Tatunka

Update for the 2017-2021 NV with the VK56DE V8 So I bought a new NV, but because we don't live in Canada no block heater, so same problem. After a little research I found a diagram of the 2017-21 VK56DE block with the location of the OEM block heater. The problem is that it is located in the middle of the block under the manifold, seriously Nissan! So I went to the dealer on an unrelated issue and asked about the heater location. The dealer confirmed the location, good news; the heater is a $65 dollar part, bad news is labor to install it is $740! so it's an $800+ job to install an OEM block heater! So that wasn't happening, back to square one. So I found that the location for the frost plug is in the same location as the previous motor, and all the parts above will work as it is the same 30mm hole. If you can't find a OEM part that will work, Kat's Heaters has heaters that fit.

I will say that the newer 5.6/ 7 speed transmission is a nice upgrade. But everything else is as it should be.

Oops, sorry should of specified. It was obvious to me ?

Thanks! The tires are Toyo Open Country AT3, size LT275/65/20. The wheels are 20" Fuel Blitz, offset is +20, the slider opens fully and locks. The lift is the 2.75 inch from Advanced.

I installed my Redarc kit from E-trailer tonight, I used the NV to Redarc adapter for the vehicle connections and mounted the brain to the fire wall. To mount the control I used the plug that came with the kit. To pop out the insert I found it easiest to take out the glove box and push on the backside and it pushed right out.

Just traded in my 2013 SL with a Quigley conversion for a 2020 SL with an Advanced conversion. My 2013 only had 84k on it, but since 2021 will be the last year I figured it was the right time to upgrade. Now to modify ?

Page 174 of the body builders guide has the dimensions.

Sometimes my utility trailer's lights won't full work until I drive with it attached, I think it has to do with the connection between the ball and the coupler for a ground. Use a multimeter to test the 7 pin, then the adapter, if you still haven't found the problem test the trailer with a 12v battery (jump pack if you have one) by hooking up each pin to the battery.

A few months late to the post, but I wanted to share my experiences with towing an RV with the NV. I bought my NV in 2013 with the Quigley 4x4 conversion and towed an Outback 301BQ (33.5ft 7200 dry/9000 GVWR (I weighed it at 8650 camping)) for seven years. We recently bought a GD Imagine 3250BH (36ft 8500 dry/10,195 GVRW) I have yet to put it on the scale, but I'm guessing it is right around the 92-9400 mark loaded for camping (we pared down a lot of stuff we thought we'd use, but never did in the old camper). Towing with the NV was night and day compared to my 2011 F150 (3.5 Ecoboost). The Ford was good for power, but the payload was only 1350lbs and it would get pushed around by the trailer. The NV has been sure footed and easy to travel in, we have 4 kids and they love the space afforded to them. No "she's touching me", which is nice. I use an 10,000lbs Equal-i-zer hitch and have been very happy with the product, we are in Minnesota and we travel through North and South Dakota frequently where the winds can be nasty and the speed limits are high (read semi truck passing you) and I haven't had any instances of trailer sway that the hitch couldn't take care of. So that's what I do. I do know what the spec weights are for the NV, but I agree with your mechanic. This thing is way under rated for a tow vehicle. I have personally towed 11,000 lbs with it and it didn't flinch, I had no worries. The brakes are great, properly set up trailer brakes are even better. The transmission will rev the piss out of the motor when in tow mode, just hang on for the ride. It is definitely not a diesel and you will get 8 MPG towing, just accept it. People at campgrounds will stare at you and maybe even ask you questions, just a heads up. The biggest problem that I have run into: Tires, I had a 4x4 conversion with a 3 inch lift, I wanted big tires so I went with a 34 inch tall tire (a 5 inch difference from stock). The NV pulled the weight but, it was hard keeping speed and I had to pull in 4th gear. I now run 265/65-18s that are 31.5 inches tall, they still look good and towing with them is way better and I usually tow in drive now. So if you want bigger, meatier tires, just be careful of the size if you want to tow up to the max. I have really enjoyed towing with the NV and will hopefully be buying another this spring before they are gone.

From what I understand production will end Summer 2021, last orders for cargos was in November 2020, last orders for passengers is April 2021. Corporate is killing off the commercial designation.

I was talking with a Nissan dealer and they stated production on the NV will end Summer 2021. The dealer said that his last day to order cargo vans was in November, but he was unsure if he could still order passenger models. Also about the Titan, the reason that Nissan dropped the diesel was because Nissan did not meet the purchase quota for engines from Cummins. Sounds like Nissan corporate dropped the ball from what the dealer was explaining, apparently the dealers as a whole were asking for the diesel in the NV and corporate didn't want to take a chance on it. Lost opportunity in my opinion.

