d22 common issues and solving them

[Navd22yd25cr]

hey guys

ive recently bought a 2010 d22, 2.5L common rail....

just wondering on what to expect with the car, ive done a bit of research and found theyre a pretty good car and also found they have a few problems as well.

since ive bought the car from the nissan dealer, ive had my body mounts changed and engine mounts changed, been to the dealer 3 times to fix the knocking issues.

ive serviced the car myself as i have a bit of knowledge on how to change the oil, oil filters, air filter... but havent changed the fuel filter...and just done basic maintenances...

another issue im facing is now ive got smoke coming out of the back at 2000-3000 rpm and smoking people behind me ***although its good for those tailgaters!!!*** ... iver researched on the site and it seems its a common thing, so blocking the egr valve would be my first thing to do i guess since alot of people recommend doing it, ive done the ecu reset and followed the sequence but havent done the reset by taking off the terminal on the battery, i still have smoke coming out the back. my plans are to block the egr and install a catch can as well.

i will be planning to take the car offroad, driving on dunes and doing some 4x4 hill climbing....

Im curious to know what else am i expecting with the car, are there any hints or tips to prevent things going wrong, general check or other diy mod, things to clean regulary? like ive found with the egr mod, and catch as they stop the smoke and oil sludge build up

cheers guys,

 

[andrew96]

Is it blackish grey smoke? If so it's just soot from the Diesel engine, all of them do it.

 

[180degrees]

Off the top of my head, not much to go wrong, its basically a 20+ year old design so not many bugs, the body mounts have been an issue but nothing new ones don't fix, the timing chain can go so keep an ear out for rattles that shouldn't be there (its very rare though) like theres only a handful on this forum of hundreds maybe thousands of owners.

Nissan apparently have an ECU flash for the smoke problem to, hit them up for it.

 

[tony d22]

I have read here that Nissan have a software update to reduce the black smoke, mine goes in next week for them to have a look at.
Other than the smoke, being a little sluggish off the start, and a little rattly there's not much that goes wrong with them.
I think your just unlucky that all the mounts had to be changed, as for going to Nissan 3 times, that can happen for them to change a fuse, they're hopeless.

 

[Navd22yd25cr]

Is it blackish grey smoke? If so it's just soot from the Diesel engine, all of them do it.

yeah blackish grey smoke its not all the time its here and there but mainly taking off at lights. i know diesels are suppost to have a bit of smoke but im talking about a whole cloud when i take of from the lights, i felt heaps bad the other day, not really!! but had a guy on a bike tailgating me and reving his bike up my arse, lucky for him there was a radar and he didnt flog it past me but i thought i would give my car a bit of a rev and covered him with a black cloud!!....

 

[4x4 ST-R]

As well as the EGR blanking, you could add an additive to the oil. Some of the engine stop leak oils claim to reduce black smoke from diesels.

 

[d22dave]

had a guy on a bike tailgating me and reving his bike up my arse, lucky for him there was a radar and he didnt flog it past me but i thought i would give my car a bit of a rev and covered him with a black cloud!!....

gold

 

[Navd22yd25cr]

Hey guys

I ended up trying an additive, liquimoly I added 2 different addictive, 1 was tappet stop noise and engine oil resealer...

Liquimoly- Tappet stop noise
-Apparently!!! stops ticking noise from warn lifters/tappets cleans valves, guides and bores.
in my opinion after adding it notices it did make a differance, not much noise anymore and not as much smoke as before

Liquimoly- engine oil resealer
-Apparently!!! Rejuvenates dried out oil seals, orings, and valve stem seals prevents engine smoke.
bang!! No smoke I can say it worked like a treat for me,


I say apparently!!! because I don't want to say it works and then it doesn't but I can say I did notice changes after adding and they stopped the smoke bombs I drop after taking off at the lights.....

 

[happy john]

Don't forget do oil changes every 5000 not 10000 as the book says.

 

[4x4 ST-R]

Hey guys

I ended up trying an additive, liquimoly I added 2 different addictive, 1 was tappet stop noise and engine oil resealer...

