Question 1

What's the best heavy-duty clutch to use in my 2018 Nissan Navara?

Accepted Answer

There are plenty of brands around in the aftermarket that claim to offer better performance and durability. Stick with a known brand and perhaps contact your local four-wheel-drive club or off-road specialist for specific brand advice. Somebody in the club is bound to have a Navara with an upgraded clutch. The good news is that there are local manufacturers that can provide a heavy-duty clutch for your vehicle, so staying local is probably a good idea if there are any issues or questions down the track. Even better news is that for the NP300 Navara, Nissan switched from a dual-mass to a single-mass flywheel. This means you can fit a heavy-duty clutch kit without having to replace the flywheel itself, saving money. Don't forget to closely check the condition of the flywheel, however, as it may require machining for the new clutch to work properly. Towing and off-roading place immense loads on a clutch, and this is a common upgrade for those who use their vehicles in this way.

Question 2

My 2006 Nissan Navara D40 2.5 diesel is stuck in third gear

Accepted Answer

Honestly, this problem could be caused by anything from a transmission that is worn out to one that is simply low on fluid. It could even be caused by a bad earth somewhere on the car or something as simple as a blown fuse. You need to take the vehicle to a workshop that can electronically scan the vehicle and hopefully turn up a fault code that will pin-point the problem. Without doing this, you're simply guessing at what the problem might be and will end up replacing parts you didn't need to.

Question 3

I am changing over my old Navara D22 and considering a Ssangyong Musso Ultimate. Should I take a risk on a Musso?

Accepted Answer

My experience has generally been that Ssangyong is a brand with decent reliability. Many people think it’s a Chinese brand, but it’s actually a South Korean company. And when you look at the other South Korean car-makers we see here – Hyundai and Kia – you can see that the country makes some fine vehicles with great reliability and durability. You’re right about that warranty, too; at seven years of factory cover, it’s one of the best (if not the best) in the business. You’re also right about the relative value-for-money equation. The Ssangyong seems like a lot of vehicle for the money. Perhaps the only thing that might make you think twice would be the supply of spare and service parts. That said, in 2022, that problem is afflicting a lot of mainstream companies and volume sellers as well as the smaller brands. And from what I can gather, this problem is a bigger one for the Chinese brands than some of the others. A Musso has a towing capacity of 3500kg (with a braked trailer) so a 1200kg caravan should not trouble it one bit. Take the Musso for a test drive and decide for yourself, but we reckon, after a D22 Navara, you’ll be amazed at how good a modern dual-cab ute can be at this price-point.

Question 4

When the fuel light is on in the 2014 Nissan Navara, how many litres of fuel are left in the tank?

Accepted Answer

The only thing more unreliable than a low-fuel warning light is the on-board computer that gives you a distance-to-empty kilometre figure. The problem with the latter is that the figure will differ enormously depending on your driving style at the time. For instance, the computer, a highway trip might, suggest you have 100km left in the tank. But once you hit the outer suburbs and switch to stop-start driving, that number could be as little as half the figure flashing on the dashboard. As a rule of thumb, car-makers tend to calibrate the fuel-warning light to come on somewhere between 100 and 50km before you actually run dry. But it’s still a stab in the dark, and really not worth pushing your luck. To get the most accurate feel for what the fuel-warning light is really telling you, here’s our advice: Fill the car to and absolute brim. A 2014 Navara holds either 75 or 80 litres of fuel, depending on specification. Then, the next time the fuel light flashes on, pull into the first service station and fill it to the brim again. That will give you a pretty accurate idea of the umber of litres you’ve used from filling up to the point where the light switches on. Then, you can subtract those litres from the tank’s capacity to arrive at how much was left in the tank.

Question 5

What can I do if the steering wheel and gear knob are peeling in my 2018 Nissan Navara?

Accepted Answer

This is a more common problem than you might imagine and applies to a lot of cars besides Nissan Navaras. It’s not always caused by people with constantly wet hands or those who work with chemicals, either; a lot of pampered vehicles have seen this type of problem. As well as being pretty ordinary to look at day after day, this sort of damage also devalues a car when you go to sell it. The warranty on your Navara would have been for the first three years (Nissan shifted to a five-year warranty mid-2019) but because it was a demonstrator, the warranty period would have started from the date it was first registered or reported as sold, not the day you bought it. Most new-car warranties also state that `normal wear and tear’ is not covered, but there’s an argument that normal wear and tear shouldn’t be visible on a steering wheel after just four years and 60,000km of use. If it really bothers you, there are motor trimmers who can stitch on a new leather covering which I would expect to last a lot longer than four years. You would, of course, have to remove the wheel from the car which requires somebody who knows their air-bag safety drills and procedures.

