RIP Hightower, The Patriarch, whatever, (1989 - 2006)

Post by **Ezookiel** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:27 pm

The long constant fight to conquer the overheating problem in my Hi Roof Patrol appears to have come to an end, with the death of the vehicle.
Last night, working till Midnight we replaced the waterpump, and got her running sweet.
Did a 30Km test run this morning, then checked all water levels, and found them fine, and the temp never went over 25% the whole morning.
Decided to see if it had fixed the hill climbing problem.
Climbed Black Mountain, and the mountain ran out just as she got to 75% of the gauge, so turned and headed back down, which normally drops the temperature like a stone.
She stayed on 75%.
Got to the bottom still on 75% and decided to keep the airflow going by coasting home nice and easy.
Temp stayed at 75%. No sign of boiling though, no steam, no smoke, no engine noises.
Then there was a whistling sound. I started to pull over and a huge cloud of smoke appeared behind me, then engine died, and so did the electrics.
Popped the bonnet, and the engine was smoking from just above the exhaust manifold and a small column of smoke from the otherside between about the 3rd and 4th injector.
Smoke cleared about the time I was thinking it might be time to grab the fire extinquisher.
Had no choice but to call NRMA to get it towed home.
He came, checked it over, topped up radiator which was down about 9 litres (whole system holds 19 with the Aussie Desert Cooler)
Electrics seemed to have returned, engine turned over, but was definitely down at least one cylinder, the engine shook and shuddered with the unevenness of it.
Told to limp it the last 2kms home. Where it now looks destined to remain until I win the lottery, because it is extemelly unlikely that my $800 tax return is going to fix whatever has happened.
Well, at least I don't owe the bank any money on her, so one day I'll maybe own another 4by.

Post by **MissDrew** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:33 pm

V8 time

Post by **chimpboy** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:29 pm

Guts wrote:V8 time

For sure!

PS seriously, the engine is not the most expensive bit of a GQ... a second hand TB42 is maybe $500, plus some time and effort...

PPS Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!

Post by **Ezookiel** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:50 pm

This one's a diesel.

OK, so:

1. Do the head, the gasket, (and the injectors which I know need doing), and see if that's all that's wrong now, and may have been the original cause of the overheating anyway. Problem fixed. $1200 - $1500
2. Do the head and gasket and still have the overheating problem and be down up to $1500 dollars and still be no better off vehicle wise.
3. Source whole new engine, and have to turbo it again, down $5000 just for turbo on top of the cost of replacement engine (won't likely reuse the original turbo from this one as it's been suggested it's possible it's the cause of the problem)
4. Jury rig it to be workable, then ditch it on some unsuspecting sucker and start again. Which I can't bring myself to do, and would not likely get away with anyway unless the buyer was a total no-brainer.
5. Continue to cry into my cup of tea until I come up with a better solution to all the above

Post by **MissDrew** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:00 pm

Ezookiel wrote: 5. Continue to cry into my cup of tea until I come up with a better solution to all the above

The answer is V8 it now. Every person I have spoken to that has rebuilt a diesel has ended up wishing they had just dropped a V8 in it instead. Normally cheeper to do up front and allways ends up cheeper in the long run and allways has more power and allways sounds better

Post by **blackmav** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:04 pm

V 8

Straight gas. $2000 Gov rebate

Post by **Ezookiel** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:06 pm

Yeah, if you like V8's, which I don't. No offence, I understand those who do. It's just that I'm one of those weird people who love the purr of a diesel, which will turn my head everytime.
Just as some heads turn at the burble of a V8, and others at a doof-doof, and so on and so on.
To each their own. Not to mention that if I'm having trouble affording to fix this thing, how on earth would I put fuel in a V8

Post by **Emo** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:15 pm

V8 diesel.

Post by **pongo** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:20 pm

GO and have a talk to QEM in queenbeyan, Just dont tell him you don tlike the note of a V8. Hes a member of the vette club and is a king. And he doesnt charge the earth either.

