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A novices guide to Elgrand acquisition

I recently purchased my Elgrand from a dealer who has been importing Elgrand for decades, I discussed at length issues raised in this post (secondary cats) and decoring of same the explanation given by hin sounded fairly sensible and yet everyone and their mother says remove, is their any actual evidence that this is required. My limited understanding was that it would be sensible to decore if running high temperatures with LPG conversion.

I am open to comments from anyone with experience of this issue, good or bad.
James newbie
 
Hello James, if you do your research you will discover that there are countless reports of engine failures due to secondary cat blockage. It's not a case of if but when. Up to you if you want to take the risk for the sake of £150.
 
Thanks Stempy for quick reply it’s not a matter of monies just confused why a reputable dealer would say it’s not necessary and quite possibly ruin his reputation? My Elgrand is an E51 with 50k miles if that makes a difference. I have read through the posts on the forum dealing with this subject and am still confused hence my earlier post.
 
Thanks Stempy for quick reply it’s not a matter of monies just confused why a reputable dealer would say it’s not necessary and quite possibly ruin his reputation? My Elgrand is an E51 with 50k miles if that makes a difference. I have read through the posts on the forum dealing with this subject and am still confused hence my earlier post.
I have no idea why he is in denial, but the facts speak for themselves. It happens, there are folk on this forum who it has happened to. It will likely mean a replacement engine when it does happen. It's his reputation vs your wallet. Most 'reputable' Elgrand dealers will decat before selling the vehicle.
 
Stempy, can’t argue with that, for peace of mind I am sorting change out as we speak thanks for your honest comments and assistance
 
Lovely Jubbly. You know it makes sense.
 
Here’s my Elgrand buying experience in case it helps anyone else in the buying process.

After deciding that I really wanted an Elgrand, I found a dealer quite near to me. I had already decided I didn’t want to spend time and expense trawling up and down the country looking for my new car, so some internet research led me to the more local options.

Being a novice in the import vehicle field I also decided that I was willing to pay a bit more for someone else to deal with procedures involved in bringing a car in from Japan rather than trying to do it myself. I could also be sure to see the vehicle before making my purchase.

I found a likely candidate at my nearest dealer who were advertising it as low mileage and top quality on their website and ebay. The vehicle in question had not yet landed from Japan, it was a silver Rider model but sounded from the description that it would be just what I wanted.

I visited the dealer and left a deposit on the strength of their pictures, advertisement and description. Then, whist awaiting its arrival I thought it might be a good idea to do some further research online and signed up to this club to seek advice and information about my impending purchase. Good move.

After much reading and advice from those more experienced in Elgrandery, I discovered the many ways of checking how closely the dealers spiel matched reality. As it happens I saved myself a wait for a vehicle that wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It turns out that the dealer in question are importing low grade auction vehicles then tarting them up on arrival. Happily, they refunded my deposit without quibble when I approached them with the discrepancies I had found.

Here’s what I checked using the vehicles chassis number.

Firstly, they claimed the the vehicle had Jevic mileage certification. I checked the chassis number on the Jevic website https://www.jevic.co.uk/index.html but it returned no results. Warning bells started to ring.

I next paid for a CarVX report at https://carvx.jp/ costing £25 plus £3.50 for the translation of the Japanese auction sheet. The report showed that this vehicle was a low grade auction rating, had been repaired following accident damage and had a replacement door panel which was an incorrect shade of silver. It was rusty underneath, dirty, smelly and marked inside and full of pet hair, and had numerous dings to the bodywork amongst other horrors.

On the plus side, the recall history was complete which can be checked here http://www.Nissan.co.jp/RECALL/search.html and this shows that important recall work has been carried out, most importantly correction to the over fuelling problem which adds to the premature disintegration of the catalytic converters, and also the dodgy fuel gauge issue. But even so, this seemed to be a poorly maintained vehicle and certainly best avoided I thought, and I note it has been removed from sale by the dealer.

Finally, I also checked https://Nissan.epc-data.com/Elgrand/ which shows up some basic info on specification, but doesn’t show any spec for vehicles which finished production at Autech such as Rider models.

Further searches found two more likely vehicles. The first I checked was a white Rider but it had not had the over fuelling recall carried out and although it showed a full Japanese service history it didn’t have Jevic mileage certification either, so I passed. It had also been pimped somewhat in Japan and I was looking for something that had not been too interfered with.

Third time lucky I found a gem from an ebay trader and Japanese import specialist in Kent. A low mileage 4x4 twin sun roof white Rider with verified Jevic mileage certificate, full service history and 4.5 auction grade shown on the CarVX report with no issues reported on the auction sheet. All recalls have been carried out and on inspection I found it had been very well looked after by its Japanese owner, modifications being to the side and mirror repeater indicators, a remapped ECU and a throttle control unit.

It is quite hard to believe that this is a 15 year old vehicle, with only 44k miles it looks only two or three years old and is in super condition. As you can tell I am delighted, as without this splendid club I could well have ended up with a lemon.

Just as an addendum, when you have acquired your piece of masterful engineering you MUST have the secondary catalytic converters de-cored or fit bypass pipes or your lovely new Elgrand WILL die prematurely. It's also a very good idea to have them undersealed as JDM vehicles are bare underneath, so factor the cost of these things into the cost of the purchase or risk an unnecessarily short ownership or huge expense down the line.
Hi stempie, just read your novice guide post,as a newbie looking to purchase my first Elgrand I found it extremely helpful with lots of great advice, should be required reading for anyone not to clued up before parting with their hard earned cash.
 
Thanks this will be useful to us going forward. With all above said would you recommend importing your own over buying from an importer?
 
Thanks this will be useful to us going forward. With all above said would you recommend importing your own over buying from an importer?
You will certainly save some money if you do it yourself but you obviously won't get to inspect the vehicle before committing the cash and will have to deal with all the procedures involved yourself. But plenty of folk here have done it themselves and been very happy. There is plenty of guidance on the forum.
 
Hi stempie, just read your novice guide post,as a newbie looking to purchase my first Elgrand I found it extremely helpful with lots of great advice, should be required reading for anyone not to clued up before parting with their hard earned cash.
Check out the private and trade car ads on this forum too!
 
Right got cats removed today first class job by Adrian looking very nice with twin exhaust system will attempt to post pictures tomorrow weather permitting.
Happy to help and great to see your superb XL, ... and with Mark’s matching XL (apart from the wheels!) in today, along with my X model and HWS makes it an OC mini meet, really nice to meet and chat with you both.
 
Right got cats removed today first class job by Adrian looking very nice with twin exhaust system will attempt to post pictures tomorrow weather permitting.
Great, you avoided this.....
clogged-up-catalytic-converter.jpg
 
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