Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hi Guys

I do a bit on the Suzi forum here, but I jst came back from a 4wd club meeting and found that one of our new members bought a new Nissan Navara 4 door six months ago. He has about 10,000 km on it.

In his first tip off road which just happened to be a basic off road driver training weekend under the guidance of an accredited trainer delivering a Nationally Accredited training course, he came down a bit hard and there was a bang. We don't do extreme stuff on a training course!

Turns out he destroyed a font diff (both Crown Wheel and Pinion). Tells us tonight, that Nissan has refused to honour the warranty.

What shoud he do?

TRY THE MVRIC ( MOTOR VEHICLE REPAIR INDUSTRY COUNCIL ) THEY HANDLE DISPUTES LIKE YOUR FRIENDS. I USED THEM AND THE COMPANIES HAVE TO DO WHAT THEY SAY, AND THEY ARE ON YOUR SIDE ASWELL. SUPPOSE BEING CAR OWNERS THEMSELVES!!!

HOPE THAT HELPS YOU AND YOUR MATE.

OTHERWISE,, BUY A TOYOTA AND DONT DRIVE YOUR 4X4 OFFROAD YOU NAUGHTY PEOPLE THATS NOT WHAT THEY ARE FOR!!!!!!!!!

Call Val Davis she is the guru at nissan - she apparently has final say.

. it appears thru all forums, that plenty of people recently have battled for warranty on nissans for one thing or other, without success...
A bloke with a GU Ute on EO did same gears in diff that died while just driving on road in flinders! No warranty, nothing.

Thanks for the info guys. Yes there were a number of suggestions at last nights club meeting to replace his rig with a Toyota or heaven forbid a Suzuki Vitara like mine!

The MVRIC is not an option because they won't do warranty work according to their web site.


Interesting that others have done the diff just drivin' along. Sounds like Nissan are trying to cover up a problem with Navara front diffs.

How on earth do they get past the Trade Practices Act where it states that goods must be of merchantable quality and fit for the purpose for which they were intended when purchased? Sounds like they are out of line to me.

did they tell you why they are dening the warrenty claim on the diff?? if not ask why would it not be covered if there are no signs of external damage causing it to break?

keep on them!!! we had a 18 month battle with them in regards to a timing chain noise on start up. ITS STANDARD they kept telling us. We got a new motor now and it doesnt make a sound on start up.

buy a toyota done a rear diff in my hilux 3 days later crusing around in the hilux

and toyota built this country

thanks rob

what model navara?

how did he break the diff? coming down a bit hard sounds like he bottomed it out and put a rock through the diff. in which case nissan won't touch it with a 20ft barge pole.

occording to one of the 4x4 recovery guys (who happens to be a nissan guy) they usually they break them gunning it in reverse. ie gone into a bit to a bit to big hole and trying to reverse it out.

Hey there. I am knew to this forum and the said d22 Navara owner.
Being only 6 months old and first time off road I am amazed at this.

It broke driving up a small hill and having lost traction on the front wheel I guess. Nissan have denied it on the basis of "shock Impact" being wheels losing traction or off the ground and the right amount of torque placed on the driveline as it gets traction as the wheel stops dead.
It can happen in sand.

Of course there is nothing in the owners manual saying not to spin the wheels and nothing in the warranty about not being covered.

That's about it Folks! Don't spin your wheels off road!!
Don't take your " off road 4x4" off road as this is extreme use.
That second lever is just there for fun!!

Oh for the faithful toyota buffs! The diff place said Toyotas are renowned for this problem!! IFS that is.

Anyways thanks for the help guys.

basically at this stage i have written a letter of demand to have it fixed and am putting in a complaint to the office of fair trading. Also I have approched the dealership to help as they sold the vehicle. The shame of it is that it is Nissan Australia that is giving Nissans a bad name.

oh the little pic there is about 5 seconds from BOOM town!
If you can see " Impact " or " extreme use" please tell me!!

from what been mentioned on this forum and others, spinning one wheel and have it grab suddenly is a good way to blow diffs. they don't come with lockers on the front so i guess its easy to do when you have the boot into it. afaik it happens to all makes/models.

however i'm a little suprised it did it on a straight run. compared to type of 4x4ing i do in the navara, yours would be classed extreme we usually have to drive the softly softly approach to avoid ripping the ground up.

keep at them, you may get it for a new owner. if you plan on doing more a locker would be a good idea.

from what been mentioned on this forum and others, spinning one wheel and have it grab suddenly is a good way to blow diffs. they don't come with lockers on the front so i guess its easy to do when you have the boot into it. afaik it happens to all makes/models

Yeh i was told that in driver training about CV's though. not normally diffs.
So I was being careful not to have spin and have wheels of the ground. even the dealership agreed it shouldnt have broken and I thought following a 4runner was a good plan! same size wheel travel etc.

