Pickup a problem?
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4x4s are not everyone's favourite car, but sometimes you do need something tough and powerful. Nissan says its Navara pickup is designed to put you in control of every situation and that it's built to outperform. However, if you're among the thousands of people who bought one particular model, the chances are your Navara is not as tough as you thought, and the first you'll know about it, is when you hear a knocking noise from your engine.
The problem affects Nissan D22s, built before August 2006. Darren Levett relies on his Navara D22 to run his events company. It had done 46,000 miles when he ran into trouble. He was travelling on an A-road at 50mph when he heard a noise. Darren turned his radio down and heard a knocking sound. Then there was a big bang.
Darren describes how the engine lost power and it felt like the floor beneath his feet was moving. Instinctively he dipped the clutch and coasted into a nearby lay-by. Darren's vehicle had showered the road with oil and metal fragments. The vehicle travelling behind him also pulled in - oil from Darren's car had covered the windscreen. Darren had his engine replaced by Nissan but he wasn't the only person to have a problem.
Toni Kent-Chapman and Paul Robinson's Navara had just 52,000 miles on the clock when their engine blew. Paul was on the slip road of the motorway when his engine failed catastrophically, leaving a trail of metal fragments and oil in the path of following traffic.
In both these cases, a hole had been punched in the side of the engine by one of the key internal components - the connecting rod or con rod. These turn the drive shaft, which sends power to the wheels. Where the two join there's a bearing which has to be incredibly tough. But in the D22 pickups, these bearings aren't tough enough, and can wear out. The first sign of trouble is a knocking sound as the gap between the bearing and con rod grows. If you don't stop immediately your engine can tear itself apart.
Dangerous?
Nissan hasn't issued a recall of these vehicles because it says it isn't a safety issue. However, independent motor expert Steve Lee disagrees. He thinks it's a dangerous problem for an engine to fail, particularly if you were to be driving on a motorway at the time. He believes that Nissan has a moral obligation to recall the vehicles and replace the bearings that are responsible for this issue.
By May this year Nissan had heard about hundreds of failed engines so it decided to extend its warranty on D22 pickups from three years to five years or 93,000 miles. However, a bulletin sent from Nissan to its dealers telling them about the problem and the extended warranty says "concern is on a complaint basis only with no proactive customer contact". That means many D22 owners wouldn't know they were driving a car with a potentially dangerous fault, or that they might be covered by an extended warranty.
We've also heard from some D22 owners that even when they contacted the dealer about a failed engine, they still weren't told about the problem or that they may be covered under extended warranty. Watchdog called ten Nissan dealerships around the country and told them we had an engine failure on a four-year-old Nissan D22. Six out of the ten told us they hadn't heard about an extended warranty.
Even if you do hear about an extended warranty you'll be lucky to qualify. If you don't have a near-perfect service history, Nissan may wash its hands of you. Graham Parkinson's company owned three Nissan Navaras - all with the same fault. When the third engine blew he went straight to Nissan but the company told him his service history wasn't good enough.
Independent vehicle examiner Steve says: "Everyone knows it's important to service your car correctly and on time but missing the odd service here or there doesn't cause this problem. All it does is speed the process up. This is a problem of Nissan's making not of the vehicle owner's making."
When we asked Nissan about the problem with the D22 it gave us this statement:
"Nissan is absolutely committed to quality both in terms of product and customer service and, as such, has openly stated for some time that the durability of a small number of D22 pickup engines, produced before August 2006, have not performed to our exacting standards. As a result, Nissan launched a five-year 93,000 miles extended warranty in May to formalise the support we were already providing to our customers. If any customers have concerns or questions regarding their D22 please contact us via a dedicated e-mail address: customer.support_d22@nissan.co.uk or call us on 01923 899 334."
Nissan also told Watchdog:
"As a result of the information that's come to light over the last few weeks we have started the process of writing to all our current owners to explain the issue and the availability of the extended engine warranty to cover the small number of customers who may experience this concern. From the information provided by Watchdog on 21 October we have already agreed full resolution for two customers and are investigating details of the remaining cases."
Contact Nissan via dedicated email customer.support_navara@nissan.co.uk or by telephone 01923 899334.
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Seems its not only Nissan I have a [Company name removed by Moderator while under investigation] that had the same symptons. the main dealer told me it needed a new engine after only 60.000 miles. After stripping down the engine it was found that the big end bearings had failed
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We own a d22 pickup we have had it identified as one which could blow up we have been to our local nissan dealership but hit a brick wall we work in the motor industry so have some insight to how it works we still cannot get anywhere so joe public stands very little chance lets hope watchdog can get some satisfaction for all d22 owners we have lost faith in the pickup so only use it when we really have to
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
I worked at a Nissan dealer for 2 years & the engine failures have been occuring for the last 2 years - however I think without exception they were all on poorly maintained vehicles which had either missed or serviced late on numerous
occasions - the service
intervals are very short @ 6000miles/6months but missing them seemed to show up the engine weakness
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I own an 05 Navara, i also had an 02 D22 both have shot engines. I scraped the 02 after to joy with Nissan. The 05 still sits on my yard with only 59,000 on the clock. I spoke to Nissan customer service on 23rd Nov 2008 and they told me nothing of the extended warranty and still said that they did not recognise the fault and that it was unheard of. I have serviced the vehicle both at a local garage, with Nissan and by myself. Will let you know how I get on but I have already had numerous conversations with Nissan to no avail.