Sorry to hear, I was hoping to hear better things about Tim Dahle, that sounds like a nightmare. I have been in contact with them to see if we could come to agreement on a new truck, but like you said it has been me that has to hound them to get my questions answered. Quick question, what size tires are you running? With my larger tires I have gotten some pretty significant bump steer, not all the time, but it's there. Also I had an issue with my aftermarket wheels, they felt like they were out of balance and no matter how many times I had Discount or the Dealership balance them. After awhile I figured it out, one of the wheels was out of balance. I'm not sure why the balancing machines didn't pick it up, and Nissan even tore the front end apart to try and figure it out. IDK, somewhere to start.

Sorry it's taken me so long to follow up; got busy yada, yada you know the drill. Anyway the apparent problem was what andy_george suspected, rodent damage. I originally did not suspect rodent damage because this truck is a daily driver and the service tech described the damage as "frayed wires", but it turns out something was snacking on my wires. So they replaced the wiring harness and sent me on my way. Separately, the P0448 code was diagnosed as the "fuel evap valve". It was performing as it should per the dealers tests, I would just have to live with the check engine light on. So I had it replaced since it was in the shop. So now it runs and no check engine lights.

I am posting this so if anybody else has this problem, or if they have had this problem, write below. So awhile back the MIL light came on, it came back as code P0448. A pretty common code with the 5.6 motor, evaporative emissions systems vent, short circuit. I thought no big deal, I must have filled the gas tank too full too many times. It would come and go, I would ignore it and clear the code. Fast forward to last Saturday, I come out of work and start the truck. It reads low fuel. Ok, whatever. I go to the gas station and fill it up, 11.3 gals and shutoff. Umm, check the fuel gauge and it's still on E. I figured the gas gauge was bad, so I started to keep track of the fuel/mileage. Sunday, I go to start the truck and it wont start, WTF. I check the codes (P0448, P0447, P0183, P0181, P0463) fueses, relays, and bang on the tank. Nothing works. I get the truck towed to the stealer, they drop the tank and find that the wiring harness is frayed and shorting out causing the fuel system to shut down. So, the wiring harness is on its way and I'll report back the location of the harness and where it frayed. Has anybody heard of a frayed wiring harness, I would think the factory would secure the hell out of it. But I've been wrong before.

Did you weigh the whole setup with the WD hitch? Remember that the WD hitch will distribute the tounge weight to the front axle, this counters the amount of tounge weight. The problem with high tounge weight, as you probably know, is that it takes weight off of the front axle causeing poor steering and braking. If the weight on the front axle is adaquate with the WD hitch installed, I wouldn't worry about the tounge weight very much.

According to this video, you might be the only one selling cargos at that rate. That video states that the Van Industry as a whole is selling 23.2% to families and 76.8% to fleets whereas Nissan NV is selling 88.9% to families and 11.1% to fleets. I think the families that are buying these are going to be driving what options are available, not the fleet buyers. And remember these are the same families that are squeezing into $75,000 Suburban LTZs, $55,000 Armadas, $70,000 Expeditions, and $70,000 pickups. Families will pay for a van like this, the demand is out there and Nissan has proven it. And if Nissan doesn't at least offer the diesel in the NV they are crazy, it's already been engineered and setup for it. All of the dash lights are there, buttons are there, axle is there, the engine mounts are there, it's just missing the engine. Same with 4WD. And there is a lot of people that tow that have families bigger than five and need something that can tow, the 5.6 does a great job but a diesel would be awesome, and haul people and right now Nissan is the only one listening to that need for families. They seemingly surprised themselves with a winner of a vehicle for the family segment. If Nissan comes out with the Cummins in the 2016 or 17 NV, I will be ordering one.

I don't think you will have a problem at all with those weights and this is why. For your E350 the max tongue weight is 1000lbs per the Ford towing guide. For the NV3500 Cargo (I used cargo because the trailer hitches, class IV rated for 10,000, are exactly the same as the passenger, so the max tongue wt is the same) the max tongue wt is 950lbs per Nissan, but I am pretty sure it says 1000lbs on the hitch itself. I personally wouldn't be afraid of loading a 1000lbs to the hitch on my NV, plus you got another 1500lbs to load into the van itself (2500lbs payload). The problem with exceeding the tongue weight is, by putting the weight on the rear axle with the load, you are also shifting some of the existing vehicle weight to the rear as well taking weight off of the steering axle. This can cause handling problems and could cause an accident. This is where a WDH comes into play for your TT, which should be easily pulled by the NV as well, because the WDH shifts weight back to the steering axle helping the vehicle to handle better. So keep that in mind when adding weight to the rear of the rear axle. So, for me personally, If the E350 handled the balloon weight ok, the NV will too. Plus the 5.6 is light years ahead of that tired 5.4 in the Ford, so the mountains will be much more enjoyable to drive in. And as far as the TT goes the NV is built way more heavy duty than the RAM 1500 (i used to have a 2011 F150), so if that handled the weight of the TT then so should the NV. My example, I tow a 2013 Outback 301BQ, 7350 dry, Currently at about 8800lbs (so using the 10-15% rule the tongue wt should be around 880-1320lbs), I use an Equal-i-zer WDH. I have towed that setup for about 10,000 miles with no problems.