Keep at em is the key!! It's your right as a consumer.
Not sure who is fixing dealer or Nissan Aust but I'm just happy sfter 6 weeks to well be in the cue at service to get it fixed.

Many thanks to my Local Dealer for helping out.

More details later

Interesting topic people, mine is 12 months and 17000k's old, i do give a work out and spin the front a fair bit, i have an air locker in the rear and have had not luck finding a locker for the front (to reduce speed, wheelspin and impact), so an LSD is on the cards, with a bit of work, i am a little worried now that the diff will break due to your experiences and they way i drive and also the weak little diff they put in these vehicles (also ARB say the diff is weaker than the axles so they won't make a locker??? but you can get one for the hilux IFS) , however on the weekend my mate wrecked his front IFS hilux diff for the second time, from hitting it hard after lots of wheelspin and landing from at least a metre off the ground.


cheers

a simple thing! dont take no for an answer, i harassed bout 5 supposed managers before getting to that val davis as mentioned and sorted that out reasnobly efficiently. it was my gearbox and it was 5000k out of warranty.

I suggest you make a story up about it being a company vehicle and you currently have a fleet of them and it will be in there interest to fix it or new hiluxs on cards

just keep knowcking on the door and they will fix. book it into another nissan dealer so new warranty man and you maybe supprised

dont let them win!

Bingham wrote:a simple thing! dont take no for an answer, i harassed bout 5 supposed managers before getting to that val davis as mentioned and sorted that out reasnobly efficiently. it was my gearbox and it was 5000k out of warranty.

I suggest you make a story up about it being a company vehicle and you currently have a fleet of them and it will be in there interest to fix it or new hiluxs on cards

just keep knowcking on the door and they will fix. book it into another nissan dealer so new warranty man and you maybe supprised

dont let them win!

anotehr mate went thru similar recently with a GU Diff that blew in his... took MONTHS to sort out, they didnt do it under warranty in the end, but "good will"..

I did the front axle on my Bravo ute and they wouldn't touch it. They said that I probably was lifting the wheel off the ground and it broke when it landed. (which is exactly what happened)

I sent them a letter quoting their advertising, I.e.

“perform exceptionally well in even the roughest conditions and hauling the heaviest loads. Their relentless hill climbing ability and heavy duty performance will take you wherever you want to go.â€

my best mate did the rear diff in his 06 SR5 4x4 dualcab lux last year when it had less then 15, xxx kms on the clock. They had noticed sand in nooks and crannies all over the truck from when he did a run through kurnell dunes and tried to tell him it was all now void..

He sent them a letter with the advertising of "unbreakable" and then some pictures of a lux on the beach etc etc..

They quickly shut up and fixed up of course, u just have to keep at them fellas, and they will fix in the end usually!

bogged wrote:

Bingham wrote:a simple thing! dont take no for an answer, i harassed bout 5 supposed managers before getting to that val davis as mentioned and sorted that out reasnobly efficiently. it was my gearbox and it was 5000k out of warranty.

I suggest you make a story up about it being a company vehicle and you currently have a fleet of them and it will be in there interest to fix it or new hiluxs on cards

just keep knowcking on the door and they will fix. book it into another nissan dealer so new warranty man and you maybe supprised

dont let them win!

anotehr mate went thru similar recently with a GU Diff that blew in his... took MONTHS to sort out, they didnt do it under warranty in the end, but "good will"..

yes sorry mine wa good will also. so the louder you are the more chance of GOOD WILL !!!

Seems "Good Will" is payin out more the factory warranty.

Maybe next time I buy a new car, I'll ask for 5 years extended Good Will ...

