Hello Fellow nissaners!I am going to pick up a 1988 2wd kingcab 5 spd standard pick up tomorrow.Iam getting a really good deal on it, i was wondering if any body could fill me in on what problems i shold be looking for? the person i am buyin from could not tell me anything other than its a 4cyl standard 2wd. do any body know any spec on that model? injected or carb? engine code? reliablity?it also has idle surges when warmed up. could any body help. thanks in advance .

Here's a good collection of information about the D21's.

D21 INFO

The '88 will still have the 8 spark plug Z24 motor (the predecessor of the KA series engines). Despite lower HP ratings, a lot of 4 banger guys swear by these things.

They are super reliable, and aside from normal maintenance items, there really shouldn't be any major problem areas to concern yourself with.

With any used vehicle, if you don't know the history, a good place to start once you have the truck home is to change all fluids (GL5 75 or 80W90 in the rear diff, GL4 <<this is important for the tranny, and your favorite 10W30 for the engine. A coolant flush, along with replacment of belts and hoses is a good idea on a vehicle this age as well.

Another note about the GL4 - A lot of gear oils say they're replacements for GL4, GL5, etc, but it's crap. These oils will deteriorate the soft metals in the tranny synchros. Straight GL4 dino oil can be bought in 2 quart jugs from NAPA. When filling a D21 manual transmission, it's a good idea to put the left side of the truck up on jackstands so you can overfill it a bit. Nissan put the fill plug a bit low on these transmissions, and on hills, this tend to starve the transmission for oil, hence the reason to over fill a bit.

The Nissan 4 bangers use a timing chain, not a belt, and these are often good for the life of the engine, but put your ear to a screwdriver, or use a stethoscope on the front of the engine to listen for any chain 'slapping' noises that might indicate a worn or stretched chain.

One other thing on the early HB's. The speedo needles on many of them seems to get excited by the sun's heat over time and it actually bends the needle upward, which can cause inaccurate speedo readings. Looks like the thing has a wood Other than that, look for normal stuff you'd look for on any other used vehicle. That Z24 is a 250-300k mile engine if properly maintained.

Good luck with the truck.

I just picked up the pickup! and just got in from a long ride, i am quite pleased with the little truck. For something with such high mileage it runs great except a little idle surging and ticking( hopefully a good tune up and new oil will help) got the truck for a great price. I really appricate the post Desert Rat it was very helpful. I hope i get many more miles out of this truck!

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

RECALLS - Jump over to: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/c...h.cfm

TECHNICAL BULLETINS - Jump over to: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/c...h.cfm

Hope this helps.