Offroad-Express

G'day fellas,
Looking at a 1990 Nissan terrano 3000 petrol around 97000km for around $4500. Any thoughts, common problems, or things to look for would be greatly appreciated. Being my first buy into the 4wd world it would be good to hear some views

Thanks for your time
Dan

If you can afford to tow a fuel tanker behind it you should be sweet
They are rather hungry on gas, that price seems to be a bit high, you can get a good diesel one for a lot less than that.

Cheers, Jeff.

Dak wrote:If you can afford to tow a fuel tanker behind it you should be sweet
They are rather hungry on gas, that price seems to be a bit high, you can get a good diesel one for a lot less than that.

Cheers, Jeff.

Thought that might be the case. Thanks Jeff.

Hey what part of the country are you in? Got a mate whos going to be selling his 94 turbo diesel terrano very soon, probably for around that price.

deer_hunter wrote:Hey what part of the country are you in? Got a mate whos going to be selling his 94 turbo diesel terrano very soon, probably for around that price.

Christchurch mate. Whereabouts is your mate?

a guy got one in the club been out with him twice both times the streering stuffed up . the truck ended up toe in at lest 15 dec he fitted a reneforcing plate to the passenger side idler arm but bent again when we were in taupo and was not anything hard, in the driving side of things.
he runs the same tyres as i do , but the saf goes better than it does

my mate has 1 he has had no real issues wit it couple months ago we dropped body on the drive and put chassis in garage wer we replaced every bush wit nolathanes and new shocks and suspension lift. hes runnin 31's. pretty reliabe. was sittin in garage for close 3 months put body back on and engine started 1st turn. good strong reliable nissan

Trouble is, the V6 guzzles fuel, and the TD is gutless. It is a nice wagon to drive though. Like what has already been said - 4k5 is a bit steep considering the age of it.

I would not buy a terrano again (I have a '94 TD), I'd go for a 3.0 diesel surf if possible - similar size, far more grunt, and reasonable economy too, just a bit ugly compared to the terrano.

Cheers

i dont reckon the 2.7 dt is gutless it has enough power

Problems we used to see was rust under the back seat (double skinned, get's moisyure in and rusts from the inside out. Bout a $3k fix to do properly), Tension rod bushes/arms/brackets on the front suspension slogged out and cracked exhaust manifolds/broken studs.
My suggestions if you buy it:
Replace the manifolds with a good set of extractors - more power, less fuel and don't warp and break.
Get the ride heights adjusted to factory height and full W/A, (if you don't plan on lifting it.) you'll be amazed at the handling difference.
Before buying it, get a panelbeater to check out the panels under the rear seat. One in Marlborough would drill a small hole, fill the area with fisholene, then weld up the hole. This would stop it from ever rusting out.

dannyboy4949 wrote:Christchurch mate. Whereabouts is your mate?

Palmerston North. Probly a bit far for ya.
I think you should buy a toyota anyways mate

Buy a nice cheap surf, plant it in some mud and watch it grow

ive had a TD 2.7 terrano for 4 years n the only things i had to do was serviceing tires n 1 set front brak pads now have a mistral since april last year n so far 2 tires n front pads plus reg oil n filters ive uped the boost on mine n its not over powered but it will pull like a school boy lol

yes the v6 is a bit thirsty but mmmm it sounds good,drives effortlessly and all round a good truck.....rust can be an issue last floor i replaced was
$1000 total not $3000 and yes the exhuast manifolds can warp but thats not really a major if you get extractors im told

Also, re the floor pan in these things, it only fails a WOF due to the seatbelt anchoring points being affected, if you don't need back seats, remove seats, go to your local LTSA place and it cost you around $9 from memory to get the vehicle re-classified as a two seater.

Cheers, Jeff.

There's also a mod you can get done, the ltsa have a brace that can be welded in, then you cert it......should cost 6-700 all up.
Dunno 'bout the petrols, but mine's been fairly idiotproof, brace the idler and they're ok if it's done properly but otherwise no real probs.

We got one in December, its a '91 3 litre V6. Its peppy and with a really lovely growwwwl. Pulls like a mule too. I love it. We test drove about 3 later model (93 & 94) TD's and they were utterly gutless. I wouldn't trust them for passing they had no pep at all. Also tried a couple of TD Surfs and they were the same - big lumbering things. Terrano petrol won hands down.

It is thirsty - put it this way, we dont just pop to the shops for a pint of milk now - but for $2900 it was a very good deal. $4500? Way too high.

Gay

They mite be down on power but u cant beat the smooth pulling power of the TD2.7 and it takes sweet dam all to get them pulling better oh almost forgot can you get over 850k to a tank of fuel ? i can with my TD2.7

long wrote:oh almost forgot can you get over 850k to a tank of fuel ? i can with my TD2.7

heh, nowhere near unfortunately. On the positive side, I guess it means our cycles have got more use, and we've lost a few kgs since we got the Terrano