[Junior9]

Wondering what you fine folks do at 100k. I'm at 90k right now. I'm hoping for at least 200k. That being said, brakes, suspension, driveline fluids, air filter, radiator, muffler, are all relatively new. Runs, drives, and feels like new. I check u-joints on every oil change and so far so good.

I'm thinking about O2 sensors. They're somewhat expensive on my budget so it'll be one at a time. I'm also thinking about brake fluid because I have a somewhat spongy pedal. Any other thoughts?

 

[picklez]

Maintenance Schedules ? Service Interval Requirements for your Nissan

 

[Junior9]

Thanks but that's not really what I'm looking for. I have an owner's manual with that information. I'm looking beyond that into engine life and longevity. That being said, I also did plugs about 10k ago.

 

[picklez]

The manufacture recommended maintenance schedule is designed for engine longevity. I can't really think of a better resource for maintaining a Nissan truck than the Nissan engineers' recommended service intervals. I could be wrong though. I mean if you wanted to you could dump some injector cleaner in there, maybe Seafoam the crank case, but there's tons of people around with 200,000+ on their trucks and I don't think they've done any crazy witchcraft other than fixing what's broken and replacing fluids, according to the manufacture recommended intervals.

My truck has 181000km (112,000 in freedom units) and between myself and the previous owner that's all we've done.

 

[Junior9]

Thank you for your suggestions but I'm really not looking for regurgitated recommenations from Nissan.

 

[Undercover Brother]

Thank you for your suggestions but I'm really not looking for regurgitated recommenations from Nissan.

Might not be what you want to hear, but the other guy is right, follow the schedule and you will be fine. I have done fleet maintenance for both large utility companies and local govt fleets and can tell you that long life is to be had just following the OEM recommendations. Things like O2 sensors are not considered scheduled maintenance item and most shops will tell you it is a waste to change just based on mileage but still functioning properly.

I get the need to want to tinker and feel one is being helpful in extending their vehicles longevity, but unless it is a item that is knowingly trending a premature failure outside a maintenance schedule, you are wasting money changing things early.

If anything and you want the warm fuzzy feeling of ownership, follow a severe service scheduled if published or halve the recommended intervals but that is just a mental accommodation exercise.

 

[ff4life]

Fwiw at 100k, I changed spark plugs, did a drain and fill on all driveline fluids (front/rear diff l, transfer case, transmission), new air filters, coolant flush, and that's about it. O2 sensors are still working good for me and getting the same mpg at 170k miles that I did when I bought it at 10k miles.

 

[Junior9]

Well, I'm disappointed in the outcome of this thread. I have a rebuild manual of a particular brand/engine and if I remember right, it suggests O2 sensors, PCV sensors, EGR valve, and others I don't remember. I guess I'll just use that for a Nissan engine too. Specifically, it says that O2 sensors are not a work or fail sensor. They have a period of death during which they don't read accurately which causes a rich/lean condition unbeknownst to the pcu.

 

[explorerman]

Well, I'm disappointed in the outcome of this thread. I have a rebuild manual of a particular brand/engine and if I remember right, it suggests O2 sensors, PCV sensors, EGR valve, and others I don't remember. I guess I'll just use that for a Nissan engine too. Specifically, it says that O2 sensors are not a work or fail sensor. They have a period of death during which they don't read accurately which causes a rich/lean condition unbeknownst to the pcu.

Not sure if you are going to get the info you want when you keep shooting down what everyone is saying to you, try to be a bit more positive.
Anyway, like ff4life at 100k I changed the engine oil and rear diff oil. New plugs, belt and filters and I think the brake pads also needed looking at.
I didn't change the trans fluid until 200k, coil packs and plugs at 260k (didn't really need to but I had an occasional misfire popping up) and finally did the coolant and brake fluid at 275k. I currently have 279k on my truck. Still on the original O2 sensors.
My advice to engine longevity........... Change the oil every 5000 miles, and follow the owners manual for major milestones (100k, 150k, 200k etc) also don't treat the truck like a red headed stepchild, listen to it and if she sounds unhappy then investigate.
Hope that's more like you were looking for.

