Nissan RD28

Nissan's 2.8 diesel straight-six — the RD28 — in the Patrol and Laurel.

A six-cylinder diesel in a four-cylinder's displacement class is the unusual part, and the consequence is the one people buy it for: smoothness and a long, unstressed life at outputs that were modest when new.

The RD28ETi adds a turbocharger and electronic control to what is otherwise an indirect-injection engine with a mechanical pump — which is where its faults concentrate. The pump-mounted electronics fail with heat and give an intermittent cut that clears when cool.

Cylinder head cracking is the structural item on the turbocharged engines, usually after an overheat or a raised boost setting, and coolant loss with no external leak is the tell.

In the Patrol it sits alongside the TB petrol sixes and the ZD30, both of which have pages here — and the badge on the car says nothing about which is fitted.