Older diesel vehicle discussion

ambo11, Mar 19, 12:26pm
Hi, interested in thoughts from you guys in the know? We have a 1996 Nissan Regulus 3.2 diesel, been our tow wagon for years and its a damned good vehicle in really tidy shape. Blows a puff of black when starting, but then its pretty clean. I've certainly been fussy with oils, diesel filters etc etc in the years we have had it.
Tester at a VTNZ said at the last WOF "better get rid of this, won't be allowed on the road soon" because it's an older diesel.
Just wondering if there is about to be a clamp down on these older diesels in NZ? Has the govt got plans in the near future to make ownership of this type of vehicle too expensive so people sell them?
If I need t replace it I will buy a petrol as I fail to see any savings in diesel, and RUC seem to go up quite often. but just a bit concerning to hear that sort of thing from a VTNZ tester.
Heard any rumours?

intrade, Mar 19, 12:32pm
well there is other rumors about 20 year old import ban. Its almost comparible to communist china the propaganda pumped out. pushing bad ideas for personal gains aka governments.

intrade, Mar 19, 12:36pm
blaming you who has to work and milking anyone who makes 5 cent when the real problems are ignored as there is no money in it for governments to stop the real problem.
like bottom trawling fishing like the chi#a and other thugs do to cause global climate disasters. lets just blame it on the ones we can milk dry instead.
ah yea make free trade agreements with these thugs while your at it ?
and cutting dow rain forrest and kill every elefant for chi#a potions. no problem lets just all blame it on the motorist.
https://www.vox.com/22335364/climate-change-ocean-fishing-trawling-shrimp-carbon-footprint https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/deforestation

tamarillo, Mar 19, 1:40pm
Can’t see import changes affect this existing machine. As far as I know our wof stations have no emissions testing gear but there is this visible test available to them. https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof-and-cof/tb-general/guidance-clearly-visible-smoke
As long as yours is well tuned and not problematic no reason to worry IMO.

kazbanz, Mar 19, 2:06pm
This government is definitely hell bent on forcing everybody onto electric vehicles. They are hitting out at the low hanging fruit first but be sure they will come after the "polluters" next.
The next big advertising push from them s going to be focussed on buying economical/non polluting vehicles

franc123, Mar 19, 2:25pm
Its probably based on nothing more than the fact it's starting to get too smoky from the exhaust. That model is notorious for wearing out injector pumps which cost thousands to fix properly drive in drive out. Sure regular fuel filter changes help but inevitably it wears out. Sometimes air flow sensors or dodgy EGR can be an issue which can be fairly easily fixed but if the pumps buggered you're up for big money. Engines that need cranking for 4 or more seconds either hot or cold often accompanied by odd flat spots when accelerating when the motor is cold are the early warning signs if theres no other outside issues like air leaks into the fuel delivery system.

ambo11, Mar 19, 2:36pm
Yeah knew about that issue before we bought it from the car yard, but it started easy, and it had been used as a car only. I had to buy a towbar and fit it, so think it's had a fairly easy life. BUT I keep a close on on the way it starts and runs, and it's good to know about the extended crank and flat spots, nothing like that yet, and it's a powerhouse compared to the old TD27. I did ask at a local 4WD outfit and they said about $2500 for the pump rebuild when needed. so I doubt I'd get it fixed. got a WOF in a few months so will be interesting to see if they say anything then. Seems to buy anything decent in "proper" 4wd secondhand it's an expensive exercise.

jaydeess, Mar 19, 3:03pm
he probably would make you a offer, to take it off your hands. do you a favor. Dam dirty diesels

s_nz, Mar 19, 3:29pm
Most of the government plan's focus on on cleaning up new entrants to the fleet. (new & used imports). There has been relatively little talk about cleaning up the existing fleet. I think there is concern about the regressive impact (harsh on the poor who can only afford cheap cars).

Should note that it is already illegal to emit smoke continuously for more than 10 seconds, and the WOF check includes a test for clearly viable smoke (but it get passed as long as the amount of smoke isn't greatly more than the vehicle would have emitted when new because of it's design):

https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof-and-cof/tb-general/guidance-clearly-visible-smoke

As some stage NZ is likely to to have a exhaust test with a "sniffer" included as part of our WOF requirements, but the politicians have ignored advice recommending that so far. Also note that the goal of testing would be to pass cars that are preforming in the ballpark of what they would have when new, and to fail cars that are badly in need of repairs, or have had emissions control equipment tampered with (DPF delete etc). It will be accepted that vehicles from 1996 won't be as clean as ones from today, and people want to own older vehicles for a number of reasons.

