Nissan Primera P12 - P12 Primera 1.8 -- do I risk it?

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Sun 15 Jul 2012 01:45
Nissan Primera P12 - P12 Primera 1.8 -- do I risk it? - primeradriver

I recently had my Ford Focus written off in the floods up here in the North East (the air intake is at the bottom of the engine and the car drowned in a 7in puddle).

I've been looking around and have seen a P12 Primera with the dreaded QG18DE engine. The car is cheap, despite being one of the very late ones from 2006, so would be an OK runabout for a year or so until I have enough cash to buy something nice.

I've noticed that, even if the chain does fail (which I know they're prone to doing on these engines), the chains are fairly cheap these days (around £130+labour).

Is this something people would risk, or is this car considered a dead loss now? And how many hours' labour are we talking realistically to change the chain on one of these? Is it similar to a belt, or much more involved?

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Sun 15 Jul 2012 10:23
Nissan Primera P12 - P12 Primera 1.8 -- do I risk it? - Oli rag
Don't be too worried about it, as long as it's had regular oil changes it should be fine.
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Sun 15 Jul 2012 11:40
Nissan Primera P12 - P12 Primera 1.8 -- do I risk it? - Wukl

Why do you say 'dreaded' QG18DE? Are there problems you've read of? My P11 is on 138k now and I've had no engine probelms in the 70k I've out on it. I make sure I change the oil every 9000miles. It's no ball of fire for sure but is flexible and economical, but that's in the P11 shell; I imagine in the blobby P12 it must feel a bit strained. To be fair, from what I've read, the P12 has more common issues than engine problems. If you can assure yourself the oil has been regulalry changed at the right time with the right stuff I think you can discount any questions over the camchain.

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Sun 15 Jul 2012 12:28
Nissan Primera P12 - P12 Primera 1.8 -- do I risk it? - McP
The chains can stretch even on a well maintained QG engine. Most won't.

The P12 can suffer from some electrical problems. Most can be fixed DIY cheaply. The owners club has most of the answers.
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Sun 15 Jul 2012 12:58
Nissan Primera P12 - P12 Primera 1.8 -- do I risk it? - John F
Have they changed the design? Our 2000 Focus air intake is over 2ft above the ground, and even has a little breakwater ridge in front of it. It is behind the bonnet lid and any water through the gap under the bonnet is directed beneath it, so even if the bow wave sloshed over the front of the bonnet it wouldn't get in.
I drove through a really deep flood the other week - top of the wheel height [forgot to stop to let the cat cool down] and emerged unscathed. The main problem would be floating away.
I heard there is a cheap way of dealing with the Nissan stretchy chain problem. It is possible to move the cam sensor a bit so it stops telling the engine management system it's stretched. The fraction of a degree lag should not affect performance unduly.
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Mon 16 Jul 2012 00:25
Nissan Primera P12 - P12 Primera 1.8 -- do I risk it? - primeradriver

Thanks for the responses.

I have decided not to buy this particular car due to the seller seeming a little iffy (pictures taken in good end of town while car being sold on rough estate, seller having a number of cars on sale over the last few months while he claims he's private etc).

However having had a look around the main dealerships and seeing some of the dreck that is on sale for £7k these days (the upper end of my limit for now -- and they're selling four year old Mondeos for all of that with 80-90K on the clock and not in pristine condition either -- I expected much better) I have decided to wait, and possibly to buy something cheap in the meantime while I ponder what to do next.

I have seen an Almera 1.5 with 90K on a 55 plate with FSH for £1200 from an independent dealer which might be worth looking at for this purpose -- this has similar reported issues with the engine but if it's not that big of a deal I may just put that to one side for that money.

JohnF -- I was surprised myself -- but it seems that on the newer model (2005-7) the air intake is deep in the bowels of the engine. I expected it to be at the top as you say -- it certainly has been on every other car I've owned.

Edited by primeradriver on 16/07/2012 at 00:29

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Wed 18 Jul 2012 23:34
Nissan Primera P12 - P12 Primera 1.8 -- do I risk it? - SteveLee

There are 2 and 3 year old Mondeos at car giant for under £7K.

www.cargiant.co.uk/style_familycar/Ford/Mondeo/det...0

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Fri 20 Jul 2012 20:17
Nissan Primera P12 - P12 Primera 1.8 -- do I risk it? - primeradriver

There are 2 and 3 year old Mondeos at car giant for under £7K.

www.cargiant.co.uk/style_familycar/Ford/Mondeo/det...0

Oh now you've gone and muddied the waters :) Thanks for the link; I will look at this tonight. I'd forgotten about Car Giant to be honest. Thanks bathtub tom for the reassurance re the camchain on Almera/Primera.
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Thu 19 Jul 2012 00:21
Nissan Primera P12 - P12 Primera 1.8 -- do I risk it? - bathtub tom

>>I have seen an Almera 1.5 with 90K on a 55 plate with FSH for £1200 from an independent dealer which might be worth looking at for this purpose -- this has similar reported issues with the engine

I think you'll find the cam chain issue was sorted by early 2003, although it could still be a problem if oil changes were 'stretched'.

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