radin2son

You are right about no “shuddering or vibration in the brake pedal,” as well as not being able to replicate it. Everything you read says ASD Dad is correct but it happens so rarely even under similar conditions. Going into Death Valley from the northeast and leaving toward the Sierras is where it will happen. Anyone going that way? I couldn’t remember the technical term, but in cycling it is called speed wobble. It can be mechanical, but is also related to frame geometry, rider height and weight as well as rider weight distribution on the bike, as in too much weight toward the rear. Shivering in cold weather can also cause this as I well know on descents. Scary. Fixes are getting off the saddle, leaning forward and gripping the top tube with your knees, putting weight on lower pedal at 0600 position, braking slowly only with the rear brake, and a very light grip on the bars. Some say let go of the bars to break the connection. What does this have to do with NVs? Could be weight distribution in campervans and speed on random descents.

This post is based on “You can pay me now or later.” AGM deep cycle RV batteries have a life span of 3-7 years, 5 years if sealed. We have had our SMB campervan for 6 years. The AGM batteries are sealed, so we may be depending on them at our peril. They still hold a charge, but we didn’t think it was worth tempting fate and have to replace them on the road. SMB places 2 12V batteries in a tray mounted to the frame under the sliding door. Only access is to drop them down. Combined weight is 112 lbs not counting the tray and 4 bolts. Next you have to get the van up high enough to do this. Took hour and a half for Sandy’s West to do this. Additionally, these batteries generally are not kept in stock and have to be ordered. Quick delivery by Interstate Batteries. Each battery runs $355. We also replaced all non-LED lights with LED lights to reduce battery drain. Added benefit is establishing a relationship with a reliable service center. More trips are off the grid and we will rely on the house batteries. Next trip is the north rim of the Grand Canyon just before it closes for the season the end of October. It will be very cold, just right for the old batteries to give up the ghost.

I recall a post that mentioned a dealership in the Phoenix area, Avondale Nissan in Avondale or AutoNation Nissan in Chandler has started installing lift kits. Give them a call. Nice area to visit in the winter.

Sitting in the library downloading an IOS update; we live on a third world cul-de-sac. Looking at the current Motor Trend suv-truck edition, and low and behold, NVs are included under commercial vehicles. No major changes for 2019. The 5 year “retained” value is 53% for NV 1500/2500/3500 and 44% for NV 200. 53% tops every other van. Only the MB Metris ($27-35k) 46% beats the NV 200 ($23k). Tied with the Transit. For the performance minded, the larger NVs go 0-60 in 7.5-11 seconds. Takes 10.1 seconds for the NV 200.

Welcome. You will like your NV. I was at Sandy’s West RV service in Tucson, and the Grandson (?) mentioned he likes NVs best for conversions. “It’s a truck.” We all agree... I don’t recall seeing your first video, but you may want to post the first, second and others under conversions.

I thought you could and did early on. After that, it may have engaged , but I was unable to see “tow” due to the steering wheel; even in the passenger seat, this is hard to see. You are right, the manual doesn’t say anything about stopping or a maximum speed warning. I’m still reluctant to engage it at high speed so will stick to second guessing the need and pulling ito the brake check lane. Faster cars seem to like this...

ASD Dad, I had the same issue in the same place as mahu. It is related to ABS and the bulk/weight of the vehicle not the suspension. Putting it in tow mode solves it, but this isn’t available on mahu’s V6. Down shifting to 2nd also helps, but you have to brake hard to get the speed down. Good luck doing this. The shaking is unnerving but controllable. As a result, we in the west have to pay attention to grade warnings. If they are short stretches no problem. For long stretches, I pull over into brake check area to engage tow mode. Am I mistaken that you can only engage tow mode when not moving? ASD Dad and others, you can probably replicate this. Find a long straight downhill, 6-8% gradient, leave it in 4th, coast, get up to a speed you are uncomfortable with, hit the brakes, not panic, hold them, let up and it then hit them again. ABS will kick in and start pulsating the brakes. You feel this in the steering. Same gradient with curves is less likely to cause this as you brake for the curves etc.

Welcome. Great family decision.

8LFGRND, Did they replace the house batteries in your NV? If not, they generally last 3 to 7 years. Interstate Batteries and Batteries Plus sell them. At 56 lbs each, they are way too heavy for me to deal with. We are also going to replace the Fluorescent lights and the side reading light with LEDs.

Stuttgart referred me to Sandy’s West RV Center to have the NV house batteries replaced. In the early ‘90s they sent me and our VW there. Completely forgot this. They are located just off I-10 and Miracle Mile and will work on all NV conversions, including diy conversions. They also will work on all travel trailers except Airstream. sandyswestrv.com

I take it you didn’t have DT install new sensors. Awhile ago, I think there was a post on how to disable TPMS. Now we know how assuming the parts manufacturer is the same. I haven’t noticed uneven tire wear. One of the criticisms of the Michelin tires is poor overall mileage. They do appear to be wearing faster that the Transforce tires. Time will tell. Our 2017 VW uses a different system via abs. You set psi on the dash and it warns you when it is lower. Not sure how.