Liquimoly- Tappet stop noise
-Apparently!!! stops ticking noise from warn lifters/tappets cleans valves, guides and bores.
in my opinion after adding it notices it did make a differance, not much noise anymore and not as much smoke as before

Liquimoly- engine oil resealer
-Apparently!!! Rejuvenates dried out oil seals, orings, and valve stem seals prevents engine smoke.
bang!! No smoke I can say it worked like a treat for me,

I say apparently!!! because I don't want to say it works and then it doesn't but I can say I did notice changes after adding and they stopped the smoke bombs I drop after taking off at the lights.....

Nice. My mates pootrol blows smoke too, il get him onto that

 

[houndour]

Don't forget do oil changes every 5000 not 10000 as the book says.

every 5k with semi-synthetic oil??? or still keep the 100% synthetic one??

 

[180degrees]

up to you, you can get 10L of penrite fully synthetic for like $90 should be enough for 2 changes, really if your not driving hard fully synthetic should last 10000km, just rub the oil between your fingers and look for soot and crap in it mine got changed like 5 months ago and is still clean as.

 

[Hodge]

Mines a 2010 Thai model too. Knock on wood, I have not had any major dramas, that's seen the car off the road for repairs. More so, there are some factory annoyances and flaws, and then there is the issues I've brought upon my self.
Issues I've had...
- Doors rattling on bumps, especially while turning corners, fixed by putting electrical tape around the strikers (U bolt things on the boddy). Seems common.
- Body mounts. Very common for Thai models. The nissan bloke last time acknowledged to me that they are an issue. They tightened mine up, only to return again weeks later. Fix? They need replacing. Warranty? Good luck.
- Smoke screen under a bit of foot. Also common. Mine decreased a lot after blanking the EGR.
- Loud-ish ticking noise for about a week after an oil change. Happens everytime. Have no idea whats causing it. Tried different oils, etc... Nissan thinks nothing of it. However I don't know anybody else that's had this happened to them. Fingers crossed it's not a major f'up in disguise.
- Power on take off? Haven't found a fix yet personally. Blanking the EGR helped a little bit since it makes the boost kick in a tad earlier apparently.
- Power in general. I had an exhaust fitted and it gave me a considerable power gain, nothing too drastic but just enough to help it cope with the load caused by mods, like tyres, weight etc... Personally I don't expect too much out of these 2.5's considering it's tugging around 2T of car around, and thats without any load or towing included.
- Suspension. Factory stuff is just horse manure. Whether you want a lift kit or not, it should be upgraded to something better.

That's just my take on the D22, from my experience so far, and I've owned the car for just over 2 years from new. Mine however has not been pushed, hasn't towed anything other than the servo moving trailer, and it hasn't really been into heavy off-roading. I like to think that it received a degree of mechanical sympathy. Had I been flogging it, maybe my above mentioned throughts could be diferent. Who knows. It's still in my opinion the best value for $ 4x4 ute on the market, extremely reliable.
Just my 2c.

 

[Navd22yd25cr]

Mines a 2010 Thai model too. Knock on wood, I have not had any major dramas, that's seen the car off the road for repairs. More so, there are some factory annoyances and flaws, and then there is the issues I've brought upon my self.
Issues I've had...
- Doors rattling on bumps, especially while turning corners, fixed by putting electrical tape around the strikers (U bolt things on the boddy). Seems common.
- Body mounts. Very common for Thai models. The nissan bloke last time acknowledged to me that they are an issue. They tightened mine up, only to return again weeks later. Fix? They need replacing. Warranty? Good luck.
- Smoke screen under a bit of foot. Also common. Mine decreased a lot after blanking the EGR.
- Loud-ish ticking noise for about a week after an oil change. Happens everytime. Have no idea whats causing it. Tried different oils, etc... Nissan thinks nothing of it. However I don't know anybody else that's had this happened to them. Fingers crossed it's not a major f'up in disguise.
- Power on take off? Haven't found a fix yet personally. Blanking the EGR helped a little bit since it makes the boost kick in a tad earlier apparently.
- Power in general. I had an exhaust fitted and it gave me a considerable power gain, nothing too drastic but just enough to help it cope with the load caused by mods, like tyres, weight etc... Personally I don't expect too much out of these 2.5's considering it's tugging around 2T of car around, and thats without any load or towing included.
- Suspension. Factory stuff is just horse manure. Whether you want a lift kit or not, it should be upgraded to something better.

