Decisions!

[dpetersen]

Gday all!
Been a while since I posted here, hope you all had a good easter break! Just after a bit of advice on what I should do with the patrol!
I currently have a gu3 wagon with a zd30 motor. Had it two and abit years, it had 270000ks on it when I got it and cracked the head around a month after I'd got it. Got it rebuilt in Melbourne, it cost me roughly $7000.
It currently has around 333000ks and is based just out of Alice Springs. I moved up here not long after the motor was rebuilt.
Anyway long story short - since the rebuild the car has been using oil, gradually getting worse and worse. I know I should have taken it back to the mechanic that rebuilt it but it's a bit hard being two states away!
Anyway, I service it every 5000 myself and every 10000 by my mechanic. Have tried different brands of oil and it makes no difference. Have obviously checked for leaks and can't find any. It's using roughly 1litre per 1000ks so it's pretty bad! Next option would be to pull the motor out but obviously would be pretty expensive!. Iv got a few ideas/options and would like to know yours thoughts.

1. Keep driving it and topping it up until it stops then get motor replaced.
2. Sell it before it stops and buy another gu.
3. Get motor fixed.
As a rough estimate I'd probably be looking at atleast $3000 in Alice just to get the motor out.
Not too sure on what a new or rebuilt zd di is worth to purchase. Would love to swap it for a td4.2 but think it would be more viable to sell before something goes wrong and then purchase a 4.2.
What are your thoughts?

[GQtdauto]

Not an expert but actually have the same GU as yours 2002 model and a GQ td4.2 , love to drive the GU when the wife lets me .
If it were me given your location I think I'd start looking for a replacement motor and keep topping it up with oil in the meantime , as for size of motor I like both but would do some research into the TD 4.2 conversion I'm sure there will be a thread on here somewhere about what's involved .

[mudnut]

Its not something less evil, like oil leaking into the intake from a seal on the turbo?

[johno90]

As above ^^ check that oil isnt being lost from the turbo and simple things like a faulty pcv valve will use that much oil easily!

[Bush Ranger]

Check the oil sender, as I had a Triton that had a dodgy sender and I was losing a heap of oil one moment, then not the next. Pain in the arse when you just had a service and the mechanics couldn`t find out why the oil was going.

[AB]

Are you seeing excessive blue smoke from exhaust?

As above, not hard to check for leaking out of the turbo. Even pop the hose off from the turbo compressor housing to IC whilst engine idling and visually inspect.

I was losing a litre in only a few hundred km's from a dodgy turbo.

[dpetersen]

Thanks guys, havnt checked the turbo at all. What's the best way to check it? I think the pcv valve is ok at my catch can is working, I get about 10-15mm of oil in it per 1000 roughly.

[threedogs]

Check those easy things first, then you'll know where you're at