Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire New rules at Nissan dealership

I have a 2005 Nissan Frontier with almost 240K miles on it. Last summer, I would try to start it and it would turn over, but not crank. After some experimentation, I concluded whatever reads the chip in the key wasn't working all the time. It did it a few times, over a couple of months and then quit. No problems until a couple of months ago, when it started it again.

It never does it when the truck is cold, always after I run it for a while.

Back to the new rules.... I took a trip a few weeks ago and the truck started missing real bad, just after I filled up with gas. My first thought was bad gas. But when I killed it at a store, it almost didn't crank. I finally stopped and had a mechanic put his reader on it, and he didn't find anything. Even hooked a pressure gauge on the fuel line and the fuel pressure was ok, but he let the vehicle cool before he had a chance to check it out.

Made it to my destination, took the truck to a Nissan dealership the next morning. Service man came out to get my info, I asked him to hook his reader up to the truck and see if they could see any problem and told him it was a 2005 model. He said they couldn't check the vehicle..... that their computer wouldn't let them check anything over 10 yrs old. He suggested I go to an independent mechanic and let them look at it.

I have ordered a fuel pump and will install it when it gets here. Not 100% positive this is the problem, but I kinda figure it is.

Randy, you are probably better off financially for them doing that.

My mechanic charges a smooth 1/2 of what the dealership does.

It's 2019 the main idea of ALL dealerships is to stay in business.

Mr Randy. I had to do the same thing about 15 years ago on a 1994 Chevy pickup. Paid my son to do it. Saved me about $1500

Good luck. Keep us updated.

Yeah, you're probably right. But, when you're 500 miles from home, you're kinda in a bind. Luckily the truck made it home and only acted up 1 time. I let it cool off while I ate breakfast. It cranked right up and ran fine the rest of the way.

I would change the fuel filter before I put a new fuel pump on it.

That's really good for customer relations .
Years ago the yamaha dealership told me they didn't work on bikes over six years old - never went back to the dealership again .

Hadn't got a fuel filter...... Yeah, surprised me, too!

I’d almost never EVER EVER take any vehicle to the dealership for ANY repairs, no matter how simple. They are the most expensive and in my experience with several dealerships they’re far from honest. They are crooks plain and simple.

I think it does have one, might be a part of the fuel pump and is just a screen that gets cleaned.

Dealers charge too much, period.


However, I like to think of them as THEE place that can probably figure certain issues.
If a dealer refused to work on a 10 year old vehicle, I'd try another.

If it was a brand thing,
There are other brands.

Yeah, you're right.

I stopped at a NAPA parts house to buy a fuel filter and there is not one listed for this truck, but the mechanic told me that they had a screen on the pump that acts as a filter. I think the new fuel pump will have a screen on it. If not, I'll clean the old one before I install it.

OM3, good luck in getting figured out.


For the past 4 months I have been dealing with an unknown issue on the old Ford 6.0 diesel.


Runs fine below 45mph but when you'd go to cruise out on the highway the turbo would miss and it would blow black smoke, no power, etc.. Thinking boost leak but they said the hoses were fine.

Sorta came out of it when it was fully warmed up so I'm thinking WTF???

Take it in, they hook it up to the laptop and replaced a sensor. I forget which one, $300.

Didn't fix it.

I finally checked the hoses myself and found the leak. Thinking yeah, that was a cheap easy fix!


Acted up again the next day. I go in and talk to the mechanic and he says well it is more than likely the turbo.... $2500....
(other people were also telling me turbo but for whatever reason I didn't think so)

I said no, we'll let it sit in the parking lot, totally cool off and then hook your computer up again. He was fine with that idea.



So we get in it, drive a mile down the road and it is really acting up.....sweet.

Mechanic is fiddling with computer and all of a sudden says oh chit no wonder, it's the boost pressure sensor(?). Again I can't remember but we pull over and he gets out and unplugs it.


We get back in and the pickup ran fine.



Drove back into town and I bought him a 30-pack of beer.

End of story.

At least it didn't leave you stranded down in the woods or worse .

Did you check your battery and cables?

It's a 14 year old Nissan with 250,000 miles on it for phuukks sake. Shoot the goddam thing between the headlights and be done with it.

what for? I have a 31 year old 4 Runner with 565,000 on it...

Minus us replacing its second clutch, for its third now.... it is running fine....

If you shoot, it i want it.

Computers run on software and software needs to be backwards compatible to some extent but that compatibility ends at some point. The dealer likely got a new scanner or a software update and Nissan decided it wasn't economically viable to build or test their software back to the software that runs on their > 10 year old vehicles.

The independent dealer likely either has the older machine or a more generic one that works on a wider range of years/types.

Not some nefarious scheme, just that the number of people that bring a decade-old vehicle into the dealer doesn't make it worth making the software compatible that far back and the coding or testing. Life with older vehicles. My 8 year car goes to the dealer because of convenience and the 11 year 4runner goes to an independent shop.

Had a Ford Ranger that had a fuel pump go bad. It was in the tank, which meant the tank had to be pulled. The "fuel filter" consisted of a screen on the pump.