RoldIT wrote:Maybe next time I buy a new car, I'll ask for 5 years extended Good Will ...

Seriously, when the fark are Nissan gunna pull their finger out with their warranty bullshit. They're just giving themselves a bad name ...

RoldIT wrote:Seriously, when the fark are Nissan gunna pull their finger out with their warranty bullshit. They're just giving themselves a bad name ...

They are owned by Renault - French people dont give a shit about their reputation...

Fair cop ...

bogged wrote:

RoldIT wrote:Seriously, when the fark are Nissan gunna pull their finger out with their warranty bullshit. They're just giving themselves a bad name ...

They are owned by Renault - French people dont give a shit about their reputation...

Its got absolutely nothing to do with that mate.

Car dealers have been hard to deal with for as long as most people can remember.

All manufacturers instruct their dealers to look over warranty claims with a fine tooth comb if they suspect foul play.

Thats the way its always been and thats the way its going to stay. Best thing you can do is find a dealer you like and STICK WITH THEM.

They are owned by Renault - French people dont give a shit about their reputation...

its only a tech partnership.

All manufacturers instruct their dealers to look over warranty claims with a fine tooth comb if they suspect foul play.

exactly. I've know plenty of scraps with other makes such as holden, ford etc. they all avoid paying out by any means necessary.

however some manufactures use their reputation for reliability quite well, note toyota's 5 year warranty.

Yom wrote:Car dealers have been hard to deal with for as long as most people can remember.

my rodeo ute had gearbox bearing changed in 2 days..
No quarrels, arguements.. no nothing.. just fixed, but that was 1990 when there was a sembelance of customer service left on earth... Not all of them are shitful to deal with.

All manufacturers instruct their dealers to look over warranty claims with a fine tooth comb if they suspect foul play.

While I agree with you, some issues are common, and for example Grenades, Patrol 5th gears in early GU's are common.. no need to look over with a 1 tooth comb. they are givens..
looking for a few grains of sand in a door in a 4wd to help void a warranty, or lifting up carpets as has happened on here before is desperation.
I have a mate who works for BMW as Master Tech, they now have a fine fine tooth comb system they have to go thru to arrange warranty parts, which in his words 'is putting people off working on their cars'..

it comes back to customer service.

tweak'e wrote:however some manafactures use their repution for reliabilty quite well, note toyota's 5 year warranty.

exactly.. BMW used to wear 100,000' of stuff a yr when people complained just to keep customers happy etc.. eg Engine replacements, gearboxes etc.. but now they dont.

Its a shame that customer service and standing by your product are something which is so hard to find these days.

you guys don't know the half of it, im one of the guys in the workshop fixing all the warranty cars (Fixing or repairing not looking to void warranties) on average i will rebuild a gearbox a week, and possibly a diff or two as the materials and engineering going into 4x4's these days is quite frankly crap
i put a new set of bearings, synchros, counter shaft and input shaft, the box was 15,000kms old and was as loud as a supercharger spooling up.

the way things are going the warranty scraps are going to get worse and new vehicle prices will go up to compensate, approx twice or 3x the production cost is added to the vehcile price when new to compensate the warranty costs invloved in any new vehicle,
cheers i think its time to buy used instead of new

Nissan would have denied the warranty claim on the basis of it "not being a manufacturing fault" I imagine. We all know Nisssan Patrol diffs are competition strong, don't we? I had a worrying five months taking the issue with them from July last year on a 03 Patrol in the extended warranty period after they offered and extended warranty and I accepted.

It was the Customer Services section - Val Davis who eventually addressed the issue for me and the repair job, hire car and fuel costs for the two and a half weeks was paid.

I called her Saint Val actually, but she has the customer empathy in mind in responses where I guess the internal politicing says it isn't a dff failure. She gets quite a few mentions on Exploroz, from me included. I also had one of the other managers in my dial list, but it was Val to make the decision.

Customer services managers are all like this.

The orders from the nice manager people to they underlings are usually something like "stick to your guns till they work themselves to the top or they give up", then if they get to the person who has instructed their team to be mean and horrible, they play nice and give you what your want,

works quite well, a genuine person will keep trying a dodgy one will give up as they knew it was an outside change to start with