ASD Dad

Just a quick update. Still waiting on parts... They estimate parts will be available around Sept 1st. After all the parts are in they said 2 weeks min to get it fixed and painted. For the crushed rocker panel they are cutting that whole section out and welding in a new factory piece. New door of course and lots of realignment of body parts. They still need to get it up on a rack for a deep inspection but this is what is happening for now. I am driving a 2016 Ford Expedition XLT now for my rental. It is pretty nice overall. It's a bit tight for the family with the two kid seats but it works. The 3.5 Ecoboost is surprisingly nice. Zero turbo lag, a lot of power and I am getting 21 mpg in mixed driving. It rides very well and is very quiet even on rough roads. Turning radius is excellent especially being used to the NV! Some things I dont really care for. Even after 900 miles of driving it I still cant find a sweet spot for comfort with the seat, pedals and steering wheel. I am always fiddling with it. The chrome rings around the air vents are annoying as they reflect the sun way more than expected. Space behind the 3rd row is tiny. The Ford Sync system is pretty blah. The text to speech is horrid for one thing. Since I have at least a month to go in rentals I may see if I can switch things up a couple times for fun. They have new 2016 Kia Sedona minvans in stock at some locations and my wife wanted to check one out vs. out Sienna. They even had the new Pacifica available although I dont think I could buy a Chrysler... They also have the new Maxima's which could be fun to drive but I seriously doubt I could fit my kids in the back!

Not a problem. Hope it works out for you and if not you have 30 days to return it! Let us know if it does work. A lot of open ended threads on here where somebody tries something and then disappears!

Amsoil is a private label engine oil/vehicle fluids company. Usually sold by specialized independent sellers (imagine Snap-On tools or even Avon but with vehicle fluids). Some small shops sell it as well. It's good stuff, many swear by it. I had racing buddies that would only run Amsoil. I was only running Redline oils. Others swore by Royal Purple and others still just wanted Mobile 1. Honestly they're all good. To guinessbrewer - Radin2son is right, it wont get any looks in this thread. I would either PM Chris_CM or start a new thread.

I just looked right now, it is in stock for $169.00 MicroSolar 1000W Pure Sine Inverter...

Welcome to the forum! I'm impressed with your mileage running that fast. Mine drops quite a bit as speed goes up and around here normal is 70-80 mph. We were also really impressed with the ride and how quiet it was for such a big box!

You're giving up way too easy - https://www.amazon.com/MicroSolar-1000W-Peak-2000W-Inverter/dp/B00F4TP3AE read the reviews. At least one person uses that for a mobile DJ setup which is I assume very similar to what you need it for. 1000W pure sine wave inverter with 2000W peak output. It's not a true 2000W constant but I really dont think you need 2000W constant, I brought up 2000W to start with since that is popular with contractors to power up tools.

Hoping others also chime in that have installed these. I havent done one in years but I did high end stereo installs for many years and the wiring is similar. As for pricing the easiest place to look is Amazon. They have models from $100 up to several hundred dollars. All different sizes and outputs. Just make sure to read lots of reviews. The install kits usually pop up along with the inverter under "also bought with". It's a car amp install kit from the looks of things. Two runs of 4ga (red/black) along with a high amp blade fuse holder. Other places you can look would be someplace like Harbor Freight (dont laugh, some of their tools and parts last forever). If you dont want or need it permanently installed you can use alligator clamps run to the battery but driving would be bad like that! Other option is to get a winch disconnect kit which are just heavy duty quick connects like Anderson Power Poles or similar. Run the wires like normal to where you would want the inverter when needed and just use the quick connect to hook it up or disconnect when you want it out of the way. You can get the disconnect kit on Amazon and a lot of auto parts stores or truck accessory stores. You can get inverters at both as well but pricing is normally a lot lower elsewhere. Finally - I am not sure how sensitive your equipment is that you plan on running. All of the lower cost inverters are "modified" sine wave converters. The higher end ones like Go Power are pure sine wave. Pure sine wave is what is in your house. They are more efficient and "cleaner". Modified sine wave inverters are much cheaper for the same output but less efficient and have more power distortion. You can search about both but basically a pure sine is a smooth wave vs. a very choppy on/off of a modified. If you were mounting this permanently in an RV conversion and running computers, TV's or induction plate cookers I would spring for a pure sine wave setup. If you're using this a couple times a year and just need to power up something from tools to battery chargers to who knows what then a modified should be fine. Only reason I say should is that some newer electronics have a safety feature to not even power up if they detect too much distortion. Again - I know other commercial users have installed these in their NV's and I am guessing most conversion people on here also have larger inverters so I hope they start chiming in as well. I have no idea if the Nissan factory setup is a pure sine or modified...

