98 GU 2.8 turbo diesel, worthy rigs?

Have to agree with these blokes. Nothing wrong with the 2.8. They're a great motor and I'd go as far as calling it the baby 4.2. I hold it above the 2000-2004 3ltr, most definitely.

They're a slow poke on the road but it's to be expected when the little engine that could is pulling 2 tonne of car. In the bush though, it's a weapon. My 2.8 went everywhere the 4.2's did and also the 3ltr's and even the V8's. You can only go so far up a rocky hill :)

I only bought a 4.2td because I wanted to on road performance and towing power for the future. I personally wouldn't tow caravan with a 2.8 because I'd pull my hair out in how slow it'd be, but that's me. I'm not into towing caravans at 150km/h but I like to be able to take off on a hill before the lights turn red again! ;)

I really need to clean the old 2.8 up to sell it. Might even take it for a spin now! OH, and BTW.. the 2.8 turbo diesel sound fricken awesome! Sounds better than the 3ltr and 4.2 IMO. THe exhaust sound is just awesome. Loved driving in the bush with all 4 windows down so I could listen to it. Music to my ears!

hi everyone, just registered after doing some google on the 2.8lt TD engines. im looking at getting my hands on a patrol sometime in the first half of the year. heard a fair bit of grief has been had with the 3.0lt td engines so tending to stear clear of them and i believe the 4.2lt td are a little out of my price range. the thing i am curious to is how would a 2.8lt td go as far as beach driving and a bit of bush bashing? from reading the previous comments it appears it goes pretty well in low range, and then when the rpm's climb above 2k. is there anything i should look out for aswell with the 2.8lt? ive been a bit out of the 4WD loop last few years after owning a commodore but keen to get back into it. cheers for the help and the previous comments are really helpful!

Great feedback every1 cheers heaps! Very much appreciated input and i will be keepin my eyes peeled! Juz another thing tho, wot difference would fittin 35s, few inches of lift, sum rear draws, 3/4 roof rack and the usual bullbar winch spare tyre ect make to its overall performance? I do alot of beach fishing and sum moderate - difficult offroading so will all those extras make it a bit more heavy and not as good offroad?

Being an older car, you may find the bullbar and other stuff in the front will result in less airflow; therefore showing up any shortfalls in the cooling system.

35s will make it even slower on the take off, and make rock crawling / going slow harder. Consider a set of reduction gears in this case. Even 33s suffer in this way. Also your speedo will be out (going from 31in to 33s corrects the error, 35's will over correct it)

High revving stuff like sand and mud may manifest itself in a main oil seal leak.

It is often cheaper to buy a vehicle with the bullbar etc fitted.



(don't mean to sound all doom n gloom, love mine)

A guy that i know owned a 2.8 gu for 6 years and changed the head gasket 4 times, he rubbished the motor because of this issue. But who knows if he ever gave it a bit of a warm up in the mornings before he drove it like it was stolen to work. They sure do take off slow as others have posted as i gave one a run on the black top back in 1998 when they were new and i was in a 1993 hilux 4x4 2.8 TD and i had three and a half car lenghts on him for around a 1km till we had to stop for lights.

I keep mine pre warmed to at least 24-30c while parked, so it has less to warm up when driving.

Hello mate I've 2000 NP with RD 2,8 and love it one featrue to add is that it is lazy in comaparison with 4,2TD however the NP with 2,8 has about 500 kg less weight which may make a difference out of road