ASD Dad and 8LFGRND you are correct in both instances. I keep this pressure because we only use it for travel and don’t have to adjust it for each trip. I do check psi before and as we travel and adjust as needed. What happens when you remove the sensors? I found the sensors are not very accurate. This past trip, LR was 90 psi while driving and RR was 76 psi. My gauge showed both 84.5 psi.

I’m not going to put this in list format. Too time consuming plus this should be easy enough to follow. We’ve been to Eagle, west of Boise, on a trip heading east from the Columbia River Gorge.

2012 and possibly 2013 NVs had 36k/3 yr warranties so there is need to use Nissan Commercial dealerships for service. Recalls have been minor and few. Many owners reside a long distance from commercial dealerships or there are few to chose from. The longest warranty tow so far is Moab to SLC, Utah. Any interest in posting good independent shops (service, tires, glass, ac, auto body etc)? ARIZONA Stuttgart Autohaus (Tucson) Sandy’s West RV Center (Tucson)

You have the correct manual. Components are the same for every vehicle. SMB has an online store. Worth using it to get the right fit. That button lets you use the house battery to jump start the van. (Not now, but...) Turn the ignition key as you normally do and push the button. We used this when the NV battery was completely dead; it would not hold a charge. Someone told me RVs generally have this. The standard top NV 2500 HD weighs 5996 lbs. The conversion adds almost 1000 lbs, 6917 lbs. Next add the weight of all the gear, people dogs, water etc. In our case this easily added 1000 lbs. GWRV for the 2500 is 9100 lbs so you have some room to add more gear... This info should be on the cabinet door next to the refrigerator. We run 80 psi REAR* and 50 psi FRONT* With your tires, you could try lower psi but not to the point of activating TPMS. *Corrected the error...

Took our NV to Stuttgart Autohaus in Tucson for oil change. Last time we use Nissan for service unless we need an oil change on a trip. Price for synthetic oil is the same or less than Nissan. Stuttgart works on all foreign makes and we have used them since 1983. Great service and work quality. The owner is a collector of all things VW. First time I noticed this.

It can be done. We have no rear dome light but do have an interior led light installed over the rear door. Same wiring? Probably not, as all things electrical are powered by the house batteries, unlike the front dome lights. Rarely use this light, as it does little to light up the interior, it is to hard to reach over the seat and doesn’t illuminate the storage are under the bed platform. I believe others have removed it when adding lights and fans. They never mentioned a similar problem, so maybe you can bypass it rather than unplug it?

SMB did something similar, a fold down table with storage behind. REI blog posted plans for turning the rear doors into an outdoor kitchen. Good use of space.

Do you have a copy of the SMB manual? Also, did you see the original sales promotion? You can click on these to save image if you want...

Being in a college/outdoors city should make it easier to sell. Good luck with the sale. We are trying to figure where to next in October if jury duty and doctor appointments don’t interfere. Otherwise, next trip in November.

I was beginning to think you decided not to buy it. You’re welcome regarding your questions. As you noticed, once I get started talking about our NV, it’s hard to get me to stop. Welcome, officially. Nice to have another NV SMB owner on board. We see a lot of Eurovan campers all around the west. Still lots of interest in them. On our last trip we met 2 couples who were tired of tent camping and Eurovan was on their list. There is a 1999 on conversiontrader.com going for $32k. Neither couple were aware that NV SMBs existed.

2 things are strange about Jim Click’s “new” service policy (need to have purchased lifetime service and NV from them). NVs are supposed get priority service, as in next bay available, at least according to NV lore. The other is Jim Click appears to sell very few; most come from the Phoenix area. Better deals and many more to choose from, as long as they are white. Good to know appointments can still be made at least at Future Nissan. Is this the case elsewhere?

NV 200 diy camper conversion for sale ($15,000) on this site. 2013 with 86,000 miles. Great price for someone just getting into this. We have seen a few NV 200 conversions but none as extensive as this. At Dinosaur NM, a man from Minnesota essentially packed his with nicely labeled plastic boxes and used a tent. My only concern would be the life expectancy of cvt. Since we keep our vehicles for 10+ years, we avoided all cvt models when replacing our ‘05 Passat tdi. Maybe this is faulty thinking at this point.

Was this the Express oil change or did you have an appointment? My guess is Jim Click in Tucson has gone back to old gimmicks to sell vehicles and service plans.

Sorry about not noticing it was a cargo. I mainly use the mobile version on my phone. Take another test drive and put it on max cool and see what happens, then move it incrementally warmer. It may be a faulty relay switch that screws up the compressor cycle. (Our older VW did this and cool air eventually stopped completely. Everything was fine, just no cold air. New relay switch fixed it.) See if you can get the service tech or manager to ride with you. You can probably do the same thing at idle on the lot and maybe hear the compressor turning on and off. Is the super colder button still there? I don’t understand how it works nor have I noticed a big difference. Our ac works well at all settings, but it doesn’t do a great job of cooling the cargo area. You have to have the blower fan close to max all the time. As an aside, 2012 NVs showed mpg. This went away in 2013.