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

I remember some years ago when I had a CJ7 that was cutting out at highway speeds, surging, with power on and off. A little research indicated it was likely the fuel pump not keeping up. "Great", I thought, looking forward to the bill. $21 at NAPA and 20 minutes later, I was back in business. They don't make them simple like that anymore!

And like others here have said, I take all my vehicles past warranty to a reputable local mechanic shop. He shoots me straight and I nearly always make him take more money than what's on the bill.

i fix all my own stuff myself, only thing i take them to the shop for is electrical work or machine work on any motor parts.

Jeebus....if'n I had your money I would burn mine.....

Logically thinking, why would you be changing the fuel pump, if it has the correct fuel pressure ?

By your description, more likely, it's an electrical issue.

As the vehicle & it's components heat up, things expand (with heat) & contract (on cooling).

At cold/cool, broken electrical wiring is touching, once warm, it expands & breaks contact.

Good luck with it, these are the "how long is a piece of string" repairs.

Gotta find it, before you can fix it.

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

I'm almost 100% positive low fuel pressure is not your problem. You said a mechanic said your fuel pressure was ok. Fuel pressure gauges are cheap and everybody who works on todays vehicles needs one. My ex-wife's car started running bad one time. It started ok but would stumble when you accelerated and had low power. I didn't have time to work on it so I took it to a "professional" mechanic. He replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wires, and distributor cap/rotor. That didn't fix the problem and he gave up. I always buy shop manuals for my vehicles so went through the trouble shooting section and checked everything I could except fuel pressure which was supposed to 48psi. I bought a fuel pressure gauge and found out the fuel pump was only putting out 24psi (I had already changed out the fuel filter). You don't have to start a vehicle to check the fuel pressure. If you can hear good (I can't) you can hear the pump running when you turn on the ignition.

Such policies are "standard" these days. It's part of the attempts of the entire industry to keep selling "new cars"

But for me at least it has the exact opposite effect.
I am building my own vehicles now. Going backwards 40 years. Sure the older types need more maintenance but I can MAINTAIN them and I can fix them myself. I have a friend who earns a living making hot-rods and custom trucks and he told me something I though was very interesting. In a nut shell, here is his overview:
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In the 40s 50s and early 60s most cars and trucks were made well enough that owning one and having it run for 30-40 years was common. COMMON is the key word here. Most autos were taken off the roads not from wearing out, but from being wrecked.

In the late 60s and 70s the auto industry started to introduce planned obsolescence and planned failure as part of their business strategy. Those periods of time for planned replacement went from 20 years to 15 years and are now down to 10 years.

In the case of the Chevy 350 (small block) engine and drive trains, that system is the most common in the world. So there are more high quality parts made in that niche of the auto market then ANY other and ALL new aftermarket parts are as good and most are better then original factory replacements.
In a nut shell, building a custom car or truck is far less expensive then buying new,and what you can build is FAR better than what you cna buy new.
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Well when he first told me all this I thought it was probably a sales pitch and so I looked into it. I have found out he is 100% correct.
In the last 2 years I have been building a custom truck for myself and my wife. NOTHING cosmetic at all, but all parts and re-builds made to high end quality specs. I started with a long bed Chevy with a 350 and the Heavy Duty Trans and Transfer Case with 1 ton axles.
I have rebuilt the engine, installed new aftermarket power searing, clutch, and system, new breaks from pedal to wheels, new HD springs and shocks, all new U_Joints, all new bushings, 3" lift, custom made front bumper with brush guard and 12,000 pound wench, new tail gate, swing out spare tire carrier on a custom rear bumper, new wheel bearings, new searing system, new lights new dash lights, new back-up lights, minor repairs in the interior (visors, cab-light, dash controls defroster, heaters and so on) and as of right now I have 12,800 in it. That includes the price of the old truck when I bought it.

In addition to these things I am going to add a full set of wheels with extreme off-road tires, new gearing both differentials, Roll bar with out-rigger and an out-rigger on the front bumper to set up for wrenching loads over the top of the truck cab so the cable can't hit the hood or cab. The roll-bar will also be made with a bang-board frame with a steel guard that I can remove for full view out the back windows when I am not in need of it. We are also adding an additional 3rd fuel tank so out total capacity is going to come to about 75 gallons. with the re-built engine, after-market fuel injection and the new gearing, getting 19-20 MPG on the highway is realistic.
Full length bed reinforcements to set up for "ship-rails" for cargo tie downs, HD tow points on the back for both trailers and for chain /cable pulling, mounts for snow plow, new windshield, new window frames with new wing vents, and my wife says she may want a good sound system too.
The body of the old truck still looks like an old truck. We don't care. This is a tool, not as toy or a status symbol. But we need something we can clear snow with, crawl over rocks and get through mud with (anyone who has been to my home knows why this is important to us) haul coal and wood with, haul feed with, haul out dead deer, antelope, elk and moose with, use to rescue others in times of bad weather, pull logs with, stretch fence, and do about anything else in any weather that we have need to do.

