radin2son

No, I don't do my own service or use Jiffy Lube type facilities. We opted to use NV dealers, rather than our mechanic, because there is no way we could find a reliable mechanic when needed every time we travel. I like the service checklist and expect it to reflect thorough, professional work. This also is your expectation but it doesn't happen. When my dealer screwed up the tire rotation at the 30,000 mile service that included the optional service, I was not given a checklist. (My guess is the tech has some sort of check list.)This service was redone at 35,000 miles at the dealer's expense. I found out they had a check list format, but most customers didn't want it or use it; I wanted the check list, which had everything checked off including the nonexistent in cabin air filter. Picky I know, but not after the tech earlier failed to check and adjust the psi and reset the TPMS. After trying to call the service manager, I sent him an email that mostly praised the service. He never returned my email or called. Also recently sent him an email asking if he could check with Nissan to see if high altitude could impact the sensors/check engine light. He never got back to me, but a forum member did. 2 emails are not exactly harassment... Nor do they warrant a brush off. Did I mention the "timer" bell that kept going off when I was in the service area at another Nissan dealer? I asked what it was and learned it was for the express techs. Speed often trumps everything these days. Speed is important to your Joe as well... I expect our NV will be durable and trouble free with dealer visits primarily for maintenance or future self inflicted incidents. I also expect Nissan Commercial to stand behind these vans no matter what year or mileage if they are going tout our miles to justify their ad claims. Just don't sell me stuff I don't need.

It may include 2008 models according to a "public service" let us help you get replacements ad. 11/6 The other part of this not immediately mentioned in media reports was that those affected already received their recall notice. Too many airbags need replacing, so the industry came up with their high humidity index. Those in high humidity climates get theirs replaced first. Brilliant. Would you really want this company to have anything to do with your vehicle? Are they still putting them in new vehicles? Not enough to know that the airbag detonator manufacturing company will not be paying a dividend this year. 4 deaths related to this and the only consequence so far is no dividend.

A quick search through Ford showed 25 Transit dealers in Phoenix and Southern AZ. Presumedly they will service what they sell, plus they already have a very long history with the e-series van. Similar search through Edmunds (Nissan site would not open) came up with maybe 7 in the Phoenix area and one in Tucson. Not good numbers for consumers and owners of NVs. Why? Harder to get the best sales deal, but more importantly after the sale, harder to get service if no NV dealer close by. I believe there have been some posts regarding non NV dealers refusing or not being able to service NVs. In my experience, it is due to not having a lift. When I asked why not have a pit for express service like "Jiffyquicksuperfast" for oil changes, I was told you can't rotate the tires. OK, but my tires have been rotated only once, but that is another story. When traveling and in need of service, I do a web search for nearby NV dealers and adjust our route accordingly. Other issues presented no problem for Nissan, but out west it can be a challenge to find any Nissan dealer. Regarding parts, beyond an oil change, they have to be special ordered. Usually arrive next day. If more and certain of the part, then the dealer will order the part and set an appointment. Works fine as long as the part is not vital to keeping it on the road. Knowing all this, mostly after the fact, we are more than satisfied with our NV purchase and reliability over the past 2 years. We briefly looked at and decided against the Ford e-series and did not consider the Sprinter mostly due to price and cost of ownership. So NV it was.

Chris, you "read" like a regional manager. Like your enthusiasm. Can Nissan provide the vehicles needed to sustain a profitable sales volume. We all hear "What is that? Didn't know that." Yet, while traveling we see very few NV dealers and the inventory varies from few to fewer. Has Nissan boxed itself into a corner with the NV dealer criteria? All Ford dealers apparently can sell and service the Transits.

Anyone able to get any info on whether or not NVs are affected by this recall? Looks like the US senate may get involved to get the industry to fix this now. Senate involvement may be a good thing or not...

Hi Chris, When we have had our NV serviced around the country and in Canada, we almost always met the commercial manager (cm). It took forever to meet the cm at my local dealer, where our NV is sometimes serviced. (The cm at Dublin Nissan, CA, where we bought our NV, did the vehicle orientation.) Based on this forum (How else are we to get info? Certainly not from Nissan.), it appears most NVs are sold to small businesses, not large fleet businesses, and to families in need of a larger van. A smaller segment are special needs, tow vehicles and camper conversions. So it seems possible for the cm to meet all owners at some point after the sale to see how things are going etc. In addition, I think it is important at the point of sale to meet the NV service writer, if the dealership is large enough to have one. I want to be able to talk to someone familiar with NVs. Anyway, welcome to the forum. Hope you can provide info and insight, similar to Bates' posts.