Cheers

Post by **Beastmavster** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:21 pm

Sell turbo pick up engine for the money

Post by **toyotroop** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:21 pm

Are you mechanicaly minded? ie do the work yourself... save a few dollars, get a mate involved and have a laugh and a few brews.. ps know what you mean about diesels

Me and my old man ended up striping my 2h at a quarter the cost, plus a couple of weekends spent with my dad.

Post by **Ezookiel** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:30 pm

Yeah, we'll do a lot of the work ourselves. I know JS about engines, but a mate has been guiding me through a lot of the work as he shows me how to do things. Like last night with us both being up till Midnight under 4x 500w halogens (man those things can pump out some heat, felt like I should be putting on sun tan lotion) putting the new water pump in.

The whole purpose has been to learn how to do more for myself, and this is just another opportunity. I sure start freaking when he starts madly undoing dozens of hoses/pipes/wires and I start wondering how many I'll forget to do back up or connect up to the wrong places though

Post by **sudso** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 2:42 am

The whole purpose has been to learn how to do more for myself, and this is just another opportunity. I sure start freaking when he starts madly undoing dozens of hoses/pipes/wires and I start wondering how many I'll forget to do back up or connect up to the wrong places though

And your engine died after this?

Post by **Zute** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 3:11 am

Low k Jap import turbo motor.

Post by **Ezookiel** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 6:33 am

Zute wrote:Low k Jap import turbo motor.

Yep, except that the turbo was added afterwards.

In the cold light of day I feel a little less disheartened.
Will be doing the head if for no other reason than to learn how to do one.

Yes the engine did still run after undoing all the hoses etc. Don't know if it's the case on every car, but the guy showing me how to do the water pump took the radiator completely out to get to the water pump, so lots of hoses etc to undo, with lots of pretty green water going everywhere, plus the aftermarket cyclopac airfilter runs a monster hose right across the edge of the radiator so that also had to be undone. Nothing really drastic unless you're a total newb to it all like me, then it seems pretty daunting.
But we did manage to put them all back where they came from etc. etc.
Probably a bit like for some people when I start dismantling the internals of their computers, with cards, and wires, and metal boxes everywhere and I start unplugging drives, and cards, etc. they look at me and wonder how the hell I learned to do all that stuff. Ditto to those who can do engines. But I hope soon to be able to do both.

Post by **Wendle** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:04 am

351 clevo on straight LPG. The LPG rebate will cover half your conversion costs.

I am helping a friend finish one off now, very neat swap.

Post by **blackmav** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:06 am

Wendle wrote:351 clevo on straight LPG. The LPG rebate will cover half your conversion costs.

I am helping a friend finish one off now, very neat swap.

TA DA

http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... hp?t=85598

Post by **CanberraMav** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:18 am

There is a diesel head on Ebay at the moment if your going down that path.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/GQ-Nissan-Patrol ... dZViewItem

I would be buying another GQ and wrecking it out to get the motor and your money back. Sounds like your truck has a few new goodies on it so it would make sense to keep the 4.2.

Source a Gu motor. That would be sweet. I think Mick Christie had a nice sounding one for sale not long ago?

Post by **blackmav** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:30 am

It would be nice if it was just the head.
Where did the water go? Out the exhaust, into the sump etc?
I had a head let go into the exhaust and shut it off before there was any smoke, lots of steam but no smoke

I would be expecting more damage due to the overheating.

Post by **chimpboy** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:41 pm

Surely it would take a huge cataclysm to do more than root the head on a solid sort of motor like this.

Post by **Ezookiel** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:19 pm

blackmav wrote:...Where did the water go? Out the exhaust, into the sump etc?....

Well, it sure didn't go into the sump, the sump is showing no signs whatsoever of water. It could have gone into the exhaust I spose.
Anyway, I'll get an expert to take a look at it, but now just have to work out how to get it to them.