With your statement, that you would change to petrol if you upgraded, For most people diesel no longer makes sense. As cars get more efficient, the cross over point between petrol and diesel running costs moves up to bigger vehicles. Also modern diesel's emissions controls mean they are no longer as reliable as 1996 era stuff.

Diesel does make sense if you are going to buy a Ute, large van, or Upper large SUV (Prado etc). If you are towing trailers over 2000kg, vehicles like this are needed. Or are going to do a heap of towing.

tweake, Mar 19, 3:57pm
hes talking crap.
i doubt govt will do anything with these old things because there is so many of them on the road. that would certainly reduce their election chances.

the govt has been talking a lot of silly nonsense for years about car emissions. like taxing poor people so rich can by ev's. if they will actually do something thats meaningful and practical remains to be seen.

if it suits your purpose, run it into the ground. when its not worth fixing it will probably be worth more as spare parts.

mrfxit, Mar 19, 4:29pm
Emissions testing was part of the WOF about 15/20 years ago.
No idea why it got dropped

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0310/S00005/arc-congratulates-govt-over-wof-emissions-testing.htm?from-mobile=bottom-link-01
2003

mrfxit, Mar 19, 4:37pm
Pretty much any Diesel without a DPF will puff a bit of black smoke on startup.
A lot of older diesels also have a timer on the glow plugs & ppl make that mistake where they flick the key directly on to "start" to crank it over without giving the glow plugs a chance to heat up first.

I had that with the 88 2.4T Surf & now with the 95 TD27.
Flick key on count to 3 or 4 seconds & it starts within 2 seconds.
Flick key directly on to Start & it will take about 3 to 6 seconds to fire.

So, Eg: if I forget to give it a few seconds on the glow plugs & it turns over 4 times, I stop, wait for about 3 seconds & it will fire instantly after that.

s_nz, Mar 19, 4:44pm
That 2006 tailpipe test as part of the WOF ended up being visual only:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/smoky-exhaust-means-no-wof/EY5PZNQ43RCUPOSJHWR2IU5W3I/

They decided not to go the route of proper metered exhaust analysis. At some point we should be stepping up to that, but it seems that our politicians are in no hurry.

serf407, Mar 19, 4:54pm
The current wof sheet still has a 'visible exhaust smoke' with Fail, Pass boxes.

Can use a clean white cloth sock on the tail pipe after the engine has been warmed up to see how much soot is coming out in the exhaust gases. Use some thick gloves & large grips etc so you don't burn your fingers.

Clean car import standard
https://www.transport.govt.nz/area-of-interest/environment-and-climate-change/clean-cars/ HAPINZ - the Health and Air Pollution in NZ final report is supposed to be released in 2021.This is what might be used as the excuse to start taking the older polluters out of the fleet. Don't want harm the health of the whanau and community do we; with that old vehicle. https://www.transport.govt.nz/area-of-interest/environment-and-climate-change/vehicle-emissions/

ambo11, Mar 19, 7:08pm
Cheer guys, sounds good. Reluctant to get rid of the old girl as she is so reliable, great for towing, and climbs anything basically with the 4 Hi lo etc.
Also damned comfortable. Just so useful to us. Would love a petrol Highlander but don't see any way to justify spending 15K while this Regulus is just as capable. I trust a bubbling fart much more than this, or any govt, I realise they will lose a lot of votes taking these vehicles off the road, but there seems to be plenty of people out there now who love the hybrid/electric vehicles and would support them.

tony9, Mar 19, 7:48pm
And I thought this thread would be about proper diesels with several litres per cylinder, likely two stroke and only a few hundred RPM.

Not toy auto diesels.

franc123, Mar 20, 1:03am
The quoted characteristics I described are specific to the QD32ETi Terrano and are accurate thanks. It has absolutely nothing to with old Surfs or any other Nissan diesels or people's inability to operate cylinder preheating systems correctly.

intrade, Sep 1, 1:58pm