GU Patrol 2.8

Performance non existant
reliability good
economy very poor...

Dont... Get the 3.0 or 4.2
2.8 is bad joke. thats why they are cheap

If you carn't afford the 3 or 4.2 GU's the 2.8 is not that bad. But it depends what you're going to use if for. A 2.8 is going to strugle with a 2 ton trailer. But around town and the occational trip into the bush and there good value.

Reliabilty - it's a Nissan
Economy - 11-13l/100km what's wrong with that?
Performance - Towing under a tonne, no worries. Use 1st gear offroad where everyone else is using 2nd. Will go everywhere a 3.0 and 4.2 will go. People are never happy. How many 3.0 owners want to use powerup chips, how many 4.2 owners install a turbo. Yes the 2.8 is a compromise but still a good truck. Buy what you can afford.

Were the owners of a GU 2.8 TD.Wagon. Yes it is one of the cheaper ones but it was our first 4x4. We bought what we could afford and for what we had planned for it.Our vehicle does a minimum of 100klm per day and that is taking the kids to bus(all dirt) We have done a number of trips to NT,SA,QLD, 80% of these trips were off road. We tow a camping trailer with a weight of around 1.2 tons. Yes it is slow on the uptake but we expect that. Are we disapointed with it? NO. We came into this vehicle after owning a 5litre commodore. We get around 650 - 700klm per tank (95litre)no trailer or about 550-600klm per tank with trailer. It has never broken down or given us any trouble whatsoever, so reliability is excellent.Hope this helps Email me if you want any more information
Regard
Chel

Pete We are on our 6th Nissan Patrol, & ours is a 2.8 Gu all the others were 4.2 diesels, the turbo 4.2 wasn,t available when bought ours back in 99. And I cant knock it, a tad slow on take off when loaded up,just use 4WL more often when off-road its done 138000 Ks not one problem,fitted a new timing belt as recomended at 100,000 and the car has been everywhere & I mean everywhere towing our Track Trailer , fuel economy towing the trailer is about 19-20mpg weighs about 1.2 t, at 110kph. All Ive had done is the fuel pump removed & timed up and injector break pressures evened up this made a lot of difference . All in all a great little motor that drags around a 2.3 tonne car. Hope this helps in your decision.

P.S They loved to be revved up, and will go anywhere the 4.2 Goes?

Hi,
Just a follow up on the follow up. One area I have heard of to look out for is the gear box in 5th gear. Mainly from improper use, ie. using 5th around town.We do it's routine manual service,oil change every 5000klms, timing belt done at 100,000klm. Ours has now done 170,000klm. Before we bought ours we looked into its background(not always easy) and found out who owned it and what they used the vehicle for.Good luck

Peter,
I have a 99 2.8 GU tdi and am happy with it. It does have some limitations (does not take off from a standing start like a Maserati), may need to be 1-2 gears lower than a 4.2 at times and has a tendency to 'kangaroo' on steep, rocky uphill low range climbs but hey, accept the foibles and drive accordingly. It has been a very reliable vehicle so far and has returned a yearly average of 11-13l/100k. On a long blacktop run, refuel is usually 5l less than the 4.2's with us. Currently, it has 76k on the clock of which 90% is bush work as it is rarely used around town.

Peter, the most often heard critisim of the 2.8 engine is it's lack of low end torque. It likes to rev and needs to stay over 2000rpm for the engine to begin making real power. They respond very well to an after market power up (eg, Motson's) which is money well spent. This will transform the engine from a slug to a reasonable performer. Economy on highway is excellent. Be aware that in hard 4x4 or towing situations, this little engine can consume as much as the 4.2 litre. One area to be cautious about is the gearbox. It is a light-duty box stolen from the 300ZX sedan and as such it's construction was never intended for heavy duty 4x4 cycles. Fifth gear in particular is prone to failure if towing heavy loads. By heavy I mean tandem car trailers, large caravans and horse floats. Garden variety 6x4 box trailers are OK. Be warned. Provided the injectors are in spec, and a power upgrade along with a tune to dyno optimum results, then it will easily keep up with the bigger engined cousins, albeit with more revs on the tacho.
Cheers.

peter,
i have a 1996 gq with 2.8td, done 320,000 ks mostlly off tarmac
its been serviced every 5000 (oil, filter at 10000)
cam belt must be done at 100thou so if you buy one get it done if you dont when it was last done - cost $46 at auto traders for a good one
performance is not what you buy them for, good economy - we have just come back from a 6000 k trip with 2 adults 3 kids and all camping gear in the back got 12lts per 100ks
the 2.8 seems more reliable than 3.0td - there are quite a few people who post problems with 3.0 injector pump

just make sure whatever you buy has been serviced properly

regards
mike