 

[Undercover Brother]

Well, I'm disappointed in the outcome of this thread. I have a rebuild manual of a particular brand/engine and if I remember right, it suggests O2 sensors, PCV sensors, EGR valve, and others I don't remember. I guess I'll just use that for a Nissan engine too. Specifically, it says that O2 sensors are not a work or fail sensor. They have a period of death during which they don't read accurately which causes a rich/lean condition unbeknownst to the pcu.

Not trying to be argumentative here, but it sounds like you started this thread with predetermined decision and wanted validation for that.

Like I mentioned, I have worked fleet maintenance for up to 400+ vehicles in a fleet that had fleet service managers that used specific software programs to mange the maintenance. Outside manufactures maintenance schedules, the sound money was never there to change nonscheduled items until actual point of failure as even failure rates of the same model vehicle and what parts failed when, varied wildly if at all.

As to using a rebuild manual from another brand/engine for your thought process, rebuilding is an entirely different scope of work and calling out replacement parts for that, is not a preventative maintenance strategy for normal maintenance, it is a "while you are in there" during the rebuild strategy.

Sorry you did not hear what you wanted, but sometimes it is what you may need to hear. Your prerogative to discount it I guess.

 

[todd92]

You want to ignore the owner's manual because you prefer someones made up schedule of extra, unnecessary maintenance?

 

[The other Sean]

Well, I'm disappointed in the outcome of this thread. I have a rebuild manual of a particular brand/engine and if I remember right, it suggests O2 sensors, PCV sensors, EGR valve, and others I don't remember. I guess I'll just use that for a Nissan engine too. Specifically, it says that O2 sensors are not a work or fail sensor. They have a period of death during which they don't read accurately which causes a rich/lean condition unbeknownst to the pcu.

To play devil's advocate here, do you plan to replace all these sensors with OEM or parts store parts? I would trust a 100k mile OEM sensor over ANY new parts store electrical part / sensor any day.

 

[AndysLog]

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/free-test-kits.php

 

[Junior9]

Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as rude to anyone.

 

[Junior9]

You want to ignore the owner's manual because you prefer someones made up schedule of extra, unnecessary maintenance?

To explain, I work with fleet vehicles as well. We tend to take mfg suggestions with a grain of salt. We work with diesel and cng. Some of the recommendations seem to be set up to a little past what we consider a normal operating time. We're talking about 66k-85k 2290 vehicles. PM's are a very big deal and we know our maintenance schedules better than the mfg. That in mind, I apply the same logic to my passenger vehicles. Did Nissan tell me to replace my radiator because of the SMOD? No, I just did it. That's my logic here. What's gonna fail in a certain time frame and can I be proactive? That's all.

 

[Junior9]

Well, I'm disappointed in the outcome of this thread. I have a rebuild manual of a particular brand/engine and if I remember right, it suggests O2 sensors, PCV sensors, EGR valve, and others I don't remember. I guess I'll just use that for a Nissan engine too. Specifically, it says that O2 sensors are not a work or fail sensor. They have a period of death during which they don't read accurately which causes a rich/lean condition unbeknownst to the pcu.

Not trying to be argumentative here, but it sounds like you started this thread with predetermined decision and wanted validation for that.

Like I mentioned, I have worked fleet maintenance for up to 400+ vehicles in a fleet that had fleet service managers that used specific software programs to mange the maintenance. Outside manufactures maintenance schedules, the sound money was never there to change nonscheduled items until actual point of failure as even failure rates of the same model vehicle and what parts failed when, varied wildly if at all.

As to using a rebuild manual from another brand/engine for your thought process, rebuilding is an entirely different scope of work and calling out replacement parts for that, is not a preventative maintenance strategy for normal maintenance, it is a "while you are in there" during the rebuild strategy.

Sorry you did not hear what you wanted, but sometimes it is what you may need to hear. Your prerogative to discount it I guess.

I'm a numbers guy. If 2 or 3 people told me this part failed at X mileage, I'll probably replace it before I get there.

I'm not saying that we're set up to fail. I'm just saying that some members may have more insight than me.

 

[finallygotatruck]

Ok, so my previous truck was a 99.5 Chevy Silverado...At 100k she got plugs, hoses, belts tranny screen and valve cover gaskets because small block Chevy's always leak from the valve covers and the 4.8l Chevy has a reputation for gunking up. I replaced the valve cover gaskets cause I wanted to look at the heads. Found no sludge, kept driving it.