I'm worried about the crumpled section where it is seam welded. I dont see an easy fix there and there is zero chance I am letting them bondo that smooth! I want steel down there. The body did it's job absorbing the impact. Surprisingly the side airbag didnt go off. I dont know if they only arm when there is somebody in the seat with their belt on. I had no passenger. It was definitely a hard enough hit to set it off. I know the curtain bags only go off if a rollover happens. I thought the seat bag may have deployed in my hit but it did not. They use Carfax here and dealers do an automatic lookup when trading it in. I called my NV dealer and talked to the Commercial Mgr and the Used Car Mgr about it. They said the issue is there are not many for sale to get comparable values and if they are for sale they were not in accidents. The Used Car appraiser said if the CarFax showed the damage and they could tell it was repaired the offer would start at 10% below what they would offer if it was accident free and go down from there. If an airbag did go off that would drop it to at least 15% or more! He told me if it was clean they'd offer around $29-33K for it depending on overall condition. I'll be going after $3500 in diminished value to start with dependent on what all needs fixed. BTW - Lyndon Southern Insurance is a total joke still, no adjuster has been assigned still and they cant tell me when one might be assigned. EDIT: The Quest is just too small. It is way smaller than even our Sienna. There is no room behind the 3rd row and it is hard to get into that 3rd row even with just a booster kid seat let alone a 3-in-1 kid seat. It has nice power, gets decent mileage (I reset computer and I am getting around 24mpg over 100 miles) and is comfy. Just small for a mini-van.

I have 3 young boys but thanks! Two boy dogs too, my wife is very outnumbered and loves to remind me...

The girl was really shaken up and bloody in the face. I think it was from the airbag honestly, there were no impacts on the windshield. She honestly had no clue she ran a red light! I talked to her for just a few minutes and she was just baffled by it all. Thankfully two women stopped and waited for the Police to arrive to tell him what happened. It was pretty obvious from the damage on both vehicles it could not have been me but the two women sealed her fate. The other insurance company is a total JOKE so far. Lyndon Southern is the name... Rep told me they get so many accident calls per day it could take 2 full days for an adjuster to even be assigned on my case! Seriously?! Meanwhile I have Travelers. They contacted me no less than 3 times already. They set me up in a rental (Nissan Quest - Do NOT like it!), followed up once I got the Police report and the adjuster was assigned immediately and she called me first thing this morning. I can have Travelers handle the whole thing and then they go after the others but I'm trying to wait it out. For one Travelers said I couldnt claim diminished value with them since I was not at fault, it would need to be against Lyndon.

Hey all - my poor NV was in an accident yesterday afternoon. 19 year old girl was texting and ran a red light. Smacked me in the passenger door pretty hard. I had all 3 boys with me and we're all fine thankfully. I was turning when she hit me so it was a sharp pointy hit dead center of my passenger door and below. She was driving her mom's 2015 Honda Civic! I bet mom's really happy... Her Honda looked totaled. Both front airbags went off and she bounced off me and hit the guard rail so the whole front was pretty messed up. She was bloodied up from the accident, my family was joking around and hanging out with the firefighters on the scene. They even gave my kids little fireman hats! So anyone here been in an accident with their NV? I talked to a local owner a few months back. They hit a deer (big buck) with their NV that was just 3 weeks old. Did $16,000 in damage to the front end. The biggest issue was the time to repair. It took 6 weeks!! They said parts werent available from Nissan, they barely had enough to build them let alone repair them. Curious if anyone else had a long wait. We have a camping trip that may need cancelled if this drags on weeks. Curious if anyone was successful in getting a diminished value settlement too. I keep reading they are a giant pain and if I use the industry standard 17C method I get a whole $1300 which is waaaay too little. I'll be interested how they plan on repairing my van. I want all OEM parts. I also want to know how they repair the crushed rocker panel/seam welded area. It was pushed in and down a couple inches. Frame looked fine. Hood, sliding door and quarter panel are all out of alignment. Van was out of alignment when I drove it down a bit to get out off the road (I got hit turning onto a bridge so we had to move once the cops arrived). Also had a weird clunk when slowly accelerating. Sounded/felt like a loose driveshaft of all things. Honestly the damage could have been much much worse at her speed. I'll post up pics later but I was pleasantly surprised how well the NV held up!