Without going straight supercharger we are stuck with opening up the exhaust (JBA long tube headers, and 3in exhaust), a decent tune (uprev), and an intake (air raid MXP). That runs about 2000-2400 bucks, it's not the 6000-7000 for the supercharger, but still a chunk of change. Pun intended.

I am with andy on this one as well. I have a Outback 301bq that is about 8500# maybe 9000-9300# loaded. I have no problems with the van pulling the weight and I have oversized tires. It's fourth at 65-70 most of the time sometimes fifth if the wind is at our back (rarely). I do get 7.5-8.5 MPG regularly when towing. What really gets me is if there is a head wind, if the wind picks up it's third gear and 55mph and about 4-5MPG. But that's what you get when ND blows and WI sucks!

I have an Outback 301BQ that has four bunks in the front, air matteress sleeper sofa, and a queen slide out in the rear. They discontinued that model in 2014 but there are still some out there.

Just posting my results, there is a change in the amount of noise. I think it sounds better, more throaty, but as far as get up and go, it seems to be about the same. I guess to accurately measure that you would need a real dyno.

I just did this today as well, we'll see what the butt dyno reads tomorrow.

1) Does the plan sound reasonable for our situation? The plan seems totally reasonable, but be prepared to learn a lot of information about vehicle capabilities (GCWR, GVWR, RAWR, FAWR, etc.) and trailer capabilities and repair. When you have 7 people and you travel for an extended period of time you have A LOT of stuff, and that stuff weighs a lot. So be sure to find a trailer that has a high payload/cargo rating. I travel with six people and I have to be careful of what I pack because it adds up quick. 2) What is the maximum dry weight for an RV we should be looking at? Our plan would be to leave 7 seats in the NV passenger van and take out the rest. IMO 6500-7500 is very doable, but also on the high end of the limit. My trailer (Outback 301BQ) for example weighed 7226 (mfr #s) with a cargo capacity of 1774 for a GVRW of 9000lbs. The dry hitch weight was 760. Currently my trailer weighs in at a porky 8456 with a hitch weight of about 1000lbs (can't find my calculations right now), but I use a WD hitch and per the CAT scale all axles were under thier ratings. So with 1000lbs off the payload that leaves about 1200lbs for people and gear, so for me 250, the wife 130, and kids 24, 50, 65, and 18 that leaves about 660lbs for gear. 3) I noticed that the NV has a tongue weight limit of 870 lbs. Some RVs distribute 12-14% of their weight onto the tongue, so for a 6,000 - 7,000 lb. RV, we could be exceeding the tongue weight. Is the 870 lb. tongue weight an absolute limit? Or is that increased by the weight-distributing class IV hitch? Would it be better to get a non-factory hitch? The WD hitch doesn't add or subtract the hitch weight, it distributes it onto both axles of the tow vehicle. So the hitch weight isn't as important as it's more of a guide. When you use a WD hitch, you want to use a CAT or other truck scale to get the most accurate picture of the weight you have put of the vehicle. Using the truck scale you can see if the WD is working correctly and that the axles aren't overloaded. As far as the brand of WD hitch, I would find one that has some type of sway control built into the unit. I use an Equalizer Hitch and have had really good luck with it. I don't think I would buy the one from Nissan as you can find a better unit at a better price if you buy it yourself. 4) We would like to take the RV cross-country, which definitely means some mountainous terrain along the way. What is everyone's experience towing that much weight up hills with a car full of 7 people? Will we be OK with this plan or are we not thinking about this the right way? It will be fine, but not fast. When you put that kind of weight on a vehicle you need to have patience. If you want to pull hills all day long at 70 MPH, I would look at the Savanna with the Duramax diesel. I my experience the NV pulls really well and can handle the hills. That being said, the NV is not a Duramax, but it rides and handles a lot better though.

I went with a 275/70 r18 (33x11), that's with a 2 inch lift. But you can do it, my speedo is about 4mph slow per GPS. Also if you guys look at all the sizes of the tire you like, you can find drastic price differences on tire that are similar but just slightly wider/thinner or taller/shorter. For example when I bought my tires if I would have gotten a 285/65 (more popular choice) it would have been 50 bucks a tire more.