In the western states it is not uncommon to drive and fill up the gas tank at 6,000 to 7,000'. On occasion mountain passes are over 10,000' and many campgrounds are at this elevation. Almost, if not all, trips we have taken, the check engine light and loose gas cap warning has come on. On our most recent trip, the loose gas cap (replaced under warranty at last service) warning came on. It was not loose and I hit reset; it did not come on again. Later in the trip, we refueled at 6500'. After a 1/4 tank was used, we drove up to almost 11,000' and then camped at 7300'. The check engine light came on. I know this is a closed system, but look what happens to an empty water bottle. A full bottle does the same but is less noticeable. Any thoughts, scientific or otherwise? I have asked the service manager to look into this. Another annoying dash glitch has been the deletion of trip "A" and "B" info at around 3,000 miles. Can it not count any higher? I have no intention of trying to get this looked at.

or I am. Second time, I've managed to self-inflict damage. Also learned how difficult it is to turn around a 20' vehicle on a 2 lane dirt road. In a weak defense, the hitch mounted bike rack had the sensors beeping evertime I backed up. None of this particularly important except that the whole bumper has to be replaced at $550, or $770 including labor, even though it is in 3 pieces similar to the Titan (and you can replace just the damaged section). Labor will be about the same as the bumper has to come off. I opted for repairing and straightening ($270) the passenger side chrome piece. I go with the expensive replacement next time... 10/21 Nice to be able to repair and not replace and discard. Repair came out well. Main goal was to get it away from the rear quarter panel and well below the rear door. The bumper did its job...

Welcome. You are Nissan's intended buyer. Let us know how your service/maintenance goes.

No issue, but checked it anyway. Supersprings guys measured the distance from the center of the rear fender well to the ground. With the camper conversion and 17 gallons of water and various gear left in the van, the van weighed just over 7000 lbs. It measured 34.5". With another 1000 lbs more or less with a full fuel tank and everything in the van but me, it measured 33.75 - 34". Since I avoid night driving as much as possible, I have no idea if this affects the headlights. I doubt it, as the NV 2500 was designed for this weight.

I now no longer have to speculate what van you would chose. You and your family will enjoy the "adventure" miles. As of today, we have had our's for 2 years and 36,013 miles, all "adventure" miles. Only problem: goodbye warranty.

Dealers will sell you NVs and tires, but do they fix flats? I don't know how far away you are from this dealer, but a referral to the tire shop they use would have made this a better experience. You wouldn't have bothered to post this. Even though it does not leak air after you pulled out the screw, I would go to a tire store and have them see if it leaks. It may not have gone all the way through since you have new tires. If it did, they can patch it. If it continues to hold air, but you don't trust it, it will become your spare. Then you get to deal with the TPMS. Hope you have an air compressor to be able to deal with the secret code, handshake etc.

When the manual and printed out instructions the tire shop in Moab pulled up from Nissan were tried, it never chimed. The process was repeated and repeated. Nissan Commercial brags about their lack of warranty issues for the NV, so why use the TPMS that is overly complicated to reset? Nissan Commercial also has targeted small businesses, not fleet buyers, so why make simple tire maintenance so annoying and expensive?

Thanks for the info on North Point Nissan, Little Rock AK. To make this worthwhile, we should contact www. nissanusa.com and let them know about all positive NV service experiences. Nissan will get back to you, plus send a copy of your comment to the dealer. One would hope Nissan would consider this when evaluating NV dealers. Why else are we asked for evaluations every time we go to a dealer? Nissan also gets back to you regarding negative comments. The latest TPMS post warrants contacting them. 2 dealers not checking the pressure and resetting the TPMS suggests others are doing this as well. Keep in mind your roll over accident report will read driver error, extreme low psi in the rear tires. NHTSA should also be notified.

Gotta stop reading Truck Trend...

I understand what you are saying. If the 2500 has a capacity of 2755 lbs and the 3500 is rated at 3600 lbs, there shouldn't be any sag if loaded properly and the above lbs are not exceeded. The air bag and, I presume, supersprings do not change the above load limits. So, did Nissan design the correct rear suspension for each model, or are we left to correct any problems?

I love it. Something I could install to something the right man with the right tool is needed for my fleet of one. As luck would have it, NV is not on the approved list. Seriously though, is the second post a legitimate or frequent complaint? Truck Trend's article was for a pickup with slide in camper towing a trailer with another truck on it. I can see this being an issue in that context, and there are NVs that are used to tow.

The NV 2500 low top weighs 5996 lbs empty and 6917 lbs with the van conversion. Add water etc. and it weighs 7942 lbs, more or less. Is the NV 2500 suspension sufficient to handle this with out sagging? Truck Trend has an article on Firestone Ride-Rite Air Spring kit install. Is this needed? The first post suggests they had a problem. I haven't noticed any sagging when the van is fully loaded, but I can measure the bumper to ground difference before and after it is loaded.

