LeroyPatrol

You have got to have rocks in your head if you are considering buying a new Nissan or second hand one under factory warranty. Look for a vehicle which has good service and backup. Unfortunately Nissan is not that company. Bitter you say? Nope I just believe when you have a problem with your vehicle you admit it and fix the problem, it's that simple.

I have a crack in my right rear barn door. I took photos and sent them off to Mr Nissan to put a warranty claim in. They said it was wear and tear and that it would not be covered. I wrote back and said it was a manufacturing defect and they said it wasn't.

Wear and tear is the gradual degredation of something. This is a failure. This is on a vehicle that is not quite 4 yrs old and has only done 65,000kms! Being a country vehicle, most of those km's are on the Hume hwy.

My Door Crack

Incidently, a mate also has the same crack on the door of his Patrol! Funny that - So it's not so uncommon I'm starting to find.
Seems to be a simialr theme to 'no our 3.0l engines don't blow up, never seen that before....' deny everything.

I have had 2 Holdens under warranty and had things go wrong and they were repaired no questions asked, quickly and promptly. Nissan have to inspect the problem, send off a claim to head office, you then have to go back to the dealer again to then get the problem rectified. Two trips to the dealer, what a joke.

When my gearbox started failing at 12,000 km's it took over 3 months and I was without the vehicle for 5 weeks in total while they tried to fix the problem. I finally started jumping up and down and demanded a new gearbox and finally that is what happened. But you shouldn't need to go to that extent.

With Nissan it seems that it doesn't matter what the warranty claim is, be it a blown 3.0l, rear door crack or cheaper items like the drivers seat belt not retracting (bet you never seen that before ;-)), they drag you through the wringer.

Even with the gearbox fiasco, when Nissan had the vehicle for 2 weeks and the problem still existed Head Office wanted me to drive back to the dealer so the mechanic could see for himself that the same problem existed. 3 hours round trip!!! What a waste of time. I can't figure these guys out.

So If you buy a new vehicle you should get what you paid for and that is a vehicle which is backed up if there is a problem by the warranty that YOU pay for when you buy the vehicle. That's why you buy a new vehicle!!!
If you want this then DON'T BUY A NISSAN.

What, did I forget to tell you that I also bought a 3year 150,000km Extended Warranty.......$1295 WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY!!!! AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH

Leroy ......spleen vented

Sanity

Your not the first person I have heard going off about Nissan and Patols in particular. My Doctor was telling me about some similar woes with them recently. He has always been a patrol man updating every few years but after one too many debarcles he has switched to Toyota.

LeroyPatrol

A yota is on the cards next time but have you seen the price of a new turbo diesel 200 series Landcruiser? Woo, will have to settle for a Hilux maybe...

Leroy

global88

Thats one hell of a structural crack!
Its hard to tell from the pic exactly where it is (overall), but from what i understand its the rear door.
Spare wheel hanging on that door by any chance? If so vibrations while carrying a heavy wheel could cause that. A nissan design fault.

Id say its structuraly unsound in a rear ender.

Is your extended warranty also covered by nissan or is it through an independant insurance company?

Time to call the department of fair trading.

I think yourve got a good claim there, as long a that panel wasnt in a previous accident.

Shit thats not good to see on a new vehicle!

z80

I wouldn't piss about, straight to a magistrates court.

Go for Nissan Australia.

$120 will be well spent.

Just do it without further warning to them.

__________________
Disclaimer:
(all my posts are my,opinions etcetera and prone to gross
errors,ommissions,lies,generalities,and more lies or prejudices as suits me on the day )

Chimp

in regards to the toyota hilux's - there a great vehicle

Unlucky on the Patrol by the way, that sucks

mandc

Hope you get your problems sorted Leroy.
LeroyLandcruiser or LeroyHilux just doesn't have the same ring to it.

LeroyPatrol

The spare wheel hangs off that rear door so there is a bit of weight there. The crack is on the door just up from the bottom of the window in the 'door jam'. But you can't see it once the smaller door on the rhs is closed.
I have a factory Nissan extended warranty which I paid $1295. I thought very long and hard before purchasing it as you can imaging at that price. But even when the vehicle was in the factory warranty putting in a warranty claim was still like pulling teeth. I just can't ever recommend buying a new car off them to anyone. Not that their cars are bad but he service incase you have a problem.

