Hello everyone!
God bless you greatly.
I thank the Lord and you all for this site, as I've done a lot of research on my 1986 Nissan Patrol because I had some problems with it. Thanks to sites like this, I was able to solve almost the problem myself (and of course, thanks to God)... except for the lack of some tools. But anyway, through my research, I realized I wasn't the only one with this problem, which is why I'm sharing this with you. I hope it's helpful to someone else.
The Nissan Patrol has a vacuum pump attached to the alternator, which has an O-ring. When this O-ring wears out, it leaks engine oil, which, due to gravity, falls directly onto the alternator's diode plate and burns it out (because the oil is liquid). To fix this problem, you remove the alternator, take out the vacuum pump (which is held in place by three bolts), and replace the O-ring. Of course, you realize this right after the charging indicator light won't turn off, and you think it's the battery that's the problem. You don't want to accept that it could be the diode plate that's burned out because that would cost you an arm and a leg... But it's actually not that expensive if you take the alternator off and remove the darn little bulb yourself.
Here in Panama, it cost me no more than $30.00 to replace the plate and the plate itself.
See you later, everyone.
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Sep 14, 2025