2000 ZD30 blowing blue smoke

[happygu]

Sooooooo......

Got my engine replaced. Drove August -> November, then on the freeway at 100km/h, car loses power and starts making a pretty loud noise. Pulled over.
Sounded like bottom end noise (very very loud banging at idle). Turned it off and got it towed back to the engine builder.

So the engine builder looks at it, and turns out the crank broke in half. He said it was because the guys who fitted the engine didn't fit the clutch properly. He fixed it for free anyway. I got him to put in a new clutch at the same time.

Fast forward to Australia Day weekend. Drove to Albury and back. Car didn't miss a beat. Next morning, went to drive it, and car started making same noise as before - towed to engine builder again. Another broken crank. He tried to blame my driving style (which kind of pissed me off, but whatever), anyway, changed the whole bottom end. Hoping it was a dodgy block with a crank journal misaligned. He replaced it again for free....hopefully it's done and dusted now. Biggest issue is I want to do a Simpson trip - I'm not sure I have confidence in the car at this stage to do that. If I broke a crank in the middle of The Simpson, I'd be up for a truckload of cash.....

That is definitely out of the ordinary ..... don't usually hear of broken crankshafts on these

[gubigfish]

Sooooooo......

Got my engine replaced. Drove August -> November, then on the freeway at 100km/h, car loses power and starts making a pretty loud noise. Pulled over.
Sounded like bottom end noise (very very loud banging at idle). Turned it off and got it towed back to the engine builder.

So the engine builder looks at it, and turns out the crank broke in half. He said it was because the guys who fitted the engine didn't fit the clutch properly. He fixed it for free anyway. I got him to put in a new clutch at the same time.

Fast forward to Australia Day weekend. Drove to Albury and back. Car didn't miss a beat. Next morning, went to drive it, and car started making same noise as before - towed to engine builder again. Another broken crank. He tried to blame my driving style (which kind of pissed me off, but whatever), anyway, changed the whole bottom end. Hoping it was a dodgy block with a crank journal misaligned. He replaced it again for free....hopefully it's done and dusted now. Biggest issue is I want to do a Simpson trip - I'm not sure I have confidence in the car at this stage to do that. If I broke a crank in the middle of The Simpson, I'd be up for a truckload of cash.....

Yeah I would probably look at some shorter journeys not too far away from towns if it goes bang again, hopefully its not because the engine builder has gone cheap on the parts used.

[mudski]

Fark! There's no way i would be going out in the middle of ship creek with that on my mind the whole time. A mate of mine had his grenade drop it pin not far from Alice. 4k later his Patrol was back in Melbourne.

Sent from my GT-N7105T using Tapatalk

[pjhsv]

Fark! There's no way i would be going out in the middle of ship creek with that on my mind the whole time. A mate of mine had his grenade drop it pin not far from Alice. 4k later his Patrol was back in Melbourne.

Sent from my GT-N7105T using Tapatalk

I'll drive it around for a while - probably Simpson in 2018, so by that time I'll have either thrown this thing off a cliff, or developed confidence that it'll be okay. Ahh well, no matter what happens, it's only a car.

[mudski]

I'll drive it around for a while - probably Simpson in 2018, so by that time I'll have either thrown this thing off a cliff, or developed confidence that it'll be okay. Ahh well, no matter what happens, it's only a car.

Yes it is only a car. But you dont want that car to leave you stranded.

[pjhsv]

So a well overdue update.

Car broke down (again!).
As soon as it broke down, I told my wife "Don't care what the issue is, I'm getting rid of it. If it's cheap, I'll fix it and sell it, if it's serious, I'll sell it as is".

Took it to a mechanic who said without pulling it apart, he's guessing, but he suspects another broken crankshaft. Spoke with the engine builder who made up more excuses, and I just CBF anymore. I sold it dirt cheap, just to get rid of it.

Went and bought myself a new Triton Exceed. Sure, it's not as capable as the Patrol, but there's a lot to be said for getting in, driving somewhere (anywhere!), and not even having to worry about reliability. I'd happily drive it to Perth tomorrow without a second thought. Reliability is more important to me at this stage than offroad capability. Have had a few things come up in the interim, but may do the Simpson next year

[Rossco]

Far out that sounds like the worst run of luck ever and pretty weird don't think ever heard of those motors breaking cranks. Best of luck with the Triton hope that treats you better. .

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk