Ezzlar
19th June 2025, 08:10 PM
... I don't really know what you from 'down under' would call us old worlders though. I hope it's not 'over the top' :wink:
Ok, here is what I am doing right now. My mate got the above mentioned vehicle with the zd30 engine and a blown #4 piston (what is a classic failure I understand). I'm helping him back on the road again and just doing my homework.
Of course it's not just about getting the car running but we want to make sure this doesn't happen again. Yes, and I did find this document (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/ZD30-Y61-Nissan-Patrol.pdf) already on here with loads, maybe even too many hints to why this happened.
First of all, we are on Ibiza, Balearic Islands. There is only one short piece of motorway on Ibiza where you are allowed to drive 100km/h (short as in 500m, the speed limit drops to 80km/h just as the motorway starts going down hill - shortly behind that you find the speed camera with the highest revenue in all of Spain). The failure occured when my mate went over to Mallorca, the next bigger island where there is a longer motorway where you are allowed 120km/h. The failure happened there (see page 9 on the linked pdf above).
Another factor would have been a well clogged up air filter. Strangely the air filter is quite sooty. This would be something from the engine as an old air filter here usually looks reddish grey from dry dust. The question is if this is something that happened after the failure. I don't understand that one yet.
Ok, I read a lot of stuff already and would like to fix as many things as possible at this time where the engine has been taken apart anyway. Oh, and I've got another bonus job. The car has been in a garage on Mallorca before. When they realised how much work it is they came back and said they can not proceed until August (there are far too few good garages here). When I received the car the cylinder head was already out, Camshafts, chain and sprockets already marked but I am not able to get a response with explanations from them how they did it. Also in order to remove the piston it appears they had to turn the engine away from the positions where the original markings were done. So I am trying to reconstruct how they worked.
My next steps are right now:
Remove the injection pump to send it in for remapping. For this I need to find out how to do this (hence I would like to grab the manual from here).
My mate would like to have all the pistons new as there might be some damage too. For the other pistons I need to remove the oil sump. Yeah, and I found out about the three hidden bolts behind the flywheel. So I am still trying to find the best way to get behind the flywheel. Right now it looks like taking the engine out or at least lift it away. I'm a bit juggeling with the tools I've got available. I've got an engine lifter but I doubt it will lift the engine high enough to take it out all the way.
There is plenty of small jobs to do for whenever I'm stuck. The bearing of the aux belt needs new, might get a new oil filter too, writing it all down because otherwise I would forget something - just a few examples.
Yesterday I removed the radiator to make some more space to work and of course to make sure I don't break that tiny connector off, the one that's impossible to repair.
So - enough for now. If anyone of you notices something where I've been thinking in the wrong direction please give me a shout. I'll go and grab that manual now. Thanks for making this great community!
Ok, here is what I am doing right now. My mate got the above mentioned vehicle with the zd30 engine and a blown #4 piston (what is a classic failure I understand). I'm helping him back on the road again and just doing my homework.
Of course it's not just about getting the car running but we want to make sure this doesn't happen again. Yes, and I did find this document (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/ZD30-Y61-Nissan-Patrol.pdf) already on here with loads, maybe even too many hints to why this happened.
First of all, we are on Ibiza, Balearic Islands. There is only one short piece of motorway on Ibiza where you are allowed to drive 100km/h (short as in 500m, the speed limit drops to 80km/h just as the motorway starts going down hill - shortly behind that you find the speed camera with the highest revenue in all of Spain). The failure occured when my mate went over to Mallorca, the next bigger island where there is a longer motorway where you are allowed 120km/h. The failure happened there (see page 9 on the linked pdf above).
Another factor would have been a well clogged up air filter. Strangely the air filter is quite sooty. This would be something from the engine as an old air filter here usually looks reddish grey from dry dust. The question is if this is something that happened after the failure. I don't understand that one yet.
Ok, I read a lot of stuff already and would like to fix as many things as possible at this time where the engine has been taken apart anyway. Oh, and I've got another bonus job. The car has been in a garage on Mallorca before. When they realised how much work it is they came back and said they can not proceed until August (there are far too few good garages here). When I received the car the cylinder head was already out, Camshafts, chain and sprockets already marked but I am not able to get a response with explanations from them how they did it. Also in order to remove the piston it appears they had to turn the engine away from the positions where the original markings were done. So I am trying to reconstruct how they worked.
My next steps are right now:
Remove the injection pump to send it in for remapping. For this I need to find out how to do this (hence I would like to grab the manual from here).
My mate would like to have all the pistons new as there might be some damage too. For the other pistons I need to remove the oil sump. Yeah, and I found out about the three hidden bolts behind the flywheel. So I am still trying to find the best way to get behind the flywheel. Right now it looks like taking the engine out or at least lift it away. I'm a bit juggeling with the tools I've got available. I've got an engine lifter but I doubt it will lift the engine high enough to take it out all the way.
There is plenty of small jobs to do for whenever I'm stuck. The bearing of the aux belt needs new, might get a new oil filter too, writing it all down because otherwise I would forget something - just a few examples.
Yesterday I removed the radiator to make some more space to work and of course to make sure I don't break that tiny connector off, the one that's impossible to repair.
So - enough for now. If anyone of you notices something where I've been thinking in the wrong direction please give me a shout. I'll go and grab that manual now. Thanks for making this great community!