Considering a Hiace 4x4 import. Does anyone have any tips about the realities of owning a used import? Servicing and repairs problems? Parts availability? Stereos etc.

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Shifu said..
Considering a Hiace 4x4 import. Does anyone have any tips about the realities of owning a used import? Servicing and repairs problems? Parts availability? Stereos etc.

That all depend where you bring you car from.
What if you import your car from Japan and your stereo will be full of Japanese squeaky music only?
Or Germany playing war marches constantly only?
What about unhealthy air that you could bring from china in your tires?
Carrying only smog and smell of sweat of forced laborer's?
Did you thought how many unkosher dirty hands get laid on your steering wheel, you need to touch now?
If that car was manual and previous lady owner then you may think twice too.
If you bring from Italy the horn is probably worn out completely.
For Middle East import- did you consider where you can get refills of bullets and grandees for mounted machine guns and launchers?

Had an Imported Hilux Surf a while back.

Biggest issue is parts, it depends on whether the model is sold locally as to parts availability, there are some importers which also bring in spares but few and far between. If no parts available then you have to wait on imports and that can end up being a fair bit of time.

Normally there's forums for 2nd hand imports where you can find out stuff.

Just remember if it is low km it may not be low hours. Lots of them idle in traffic 10x longer than our cars and 50,000km can be closer to 100,000 in reality (for some engine parts)

If you're cluey with researching parts its usually possible to find a local part - or like my old Challenger whilst Jap car and aussie released, once I cottoned on to the fact it was a Montero in USA a lot more parts options opened up and often cheaper on eBay etc. Prob not relevant to a Hiace I guess lol, they're everywhere. You will just have to figure out what the drivetrain is "the same as" and it will be all easy then.

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Mark _australia said..
Just remember if it is low km it may not be low hours. Lots of them idle in traffic 10x longer than our cars .

I dunno, the number of cars you see down in the beachside carpark with the engine running? I know sometimes it's pretty hot in Perth, but often it's 25 degrees and the windows are open! The smartphone's humming. Or sometimes they've just pulled up to eat fish 'n' chips.

Is it just a modern habit? We didn't do it back in the day. You got out and sat on the seawall to eat your fish 'n' chips. Besides we had to scrimp and save to fill the tank and we knew running an engine at idle wasn't good for it.

And then on the other hand you now have cars that automatically switch off engines at traffic lights .

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Ian K said. >>>
And then on the other hand you now have cars that automatically switch off engines at traffic lights .

Only if your foot is on the brake

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Macroscien said..

Shifu said..
Considering a Hiace 4x4 import. Does anyone have any tips about the realities of owning a used import? Servicing and repairs problems? Parts availability? Stereos etc.

That all depend where you bring you car from.
What if you import your car from Japan and your stereo will be full of Japanese squeaky music only?
Or Germany playing war marches constantly only?
What about unhealthy air that you could bring from china in your tires?
Carrying only smog and smell of sweat of forced laborer's?
Did you thought how many unkosher dirty hands get laid on your steering wheel, you need to touch now?
If that car was manual and previous lady owner then you may think twice too.
If you bring from Italy the horn is probably worn out completely.
For Middle East import- did you consider where you can get refills of bullets and grandees for mounted machine guns and launchers?

holy silly string

who took over macros account....?

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decrepit said..

Ian K said. >>>
And then on the other hand you now have cars that automatically switch off engines at traffic lights .

Only if your foot is on the brake

I'll add it to my "Only in WA" list.

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theDoctor said..
holy silly string
who took over macros account....?

Now you mention it, it does seem a bit too sensible and a bit too short and a bit too much like it was typed in the English language to have come directly from Macro

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Shifu said..
Considering a Hiace 4x4 import. Does anyone have any tips about the realities of owning a used import? Servicing and repairs problems? Parts availability? Stereos etc.

Are you thinking about getting it imported or buying one that has already been imported?

The rules have changed a bit on the import front, and may affect hiace 4x4s, depending on the category they fit into. If you want to import one, check with the brokers first to see if you can still get compliance for them.

Before Christmas a lot of the allocations for compliance were used up and the government seem to not want to allow more for the transition period to the new rules. Again, this may not affect the category you are looking at. The new rules may even still allow them, but generally they are cutting back on the models allowed in.

If you are buying one already here, obviously no import problems.

I don't think there are too many of them around. I have noticed one or two and I notice them.

Do they share the 4x4 drivetrain with other toyota models?

On a general note, I have owned a few Elgrands over the last few years and have not even bothered trying to get anyone to look at them as I do most of the work myself. There is a good support forum for the Elgrands and a place in Adelaide stocks some of the more unusual spares. At least in the case of the Elgrands, its just a matter of finding what type of part from Nissan (Toyota) happens to be used on that Elgrand (Hiace). In the case of the Elgrand, often the drivetrain parts are taken from other more common Nissan models.

