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Bought Stagea Nm35

ShonE

By ShonE,
in Four Door Family & Wagoneers

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ShonE Explorer

ShonE

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hello nissan people..

After owning only European cars for almost 10 years i bought 2003 Nissan Stagea NM35 AR-X Four... I was after station wagon for every day use, just needed something with a bit more space...As my budget was arround 10k thought ford-holden is my best option, but after checking the prices choice was actually between 2005 VW Passat,2006 Citroen and the Sagea that i bought, i just loved the space in this one. So as im new to Jap's cars i just have some questions ...

Turbo noise? There is this kinda (vacum cleaner,aeroplane engine,muffled deep whistle or dunno how to explain) noise when accelerating. Im sure its turbo but just not sure is it normal. I have tried to search for stuff and thats how i came to this forum actually, some people say it can be turbo dying some say its normal for this car... Its not that it bothers me as noise if its normal for this car.. My last turbo car was saab 9-5 and never experienced any noise...

Also is there any other things i should check,change or have in mind since i own it for a few days only,... The car has been serviced 500Kms ago, oil looks fine and it runs smooth...

Another question about that screen, i know it has GPS,TV and stuff, its translated so most of it is in english,but nothing works apart from fuel consumption thing... Is there and what is the best way to put it to use, or should i just get new custom multimedia unit , i just wouldnt like to have to screens and one of them with no use...

Thanks heaps

Edit: the car has 93000

Edited by ShonE
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Brick Mentor

Brick

Posted
Posted

Welcome to stag ownership.

Awesome cars

But yes they all have that noise but it's cause all their turbos fail at around 80-100k. So I would be budgeting for a new turbo. Bot a bad thing though cause they go so much Vetter with a nice high flow Turbo.

Where are you located? There are a couple of guys on here who do turbo swaps when it finally does go.

ShonE Explorer

ShonE

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Welcome to stag ownership.

Awesome cars

But yes they all have that noise but it's cause all their turbos fail at around 80-100k. So I would be budgeting for a new turbo. Bot a bad thing though cause they go so much Vetter with a nice high flow Turbo.

Where are you located? There are a couple of guys on here who do turbo swaps when it finally does go.

Thanks for that, as i said i almways owned european cars, but i needed something more spacious for my second car, and this Stagea bought me over Passat and Citroen coz of the space and those easy to fold back seats.... I love the Volvo look as well :), and yeah it runs smooth,though the driving position is a bit weird, i felt much more comfy in Citroen-Passat but yeah im here so i need some help...

Im in S/E Melbourne. So the noise pretty much means turbo is near the end?....Any info on how much it should cost,just to prepare ? DId you mean its not a bad thing :)

THanks

Brick Mentor

Brick

Posted
Posted

Thanks for that, as i said i almways owned european cars, but i needed something more spacious for my second car, and this Stagea bought me over Passat and Citroen coz of the space and those easy to fold back seats.... I love the Volvo look as well :), and yeah it runs smooth,though the driving position is a bit weird, i felt much more comfy in Citroen-Passat but yeah im here so i need some help...

Im in S/E Melbourne. So the noise pretty much means turbo is near the end?....Any info on how much it should cost,just to prepare ? DId you mean its not a bad thing :)

THanks

Yeah sorry "not"

Another Melbourne guy. Your a lucky man. Scottym35 will ve along soon I'm sure and will be best to give you pricing. He does most the work foe all the stag owners down there in Mexico.

He also makes a whole bunch of great bits foe the M35 that are hard to say no to.

As a guide line hypergear in Melbourne do turbo gig flowing from about $900 but you will also need to add Labour etc to that. I would budget 2 grand just to be safe.

Also something to be aware of the adjustable sway bars from whiteline got discontinued a while ago but #@Daleo is trying to get them to restock them. If it's something you might be thinking of doing I would jump into that chat thread and out your hand up. They make a HUGE difference.

Hope that has helped you a bit. I'm sure Scotty will be along soon.

If not search Scotty's dump pipe and you will find the man to talk to about everything M35 UN Mexico

ShonE Explorer

ShonE

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for help man... Im not into forums much and just hate navigating through this, my registration failed 3 times, there is something wrong with it.. Ive used all my email addresses and never got that email reply when registering.. so facebook log in worked in the end..

As for mods, i never thought of it, i was looking for a station wagon really, but when i tested some cars i thought why would i buy a ford or a holden.. Honestly this stagea feels better than my brothers brand new ford, not to mention 6-7 years old models in the same price range as the stag...

So i guess i wouldnt mind some mods that would be reasonable, not to expensive and something that wouldnt need much maintenance, i just need a reliable car...

