GU 2.8 TD, is it any good?!?

[JLR]

gday

im looking at GU TD's - im after daily driving fuel economy plus high torque for offroading.

currently, the 2.8TD is the only TD in my price range (15k)

ideally i want to have the car for quite a few years, so i want something that will be worth while and i definately dont want to spend money on upgrades to a car that wont get me to where i want to go.

i plan to do weekend off roading in and around victoria, working my way up to steep hill climbs/descents, wet and dry and also some general camping/cruising around the country.

my first mods will be
- air lockers on the both diffs (front first, given funds)
- mud tyres
- bullbar and winch
- 2"-3" lift

this shud get me up and around most places im guessing, but im just wondering whether the 2.8TD has the ooooomph (power and torque) to get me there?!

are there any major problems with the 2.8TD , i have heard of the 3.0TD being a "time bomb" or "grenade", is there anything like this with the 2.8TD ?

some advice, (good or bad) on the 2.8TD would be kindly accepted

thanks
JLR

[89gqpatrol4x4]

Hi mate, I have heard of the head needs rebuilding after about 200,000. Not sure on economy but those I have spoken to who have them say they go everywhere all the others go you just need to feed it to it! Why not look at a already turboed GQ 4.2 Will last forever and good on fuel .

[grimace]

g'day champ, i have owned a couple of the 2.8 and had good and bad experiences. the first one i had was great and never missed a beat and the second one was a shocker and went through the whole head gasket thing which is a long story. as for the 2.8 they are a great motor but they need to be kept in the torque range otherwise they can be a bit sluggish and they don't mind higher revs than most deisels. a couple of things i would do first would be to upgrade radiator, 3 inch exhaust and keep an eye on the harmonic balancer as these have been known to work loose and also if you put bigger tyres reduction gears would be worth doing otherwise it will be very slow to get going.

gday

im looking at GU TD's - im after daily driving fuel economy plus high torque for offroading.

currently, the 2.8TD is the only TD in my price range (15k)

ideally i want to have the car for quite a few years, so i want something that will be worth while and i definately dont want to spend money on upgrades to a car that wont get me to where i want to go.

i plan to do weekend off roading in and around victoria, working my way up to steep hill climbs/descents, wet and dry and also some general camping/cruising around the country.

my first mods will be
- air lockers on the both diffs (front first, given funds)
- mud tyres
- bullbar and winch
- 2"-3" lift

this shud get me up and around most places im guessing, but im just wondering whether the 2.8TD has the ooooomph (power and torque) to get me there?!

are there any major problems with the 2.8TD , i have heard of the 3.0TD being a "time bomb" or "grenade", is there anything like this with the 2.8TD ?

some advice, (good or bad) on the 2.8TD would be kindly accepted

thanks
JLR

[threedogs]

$15 big ones could see you buy a very powerful 4.5 petrol Ti with change to do some mods.
PM BOB if you think of going down this road, A dual fuel 4.5 will have heaps of power for any High Country
sojourn. Bit thirsty on Petrol but driven sedately fuel figures would be 18/100ltrs I would think on the Hwy

[JLR]

thanks for the informative replies fellas.
i think i need to do some more research on whats gunna be best for me in the long run.
i will try weighing up what i can get within my price range and hopefully will have something in the near future !

Hi mate, I have heard of the head needs rebuilding after about 200,000. Not sure on economy but those I have spoken to who have them say they go everywhere all the others go you just need to feed it to it! Why not look at a already turboed GQ 4.2 Will last forever and good on fuel .

good suggestion mate but im after something a little newer.

[JLR]

$15 big ones could see you buy a very powerful 4.5 petrol Ti with change to do some mods.
PM BOB if you think of going down this road, A dual fuel 4.5 will have heaps of power for any High Country
sojourn. Bit thirsty on Petrol but driven sedately fuel figures would be 18/100ltrs I would think on the Hwy

i will look into the petrol a bit more mate, thanks

[tracemul7]

We had a 2.8TD 1997 GQ and found it great. It was at 420,000km when we sold it earlier this year and still going strong!
Having recently upgraded to a 2006 3.0TD GU, it's certainly got a lot more power. Currently at 145,000km and not needed any major work yet (fingers crossed).

The fuel economy was about 12L/100km for both (mostly local driving) but on longer trips down to about 11L/100Km.

Can't comment on the Petrol models, as I have no experience with them.

My thoughts - if you can afford the extra and get a later model 3.0TD GU - if not, go for something with service history at regular intervals

[street76]

I have a 2.8TD and it is great and goes everywhere i have wanted to go so far.

The truck has 33" a/t with 2" lift, yes take off is very slow but once she gets going there is no difference especially in low range. As for the fuel economy I get around 13l/100.

Hope this helps.

[JLR]

I have a 2.8TD and it is great and goes everywhere i have wanted to go so far.

The truck has 33" a/t with 2" lift, yes take off is very slow but once she gets going there is no difference especially in low range. As for the fuel economy I get around 13l/100.

Hope this helps.

thanks mate

[JLR]

We had a 2.8TD 1997 GQ and found it great. It was at 420,000km when we sold it earlier this year and still going strong!
Having recently upgraded to a 2006 3.0TD GU, it's certainly got a lot more power. Currently at 145,000km and not needed any major work yet (fingers crossed).

The fuel economy was about 12L/100km for both (mostly local driving) but on longer trips down to about 11L/100Km.

Can't comment on the Petrol models, as I have no experience with them.

My thoughts - if you can afford the extra and get a later model 3.0TD GU - if not, go for something with service history at regular intervals

thanks for the info