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2018 Fan Noise and Fuel Economy

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We have a 3 month old 3500 passenger van with the new V8. Approximately 50% of the time, the fan clutch seems to stick and the engine fan noise is very loud. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

Also our fuel economy runs around 14MPG. Lower than we were expecting, but both my wife and I have a lead foot. The fuel economy does not appear to change highway or around town.

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Unfortunately, it has reached a head on a 1500 mile one way vacation. So far it has not reached a point where I thought it was damaging anything, so we are continuing on. I am a little concerned it will be a difficult thing to troubleshoot, and I can't spare the time at a dealer yet. We are on a 8 day 1500 mile one way road trip.

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Does it happen while driving or while sitting in stop and go?  My 2015 fan is very loud when in stop and go just due to heat buildup and it is trying to get rid of it when we start moving again.  I am in the south like you and as you know it gets really hot especially when just idling in place.  Mine will stay really loud until I get moving a while and then drop back to normal.  

 

I would try and get your van in at your next stop even for a brief inspection.  If it happening a lot they should be able to diagnosis it quickly.  Would you rather stop now and have it looked at or have the van break down in between stops and force you to stop?  Nissan Roadside will take you to the nearest NV dealer if that happens but I would start checking around to see where the nearest could be to have it looked at. 

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I agree with ASD Dad. You can drop in without an appointment, get an inspection and be on your way...

 

We have had very good and quick service at NV commercial dealerships when traveling. Make sure you go to a commercial dealership as they are the only ones who will fix it, quick or otherwise.

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I'd love it if I could get 14 mpg.  Most of my driving is around town (no trailer, light load) and I average 11 mpg.  The only time I get close to 14 is when I'm on a long drive on the interstate.

Edited by Mark Rogers

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I have a correction it is a 2017.

 

Also it only happens after a drive where it gets to operating temp, we stop for around 45-60 minutes, and then restart driving. From a cold start there is no issue, or if we just fill up it is fine. Stop for a lunch and it starts. Once we get going it comes and goes on a long trip at highway speeds. There are no other issues that we know of.

 

I am less concerned about the fuel economy...I am running 83-85 on the highway. Not sure what it would be if I slowed down to 70-75.

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Our experience has been that interstate mph has little if any impact on mpg over the course of a tankful. If you look at real time mpg, it would show variation I’m sure.

 

I have no explanation for this, but some of the worst interstate mpg has been in the south. Was it higher humidity, thicker air? In the west between 4000-7000’ feet we have hit 16-17 mpg per tankful. Generally it is 15-16 mpg unless terrain and Mother Nature deem otherwise. Head winds in the west are potent.

 

Average over the course of 5 years is 15+ mpg.

 

What rpm does your tachometer show? Some one here posted 3500 rpm. Hope they were passing a semi on a very steep hill with a blind curve. I don’t have a lead foot and it usually falls in the 2200 range. Long ago, I heard that the optimal rpm was 2500 to cut down on gear hunting.

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I had mine (2017 v8) worked on by the dealer yesterday for this.   They adjusted the lower fan shroud on the big fan.  According to them the loud fan noise is a small auxiliary fan that runs at a high speed when the big fan is having a problem.   My large fan was actually striking the lower shroud.   They also updated the ECM module with a new program.   Mine was the second one that they had worked on for the problem.  The first one they actually had a Nissan Engineer come in to work on it.   So far it is working!

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Welcome to the site tboy!  Thanks for the update and possible fix.  

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Wouldn’t it be great if mpg increased...

 

What is the name of the dealer. For those who live in the area or are traveling through, sounds like a good service department to use.

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We have a 3 month old 3500 passenger van with the new V8. Approximately 50% of the time, the fan clutch seems to stick and the engine fan noise is very loud. Has anyone else experienced this?

Also our fuel economy runs around 14MPG. Lower than we were expecting, but both my wife and I have a lead foot. The fuel economy does not appear to change highway or around town.

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The dealer that fixed mine is Benton Nissan in Hoover Alabama.   They are the only Commercial Nissan Dealer in the area.   They treated me nice and kept me posted as they went thru the repair process.   So far, no problems have shown up with the ECM update.

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I have a 2017 with 2000k miles with the same fan problem. It seems to happen every other time we drive the vehicle. I checked the lower fan shroud and nothing is rubbing.

