Hi, I have a Nissan Navara d22, known by us in South Africa as the Hardbody. It’s a 2007 model, manual, 4x4 with the zd30 turbo diesel engine and has 311000km on it. It mainly has two problems, one being that in 3rd and 4th gear if I’m accelerating or going uphill and need to give it more fuel it feels like it misfires, so I pull the gear lever slightly to the right and it stops, the other problem is that it has some free play on the steering. What could be causing these problems. Lower ball joint have been replaced at 309000km, and the cylinder head was replaced, it started the misfire like symptoms just before the head cracked.
Most of us here, myself included, are not familiar with vehicles in your market
The "Navara D22" was sold in the US market as the 1997-2004 Nissan Frontier.
my car doesn’t register on my obd2 device
That's very unfortunate as it complicates the repair and diagnostics severely.
Have you tried a cheap dongle like an ELM327 with this app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ovz.carscanner
I found it to work great with cars that don't like to comm over OBD2.
zd30 turbo diesel (...) going uphill and need to give it more fuel it feels like it misfires
Since it's a diesel, Either the fuel-air mixture is wrong or there's a compression issue.
Is the turbo is good shape? They're considered to be very troublesome on these.
You can do basic steps like checking that the engine air filter is clean, if possible replace the fuel filter.
If that fails I'd recommend testing the fuel line pressure, and if that's fine - time to test compression.
(It's a bit different than doing it on a petrol car and it does require special tools)
Also reading online, I see people complain about fuel injectors, mass airflow, etc.
It's better to have a mechanic who knows what he's doing diagnose the car - it can be a lot of things.
the cylinder head was replaced, it started the misfire like symptoms just before the head cracked
Uh oh. Perhaps the rest of the engine is worn out -
I'd really recommend testing the compression just to see that the rest of the engine is alive...
They should've done it before replacing the head anyway!
some free play on the steering
Well that's a thing that's easy to diagnose when you're hands on the truck.
See where there's play in the system - I do not want to make guesses although usually I'd suspect the rack, although again, you should diagnose it and see where's the play.
Compression test was done, and rest of the engine is fine even had the injectors done, I did however forget to mention while doing the head the mechanic somehow destroyed my clutch first he said it was stuck and then said I needed a clutch, thats why I suspect its on the gearbox side
Most of us here, myself included, are not familiar with vehicles in your market. (Moderator @dan knows about many overseas models and can possibly chime in here.)
Assuming your vehicle has OBD2 diagnostics hook up a scan tool and check for codes. Also record live data while the problem occurs so you can take a look for anything suspicious.
Loose steering could be caused by any worn parts in the steering linkage or front suspension which need to be determined by physical examination.
Unfortunately my car doesn’t register on my obd2 device, and to pay Nissan for that is ridiculously expensive, I think it could be a sensor on the gearbox but not sure which one.