There seem to be a lot already imported, complianced and ready to roll. So far I believe these hiaces have the same engines etc as our domestic ones, and differ in the addition of an AWD drivetrain. There's no transfer case etc, so still a soft roader, but ntl probably ok for the occasional track, hard sand, greasy boatramps etc. ESP if get a locker fitted in the back.

You can get hybrid Hiaces , don't know about 4wd , why never inported into Australia i'll never know but would be perfect for city driving .

Available here already

Try japanauto.com.au

Every car in Australia is imported, we don't have a car industry,

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Shifu said..
Considering a Hiace 4x4 import. Does anyone have any tips about the realities of owning a used import? Servicing and repairs problems? Parts availability? Stereos etc.

The elgrand by nissan has a good 4x4 system
You can buy one under $10,000 with 100,000 on the clock, the engine and transmission is in the top 5 reliable engines made as long as its maintained well
ive a 3,5 as a camper conversion, great bus, you can go simple or full on for a conversion

T



Check out cruise campers for what you can do

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cauncy said..

Shifu said..
Considering a Hiace 4x4 import. Does anyone have any tips about the realities of owning a used import? Servicing and repairs problems? Parts availability? Stereos etc.

The elgrand by nissan has a good 4x4 system
You can buy one under $10,000 with 100,000 on the clock, the engine and transmission is in the top 5 reliable engines made as long as its maintained well
ive a 3,5 as a camper conversion, great bus, you can go simple or full on for a conversion

T



Check out cruise campers for what you can do

Cauncy, have you removed the rear cats or had them decored? If not, check, and get it done.

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bazz61 said..
You can get hybrid Hiaces , don't know about 4wd , why never inported into Australia i'll never know but would be perfect for city driving .

There are heaps of cars that are Japanese domestic market only. We only get what someone decides is going to sell in enough volumes through the designated dealerships.

In the past the government protected the local manufacturing market by making it hard to import similar cars. Now, with no local manufacturing, they seem to have listened to the dealers that want to be the only suppliers of cars, and have restricted the imports that they allowed in the past. Its a shame as there are lots of nice models out there.

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FormulaNova said..

cauncy said..

Shifu said..
Considering a Hiace 4x4 import. Does anyone have any tips about the realities of owning a used import? Servicing and repairs problems? Parts availability? Stereos etc.

The elgrand by nissan has a good 4x4 system
You can buy one under $10,000 with 100,000 on the clock, the engine and transmission is in the top 5 reliable engines made as long as its maintained well
ive a 3,5 as a camper conversion, great bus, you can go simple or full on for a conversion

T



Check out cruise campers for what you can do

Cauncy, have you removed the rear cats or had them decored? If not, check, and get it done.

Is that legal?

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Ian K said..

FormulaNova said..

cauncy said..

Shifu said..
Considering a Hiace 4x4 import. Does anyone have any tips about the realities of owning a used import? Servicing and repairs problems? Parts availability? Stereos etc.

The elgrand by nissan has a good 4x4 system
You can buy one under $10,000 with 100,000 on the clock, the engine and transmission is in the top 5 reliable engines made as long as its maintained well
ive a 3,5 as a camper conversion, great bus, you can go simple or full on for a conversion

T



Check out cruise campers for what you can do

Cauncy, have you removed the rear cats or had them decored? If not, check, and get it done.

Is that legal?

I don't think so.

In Elgrands its a common problem where the front cats, there are four, disintegrate and then the rear cats block up. When this does this, it ends up sending parts of the cats into the engine through the EGR system and destroys the engine. Its common enough that there are reports of it and people have created this workaround.

In the UK, which seems to import a lot of Elgrands, they have an annual MOT emissions check. People have reported that they pass the MOT no problem on just the front cats alone. Some people have reported passing the MOT on no cats at all when running LPG. Beats me why they would remove the front ones as the problem is no longer a problem once the rear ones are no longer. Plus the front ones are difficult to get to.

Here, I would hazard a guess that technically you would have to get an emissions check to make sure the emissions are inline with whatever standard they need meet. Based on the reports from the UK I am guessing that it will pass no problem.

I believe that the front cats are used in order to get them to heat up quickly for emissions on startup. I am not sure we have that requirement here or they have it in the UK, even though they should still work if the fronts are left.

Replacing an engine on an Elgrand is not cheap. They are common engines, but the labour to remove them is pretty bad.

If you see one advertised as 'engine blows a little smoke' stay away from it as there is no option apart from replacement.

Could it be our high sulphur fuel makes them more likely to block up? I suppose with 4 CATS you can remove one or two and still be satisfied that you're within the spirit of the law.

Besides who's going to ever check the underside of your car in WA?