Thanks for all the suggestions,

Oh, and I want to stick with diesel for the simple reason I intend in the near future to run biodiesel, which blows away even LPG for economy (provided you're not buying the biodiesel from a servo of course)

Post by **chimpboy** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 5:40 pm

http://www.pickles.com.au/servlet/Aucti ... =202023342

http://www.pickles.com.au/servlet/Aucti ... =502018818

http://www.pickles.com.au/servlet/Aucti ... =452014264

http://www.pickles.com.au/servlet/Aucti ... =202024437

http://www.pickles.com.au/servlet/Aucti ... =502024024

Post by **J Top** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 7:02 pm

possibly there was an air lock in your cooling system which prevented it from being filled completely. When doing cooling system work it pays to run the engine till the top hose heats up, this indicates that the thermostat has opened and water is circulating. Engines quite often take another litre or 3 then. Alot of Patrols in NZ have low water sensors fitted in the rad for an early warning of water loss.
One that got extremely hot I had to replace a colapsed piston from a partial seizure.
J Top

Post by **Red Rover** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:25 pm

I'd at least pull the head off and have a look at the damage. My GQ blew a piston as the piston was burnt out and pump heaps of oil. I know it wans't cooked, but after I pulled the head off damged was only to one piston, the rest looked fined and pulled out all the pistons and measured up the bores and everything seemed in spec. Bought a secondhand piston and re-ringed the whole engine with new bearings. Also put a ridge remover on the block and put it back together and turboed it and it's still running strong after nearly two and a bit years. I'd have a look first at the damage. All conversions cost more than you expect. I fixed mine for less than a grand.

Post by **dirtyGQ** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:48 pm

i with you on the diesel thing mate, love the torque down low etc. the bottom end rebuild kit with cylinder sleaves etc will cost you about $1300. the head and gasket $600 minimum and the injectors exchange $600 ,plus $2000 plus+ for the injector pump and $600 for radiator add hoses too and getting sleeves pressed in by enginge rebuild workshop.
I blew 2 years ago and am glad every day i did not go v8 i have an f250 v8 and not happy with that off road . buy a low km second hand if your needs a full rebuild.

Post by **mudmacaca** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:36 pm

Just a little tip if your unsure where the hoses go invest in a paint penor a bottle of liquid paper and put some marks on bits.
If you can build a computer you can build and engine they are both like macarno sets one has wires and plugs and little screws the other has wires plugs hoses and bigger screws(bolts).
Now that this one is stuffed may as well have a go and learn somthing. Thats what I did with my computer.
Next diesel you get insall a overheat alarm its very easy
Good luck ezookiel

Post by **Woop** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 1:33 am

Remove the Cyl head and have a look. TD 42, although very heavy, is easy to work on and rebuild. The hardest bit is replacing the camshaft bearings if they need it. When restarting after refill, leave radiator cap off and wait for coolant level to go down as thermostat opens then top up.

Nick

Post by **Ezookiel** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:15 am

Just a note:
There was no thermostat in this one. It was one of the things we tested as part of trying to solve the overheating, so filling it, then running it, then filling it while running it, should have meant it was completely full provided something wasn't blocked elsewhere.

Post by **juscruisin** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 1:24 pm

I had a mysterious overheating problem, too. Found & fixed several issues to no avail. Became apparent that the rings were stuffed. New pistons, rings, big end bearings, injectors and a hone and no more overheating problem.

I don't know how many Ks are on your patrol, but if they're getting up there and you have just installed a turbo, you may be looking at the same sort of overhaul. I would be wary of only doing the head as a nice tight head can put additional stress on worn pistons & rings.

I suspect the problem will become apparent once you get the head off.

Yes, the sound of a turbo-diesel can be right up there with a V8.

Post by **chimpboy** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 3:38 pm

As others are saying, OFF WITH ITS HEAD. Then you can make a plan with more info.

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RIP Hightower, The Patriarch, whatever, (1989 - 2006)

RIP Hightower, The Patriarch, whatever, (1989 - 2006)

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