ASD Dad

Finally got the DV appraisal done on their end. It is not as much as I had hoped but they never are. In the end I am just happy to be done with those clowns. I am getting $1950.00 back as a "reduced market value" settlement. My NV dealer told me it should be closer to $3000 but according to insurance standards they could have gone as low as $900. Since this is in the middle I am taking it.

Huh... wonder what trade in will be on my 2015!! That's great news and I am completely serious about getting the better motor and transmission.

Welcome to the site! We're going to be building a new home next year and on top of my list is making a garage big enough for my van even with the roof rack on!

Get an RV washing pole. They sell them online and in stores like Walmart and even Autozone. Has a soft bristle brush on one end and you can attach a hose to the telescoping pole if you like. It has a on/off valve for the hose. Some are just brushes. Here is a cheap one - https://www.amazon.com/Carrand-93053-Dip-n-Wash-Vehicle-Handle/dp/B0009IK9DG/ We have both styles and honestly dont use the hose much, it can make it hard to maneuver the pole and brush around with a heavy hose hanging off the back. We bought them for our camper but they work great on the NV.

You have every right to be upset! It's a new van with low miles making bad sounds. Just don't beat youself up over it. I'm guilty of it and it gets you nowhere other than higher stress and blood pressure. Just keep after Nissan and if it stalls call Commercial direct or ask for the Regional Rep to get involved. Now if the dealer starts blowing you off then you can get upset and more demanding! Keep written records with dates and copies of any dealer emails or paperwork. If it does get stalled and ugly dowm the road you'll need all of it especially if gets to arbitration for a Lemon claim.

All motors have issues. There are NV commercial vehicles out there with 100's of thousands of miles that run great. There are brand new NV's that are lemons. The big dealership in Charlotte took in a trade with I think 300K miles on it and it still ran well. This motor has been around almost a decade now with very little change. Any motor that has been around 10 years will have lots of issues reported, there are tons of motors on the road. Foreign or domestic, doesnt matter. People go online to vent about problems, they dont go online much when they have no issues. Not sure how many 5.6 motors are out there with the Titan, Armada and Infiniti lines combined but after that many years I am sure it is a lot regardless of how bad sales are vs. others. You are correct it could be a lot of things. I would let Nissan sort this out, that is what the 5yr, 100K warranty is for. I didnt see in your post where they said exactly what the problem was. There is a huge difference between fixing a cracked manifold vs. rod knock or piston slap. You have it on file that it is an issue and they are working on the fix, just stay on top of it. If you need a major fix they'll most likely swap out the short block. It is cheaper and faster vs. a rebuild. It will likely be a re-manufactured short block but it should carry a full warranty. You can always ask that they extend the warranty on the engine and vehicle as a "good will" gesture. Most companies will do that when it is a major fix like that on a relatively new vehicle. I think the biggest issue is giving you something to drive while it is being fixed. It wont be quick and I dont them having a high roof cargo as a loaner but I could be wrong. If that is outfitted for work it will be an even larger issue. In that case you can go after lost wages/company income if you are out for an extended period of time. As for selling it, if I heard engine knock I would just politely walk away even if the seller had a signed letter from the company saying it was "normal". Unless it was dirt cheap and I felt like I could repair it on my own dime and come out ahead... Keep us updated on the outcome. It definitely is a problem, I'd like to hear how Nissan fixes it. EDIT: Never heard that about the dealer network. I have 1 dealer in the area, period. That is where I bought mine. The next two closest dealers are 2 hours and 2.5 hours away.

Finally got my van back!!! That took way too long. No fault of the shop but the insurance company was a total disaster to work with. If anyone ever has these people or needs to deal with them you have my condolences! Lyndon Southern is their name. I would say the shop did a 98% perfect job. The paint is flawless looking and blended very well. You cant see the physical splice of the new panels anywhere. Most of it is aligned to factory. The only area that isnt factory aligned is the actual rocker panel. It has a larger gap than it should and it is not tweakable at all so it is what it is. I noticed it right away but I am looking for things like that. I am pretty happy with the results, that panel would be hard to align once the whole section was cut out and replaced like it was. I am still working on the diminished value claim. The NV is not in their system so they cant pull values and history. I plan on hounding them until they make this right. Worse case scenario if they continue to dodge me and tick me off I can take them to small claims court and go after more than the industry "standard" since they refused to settle. Here is my van after repairs.

The 2017 Armada DOES have the new 5.6 motor. Go look on Nissan's site. The 2017 is all new and shares the Patrol platform which is Nissans version of a Land Rover or Land Cruiser.

I'd strongly consider taking the trade in hit on my 2015 if the 2017 did have the new 5.6 motor in. That motor is a beast compared to our decade old technology motor. The 7 speed is icing on the cake. Curious if the 7 spd increases mileage on the old 5.6 if that is indeed true. It will certainly be shifting more when towing but it should have at least two overdrive gears for the highway when not towing.

