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1983 Datsun Maxima W/D28 Diesel


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So my daughter bought this silver grey Datsun Diesel. Decent car. Not bad for it's age. She was driving it home and the tranny kinda quite quit. We dropped the pan on it today and found all sorts of chunks and shiny metal flakes in the pan. It has, according to previous owner, a 3 spd auto. I am totally unfamiliar with Datsuns and Nissans of this era. 

 

So Yes this is a plea for help. I didn't see a section devoted to the Maxima/G910 so I posted here. Hope that's not inappropriate.

 

How do I tell the difference between the L3N71 and the L3N71b  or even the L4N71? where would I look for markings? 

 

What are the specs for the valve clearances on the motor?

 

Has any one ever changed the drive belt for the Injection pump? I saw somewhere that that was a Service Item.

 

Parts? Who does everyone go to for parts? Advance Auto has nothing I needed, fuel filters and oil filters had to go to NAPA. $$$$.

 

Any other tips and pointers?

 

 

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Try this site. They're less active posters, but they probably can help you in the parts dept.

 

http://nissandiesel.dyndns.org/index.php

 

 

 

 

If you have an overdrive button on the trans shifter then you need the overdrive

L4N71B

 

If it isn't overdrive then you probably have the locking torque converter L3N71B.

 

then you have to determine if its a short or long shaft from a truck.

However If i were betting, i'de say you have the L4 if its a late 83 production date car.

 

 

datzenmike on this board knows alot about these datsun auto's

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/807-datsun-l-series-auto-trans-pix/

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Try this site. They're less active posters, but they probably can help you in the parts dept.

 

http://nissandiesel.dyndns.org/index.php

 

 

 

 

If you have an overdrive button on the trans shifter then you need the overdrive

L4N71B

 

If it isn't overdrive then you probably have the locking torque converter L3N71B.

 

then you have to determine if its a short or long shaft from a truck.

However If i were betting, i'de say you have the L4 if its a late 83 production date car.

 

 

datzenmike on this board knows alot about these datsun auto's

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/807-datsun-l-series-auto-trans-pix/

You do realize he's in the states meaning he has a LD28 L6 inline six.

 

All maximas gas and diesel were inline six from 81-84.

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There is no overdrive button on the shifter so that clears that up. We are predicted to have snow here tomorrow so we won't be under the car again until Wednesday (no garage). Hopefully it will come right out. In the mean time I'll see about the whole picture posting thing. And I'll check out the other forum mentioned. Thanks for all the replies.

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All LD28s had automatics and 5 speeds.
The lock up converter was introduced in '82 and the L4N71B (4 speed) in '83... but It's not clear if the LD28 continued to use the 3 speed. The shifter on the console will have a lock out switch for the overdrive L4N71b.

L4N71B and L3N71B in front.

transautotopL4N71B84Maximagoonand3N.jpg

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The gears in the diesel are lower and shift points a little different but in a pinch you could probably use a gasser auto trans and torque converter. Most just cash them in for the aluminum scrap value so they're very cheap to free.

I ran into a picture of a 3N71BOD that they put into a 83 diesel wagon. I had not heard of that one before. Really rare. It looks just like the L4N71B

3n71bOD_01c.jpg

3n71bOD_02c.jpg

send an email to this guy. he had a couple diesel automatics a while back. He may still have them.

http://nissandiesel.dyndns.org/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=2



The factory service manual for the LD28 is here
http://asavage.dyndns.org/nissan/display1.php?Path=Maxima/LD20_28&db=Nissan&table=LD20_28&Page=0-001

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83-84 came with the L4n71b. But its possible that it has the L3N71b, in not sure about the shift points or gears being different in the deisel but that is also possible. If your lucky its an L3N71b and you can use a "petrol" trans. The L4N71b is pretty hard to come by....

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Well we got it out and it is indeed a L3N71B. According to Wkipedia that tranny is in like 35 different vehicles, The L4N71B was pretty popular to and seems to have been used in the Mazda Miata all the way up til like 1997..... hhhmm, but I digress.  Some one welded the universal caps in place on the tail shaft ????? That joint sticks better than any of my socket drive uni's ever do. Not Good. maybe I can find a decent tail shaft to go with the tranny. SMH. I seen where some one else did that to keep it on. what's up with that? why does it need to be  "welded" into place?

 

With so many source car to pull from I'm guessing this shouldn't be to hard to find   ? 

 

The Shahla half of this project has to work today and it's supposed to snow tomorrow so we might not get to it till Thursday depending on the roads and how much it snows. SE va don't do snow to well. But we gotta get it rolling soon, She's got a job interview tomorrow and we have one car now. 

 

@ ArchetypeDatsun we enjoy your IG gallery keep up the good work. gotten some idea's for the Bad Max.

 

@Oakrun A huge thank You!!! for the service manual link. now we can work on the other issues while we try to find the tranny. I'll start an account over on the diesel site later and get with them about parts like you suggested.

 

@datzenmike Thanks for the Pictures and I appreciate the input.

 

Pictures: I started an Instagram acount for the car search for 1badmaxd. I'll post pic and videos of our progress.

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Wow LD28 is rarely a motor found on these forums running. That thing has a golden sought after crankshaft. 

Yes I saw that. I guess push comes to shove there are some salvage parts and we might get some cash back from it. but the motor is strong, actually had some car flippers offerme 500$ when we were getting it off the dolly and parking it in my friends lot for the night. they heard it run and pulled out the money. We will give it a go and see if we can't get her running right.

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Sorry I missed this.

 

Welcome to Ratsun, and congrats on finding such a rare car.

 

I am intensely involved with three of these cars at the moment, if you need to know ANYTHING, let me know.

 

 

FYI to all, EVERY Maxima 910 after 1982, both diesel and gas, had an L4N. If you have an 83, its L4N regardless of trim, and if its an 82 its L3 regardless.

 

 

The 81-82  is so easy to 5 speed swap I would go that route and make her learn to drive it, if you could find a clutch pedal. The 83-84 is not easy to 5 speed swap, its a royal pain in fact. if you have an L3, you can virtually just drop the clutch pedal in and install the FS5W71b  transmission, mounts are the same, driveshaft is the same, length is the same.

 

83-84, nothing is the same, different mounts, wider floorpan tunnel to accomodate, and a different driveshaft that is one piece.

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Its definatley an L3N71B tranny. Went to pick n pull and none of the cars that were supposed to have L3s in them had L3s in them, they all had manual transmissions. Sooooooooo which manual transmissions work? We saw an 85\86 300 Z and it had a 5 speed in it, will that work? Do we pull the pedals as well. Oh wait just reread your post, ok. Going to research what cars have that transmission

 

Also, that 300Z was nearly complete in case anybody needed anything.

 

We appreciate every ones comments and feedback, posting pictures on instagram search for @1badmaxd  

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I found a list from a tranny rebuilder (http://www.midwesttrans.com/fs5w71.html#followingmodels

that says the following use FS5W71b:

 

 

810, Versa, 200SX, Pulsar, B210, Maxima, 240SX, Frontier, 280SX, Pathfinder, 300ZX, 720 Series Pickup, 350Z, Titan, Sentra, Hardbody Van, Cube,

Xterra

 

is this an accurate list and are there any specific years to look at?

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