Need some help

Hi,

First post here.....

I am considering buying a 2006 D22 S2 ST-R. 3.0Di Its done 40,000kms and looks mint. Its original as in no bling as yet.

However I have read many threads here and around about the failings in the zd30 engines.
How common is this occourance? after all its rare people post positives.
Are there any precautions that i need to take to avoid this aside from regular servicing?

I want the vehicle for around town, long runs and beach work. I need reliability. Last thing i want is something going wrong in the middle of nowhere.
Cheers

Welcome to the forum, the ZD30 powered Navara is a good vehicle, almost all of the problems you will read about with the ZD30 engine are in Patrols, not the Navara, the Navara doesn't run the variable vane turbo and the MAF sensor which is the main cause of ZD30s going bang. If you keep up with regular servicing you should have little problem with it.

Nissan's service interval is every 10,000kms for engine oil and filters, I feel this is a little long unless all you do is highway miles, if you intend on working the beaches which works engines pretty hard, and doing a lot of stop start driving you may want to consider oil changes at 5,000km intervals.

Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

funny seeing you here

have aread through the posts there is a bit to see.

some worth while mods to do.... catch can with filter. catch can with filter, these motors tend to blow a fair bit of oil out the breather which is not good.
big exhaust, especially main muffler as its horribly small.
disabling EGR and EGR butterfly helps, certainly makes the oil last longer. however some countries like aussie your not meant to disable emmision systems.

you have to remember the motor has been out for over 8 years now. if it wasn't for the early ones blowing holes in pistons it would have been a killer motor. i don't think anyone else had a direct injected motor with that much power in a small ute at that time.

one thing to watch is DO NOT use CG rated oil. you will proberly find most oils now are CF or CH/CI.

front diffs can be a bit weak. if your going to do heavy 4x4 work get a patrol.
rear springs sag really quick with heavy loads. good excuse for a 2" lift

Thanks for your help.

I have read everywhere about these motors blowing up on all sorts of forums.
But then i got to thinking no-ones going to write what a great motor this is with the same enthusiasm as a whinge. Human nature really

Its been a toss up over a Navara and a Hilux and honestly i forgot what a PITA buying a 2nd hand car is.

Anyway i think i am going to get the Navara i am looking at, they appeal more to my family somehow. I will then look at some of the mods suggested.

Thanks for your help hope that i can hang out here a bit more.

EDIT: Oh one more thing would you consider 70-80,000 kms a lot ?

70,000km's a lot, maybe. My 2006 STR has 110,000km's on it, keeps getting better with more km's.

I have a shock fail, 1 body mount bolt fell out. Thats it, I blame the body mount bolt on the mechanics not doing there job. The factory shocks are rubbish anyway. Good excuse to get some decent one's.

I love my STR, not going to upgrade anytime soon.

Dave.

the navara beats the pants off the older hiluxs. i doubt you will get D4 hilux for the same price as the navara.

all the ZD30's had a common fault, piston cooling related. that seams fixed by '03. current ones seam good tho patrol and terrano still have their problems due to the control systems. fortunatly the navara motor doesn't have that hassle.

i think a lot of problems also came about because mechanics where not up to job with these motors. they run a very high pressure injection pump which is horrible exspencive to repair, so you need to look after the fuel side of things. also the EGR plays hell with the oil so you can't go over 10,000km/h oils changes.
you cannot get away with the crap serviceing like you could with the older motors.
unfortunatly even the common rails are failing victim to poor quiity fuel.

check the service logs, if its been missing servicing run like hell

if they are looked after and a few faults fixed up the ZD30 are a good motor. after all they are still in production even after 8 years (patrol CRD).

the biggest cripes with them has been nissans head in the sand approach to faults and poor dealership customer service. when we get around to replaceing the navaras we will certainly been looking at others first.

Yeah all above comments I do agree with, I have an 02 D22, has done 115000 kms and going strong never had a problem with it, I have done all servicing myself including wheel bearings, clutch, power steering and brake fluids, all drive train fluids etc, with the engine oil have only ever used Penrite HPR15, manual states 10,000 did this only ONCE, and the oil was buggered, you can tell by rubbing it between fingers (old school) if it stains then its on the way out, change with filter every 5000. Fingers crossed hope it keeps going, if it breaks who cares, Ill just have to fix it...

Still looking.

Have decided on Navara as the ute for me d22 2005 onwards
The good ones however get snapped up very very quickly
Still i'm in no rush and will keep looking

As soon as i catch my bargain i'll post some photos.......

....just as i was to give up a beaut comes along
2006, 75km, mint throughout.
One very happy puppy
Thanks for the help.
Will post some pics when i get her dirty

Good to hear OTM. Start a members ride thread and add some pics, and then add more as you do mods to it.