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I have a Nissan D40, these also have thier own fair share of problems. From new the clutch didnt feel right in mine, i complained to the dealer many times, at 34000 miles I finally agreed to pay the dealer (if it was not a warranty problem) and they inspected the vehicle. It required a new clutch and flywheel. At 40000 miles , sudden loss of power, lots of white smoke,oil sprayed round the engine bay. Off to the dealer again, This time a new engine .48000 - 52000 miles , the vehicle visited the dealer many times for a transmition clonk from the rear axle.Apparently this is normal for a high mileage nissan navara.I did not accept this , they then fitted a new rear axle.
The warranty is now finished and it is a constant worry what is going to fail next. Every fault with the vehicle was a constant battle to get rectified.
[Personal details removed by Moderator]
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Myself and my wife have a Nissan Navara D22 , Further to your program we cannot get any answers from Nissan. Is it save to drive? if we drive it and now that there is a fault do we invalid the warrenty . could somebody please tell us where we stand on this matter. We are relutant to drive it but we do need a car to get around in and nobody can give us a staright answer are they going to recall them or are they going to wait till the is a death situation cause threw this problem ????????
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In relation to the Nissan D22 engine failures I can probably beat most other horror stories. I run 3 2005 D22 pickups. 1 has been fine. 2 had new clutches at 24K & 1 has had 2 new engines that both failed with EXACTLY the same symptoms as detailed above. My dealer will not admit to the "bearing" failure idea and as the engines are covered by extended warranty I am going to be in big trouble when that expires. I wonder if I will go through a 3rd engine before that happens?
Can anyone beat this??
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Our Nissan Navara D22 blew up in April 2007, mileage 42000. We were in the outside lane of M74, thank goodness it was a quiet Sunday afternoon otherwise the consequences could have been fatal. Loud knocking noise followed by total engine failure 20 seconds later. When the truck was returned to dealership for repair, total denial of ANY PROBLEMS with this vehicle. As service history was incomplete, no assistance meant a repair expense of £7,000. VOSA did investigate however, Nissan would not admit any liability and said the that noise would have given us due warning to get to safety. 20 seconds notice on a busy motorway in heavy traffic would have caused catastrophe/fatalities. VOSA also said in their reply to us 28/08/07 that there was insufficient evidence to warrant action! Angry was not the word, I was a trauma theatre nurse and saw the results of car accidents as did my husband when in
the London Fire Brigade based at an RTA station.
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Have an 04 D22 and over the last few weeks noticed a knocking sound when started from cold.This knocking reduces and clears after approx 15 seconds.have wondered it it was a big-end or small-end on a connecting rod but as noise disappears it is hard to trace.After your program I'm very worried as the pictures shown by you indicate conrod failure.This is either a conrod weakness or bolt failure not a bearing failure.This would result in the sudden destruction. Having had this failure in my mechanic/racing days and working for The Research Institute on Internal Combustion Engines I'm interested in Nissan's explination. Until then further investigation on my part and fingers well and trully crossed!!! Will email Nissan with my concerns also.
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I watched the programme with interest, being a D22 owner. In the interests of balance, on a particularly vollatile subject, I would like to subnit that my Nissan dealer has been first class re. my issue with the engine unit.
On the morning of 09.10.08, on the way to work, I heard a tapping from the top end of the engine. I pulled over and checked the oil, as no warning lights had shown. All was fine. I carried on to work, a distance of about a mile. I called West Way Nissan, Redbridge, Southampton, and informed them of my situation. They asked me to bring it in. The vehicle was towed there later that day.
I purchased the vehicle from them, and they were excellent sourcing my second hand pick up. They assured me there were no inherrant issues with the engine unit, sorted out a few minor details for me, and I was very happy with the service and the vehicle.
They undertook a major service, earlier this year.
On inspection of the vehicle, it was found that the con rod bearing had failed, exactly as your programme detailed.
Nissan were fantastic, they informed me immedaitely that they would investigate the possibility of a replacement unit under extended warranty.
They informed me that the new warranty on this vehicle had been extended to 7 years, or 100k miles, which contradicts your programme.
They issued me with a courtesy car, and I am waiting for my vehicle to be completed and returned to me.