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Ian K said..
Could it be our high sulphur fuel makes them more likely to block up? I suppose with 4 CATS you can remove one or two and still be satisfied that you're within the spirit of the law.

Besides who's going to ever check the underside of your car in WA?

Its a problem in the UK as much as in Australia. I don't know if the fuels are the same or not.
There were recalls on these in Japan to adjust the ECU to reduce the chance of the front cats breaking up, so I think its a fundamental problem with having two separate pairs of cats. If the front one breaks up, it will block the rear one. Probably not a problem during the new car warranty but later it certainly is.

If it were easier, I would prefer to have just the rear cats as they are easier to replace and do the job just fine once up to operating temp. A lot of cars only have rear cats.

Most people here wouldn't be familiar with these cars to know where the cats are and how many. The rear cats have a heat shield, so its entirely possible to cut them open, remove the core, and weld them back up, with the weld hidden by the heat shields.

On the UK forum its quite common for someone to get on there and ask what to do about their engine that has just started losing power and smoking a lot. The bad news is that its too late at that point.

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Ian K said..

FormulaNova said..

cauncy said..

Shifu said..
Considering a Hiace 4x4 import. Does anyone have any tips about the realities of owning a used import? Servicing and repairs problems? Parts availability? Stereos etc.

The elgrand by nissan has a good 4x4 system
You can buy one under $10,000 with 100,000 on the clock, the engine and transmission is in the top 5 reliable engines made as long as its maintained well
ive a 3,5 as a camper conversion, great bus, you can go simple or full on for a conversion

T



Check out cruise campers for what you can do

Cauncy, have you removed the rear cats or had them decored? If not, check, and get it done.

Is that legal?

Is the dpf legal, it just dumps all the nasties in one foul swoop, a dpf can't make anything magically disappear, it was designed to store all the shidt when urban driving, then chuck it all out when on the open roads

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FormulaNova said..

cauncy said..

Shifu said..
Considering a Hiace 4x4 import. Does anyone have any tips about the realities of owning a used import? Servicing and repairs problems? Parts availability? Stereos etc.

The elgrand by nissan has a good 4x4 system
You can buy one under $10,000 with 100,000 on the clock, the engine and transmission is in the top 5 reliable engines made as long as its maintained well
ive a 3,5 as a camper conversion, great bus, you can go simple or full on for a conversion

T



Check out cruise campers for what you can do

Cauncy, have you removed the rear cats or had them decored? If not, check, and get it done.

Does it sound better, if so job done

Select to expand quote

Ian K said..
Could it be our high sulphur fuel makes them more likely to block up? I suppose with 4 CATS you can remove one or two and still be satisfied that you're within the spirit of the law.

Besides who's going to ever check the underside of your car in WA?

A kangaroo

^^"Besides who's going to ever check the underside of your car in WA?"

People trying to sneak out of the worlds longest lock down in history strapped under cars at the Mexican style WA border?

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lotofwind said..
^^"Besides who's going to ever check the underside of your car in WA?"

People trying to sneak out of the worlds longest lock down in history strapped under cars at the Mexican style WA border?

Again, there is no problem getting out of the state, its getting back in that's the problem. Anyone can leave, and I am surprised that people here are not... well I am not really, its a pain in the arse if you have to change your life just to get back to your home.

If you can ride underneath an Elgrand from Eucla to somewhere better, you are a very thin person.

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cauncy said..

FormulaNova said..

cauncy said..

Shifu said..
Considering a Hiace 4x4 import. Does anyone have any tips about the realities of owning a used import? Servicing and repairs problems? Parts availability? Stereos etc.

The elgrand by nissan has a good 4x4 system
You can buy one under $10,000 with 100,000 on the clock, the engine and transmission is in the top 5 reliable engines made as long as its maintained well
ive a 3,5 as a camper conversion, great bus, you can go simple or full on for a conversion

T



Check out cruise campers for what you can do

Cauncy, have you removed the rear cats or had them decored? If not, check, and get it done.

Does it sound better, if so job done

I have had an Elgrand with the rears removed, and one with the rears decored, and there is no sound difference. They are both quiet anyway.

If you have a more sportier import, maybe someone has fitted a Nizmo exhaust or something to it. Normally there is a huge centre muffler in these things and it keeps them quiet.

i wouldnt bother with it. Most jap imports have often sat in traffic for huge hours and the engines are clogged up. ok around town until your first long trip and the sludge gets stirred up and clogs the radiator, the tired alternator bearings collapse and seize and the engine cooks itself because your modern car has a plateau built into the temp gauge because silly people panic when the temp gauge goes up at the lights so the designers temper the readings making it useless for accuracy. And the seats are often terribly worn out also.
I know someone who got a Surf (Hilux lookalike) and they could never solve the overheating probs and parts were a bit ch. Toyota wouldnt help him out either... blah blah blah

stereo all in Japanese too LOL