Happy that my instructions helped somebody. I had to do some digging to find them and got help from Chris_CM here as well as looking online. It definitely is not intuitive vs. other cars! I havent touched the steering wheel controls so I am not sure how they are attached. Maybe ask the dealer about that when you go in for the schematic to wire things up. Hope that radio works out for you, seems like a bargain with built in nav! I did find one review - http://www.crutchfield.com/S-KcLBlWC6g6i/p_135CUN1170/Car-Show-CS-UN1170-US.html Same model as the Rosen, just under a private label. There is also a YouTube review if you search. Sounds like the nav could be outdated but the unit is decent overall.

That looks to be coming along nicely! Congrats. Not sure you have for insurance but we have Travelers and they have been wonderful over the years. Needed to use them a few times and have never had an issue. We have several riders on our home policy with them so they may be able to add additional value to your van.

Congrats on the van! What are you pulling with it? I'd want to break that van in before pulling anything heavy. I had over 2000 miles on mine before I towed our old camper. There are a few on here with flip down DVD's installed so hopefully they read this and chime in. We have the portable players you strap to the headrest. They work fine and we only use them for long trips.

http://nissannvforum.com/topic/671-how-to-remove-dash-panels-to-access-radio-or-pockets/ There's my write up. Takes an hour if you take your time and are careful. The dash removal tools make life easier but aren't necessary, you can use a butter knife as a pry tool! Just be careful. Sorry, I don't know what all is prewired with the 1500. Hopefully one of our techs or dealers chimes in or another 1500 owner. BTW. Welcome to the site!

Wow, that is an "interesting" installation of the fan in the back door! Not sure if anyone has ever watched Red Green before but that looks like it would have been on his show!!

Another update. Van is finally in the shop and they are telling me it is much worse than it appeared from the outside. The impact was harder and more directed due to her hitting me with the corner of her car at full speed vs. with the whole front of her car. Some parts made it in already but others are backordered from the factory. They are using all OEM parts only. I've been driving different rentals for fun/out of boredom. The Expedition was nice but a pain for kids to get in the back. Found out they had new Kia Sedona vans in stock and wife wanted to check one out so drove that for a week. Not bad but not great either. I'm in a 2016 Sienna now (we have a 2011) and it is nice. Pretty much the same but they did update some small things. I need to go in today to sign yet another rental extension from the other insurance company so may see about switching it up again. They have a Jaguar XJR convertible but I dont think I can get the car seats in the back!!

KMG is correct and it from reports it was mainly for wheel spin control. It is on all the 5.6L motor Nissans - Titan, Armada and our vans. Best way to feel it in action is to just stomp on the gas from a dead stop. Van will accelerate OK and then around the 20 mph mark will accelerate even harder. The ECU is preventing the throttle plate from opening up 100% even with 100% input from the accelerator pedal. When the van is empty it is noticeable but it doesnt feel too extreme. Strap a heavy trailer to the NV and it is very noticeable. The van bogs hard off the line before the ECU decides to let the throttle open up. Not acceptable in my books. Towing and then pulling out onto our main road, coming out of parking lot/gas station onto a busy road or even just trying to pull from a dead stop up a hill at a campground I want and need 100% throttle!

I have the Platinum Gas 49 state model - 40417 You don't need the extra expense of the 50 state model unless you live in California and get inspected. I bought mine from Amazon, just watched for the price to drop and snagged one. Plus the 30 day returns with no restock fee was worth it. I have a full review of the tuner along with measured gains on this site if you search. I made huge gains in acceleration times vs stock and its mainly due to that restriction. I also live on a 55 mph street and pulling out stock was scary at times. I take the tuner off every time I take it for service and always dread it! I immediately install it when I get home. My service department actually doesn't care if I have the tuner, they have several Titan owners with tuners and I asked before I even bought mine. The issue is if they have to flash the ecu for anything at all while the ecu is flashed it will brick the tuner when it restarts. It can also mess with the ecu if the dealer flashes it while the ecu is modded. It only takes 10 minutes or so to flash the ecu back to full stock and then back to your preferred settings. All of this is in my review along with other possible issues that could arise. I've helped 4 owners on here with the installation of a Bully Dog and all of them love it.

Tuner does it. My Bullydog GT Platinum has that option to turn off the factory restriction. I believe Superchips does as well but be careful which model you chose from them. The GT works with nearly any gas motor, just need to program it from your computer with an easy download. That was the main reason I got a tuner. The restriction when towing is borderline dangerous when trying to pull from a dead stop into traffic.

That is looking really nice. You have some skill! Cant wait to see it finished and hear how it all works out in use.