Please feel free to contact me if req.
RS
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hi i contacted watchdog last year /november when the problem happened to us, we where left stranded on a dark road side with a knackered nissan, two days before we where moving down to cornwall, we had to find a garage to do our repairs as nissan didnt want to know, the garge cost me £3,700 to do the repair and also stole my engine and replaced it with a different model, that engine blew within 2 months and found out then that they had stole are engine, that was back in febuary, we got our nissan back only 3 weeks ago from being of the road all this time, the engine is tapping loud bangs again but its moving for now, it has cost me alot of money in solicitors and trading standards of whom there hands are tide as well as the police, had to buy a car to get around in , it all started with nissan not wanting to know , i am £5,000 in debt and no further forward , still with a crap nissan of which i,m just waiting for it to blow again, thanks watchdog for not helping a year ago!!!!
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I have a D22 and my first engin blew up at 33,000 miles. Because i had gone 1000 miles over my second service interval nissan would not repair under warrenty. Now at 90,000 miles my second engine has just let go in exactly the same way. I have had it serviced every 5,000 miles but still the same problem. This time because i have had it serviced by independant garages nissan say that substandard parts were used as they were not nissan parts. So now im out of pocket again but need my car for work. This is a joke! Nissan should initiate a recall for all of these engines. How any engine this size serviced every 5,000 miles and driven carefuly should suffer from this issue twice and nissan claim there are no issues, i wil never know. There should be a law against this. There is no-where that us paying customers can turn. They taky your money and dont care. Wil it take a death on the motorway for them to wake up?
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Further to my earlier note:
I collected my vehicle today. All work completed, the vehicle drives as it should.
My dealer has been first class regarding this issue, and this has been reflected in my customer satisfaction document.
Yes, my vehicle has been dealer serviced at the appropraite intervals, none the less, they have stood by their word, and I am a satisfied customer.
Rich Swain
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Purchased a Nissan Navara in 2004 which was serviced by Dealership. Vehicle's engine developed a knocking noise at 32K miles while 3 weeks over a 3 year warranty and was taken immediately to Dealership. Nissan contributed £3K towards repair but we still had to pay over £1K.
Despite giving Nissan customer services a knowledgeable argument (we are in the transport industry) they advised that they were being very generous, we were not allowed to speak to a supervisor or manager and they insisted it was not Nissan's' responsibility.
Given one year's warranty on repair but 2 weeks after warranty run out and 6K miles, more engine problems. Received vehicle back last week, we have still to receive account which could be £2K and understand that Nissan's contribution was minimum. (approx £300)
Perhaps with Watchdog's involvement, we will receive justice but having dealt with Nissan customer services after the first repair, we won't hold our breath.
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Hi its not just nissan that are having problems i own another famous make 4+4 that i purchased new in 2005 at 22000 miles it had a new cylinder head fitted at 23000 miles a new short engine at 33000 miles a new short engine and at 42000 miles a new short engine and when mine went in for these new engines there was quite a lot there allready awaiting new engines i purchased this for work and they would not even give me a hire car maybe you should look in to this one as well
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My D22 threw its conrod at 79000 miles i have had this serviced at Nissan Main agent every 6000 miles on the dot and this was done every 2 months. all the milage was motorway mileage running in 5th gear at low revs I was lucky as Nissan replaced the full engine with new at no cost to me.
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To Hawkslease - did you have your extended warranty of 7 years or 100k in writing -everyone seems confused and dealerships are denying extended warranty? We are a D22 owner and very concerned!
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I am from France and we have the same problem with the D22 engine, and the same answers from Nissan.
I suppose Watchdog will help to change that in UK. We need something equivalent in our country! My D22 run well today, but for how long? on day , one month , more? This situation is not acceptable
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Ref 13. At 07:46am on 29 Oct 2008, Hawkslease:
I believe that had your repair been necessary on 09.10.07 instead of 09.10.08, you would have been telling a different story as Nissan's policy has changed in this time.
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I own a D22 and was very happy with it. However, after watching your program I’ve lost all confidence in the vehicle. I’ve emailed Nissan Customer Services, they advised - ‘If the engine number is before YD25DDTI219661, then it may be one of the vehicles which could experience this issue. If your D22 vehicle has an engine serial number in the range which could be affected by this issue, correct maintenance schedules will help to ensure that this problem does not occur. Because there are only a small percentage of certain D22 engines which could experience this issue, there are no preventative measures that we can take unless the issue manifests itself. If this issue does occur, the loud knocking noise from the engine gives the driver significant prior notice that the bearings may be failing, and at this point if you experience this noise, you should take your vehicle into an authorised Nissan dealer, to rectify the issue.' They did not offer up details of the extended warranty but, after being asked the question, they also confirmed that - ‘all regularly serviced, D22 engines, are covered by an extended warranty of up to 5 years, or 93,000 miles (whichever comes first), to cover the connecting rod bearing issue should it occur. Our authorised Nissan dealerships have been made aware of this.’
