Tough but Troubled

Vehicle:
1997 Nissan 4WD regular cab.

I had been wanting one for years and in Arizona, with its extensive open country and unpaved roads such a vehicle is no luxury, but a practical device.

This is actually my second Nissan 4WD. My first one, a 1993 model, was traded in by yours truly. It had given good service, but there were some bugs; my old '93 had a noisy timing chain and a dislike for regular unleaded when the weather got hot. This was a serious problem when taking on Mexican unleaded and the pinging often got so bad it cut my top speed down to less than 60 miles an hour. However, when running on good ol' American fuel the engine would really crank. It had excellent Air Conditioning. The 1993 was my first four-wheel drive and I loved to go everywhere in it. The miles accumulated rapidly and happily.

My 97 has been a mixed blessing. With the newer rounded dash it was difficult to place a even a coffee cup anywhere while getting into the truck and putting on the seat belt. However, the overall instrumentation was much better and included a tach, which my old truck didn't have.
With a redesigned cylinder head, the engine was more responsive and got better gas mileage. The sensitivity to regular fuel in hot weather also had disappeared. But some old problems came along, and some newer ones as well. My first big problem was with the extremely noisy valve lifters in the engine and some of them were replaced under warranty. At around 25,000 miles the front shocks went bad and I replaced them with aftermarket Rancho shocks, which are now fading at 72,000 miles (This also happened on the previous truck-I think factory Nissan shocks are total junk). Around 45,000 miles the timing chain became very noisy and the chain, along with the tensioner and slippers, was replaced by Nissan under warranty. Due to very hot Arizona weather, the battery quit abruptly last year, but I was prepared for this local climatic phenomenon (very common) with a set of jumper cables.
An abrupt alternator failure at around 69,000 miles set me back $400.

The timing chain problem has now re-appeared, along with more noisy lifters but the truck is now out of warranty at 72,000 miles. Since I had followed the oil changes religiously, using very expensive synthetic oil, there must be a design problem with the timing chain that Nissan needs to pay more attention to.

For the rest, the truck has been excellent. The short wheelbase and large tires do well under 4WD drive conditions. Beach sand is no problem and I've pulled out larger vehicles with ease on the Beach in Rocky Point, Mexico. The transmission is one of the best shifting manuals I have ever experienced. The factory bench seat is high and comfortable and I like the "trucklike" position of the steering wheel, which makes four-wheeling fun because you can see the corners of the truck easily while turning the wheel, something that is hard to do in a similar Toyota. However, the high position of the seat and the small cab also means that this truck is not well suited for anybody over 5 feet 8 inches. This is my height and there is little seat adjustment left.

While I'm a relatively happy owner, the continuing engine problems through 2 models have made me leery and it might be time for a Toyota Tacoma on the next try.