is still looking for the paperwork to prove it.

The engine sounds nice and quiet, but as I mentioned seems to really lack any punch. I forgot to check the obvious thing of a possible very blocked air filter when I had it. It just feels like it's strangled somehow. It's still possible the cat is blocked, even though there is no obvious rattles coming from it I guess too.

Since the coolant leak started a few months ago they have just topped it up with water so I could go for a test drive, but the rego ran out not long after the coolant leak started so it's been sitting for about 3 or 4 months. It is still slightly green though so not straight water.

Dash says 315,000 klms, but again i'm told it has a new engine at some point. They think the new one might have around 170,000 on it, but that means the original one failed with not alot of miles on it.

I've had a very busy last few days so haven't had a chance to get back to the seller. But I think i'm going to bite the bullet. I'd then just pull then engine, clean everything up, replace all the welsh plugs, hoses etc, and just make sure everything is good all round.


Ben

[Captain Slow]

Well I gone done did it

Time will tell how colossal a mistake might have been made lol

I'll snap some pictures and throw them up when I do my introductions.

Ben

[spoonie]

Was told by an old fitter once. "If it's leaving puddles on the ground fix it, if not let it go till it dose". Lol

[Warwick89]

All the best with the new rig mate, hope it turns out ok

Waz

[Captain Slow]

Hey folks,

I thought a bit of an update was in order just in case it helps anyone else down the track with similar problems.

Firstly the lack of power and the slight jerkiness during acceleration turned out to be a weak fuel pump. The old pump was slightly noisy but not overly so, I didn't realize how noisy it actually was until I fitted the new pump and it didn't even sound like it was running. So the new pump cured all the running problems. It's still not a rocket ship but it's a hell of a lot quicker than it was. I was hoping the fuel economy would improve a little but I'm not sure if it has just yet.

The oil leak near the oil filter turned out to be a large O-ring above the filter head, the part that has coolant running through it. There is 2 o-rings, a large one and a small one. I got the small one from an auto parts place, but the big one was a problem. Nissan wanted around $150 I believe to replace the whole head as of course they don't just sell the O-ring by itself
I just used some RTV and it's sealed up good and hasn't leaked since.

And the Coolant leak was one of the rear welsh plugs behind the fly wheel. It had a hefty hole in it and had filled up the whole cavity with water/rust/crud and was just slowly leaking out the side. So I cleaned it all up and replace all the other welsh plugs while I was at it.

So now it's going pretty good overall. I think it needs new swivel bearings as i've removed all the shims and there is still a slight shudder over bumps etc but it's not too bad. Might just be the bull bar shaking around though lol

I'd like to thank the various people and posts that have helped me along the way with the engine pull etc, this forum was very helpful, so thank you!

Ben

PS,
On a side note regarding fuel pumps.
I first purchased a Fuel Miser fuel pump, part number FPE-286. The pump dimensions were pretty right, but there appeared to be parts missing, although according to the parts catalog there was not.
The kit didn't come with the rubber base isolator, and the original one didn't fit. It had different power terminals. The pickup sock didn't sit low enough so you would never be able to use all the fuel in the tank. I could have probably macgyvered it in with some rubber mat and cable ties, but didn't want the hassle as you buy something designed for an application and it should fit! So I took it back and after a few day wait got a Goss pump (at $170, only $20 more than the fuel miser). This pump had everything needed and fitted straight in no problem.

My auto parts guy had the Fuel miser rep take their pump back to their HQ to work out what's what but I can't believe no one has inquired or complained about it before me.

Any way my advice is (for now at least) steer clear of the Fuel Miser brand Nissan Patrol 4.5 petrol fuel pump.