Question 6

Does the wrong battery cause problems with the starter motor in the Nissan Navara 2013?

Accepted Answer

Just as oils aint oils, batteries aint batteries. The correct battery for your car will not be based on brand, but rather its capacity and output (does it have enough grunt to turn your engine) as well as its physically layout (are, for instance, the negative and positive terminals on the correct ends of the battery for your battery terminals to connect properly). By `kick out’ I’ll assume you mean the starter motor doesn’t spin the car’s engine when you turn the key. There are lots of causes for this. The first is that you do, indeed, have the incorrect battery that doesn’t have enough cranking amperes to spin your engine and provide enough power to the vehicle’s ignition for the engine to fire. Or, you may simply have fitted a battery that’s low on charge for the same results. Buying a brand-new battery from a shop is no guarantee that the thing will be fully charged up. It’s always a good idea to charge any new battery overnight before trying to start a car with it, in case the battery has lost charge while sitting on the store’s shelf for weeks or months. Beyond that, there are still plenty of reasons for a car to refuse to turn over. I’d start with checking the earth connections from the battery to the car’s body and engine and then do a test on the battery to see if it’s in decent health or not. Most workshops can do this simple test for you if you’re in doubt.

Question 7

What is the best reliable ute?

Accepted Answer

Given the kilometres showing on the car in question, that price-tag is about right, rather than any kind of exceptional bargain. Beyond that, the D40 Navara is not generally regarded as a magnificent long-term prospect and many in the trade reckon about 160,000km is the limit for reliable service going forward. At least the one you’re looking at has a full service record, so that’s a start, but frankly, there are better options out there that represent greater value for money as well as longer shelf-life. The D40 in turbo-diesel form was susceptible to timing chain problems at about the 80,000km mark. Check the service record to see if a new chain was fitted around this mileage. Even if it has, mechanics reckon the chain needs to be inspected every 40,000km thereafter to prevent catastrophic failure when you least expect it. The D40 also suffered from injector problems, EGR coolers that could fail and ruin the engine, automatic transmission coolers that could destroy the gearbox and lots of other problems right through to cracks developing in the vehicle’s body. The fact that this is an ex-work truck won’t help those problems one little bit as it’s probably already had a pretty hard life, servicing notwithstanding. The broad advice for somebody looking for reliability first and foremost would be to cast your net wider.

Question 8

Does a 2011 Nissan Navara Turbo have a timing belt or chain warning light?

Accepted Answer

No. While the D40 Navara did have warning lights for things like contaminated diesel fuel and a warning light for the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) the Navara didn’t stretch to a light to warn that maintenance to the camshaft timing system was due. That’s mainly because the Navara’s four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine used a timing chain rather than a rubber timing belt, and the chain should have been good for the life of the engine. Experience has shown, however, that the YD25 engines that used a single-row primary timing chain did, indeed, experience premature chain wear and failure in some cases. And this is probably at the root of your question. The trade now recommends that these chains be changed before the 80,000km mark, with inspections every 40,000km to make sure nothing is wearing out too fast. The aftermarket has developed a double-row replacement timing chain for these engines, so any replacement of the chain should take this into account.

Question 9

How do I take my Nissan Navara out of limp mode?

Accepted Answer

Modern turbo-diesel engines absolutely hate having water enter the fuel system. It can cause lots and lots of damage and isn’t always fixed by simply changing the fuel filter and the contents of the tank. Sometimes injectors and even the high-pressure fuel pump itself will be damaged by the ingress of water. If that’s the case, then more work will be needed before the vehicle is safe to drive again, as you may wind up doing more harm to other components until the full scope of the water-damage has been diagnosed. For that reason, you really should have the vehicle looked at by a specialist. A specialist workshop will be able to tall you what else needs fixing or replacing. A specialist will also be able to electronically cancel the limp-home mode and any check-engine lights once all is well.

Question 10

How much will it cost to replace the clutch in my 2008 Nissan Navara?

Accepted Answer

This cost of this will depend on a few things, Anthony, including which workshop you choose to carry out the work and what that workshop’s hourly labour rate is. That said, budget for around $2000 for the clutch kit and the time to fit it and you should be okay. The other thing to consider is whether this is a good time to replace the sometimes troublesome dual-mass flywheel with a simpler, more robust singe-mass unit. The cost should be about the same, but the single-mass replacement will be a stronger, more reliable unit over time. It’s the first modification a switched-on Navara owner will make if they intend to tow heavy loads with the vehicle.

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