That's just my take on the D22, from my experience so far, and I've owned the car for just over 2 years from new. Mine however has not been pushed, hasn't towed anything other than the servo moving trailer, and it hasn't really been into heavy off-roading. I like to think that it received a degree of mechanical sympathy. Had I been flogging it, maybe my above mentioned throughts could be diferent. Who knows. It's still in my opinion the best value for $ 4x4 ute on the market, extremely reliable.
Just my 2c.

Done the same to my doors as well with the tape. also got my body mounts changed under warrenty. got most of them changed 3 days after i bought the car...plus and engine mount after 3 days of having it back after the body mounts hahaha.

i think ive got the same ticking noise, when i first bought my car i had a ticking noise, thought it was sticking valves (mental blanks, forgot the name).. so i changed my oil and it wa fine for a bit them came back...

 

[180degrees]

do you guys use genuine nissan oil?

 

[Navd22yd25cr]

do you guys use genuine nissan oil?

genuine nissan oil? lol as in go to nissan and buy it?... nope

 

[robmacca]

do you guys use genuine nissan oil?

I use Penrite Full Synthetic engine oil and change it every 10k. When I recently changed it, the oil still looked pretty good. Rub it on your fingers and the oil doesn't leave any black sooty stuff on your fingers....

The Front suspension (Torsion Bars) on these D22's isn't something I really don't like and the whole Steering Stop squeak/knock that u get when turning and with suspension movement up/down while turning u can get some pretty worrying sounds, but apparently it's normal and a bit of grease on the steering stops fixes it for a little while, but still a crappy design....

 

[180degrees]

yea the torsion bars leave alot to be desired, for $28000 brand new though you can't expect a rolls royce though.

 

[Hodge]

I use Penrite Full Synthetic engine oil and change it every 10k. When I recently changed it, the oil still looked pretty good. Rub it on your fingers and the oil doesn't leave any black sooty stuff on your fingers....

I'll try Penrite personally next oil change. I also noticed that my oil, regardless of what I use, stays much cleaner, for longer after I blanked out the EGR.

The Front suspension (Torsion Bars) on these D22's isn't something I really don't like and the whole Steering Stop squeak/knock that u get when turning and with suspension movement up/down while turning u can get some pretty worrying sounds, but apparently it's normal and a bit of grease on the steering stops fixes it for a little while, but still a crappy design....

If this thing was coil sprung on the front at least, it would be my perfect 4x4. And I mean that. It's the only gripe I have with the car. But it's there, and it's the way they're built and nothing one can do about it. I personally bought the car and then somewhat got hooked into all the 4x4 stuff, and only THEN is when I met IFS/Torsion demons. Point of no return crossed.

 

[bods]

I use Penrite Full Synthetic engine oil and change it every 10k. When I recently changed it, the oil still looked pretty good. Rub it on your fingers and the oil doesn't leave any black sooty stuff on your fingers....

The Front suspension (Torsion Bars) on these D22's isn't something I really don't like and the whole Steering Stop squeak/knock that u get when turning and with suspension movement up/down while turning u can get some pretty worrying sounds, but apparently it's normal and a bit of grease on the steering stops fixes it for a little while, but still a crappy design....

The steering stop issue isn't to do with the torsion bar setup, it is because d22s run a steering box setup instead of rack and pinion like the d40s. If they had a steering rack then they wouldn't need the stops, but a steering box has no limiting stops inside it, if you disconnect the pitman arm from the box it will just keep turning forever.

The noise isn't a problem on the solid front end patrols, etc because the whole assembly moves, obviously, but the d22s being ifs they have to limit it somehow. It isn't a bad design as such, they are just limited with options because of the simpleness (if that's a word) of the steering system...

In saying that, at least we can fit steering dampers if you feel the need and you can do a bush mechanic fix if you bust something. Can't really do that if you break a steering rack...