I not sure how you could do this, unless you just add "Commercial" and "Passenger" to the current list of topics. Two pages would be cumbersome. Plus, unless you are Nissan Staff, they would have to do this. Except for 3 posts that I'm aware of, they are a silent group. I don't think a split is needed. I look at all and read most posts. It doesn't matter if it is commercial or passenger. I learn a lot, even if I have no interest in up fits or DVD screens. For others, the same can be said about camper conversions; look but don't read. My wife says it more succinctly, "Why? The vans are all the same, so why would it matter how the van is set up?" The NV 200 split is fine, but underutilized? This vehicle is so different from the NV 1500+, so it is hard to respond to owners. If Nissan follows Ford and makes an extended or passenger version, there would be more going on. I did read the "CD" post but my tin ear could offer little beyond going to a car stereo shop and ask questions to go back and deal with the Nissan dealer.

You can disable it, temporarily similar to the back up sensor on/off toggle, by clearing it per screen instructions until you turn off the ignition. Turn on the ignition and there it is again and again... I'm surprised aftermarket ones work and wonder if a tire dealer can also get them to work without going through a Nissan dealer. $280-400 plus the cost of tires.... Phew! Thanks for the info.

TPMS will show the psi in each tire provided you are moving at 16+ mph. Not that easy to see. It shows the front psi first as you twist the knob/button. There also is an alert that specifies which tire is low. This can be cleared by pushing the same button. There is a dash light that comes on but does not specify low psi. This came on several time many trips ago. No problem found, so it might mean there is a sensor problem. I see the benefit of TPMS but wouldn't order this if it was a option given the problem I had and the fact that this seems to be a Nissan dedicated system. Make it universal and it will make sense. Still don't know what the replacement cost will be. Bates?

The "seating ring" and sensor are one piece and all the sensors are exposed to easy damage. They also are not kept in stock by dealers and it took 2 days to get it. Not something you would wait for when traveling. There is an override when towing, but this has to be reset every time you switch the ignition off. I don't recall backing into anything and there were no marks on the bumper. I earlier was parallel parked and may have kissed the car behind me when exiting, or the other car could have. The odd thing is that I later backed out of a space at a rest area and there was no alert. That happened later. It is one of those expenses you chalk up to ownership and throw away culture. Just don't multiply this by 4 or by however many front sensors there are on the passenger vans. Scary expensive. Without disconnecting it, I tried pushing it back in place. Nothing to hold it in place even if you could epoxy it. Otherwise, it looked fine, so it may still have worked. Back to the TPMS, battery, stem etc. Although we have had our van 2 years, it was built in late 2011. (The camper conversion dates from early September to when we bought it at the end of September.) This means the TPMS is 3 years old, so it would be an unnecessary gamble to not change out the battery, stem etc. no matter what it costs. I would have to decipher the tire code but the tires could be 3 to 4 years old.

Another expensive part no doubt. (Had to replace one of the rear backup sensors that was pushed back into the bumper. I thought it was a rubber gasket, but it is hard plastic and one piece. The "gasket" was broken and the sensor wouldn't stay in place. $235 part.)

What I don't know is endless... Never considered TPSM would require batteries in each wheel that last around 4-5000 miles. I did expect the stems to be replaced with the tires and that the TPSM would be reset. I can only imagine how annoying it would be if a battery failed... Firestone Transforce HT tread depth, when new, is 14/32 and I have 6/32+ remaining at 35,000 miles. I'm sure I will not get your NV's tire mileage, but will be happy with 45,000 miles. 8/22 If you have a warranty policy on these tires or the tire fails due to a defect, the tire will only be replaced if the tread depth is 2/32 or more. No need to get into replacement policy; rather, at 2/32 it will be time to replace the tires.

Yes, got a blank page with my iPhone. Have not tried to open photobucket on my MacBook. Suspect it won't work on an iPad either, but I'll try it. The photos may answer this. Are the van driver/ passenger windows the only ventilation besides the roof fan? Do you have screens? If not, screens made for Sprinters work. (We had to custom make our side door screen. At the time, the 2 manufacturers did not know what an NV was.) edit: Able to open up some of the photos on my macbook, up to the one where the middle cushions are removed near the rear door, before error warnings popped up. The side door window photo shows you have the same window we have. Your panel underneath is much better done than ours. Ours is vinyl, which is easy to clean, but SMB can be sloppy in their work. Thought I recognized the rolling brown hills in the first photo on your post. We are tying to plan a 2-3 week trip west of AZ for next month, but almost everywhere has extreme fire warnings. edit 2: Able to open up all the photos. Impressive fit, finish and use of space. Plans for water?