Nissan Largo Friends

Hi there. We're thinking of buying one (‘97/‘98 perhaps) with a view to converting it for camping and running it on biofuel. Has anybody else done either? Are there any particular faults to watch out for with the Largo? Questions, questions. Anyway, looking forward to reading through the forums on what seems to be a friendly and useful site, thanks!

Hi and welcome to the forum

Hiya they are ideal for biofuels, I run mine on 100% biodiesel. The pump is a Bosch VE (VP37 style) so will run on veg in the summer and blends in the winter. Tank is right next to the pump, very short run of 8mm ID pipe via the filter, and there is no in-tank strainer to worry about. Engine is indirect injection as well.

Other bonus is that the injection pump is at the rear of the engine with it's own timing belt, so if the pump shaft seals gives up and leaks fuel out, the only belt it could damage is the fuel pump belt. Not the cambelt.

My only concern is that the fuel filter is under the driver's seat and to get at it requires removing 4x 14mm bolts to remove the seat and 7x 12mm bolts to remove an access panel. I wouldn't fancy doing that at the side of the road.

Welcome, a fair few people seem to have done camper/day van conversions on these & the ones I've read about/seen pics of seem to work out well.

Only "common faults" to really look out for are stalling on the fly-by-wire diesel when you go from D to R or reach full lock on the steering (and that issue may even have a cure at last, a 99p cure at that!).
4WD versions, make sure all the tyres are the same size & the viscous coupling has resistance if possible.

Apart from that, just what you'd look for on any older import, rust/rustproofing, how has the speedo been converted to MPH, how has the foglamp been installed and how is the history/evidence of cam & pump belt changes.

Faults to look out for, mostly the dreaded stalling when put into drive and the steering turned at the same time (sudden engine load). Though we have a couple of hacks that fixes that

Check for rust at the rear, they seem to go under the rear side light clusters and along the rear of the floor pan just under where the tailgate closes. Also make sure shocks are OK as they're hard to get and may require shocks from another vehicle modifying to fit.

That aside they seem pretty sound, the engines are nice and tough, unlike the Estima/Enima which crack heads all the time these ones are tough as old boots.

Edit: ma70ld28 is way ahead of me

pmsl great minds think alike, they say... But you get the credit for the stalling fix at least

We weren't expecting so many quick and helpful replies. Much appreciated, thanks. Glad to have found your site. Interesting to hear that others are using biofuel, relieved to hear that the cylinder head is solid on the Largo. We had a lovely old grey import Toyota Townace before but after nearly 10 years of careful use, the head finally went the way of many old Toyota MPVs.

Will post again if and when we find the right Largo. In the meantime, thanks again for all your help. We'll be sure to keep reading any advice you may add.

Oh maybe worth mentioning, the engine is essentially the same at that fitted to the 2.0TD Nissan Primera, though some of the ancillaries are mounted differently (vacuum pump is driven by back of alternator unlike the Primera where it is driven from the timing belt running the fuel pump). So front timing belt kits for the Primera fit the Largo, and heads/gaskets all match. The diesel ones do come in two flavours, pre-1996 has a standard mechanically-governed fuel pump, they pop up on eBay for as little as £25 because they never break so no-one wants them, the 1996+ ones come with the VP37 electronic varient which, although equally excellent at biofuels (if not more so because the ECU compensates for Cetane Number differences), do have this reputation for stalling. So far the solution to the stalling issue has been to swap the whole fuel pump out, consequently they are like hen's teeth and difficult to find and expensive. Sadly slightly different from the Primera pumps too, in that the wiring connectors don't match and the Primera ones don't have a pump RPM sensor built into them.

But we believe we have a workaround for the stalling, it's early days yet - but it's worth bearing in mind. If you find one with a mechanically governed pump they you're pretty much going to be issue-free as far as fuel goes - but you might want a younger one for style and features

Oh and water pump is driven by V belt not timing belt at the front so any issues are not engine-fatal.

Sorry this has been bit of a stream of conciousness, I'm just thinking through what I would have found interesting information when I was looking at buying

Hi all I have a Nissan Largo 97 2.0 diesel I have had problems with over heating lately. One of the core plugs had gone so I have replaced that and have now been told it could be the water pump. Can anyone help me as to how easy/difficult it is to fit a new water pump please? any help would be much appreciated thank you