You can get any number of 2000 watt inverters online or in stores for under $200. 4ga install kit with proper fuse holder - $25 Any of those would be much better than the stock 400w setup even at full power for your needs and some of them are fairly compact.

You may want to try Travelers. We've had them for years and they have been great to work with. Wife was in two bad accidents (neither her fault) and they were quick to take care of things even when one was a non-insured, non-licensed driver.

That's pretty good! A few have run into clearance issues but sounds like that offset and stock tires work well. My new tires are already wider so I've been a bit worried about offset if I change wheels down the road.

Those look great! Congrats. Does it look like plenty of clearance between the tire and sliding door?

Tim, it should work with the V6, JB did it to his 2 posts up! Doesn't hurt to try. I'm still happy after 25,000 miles of driving.

If you use the mounting points up there it will be plenty strong enough for people. My Topper steel tube rack is rated for 500 lbs with two mounts and 750 lbs with 3 mounts used. That is 2 factory mounts so 4 actual standoffs or 6 for the 3 mount. Others like Aluminess use several mounts and I think The Beast custom rack used every mount up there! He is down in FL and had a boat ladder specialist make his rack custom. Regardless the rack should be plenty strong enough for people walking around.

400W is only 3.3 amps on 120V equipment or 33 amps on the 12V side of things. What are you running on the roof, something like PA speakers? If they're big, self powered units you may have issues even when stopped at high volumes/loads. I agree that 1.5A of power when moving isnt much of anything!

At two Nissan dealerships we talked to you could only talk to their Commercial team on the NV or NVP. We bought ours right from the Commercial Manager. Nice guy. Remembered my name every time he saw me when I was in for service too (but I do stick out!).

Welcome! There is no average MPG anymore, they removed that a couple years back. I think they didnt want to scare anybody! The ones here that have one say it is optimistic by about 1 MPG vs. hand calculating after fill ups. You should get around 13-15 MPG with the V8 on average with normal driving habits. Since you mentioned the tow mode if you are towing anything large that will drop to 8-9 MPG. With our small gas tanks that makes the towing range small but it's workable and with kids you normally want to stop every couple hours anyway! I had some small issues as well when it was brand new but Nissan took care of all of them under warranty. I do have a recurring radio issue and am waiting on my 3rd Nav unit to come in... Other than that it has been very reliable and comfortable for us. *** Floor mats - Nissan sells them and are available online or at the dealer. For us and several others on here we are using carpet runners from Home Depot. We have the last row out and the first two rows bumped back one spot each for more leg room. They sell carpet runners almost the exact width needed and they work well. The Nissan mats are nice from what I have seen.

Rad - I dont remember having to sign that form! Not that we worry about tire chains down here... There are some traction "chains" that arent really chain, more like nylon webbing with metal spikes for emergency use. Doubt they'd last long term driving down a road but I cant see driving farther than needed with with chains on either. I know there are lots of places in the mountains that require chains. When I lived up North I always had dedicated snows for my vehicles. Normally ran with studded Hakkas!

There are quite a few backup camera installs for aftermarket on here. A dealer offers them as well (think they are in NC) as a kit and fully installed. The camera goes way up in and replaces the third brake light with a camera and LED light for brakes. I cant remember where the monitor is or if it was a rear view camera monitor. Hopefully somebody chimes in here that has had it done. Most seem to like it quite a bit. I think you can even wire it so it is on all the time so it is like a rear view mirror when driving. If you want the factory backup camera I think you need the NAV head unit. I dont know if Nissan has a factory rear view mirror camera. I have the factory tech package with it and TBH it is just OK. The resolution is horrible, not sure if it is the screen, camera or both. My Toyota backup cams were much nicer even on a smaller screen and my in-laws Chevy cam on his truck is better than those. The Nissan works well enough but for just inching in to hook up my hitch I prefer the others.

Looks good on there. I keep debating steps for mine to make it easier on my kids and in-laws/parents.

That looks great. Nice install too. I have a portable 12v compressor for the rare times I need it when away from home.

I keep flipping back and forth with the Philips and the Kensun HID's. The HID's have fantastic low beam coverage, zero glare and are very bright. They just throw terrible for highs. The Philips are very dull in comparison but have better reach but not by much. I've never cared about color temp, I go for max lumens which is normally around the 4300-4700K neutral range of most OEM HID's. I looked at LED's but we have the issue with a non projector housing so possible glare issues and most have horrible high beam patterns as well. I'd love to see some H13 HID tests but all I have found are in a projector housing which eliminates the glare issue.