Our friend Shane (the custom car/truck man) is doing most of the work and including the labor ALL of this when it's finished will come in at less then 20,000 and we have spread it out over 3 years so far and have another 6 months before it's all done.
So yes, $20,000 is not cheap, but it's about 1/3 of what a new HD pick-up costs and the new ones are designed to FAIL in 10 years, are SUPER expensive to maintain, and when you get 12 years down the road the very company that sold you the truck will do all they can to stab you in the back.
I think spending $20,000 for a 30 year truck is better then spending $58,000 for a 10 year truck.
Time will see if I am right. As the auto industry gets more and more dedicated to screwing their customers I believe Shane is correct, and the demand for real custom auto men is going to rise. The bad part is that the older vehicles that can be made into high quality autos again are going to dry up and the big auto makers are NOT going to help in that regard at all. They are dedicated to doing the exact opposite.

So if anyone out there agrees with Shane and I, and think building is a better way to go, it may be a good thing to get your fixer-upper now before they all disappear, or enough people come to the same co inclusion and the prices go out of sight.

My wife and I are also going to find another 350 and some major parts (clutch, breaks, bearings and so on) and store them in out barn for the future.

From experience & memory, it's most likely this issue is Totally Integrated Power Module (TPIM) related !

It will look something like this;



Big problem in Nissan & Dodges, particularly - Sorry !

I had a transmission control module go bad in my '00 frontier. Was hard to get going and it wouldn't go above 2nd gear, lucky to get the truck up to 45mph. Supposedly it was designed to do this if that part failed...that it would atleast get you home. Covered under warranty thank goodness. Had nothing but problems with that nissan. Something around '00 nissan quality just went down hill. Everyone I've known that has bought a 2000 or later has had issues.

Yeah...but that is a Toyota, it is actually supposed to do that.

Diagnosing the 6.0 can get a bit squirrely. Curious what if any measures you take for cold weather starting issues. Any upgrades to your battery or charging system? Multiple short trips can kill the batteries, which can kill the FICM and ultimately injectors. Absent any cabling changes, the passenger battery takes the brunt at startup and is typically the first to go.

nissan has never been the same since they were taken over by renault. I used to think of them as a cheaper built toyota back in the 90's, toyota reliablity but with generally cheaper put together. I would not buy a new one, now way. The company looks to me like it struggles for an identity. they release some funky designs IMO and don't really seem to have a direction.

It might be a fuel problem. Where is the fuel filter? Is it in-tank with the pump?

I had a '98 jeep wrangler that developed a problem. It was fine off-road and on windy back roads, but at freeway speed, straight ahead, it would sort of stall, starve, and die. It would take 20-30 minutes before it would run again. We did a lot of things trying to debug it and fix it but since it wouldn't happen on demand and I couldn't reproduce it cold, the mechanics were at a loss.

Eventually I bought a fuel pressure gauge, connected it to the fuel rail, and placed the gauge on the fender where I could watch it while driving. Sure enough, normal fuel pressure most of the time, but once in a while, the pressure would drop and the engine would die. It turned out to be fine dirt in the fuel tank which would be sloshed off of the screen / filter on windy / bumpy roads, but on the freeway, with maximum fuel demand, it'd suck up and choke the screen / filter. Given time, it'd fall back off. Once I understood that, while I was waiting for the new filter which took a while to arrive, if it happened I'd just coast to the shoulder, then grab the roll bar and shake the shyte out of the jeep to slosh the gas around so I could get going again sooner. Worked fine.

Anyway ... I'd look at dropping the tank, giving the gas time to settle, and see if you've got "barnacles" in there clogging your filter. Only a guess, of course.

Tom

Wow !

He's got the correct fuel pressure people.

It was tested at the fuel rail schrader valve, therefore after the screen filter & fuel pump !

As I stated above, it's an electrical issue.

Schidte, it amazes me how few people, listen first & longest, before dumping their .02.

NEW 2 99's- Agreed- somewhere there is likely a solder joint or chip, relay or solenoid that is getting hot and opening the connection.

Replacing a fuel pump that is producing the nominal pressure at the fuel manifold is a waste of time and money.

Solder and wiring gets old, brittle, and turns into these kinds of problems on older vehicles.

And dealership service departments are only useful for warranty repairs and replacement of faulty parts under warranty.

I had a similar problem on my 7.3. I had to replace the entire wiring harness unless I wanted to wring out every wire. $700 for the part. $300 to install it. Problem solved.

Yep, that or electrical is perhaps causing erratic injector pulse.

It is all controlled (in theory) at the "intelegent" power distribution module. First check module for corrosion or broken pins, next, attach the wiring mess.

As above, they are a nightmare.

Is the easiest route, as long as you can isolate the issue to wiring & not the module.

Only drawback with replacing the module, is that in most cases, the module has to be reprogrammed by the Dealer.

A bit off topic in a way but I had a 45hp Chrysler boat motor circa 70's vintage that would run real well and suddenly die and not restart. Would trailer the boat and test - instant start. Totally puzzling until one day with the cover off I was looking around it and I noticed that the hot wire to the motor was broken where it was soldered to the connector. I guess that just the right amount of vibration would make it connect or disconnect.