Toyota Prado v6 Petrol auto

[Dustypair]

Hi all Anyone out there towing an 18 ft/20ft tandem van with the above vehicle

[Old Techo]

What year Prado?

I used to tow our 2400 kg max van with a 2004 V6 before I bought the 2007 diesel.

The 2004 V6 petrol was fine for towing but it only had the 4 speed auto and also used a bit too much fuel. That is why I bought the later diesel.

The V6 makes a better nippier town car than the diesel.

[hank]

We also had a petrol Prado, 2005 model so had the 5 speed auto, great tow vehicle, plenty of get up and go but a bit heavy on fuel when towing our 2.5 tonne van. Returned about 21-22LPH, updated to a diesel almost 4 years ago and have not looked back. 9,000km trip including the outback Queensland and Uluru we returned 16.7LPH. Most of that was towing. Go for the diesel if you can afford the extra cost.




Hank

[Dustypair]

Thanks Hank for the info.
I am reluctant to buy another diesel after all the trouble I had with the diesel Nissan Pathfinder DPF .
After only 60000 K the vehicle would continue to block up and slow me down to 40 K not good with a road train sitting up your rear.
Dustyones

[hank]

The Nissans did have a problem I believe, I have no personal experience with them. My Prado has 80,000 on the clock and have not had any issues with any part of the vehicle at all. Ours does not do a lot of short runs though, we have another car for the daily run around stuff. The Prado is mainly used when towing or running up the coast to see family etc.

Good luck with you choice.



Hank

[Old Techo]

My Prado has 80,000 on the clock and have not had any issues with any part of the vehicle at all.

Hank, have you had your injectors replaced or at least thoroughly checked by diagnostics during routine servicing?

I don't know the situation with your later mode but I believe injector wear and failure persists with Toyota and in fact other brands using common rail injection.

As I posted here my injectors were out of tolerance at 84,000 kms and I detailed my replacing of them. Once they get too out of tolerance over-fuelling can caused piston failure and generally requires engine replacement

[PeterD]

The Nissans did have a problem I believe, I have no personal experience with them.
Hank

Yes the Nissans do have a problem. It's mainly with the drivers not knowing how to treat them. They don't like city driving. They need some long trips (over 100 km) at a sustained speed to allow the DPF to burn off their collected rubbish that is filtered out from the exhaust. They also should not be driven gently all the time. This assists in clogging up the DPF. You need to stick the slipper into them occasionally and give them some stress. There is nothing like an occasional long steep hill climb to clean them out.

My D40 DPF clogged up one time when I did too much city driving. To clear it I went for an 80 km run without stopping at around 80 -90 km/h had a look around and a cuppa, then drove back to camp using the same speed. To clean a DPF out you need a long sustained run at a fairly constant speed and no stress on the system. This applies to a lot of other diesels with DPFs.

[Sean]

There are diesels that don't have a DPF that you could consider as well

At the end of the day it depends how you're going to drive the vehicle. A diesel will (often) have a higher purchase price, and typically also has a higher resale price later. Normally it will be slightly more efficient on fuel (the gap has closed over the years, petrols have become more economical) day to day and are often much more efficient when towing.

A petrol vehicle will typically save you money on repairs and maintainance (especially if keeping it long term) and the lower purchase price can offset some of the increased fuel usage. Economy is not as important if you are not driving as much.

If I were buying a modern 4WD to tootle around dropping the kids at school and do a holiday at christmas a petrol would certainly be on the list. If I was going to do a lap of Australia towing a big van then it would be a diesel.

I am a hypocrite in that our current running around vehicle is a diesel, but that was because I got a stupidly cheap deal on it. The last one was a petrol and the next might be too

[hank]

No OT, I have not done anything else other than regular service by my local Toyota dealer, they did tell me that the next service around 84,000 will be an expensive one, how good they do the job, I dont know, but so far they have been pretty good. I did read about your injector service, but I am afraid that sort of work is beyond me at this stage.
In answer to Peter D, as stated mine does mainly big runs or has the van on, I believe that the short trips were part of the Nissans problem. I was definitely not knocking them as I have never owned one, except for a Pulsar about 25 years ago, which my wife loved.


Hank

[Dustypair]

All
I am well aware of the way to drive the newer diesels .
I did 60000 K towing my van with the pathfinder and never had any issues
I used Mobil 1 5w30esp oil as it is the lowest ash oil available and changed it every 5000k
Here are some of the weird things I experienced
Would start off from home and head west up Blackbutt mountain and role into Dalby then exactly at 200 k the DPF would cut me back to 40k
I would get the tug up to 80k and flog the crap out of it and an hour later back to 40k with a blocked DPF
This went on for the next 5 trips out west.
nissan could not find any reason for it .
I was using 12l/100 city driving with no DPF issues
I used to get 17l/100 when towing the van
The last trip I did before I got rid of the Pathfinder with the DPf constantly blocking and pouring the Diesel into the exhaust I was averaging 25l/100.
When I went out to Roma last I used a full tank of diesel between Dalby and Rome .In fact I was nearly dry when I topped up at first available fuel stop on edge of town.
Thats why I have no faith in any vehicles with DPF
I have read so much about the issues most manufacturers are having with them.
I believe that the should re-position then closer to the exhaust manifold and insulate them to keep the heat in them so the will work properly.
I agree with the way they work but they need to get them hot.
I would hate to take one of them into the snowy mountains.
Regards
Dustypair