Leroy

LeroyPatrol

lol

Leory

LeroyPatrol

yes well it's off the VCAT unfortunately. I have better things to do with my time really.

Leroy

global88

Hmmm, had a feeling it may have been the weight of the spare wheel.
Before taking it further make sure your spare is a original factory wheel or one thats lighter. Nissan would most likely try to put the blame on you to avoid paying up.

I think they may have a structural design fault, one thats going to cost them an arm and a leg if word gets out. Amagine they are forced to do a recall. LOL I wonder what the cost of a fully painted and assemebled door is? Not cheap i bet.

Im sure they are avoiding it but once vcat is involved they will come to their senses.

Can you dispute the extra warranty while your at it, seeing as they dont honour it? Shit, over $1200, id be pretty pissed off. Bet the guy offering it to you knew all along it was a waste of good hard earned money.

As long as you have the factory wheel hanging on the back i dont think they have a leg to stand on.

FTO King

ok bad to hear but what you do is make sure the wheel on there as global88 said is lighter or the actual factory spare wheel. Then go to a structual/automotive engineering company get them to write up a report after examining it how iit isnt wear and tear an a structual fault, take nissan to court get them to pay fo your door for your legal costs,your enginnering costs,your petrol,your headaches,your stress,your fustration and hey you might have a newtoyota landcruiser by the end of it

FTO King

LeroyPatrol

I have the factory alloy wheels. They also supply steel wheels which are substantially heavier than the alloy. They have also supplied the vehicles with those hard wheels covers so I will be running around shortly with some scales weighing a few things and comparing tyre sizes and weights also.

Leroy

tytower

Couple of thing strike me about this
It seems the crack is about middle of the left rear door and covered when the right rear door closes over it. So the locking /opening handle must be around there too ?

Did you slam the door too hard or pull the door too hard to open?

It looks like a flexing crack but 4 years down the track ....dunno

I had some success with a small claims tribunal claim I put it in myself for $40 ..coy didn't send anyone to court cause it costs them and I got $1600 for repairs. Took about 2 visits to court and about 4 months .

Send them a letter of demand to pay say $1500 in 14 days and if they don't comply go to court..nothing to lose except that decision is final

SystemRat

You are not alone it seems. Two of these refer to the rear spare tyre bouncing around stressing the metal.

Gu patrol barn door crack @ ExplorOz

Overlander 4WD :: View topic - Questions after test drive on 2003 GU Patrol 4.2TD

Nissan Patrol GU/Y61 Thread - Page 18 - Tsikot Philippines 2008

Paul Gover is the motoring editor for News Limited. He does a number of radio spots on talk back radio and has said its ok for people to email him. I cant remember his address but it "might" be "Paul.Gover (at) Bigpond.com" Perhaps run the problem past him and he maybe able to tell you if you stand a chance at getting Nissan to help.

billone

ring nisscom..thay sort out complaints.. my last patrol gu had a cracking door [2 x teech screws fixed it.] i git a mate at blackburn nissan if you need help !

allover

God dammit, just returned from Mt Hotham and checked the rear door, guess wot!!!!

allover

Forgot to mention i have the 3 litre turbo diesel motor which is due to blow 117,000 km, 6th Nissan and the last me thinks

LeroyPatrol

It's disappointing to hear of another. What year is yours? I haven't put in my vcat claim yet as I didn't what to get called up during ski season as we are very busy. I'll prob put my claim in next week as it takes 4 - 6 weeks for it to be processed. It will be my last nissan also.

Leroy

PS only the early 3.0l tend to blow up!

Tastech

Slightly off subject used to own a Toyota Camry Wagon that the ex missus normally drove kept taking it back at services complaining of noise in front end when going around a couple of roundabouts in town Salesman eventually with hearing distance of ex missus said she was hearing things she spat the dummy got a mechanic in passenger seat went through 2 roundabouts came back mechanic went yep got a problem faulty $500.00 part that before they didnt want to replace they never argued with the ex missuses again