Offroad-Express

Hi all,

I'm looking at a Terrano tomorrow. Its done 180000km looks to be in tidy condition with clean interior and engine bay etc and new tyres on the front.

Any advice on what to look out for would be greatly appreciated.

If it all checks out and i can get it at the right price i'll be looking to add a few bits to go off roading every now and then. Are there any suggestions as to some effective non bank breaking modifications? I thought a set of decent a/t or mud tyres, winch, tow hooks + recovery gear and body/suspension lift? I'm open to suggestions as i'm new to 4wding, and in particular effective worthwile modifications. I also live in Auckland so if you can point me in the direction of where to go and seek advice that would be choice as!

Thanks in advance guy and girls....

I had one before I rolled it. Very thirsty trucks, but not bad off road IMHO. Exhaust maifold bolts snap, ECu under the seat, have it moved higher up, they don't like water. If you do a body lift you will have to extend power steering hose and move radiator up. Suspension lift is pretty chep in these trucks. Don't go bigger then 32" tyres as the cv's can't handle it. Get a brace made for idler arm or it will flog out 4wheeling. Also the gearbox don't hold enough oil, fill it by taking the stick out and put in about an extra litre of oil.
Al

check under the back seats for rust, usually around the seatbelt mount areas.
also do a search on here - theres heaps about them and what to look for.

by 1994, they had the rust issue sorted.

albundy wrote:by 1994, they had the rust issue sorted.

Don't believe it. I have a widebody 93 ie the updated model that didn't have a rust issue and under back seat the seam has rusted out! i was told by all the experts that the widebodies had had the problem fixed but first hand experience tells me otherwise. (not and issue for what I'm doing with it) though)

hey i have one, goes pretty much anywhere, mine is auto at the moment and i find it lacks a bit of power on a steep climb, as mentioned above exhaust manifold studs brake and are a bit of a mish to replace also the rust thing look under the floor as well as under seats, other wise cool trucks,

Another thing to check for is rust in chassis. There are several sections where they have a double skin and have a habit of rusting out. My one had rusted where the chassis crossmember that the shocks are mounted to, joined the chassis rails. So I'd say if it is one that has seen the beach be careful. I have had my one for 10 years and it hasn't seen much offroad but was a company vehicle for a guy that worked for me so has been treated like crap!

FYI What I'm doing to my 93 V6. Was 3 door, 5 speed now is 2 door 4.5 V8 twin turbo, auto.

darinz wrote:Another thing to check for is rust in chassis. There are several sections where they have a double skin and have a habit of rusting out. My one had rusted where the chassis crossmember that the shocks are mounted to, joined the chassis rails. So I'd say if it is one that has seen the beach be careful. I have had my one for 10 years and it hasn't seen much offroad but was a company vehicle for a guy that worked for me so has been treated like crap!

FYI What I'm doing to my 93 V6. Was 3 door, 5 speed now is 2 door 4.5 V8 twin turbo, auto.

That looks awesome mate.

Thanks for all thei nfo guys. I checked out the Terrano, on the it it was really good, drove nice and i couldn't find any rust anywhere. I lost out on the bidding on trademe but thats life i guess.

Now looking at a swb Safari. Took it for a drive today it ran absolutely fine no smoke, started first pop, no rust that i could see. Interior is a bit shabby and the exterior is as you would expect for a 1990 with 232km on the clock. It's $1 reserve and already at $3020 ending Sunday so will see how my luck runs.

Only downside is it has mismatched tires on each wheel and one of the alloys is completely different to the rest. No biggy though. Oh also the oil gauge read very low pressure at idle is this something to be concerned about?

scratch that, just spoke to a mate who has had experience with safari's said to steer clear of it regarding the low oil pressure.

back to trade me...story of my life....

What else did he say about the low oil pressure?

He said it was an indicator the big ends were on there way out.

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=23576&p=261978#p261978

mines still up for sale. Funny you looked at terrano and then safari. I progressed from terrano to safari Terrano just couldn't do it in the end . Love the safari, buying a LWB when back in Oz and et up for desert touring .
AL

albundy wrote:http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=23576&p=261978#p261978

mines still up for sale. Funny you looked at terrano and then safari. I progressed from terrano to safari Terrano just couldn't do it in the end . Love the safari, buying a LWB when back in Oz and et up for desert touring .
AL

Sounds good mate but just outside of my price range.

All the best for Oz.

Sounds good mate but just outside of my price range.

Yeah, but you wouldn't be looking back though. If your after a cheap safari you will really need to look around and be willing to compromise on the condition. In both NZ and OZ, Nissan patrols/safaris are commanding good money because of their realiability, strenght and just all round good design. Good luck with your search and I relally hope you don't get a lemon as they can be expensive to fix, like any vehicle really.
Al

radman wrote:He said it was an indicator the big ends were on there way out.

Does he also know that Safari's with the TD42 are well known for irregular or failing oil pressure senders??

It's actually quite common and the only way to test is remove the sender and double check with a mechanical oil pressure sender.

You may have missed out on a bargain if you flagged it.

Twodiffs wrote:

radman wrote:He said it was an indicator the big ends were on there way out.

Does he also know that Safari's with the TD42 are well known for irregular or failing oil pressure senders??

It's actually quite common and the only way to test is remove the sender and double check with a mechanical oil pressure sender.

You may have missed out on a bargain if you flagged it.

^^^ What he said. Low il pressure on the gauge of a GQ is nothing to worry about as the gauges are crap. My one never read high and that did a lot of hard work after a I bought it, then after 3 years fitted a turbo and ran that at 21psi. I also increased the revs to 5200 and drove it really hard.
After doing the engine conversion that motor was fitted to a truck I sold a really good mate. He later pulled it out and sold it to another mate and it is still going strong with another turbo fitted to it and driven hard.

What they both said^^

I have a mechanical gauge and the factory gauge still hooked up.

My motor has 200+ on it.

The mechanical gauge reads 20psi at idle and at 50psi at 2200rpm(100kph)

The factory gauge reads 0 at idle and 2/3 of fark all at 2200rpm

TD42 big ends don't tend to wear prior to 450,000ks if serviced correctly.

If it show signs of not being serviced correctly (thick layer black gooey sludgy gunk on the inside of the oil filler cap and on the under side if the rocker cover), then start looking harder and consider a oil pressure and compression test

I would be far more concerned about finding one with good rust free body work, they are getting VERY rare these days!!!!!

Cheers guys, I had a 'dodgy' oil press sender about a year ago...it indicated no pressure on idle and minimum (3 or something) at revs.

I removed and replaced the sender with a second hand jobby....got the same result.

BUT my oil level is perfect...never drops from oil change to oil change PLUS I know what my engine sounds like and it'd be sure as hell making a racket if it had oil probs.