How can they say it’s not a safety issue? How can they say there are no preventative measures when they know how to fix it? What would happen with regards to insurance if this so called non-preventable non-safety issue occurred and caused a terrible accident? This doesn’t seem to be happening to a ‘small percentage’ of vehicles, check out www.knackerednavara.co.uk !!!
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my nissan navaras engine blew last week made a right mess it even cracked the gear box housing
nissan have agreed to replace engine free of charge exellent result im over the moon thanks nissan
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Nissan sell vehicles all over the world. They must have had the same problem in other countries.
Was it only Nissan UK which refused to acknowledge their customers complaints or was it overall, anyone know?
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I have a nissan D22 which failed on Friday 21st Nov. We had seen Watchdog and read these comments and had already contacted customer services who had asked us to take the car in to be checked. Ironically the engine failed the day before we were going to take it in. As we don't have a full service history we have been quoted £9000 to have the problem fixed which is more than the value of the car. I am so disapointed that a company like Nissan had not recalled all these D22s if they knew there was a fault that was not caused by bad maintiance. It seems that the full service history to extend this warrenty is just a get out clause to save them from having to repair the car. We are really upset about this as we need the car to run our own small business that cannot afford to pay £9000 to repair the car or to replace it with a new one. This case is still with Nissan Customer Service.... our local dealership has been helpful so far so watch this space........
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We have a D22 ‘54’ Navara 57,000 miles which on 24th Nov 2008 a knocking noise started coming from the engine, we had been told by friends about the watchdog report so my husband had the foresight to stop and ring our breakdown recovery. Our local Nissan dealership assessed the vehicle and reported to Nissan UK that the engine has failed due to the con rod problem. We do not have a full Nissan Service History as our warranty booklet and service history were damaged as our home was flooded. Our previous dealings with Nissan have not always been positive so we chose to go independently for the majority of our servicing. I have emailed all relevant invoices and receipts relating to the service history to Nissan UK and have not had any response to my emails or phone calls. I keep being told when I ring that the case manager dealing with our problem will call me back. It appears that if vehicles are failing with this problem with a full service history with Nissan this doesn't really confirm that the servicing via Nissan makes any difference whatsoever to these vehicles. We have a small business which is suffering without this vehicle and we are hiring a small replacement to our cost. How long will it be before someone gets really hurt, as it seems Nissan are still in denial with this issue?
Maybe we should put signs on our tail gates warning drivers not to drive behind us as they may be taking a high risk to their safety.
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yep, my D22 54 plate has just exploded at 100 k, that should be no miles for a big tough (ha,ha) truck with a full main dealer service history, nissan should be ashamed of themselves.
As mine is out of warranty, the dealer told me it would be £10,000 to replace the engine!!!
"worth every penny sir".
I had to laugh as it books at about £ 3k at the moment.
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d22 owner from new 2004 nissan have not informed me of extended warranty well done nissan serviced every 6000 miles maybe why
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The absolute disappointment and anger I experienced when picking up the second conrod from the tarmac in 14 months seems insignificant when compared to the total lack of committment from Nissan UK. They refused paying the original £8800 for a new engine, as one service was not by a Nissan dealer (although all the other services have been done by Nissan). I have bought another pick up and will hopefully never have to go through this again!
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Following my previous post I have come across this web site KnackeredNavara. Please visit it as it clearly shows this is not a small problem as Nissan claims but a big one! It highlights how Nissan treats its customers with this engine fault.
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I have a letter,dated 9 Feb 09, from Nissan advising me of an engine warranty extension up to 5 years/93,000 miles. All very well, but the 5 year period elapses on 31 Mch 09 and mileage is only 50K. It appears that Nissan was offering this extension some time ago. Why then did they wait until the last month of the five year period before notifying me? Do you think it was coincidence?
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i own a nissan navara d22 pickup ,last saturday it it threw a con rod @ 60 mph on the m11 .to date it has cost me £300 in various transport costs and i still have to travel 240 miles to collect my motor when it has been repaired .nissan will not pay to get the vehicle to my local dealer and i wonder what would have happened if i had been on the continent ?the repair is a short engine and i do wonder what will happen if a fault such as a turbo failure in a few miles occurs .
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I've just see the video about the conrods going through the engine
block my navara is a 2002- d22 modle and only got 65,000 on the clock
iv had no problems yet iv had it just over 1 year now
but iv e mailed nissan and thay say that the 5 year warranty is out
But by nissan and on the watchdog video it says 5 years or 93,000 miles
so for me it shouldn't matter how old your car is if its done under the 93,000 miles they should replace the conrods
this is a safety matter and they should put it right and stop being tight
thay are dealing with people's lives.
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