Buying a D40

[user 21299]

Hi, I'm a new registered member. I have been active on this forum in the past but could'nt remember the login details so had to start again.
2 years ago I owned a 2005 D22 that I had from new and in a mental lapse sold it to my son and bought a Ford Territory. I now realise that not having a ute is not good for me. I'm starting to look around for a D40 King Cab with a rear canopy. At this stage and with a budget of around $20k was wanting opinions on what year would be the best to look for, and what problems were common with the D40. I'm buying this to pull my caravan (1900kg Max) The D22 did this OK although a bit slow so expect the D40 should manage. The D22 was manual so also not sure about auto in the D40. Any advise appreciated.
Thanks.
Terry

 

[ben85]

Only advice i could give would be to look for an auto.
And pay close attention to timing chain.
Hopefully others here can shed some light on which years may be best.

Sent from my SM-G360G using Tapatalk

 

[Old.Tony]

Welcome to the forum.

By 2011 most of the timing chains faults were rectified, you usually only hear about faults in cars up to early 2010. In the latter part of 2010 the vacuum-controlled turbocharger actuators were replaced with electronic ones and they had some faults, although Nissan were right on that replacing them under warranty.

Other than that, the SCVs on the 2.5L engines are problematic on occasion although fairly easy to identify, reasonably cheap and if your hands aren't arthiritic like mine, it's a 15 minute job to replace.

With that said, you can get some good bargains even on carsales - like this one. It might not be the exact one you want, but it's something to look at.

 

[user 21299]

Thanks for the replies,
Old.Tony, The wife is swaying me back towards a dual cab but thats OK. Regards the auto box. The Territory 6 speed cost me a lot to fit the trans cooler and bypass the heat exchanger to eliminate the milkshake and the oil change in the box was worth a small fortune, does this apply to the Nissan . I expect the cooler would be about the same but the oil is another story. I'm going to do my A$se on the Ford so this would be another big expense if the Nissan is the same. One other question are all the D40's on coil spring rear. I forgot to add I expect the arthiritus is the same after a life on the tools and age cutting in fast.
thanks again

 

[Old.Tony]

The D40 auto has a tranny cooler in the bottom of the radiator. I've had mine bypassed, fitted a large cooler in front of the air con condensor below the intercooler. Reduces the risk of cross-contamination.

I suspect many vehicles would choose the integrated approach because there are some advantages. As the engine warms up, the tranny fluid also warms up. The tranny fluid will be heated to a consistent temp around 90C ensuring accurate fluid levels. If the tranny temps rise too high, the radiator is an excellent heat transfer medium and would quickly restore the temp to normal.

The caveat of separating the two is nearly obvious. On really cold mornings, the auto box struggles to get warm and thus won't change gears in the usual fashion. If driven slowly for excessive periods where torque is required (say a traffic jam up Mt Ousley) the tranny will probably get too hot. Placement of the new cooler in the lower region and ensuring it's on the lower right hand side means it'll at least be covered partly by the electric radiator fan and should then get some assistance in cooling.

I strongly recommend using lower gears on steep inclines anyway.

 

[user 21299]

Thanks Old.Tony for replying.

 

[user 21299]

I'm still researching the D40 and can get one secondhand 2011 /12 at around the 90 to 100ks for between 20 and 25k. Stopped to look at one at a dealer (which turned out to be rubbish) and when asking where it was manufactured was told spain and in conversation he told me I should only buy one made in South Africa. I didnt even know they were built there. So now something else in the decision making is screwing with my brain. Thoughts please.
Thanks

 

[happy john]

South Africa???, they were never made there mate!.

 

[Mordecai]

South Africa???, they were never made there mate!.

If they were made there I think they were all black!!! haha

 

[GunMentalGrey]

Must be confusing with the Thai built ones.

 

[user 21299]

Thanks,
Or maybe he was just an idiot.
So Spain or Thai, what's the difference, is there something I should look for that's different in each one. Is one better than the other. I need to get this as right as I can as I now live on the aged pension, no more work wages to throw around.

 

[Horatius]

Didn't certain vin spanish built ones have rusting/weak chassis problems?

http://www.navara.asia/showthread.php?t=34470

http://www.navara.asia/showthread.php?t=33494

 

[Horatius]

http://www.navara.asia/showthread.php?t=10554

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf/story2/98928348AFA2DF76CA257B5D0014E135

 

[Czechmate]

Todays fun fact:

The name Navara comes from the Navarre region near Pamplona in Spain

So the only "true" navaras are the ones made in Spain

Hehehehe (runs off to do burnouts in spainbuilt STX)

 

[Old.Tony]

There were indeed issues with some of the chassis. Nissan did a recall for the cracking (caused by inadequate tow hitch mounting bolts) but to my knowledge no recall has been done for the rusting issue (at least, not in Australia). Not sure which series of cars are prone to it either. There haven't been a large number of reports of it happening over here, it's mostly in the UK where they salt the roads in winter.

The rusting issue is different to the bending issue. Most of the chassis bends happened because the car was overloaded - and let me make something VERY clear about that statement. Having a trailer on the back that is within the vehicle's rating, with a tub load that is within the vehicle's rating, so that the entire vehicle is within the allowed limits, can still be overloaded (quite dramatically) in things like causeways/floodways/driveways/etc. The faster you travel, the larger the forces involved and the faster they act. So hitting a causeway at 100km/h will cause an immense load as the trailer reacts to the car's sudden dip-and-rise and the trailer will push down on the towball with many times its normal force.

The simple way to avoid the problem is to simply pay attention when driving. Slow for causeways etc or stop altogether and wait for a flatbed. That's how I look at it, and my car's chassis (we now tow a 2.5T 8.5m caravan) has no drama at all.

 

[Czechmate]

And when loading a tub/tray on a ute, aim to put as much load directly over the axle as possible

 

[Old.Tony]

^ Indeed. It's one of the major problems with all dual cab utes - it's not just the Navara - the distance from towball to axle is the length of the lever. This does two things to a car a great deal more than it does on a vehicle with the towball closer to the rear axle.

First, look in my signature pic you'll spot it as a thin black line - to hell with it, I'll attach the original pic as a thumbnail - it's too large to simply insert into the message it'll screw up the page width. It's an essential component - a Weight Distribution Hitch (load leveller). The problem is that even with a modest towball weight, the effect of the longer lever is to apply more force around the pivot point (the rear axle) causing a greater amount of lift on the front wheels. I've towed my van with and without the WDH on - and on loose surfaces (I've tried it on grass, dirt, sand and gravel in wet and dry conditions) there is less steering control and considerably less braking control.

Second, that same lever is the one that breaks the car's back. Look (at the photo of my car) again. The towball sits something over a metre away from the axle and the hitch it's bolted in to sits on the rear of the chassis. The chassis has reinforced sections around the leaf spring mounts but is not reinforced between the leaf spring mounts above the axle (the pivot point for the vehicle's gross combined weight). If you whack an air bag in at that point, you're asking 3T of car and 2.5T of caravan to play nice around an inherently weak spot.

The solution is still simple - load sensibly, drive with care.

 

[Czechmate]

Thats when you weld huge BHP steel plates around the frame

https://www.superiorengineering.com.au/chassis-repair-plate-spainish-models-21680

Like this but id rather do it myself with south aussie BHP steel

 

[Czechmate]

Thank the lord we dont salt the roads here

Not that it ever snows in SA

 

[user 21299]

Interesting comments thank you, now onto the forum to read about manual or automatic, then off to look seriously for a vehicle.