I have the same size as KMG and went with Hankook Dynapro AT-M tires. They were a little squirmy and greasy feeling for the first 1000 miles but have broken in nicely and have great traction in sand and clay soil (well as good as a tire can have in clay!). I've actually been towed out of clay before with the stock Firestones! Quiet on the highway, great rain traction, are wearing evenly and the price was about $400 less than the KO2's which were my second choice. I have run those on my Tundra and they did very well. They did get noisy as the tread got low but other than that I dont think they were very loud. The Hankook reviews were as good or better than the other tires I was looking at including the BFG's so tried them. There are a few here that went up in rim size including 20" with AT tires so hope they chime in for you. EDIT: I always buy 5 tires or 5 rims/tires when I change sizes. If I ever need that spare I want to make sure that spare is the exact same as what is on my vehicle! I actually used my spare once on the NVP. Concrete chunk from all the highway construction we have punched a hole in my Firestone. Literally had a 1" chunk embedded in my tire.

My Kooks have definitely settled down in the squirm department. They still dont track as well as a true ribbed highway tire like the Transforce but they are way better than they were when new. No AT tire with deep lugs will track like a ribbed tire but these have definitely broken in nicely. I am quite happy with them, especially for when we are camping. Towing with them was a non-issue as well. We didnt make it to WDW (tropical storm cancelled those plans) but we did go camping about 6 hours away and there was a lot of sand and loose gravel to deal with daily. The tires did great.

You'll be told the cruise is normal. I HATE the cruise control in these vans for the exact reason you state. It cant hold speed on hills at all. It actually feels like it is braking at times when it slows down in the dips! That beep at stop lights. I get it too but it is rare. Some people get random sonar beeps constantly. I dont have any other issue that is on your list. Definitely take it to the dealer. I had a few small issues when it was brand new and they took care of all of them.

Go check out the Titan XD forum. They have a dedicated sub forum just for mileage. The best I have seen is 23 mpg on the highway going 55-60 mph. Most magazines and owners are getting 17-18 mixed. I agree it's not great but it is what it is. Not sure what you were expecting. The Ram EcoDiesel is arguably the best mpg truck out there and multiple long term tests with normal driving show it gets around 21 average. Sure you can hypermile the thing and get into the 30's but who drives like that daily? But that motor is a heck of a lot smaller and lower rated than the Cummins. Go look at any modern diesel forum and no motor does well these days. These arent the old Cummins where you could mod them easily and get great mileage for 300,000 miles. The modern Cummins, Duramax and Powerstroke are all about the same mileage wise - 15-20mpg if you're lucky. Of course the modern big Cummins with Aisin transmission can pull a house off the foundation! If you start modding the modern motors by bypassing emissions, deleting DEF, freeing up the exhaust and adding a tuner you can get really huge gains but you also insta-void your warranty on a very expensive motor. The Nissan Cummins will out pull the current motor we have in it's sleep if all you need is pulling power.

Whats your mileage? The Cummins isnt doing a whole lot better in the Titan XD. I used to get 14. With my rack and AT tires I get 12-13. The Titan with Cummins seems to get around 14-18 mixed with up to 20 or so possible if you're easy with it on the highway. It is $5000 extra to get the Diesel in the Titan. You're gaining 4-5 mpg. With gas vs. diesel prices for me (they are about the same) it would take me 4 years to break even getting the Cummins and this is driving 25,000 miles per year! This does not include extra diesel maintenance like DEF fluid refills every few thousand miles, the normally higher cost of oil changes and the extra cost of regular fuel filter changes. The Cummins brings a lot of extra torque which would be fantastic but dont get it for mileage/cost reasons. Now the new 5.6 gas motor with the 7spd could get you better highway mpg savings and should be a similar cost to the current gas motor.

Rad - The reviews on the Cummins and 5.6 have been pretty mixed for mpg which would be one big reason to upgrade. I've been reading the XD forums off and on and actual user reports have numbers all over the place. Some swear they get 22 highway, others say 17 even at the same speeds. Now the power and torque would be most welcome with either engine. I have not looked up maintenance costs on the Cummins yet, I know on the domestics that cost is very high. For now I just want my van back! BTW - I had to go to 4 shops to find one that even wanted to work on it due to the size. 2 could not physically get me into their paint booth. 1 didnt want to mess with it at all. The last one was more than happy to do it, they recently worked on a 3500 cargo that was also t-boned so already had a nice heads up on what would be involved. Makes me wonder where the high roof NV, Transits and Sprinters need to go for body work. I refused to go to the major insurance shops that just churn cars in and out cheap and fast. I got referrals from friends and neighbors to find shops with a long and good rep. Shop I am using is small, family owned for 27 years and do anything from custom jobs on hot rods and choppers to basic repairs.