2k sounds a bit expensive for a new turbo... I mean one of the reasons i choose nisan over European was cheaper parts,expenses etc... When my 2004 Saab turbo exploded it was less expensive.. 750AUD for brand new genuine turbo with shipping plus arround 900AUD for labour, and it needed a bit more work as turbo literally exploded..there were bits and pieces of it in the exhaust etc..

WAGON_BOY Mentor

WAGON_BOY

Posted
Posted

I'm almost at 100,000 km about 30km's away and my turbo is still alive (be it a miracle or not) but it spools up loud and haven't had a problem yet, regular oil changes and drilling out the turbo oil return line banjo help's keep it alive longer not to mention getting a new dump pipe off the turbo to get rid of the cat that just creates extra restriction and holds massive amounts of heat on the back of the turbo!!! (Scotty makes the dump pipes here on the forum and are excellent quality!!!)

turbo replacement is expensive because its hard to get to and not easy to work on, there are people in Sydney and in Melbourne happy to help and guide you in the right direction with turbo replacement.

Brick Mentor

Brick

Posted
Posted

Sorry to say you chose the wrong Nissan to be really cheap. It's mainly just the Turbo that is really expensive. But once it's done and if you keep the maintenance up you should have a solid reliable car that is way better then any of the competition

ShonE Explorer

ShonE

Posted
  • Author
Posted

hm, yeah thought its same as skyline so thought it would be cheaper really... I mean as theres all mods and stuff but yeah, when that Saab turbo blew they asked for 1500AUD for reconditioned one here in AU, so i bought brand new genuine one from UK for 750 with shipping.. But yeah..

So what would you recomend, change it all staright away, do that drilling thing make it go as far as it can or something else...I just dont like driving a car that i know is going to break at some point... You know all that freaking out, you never know when its gonna happen... Just imagine it breaking up somwhere far away in the bush, id need another thousand for taxi and towing ...

ChrisB Rising Star

ChrisB

Posted
Posted

Nearly up to 190,000k going strong and the turbo whistle has not changed from 130,000 when I bought the car. Oil change with good quality full synthetic 10-40 every 5,000 - 7,000 kms.

Use mine as a daily and drive about 700 kms a week.

MrStabby Grand Master

MrStabby

Posted
Posted

Do any NM stag owners have quiet turbos? The ones i tested before buying all had the same noise, so I came to the conclusion that they're just noisy from factory (in a cool way) and it is not an indicator of imminent failure, as Brick is saying. They may often fail at around the 100k mark, but that's unrelated to the normal noise.

If it were my car and I couldn't find with 100% certainty what the oil was and when it was done (ie a receipt from a reputable business) then i'd just change it with a full synth 5W-40 or similar, and do the filter too. Oil colour is not a useful indicator of condition!

My guess is the turbo bearing lube issue occurs when the oil has been left in too long and sludges up. However, the failure could occur after an oil change as the detergents in the new oil start to clean up the mess.

Brick Mentor

Brick

Posted
Posted

Do any NM stag owners have quiet turbos? The ones i tested before buying all had the same noise, so I came to the conclusion that they're just noisy from factory (in a cool way) and it is not an indicator of imminent failure, as Brick is saying. They may often fail at around the 100k mark, but that's unrelated to the normal noise.

If it were my car and I couldn't find with 100% certainty what the oil was and when it was done (ie a receipt from a reputable business) then i'd just change it with a full synth 5W-40 or similar, and do the filter too. Oil colour is not a useful indicator of condition!

My guess is the turbo bearing lube issue occurs when the oil has been left in too long and sludges up. However, the failure could occur after an oil change as the detergents in the new oil start to clean up the mess.

Mines quiet now its been high flowed

DaveM35 Collaborator

DaveM35

Posted
Posted

Yeah, mines been loud since I got it and done nearly 30k more, sounds exactly the same. Pretty sure I read on this forum that the guys that changed their turbo suction pipe found that the banshee scream disappeared afterwards. Might also be less noticeable after highflow or normally you'd do the suction pipe at same time anyway.

Daleo Grand Master

Daleo

Posted
Posted

Mine did more than 60,000km making exactly the same noise.

When it did finally die it gave me fair warning, & I drove it for another 2000km before I replaced it.

The turbo is a known thing, and hardly the end of the world, just budget for a replacement.

To put it in perspective; if you owned a Mk5 Golf; the 100,000km service is just over $3000.

scotty nm35 Grand Master

scotty nm35

Posted
Posted

I have only heard one turbo that didn't make that noise, it was probably one that had been replaced in Japan before import. The rear bearing is what makes the noise afaik and is the source of most failures.

If you can drill the banjo bolts out to around 1.5mm from .9mm they will be much less likely to block, but if the engine has been serviced regularly you should have no problems.

Highflow turbo's are re-manufactured from your existing housings, as there are no replacement or bolt on turbo's for our car. $880 is pretty cheap for a custom machined turbo built in Australia imo. The labour can be expensive due to the turbo's location.

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