 

There is also a loud clunk coming from the front end when making sharp left turns in parking lots. Love the room in the vehicle, but not to happy with the fit & finish when we took delivery. Production Quality control seems to be pretty poor.

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Welcome to the site.  I am guessing a dealer has not looked at either issue yet?  Nissan has the best in class warranty on these vans but seems like many are reluctant to use it.  I've used mine several times with good results.  I've had my share of issues with the dealer doing the warranty work on top of the van issues but again, Nissan made things right in the end.

 

Would I be happier with no warranty claims?  Absolutely.  It's there for a reason so people need to use it.

 

If Nissan cant fix it or it happens over and over again then get upset with the company.

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No I have not been to the dealer yet for these issues. Planning on making an appointment soon. Vehicle is a daily driver and dealer is approx 40 miles away. Soon as I get it looked at I will post my results.

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We made it home from the trip, but have not taken the van to get serviced yet. We live 100 miles from the dealer and life is in the way. Interestingly enough on the way home from the trip it was much better. The outside temps were actually hotter. One thing I noticed was the noise would come and go particularly at highway speeds, but started almost from the time the van was restarted from a 45 min break in driving. Shorter off times it was fine. Also if you turn off the motor for a couple of minutes after a restart and noticing the problem it would quit.

 

This makes me think it is a software or computer issue.

 

On a side note we were very happy with the van on the trip. Our family of 7 was very comfortable on the 3000 mile round trip, and had plenty of room. Although I have never seen a vehicle with so many dead bugs on it after we got back.

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I have the same loud fan noise issue.  We bought our NV 3500 SL in May and immediately took it on a 1500 mile trip up north and back to Louisiana.  I noticed the noise at highway speeds at first and it seems to be in sync with the air conditioning compressor.  Turned off the a/c and sure enough the fan noise went away.  Turn a/c back on and noise was present again.  The noise is very noticeable at low speeds.  For example driving slow through a parking lot and people are looking at us likely we're revving up the motor but it's just the fan.  I took it into Nissan dealer immediately after the trip and once again later on to have them look at it and they say everything checks out fine.  I even had a tech ride with me but he wouldn't comment on anything. 

 

I've also had the issue of a hesitation between 1200 and 2000 RPMs.  Nissan says they are aware of the problem but do not have a fix for it.  They say the hesitation is caused when the two onboard computers are trying to switch from one to another.  Seems like Nissan should have figured this out before they started to sell the vehicle.  Also seems like it should have showed up with all that extensive testing they advertise.  

 

My wife says there's an NV Facebook page where many people have complained about this and are sharing the same experiences.  Hopefully, Nissan will get a fix soon.  Love the vehicle otherwise. 

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I have experienced this with my 2016 NV 3500 passenger van as well.  It was really awkward how it all started since my wife and I drove the van a little over 300 miles to Laughlin and another 300 miles to go back home (weather in Laughlin peaked above 120 degrees while on vacation).  We bought the van with only 12 miles on the odometer from the dealer.  We took several more trips and added an additional 3000 miles to the vehicle.  The issue did not start till recently when temperatures reached 100 degrees here in Southern California.  The noise would come on when the AC was on. 

 

The noise was of a lot of concern since I did not want the van to over heat or have the fan clutch break while driving.  Hated that the fan would stay on at highway speeds and how it would turn off for only a few seconds and then immediately turn on again.   I found the only way to prevent the condenser fan from staying on was to make sure the AC was off before we started the van and to make sure it was off before turning the van off.  Since it is getting colder here, I have not had to use the AC and have not experienced the issue since.  Hopefully NIssan finds a fix before next Summer.  

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Not sure if you guys had this solved yet. I had this same problem on my 2017 2500 too. There is a TSB on this that came out September 21. They reflash your ECU and bam! All normal now. I have a family member who is a nissan tech.

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There is a brand new recall in regards to Fan noise I'm just not sure if it's the fan you're talking about ask your service tech to look into this it just came out the third week of January

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I had this same problem on my 2017, the dealer told me there was a design flaw with the fan clutch.  They got me a new one last October (had to wait about a month on the parts), and the problem has been gone since.  Looks like most people with the 2017 5.6 have the same issue.

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