At 200k plugs belts hoses plugs and a water pump because by my logic the waterpump was about 40k miles overdue. at 220k the fuel pump failed and at 232k the Air conditioning compressor grenaded. 1 hour sweat on the fuel pump replacement plus 140 dollars for the part and shes on the road again. I was certain that if I dropped the 600 dollars for the AC parts the tranny would fall out from under it shortly thereafter. I kept driving it without AC. At 236 the brakes got noisy so she got pads, one one rotor and one rear caliper.


At 300k I changed all of the fluids including the tranny (remove input line from radiator cooler and put truck in drive with 2 5 gallon pails handy....when tranny stopped pumping I measured the fluid and replaced same amount with fresh synthetic ), plugs hoses and belts. The Power steering pump was had started whining so I drained and replaced power steering fluid. at 331k the starter failed...130 bucks for lifetime warranty started plus 9.99 for the accompanied 12pack of beer. (Profanity repellant is what I call it.)


Now, Knowing small block Chevy's I knew I was overdue for a timing set and the cams were probably a full 10th short by now but I kept driving the truck till she hit 391k when I traded it too my son for a Springfield Armory 1911 TRP operator.


This truck I'll run till she gets noisy on fluid changes and failed parts. It has precedence in my garage.

 

[Junior9]

Ok, so my previous truck was a 99.5 Chevy Silverado...At 100k she got plugs, hoses, belts tranny screen and valve cover gaskets because small block Chevy's always leak from the valve covers and the 4.8l Chevy has a reputation for gunking up. I replaced the valve cover gaskets cause I wanted to look at the heads. Found no sludge, kept driving it.


At 200k plugs belts hoses plugs and a water pump because by my logic the waterpump was about 40k miles overdue. at 220k the fuel pump failed and at 232k the Air conditioning compressor grenaded. 1 hour sweat on the fuel pump replacement plus 140 dollars for the part and shes on the road again. I was certain that if I dropped the 600 dollars for the AC parts the tranny would fall out from under it shortly thereafter. I kept driving it without AC. At 236 the brakes got noisy so she got pads, one one rotor and one rear caliper.


At 300k I changed all of the fluids including the tranny (remove input line from radiator cooler and put truck in drive with 2 5 gallon pails handy....when tranny stopped pumping I measured the fluid and replaced same amount with fresh synthetic ), plugs hoses and belts. The Power steering pump was had started whining so I drained and replaced power steering fluid. at 331k the starter failed...130 bucks for lifetime warranty started plus 9.99 for the accompanied 12pack of beer. (Profanity repellant is what I call it.)


Now, Knowing small block Chevy's I knew I was overdue for a timing set and the cams were probably a full 10th short by now but I kept driving the truck till she hit 391k when I traded it too my son for a Springfield Armory 1911 TRP operator.


This truck I'll run till she gets noisy on fluid changes and failed parts. It has precedence in my garage.

Thank you so much for your post. This is EXACTLY the kind of input I was looking for. Although I cant apply it to my Frontier, it is totally awesome. That was my line of thinking, the 4.0 has been around quite a while. Not nearly as long as SBC but long enough to figure out a general timeline of failures. You've gotten almost 400k out of a standard bore SBC...who does that?! Seriously?! Well done sir. I applaud you. That's what I'm wanting to do with my Frontier.

 

[mtyler11]

Thank you so much for your post. This is EXACTLY the kind of input I was looking for. Although I cant apply it to my Frontier, it is totally awesome. That was my line of thinking, the 4.0 has been around quite a while. Not nearly as long as SBC but long enough to figure out a general timeline of failures. You've gotten almost 400k out of a standard bore SBC...who does that?! Seriously?! Well done sir. I applaud you. That's what I'm wanting to do with my Frontier.

for the post you quoted on a SBC GM LS motor did (basically) regular maint, a gut feeling, and failure items. The failure items were/are known to go bad after 150+k. And its a GM (not to bash GM, I had a 76 GMC k10). Apples to oranges. If I were to apply GM experience to my Hyundai '04 (winter beater & runabout) I'd have done everything to it by now (150k) but since I drove it off the showroom I've done gen maint & failure items. And those have only been a horn, O2 sensor, TB gasket... Oh, and flex-pipe rusted out...

If it were my truck (assuming you've had it since birth and faithfully changed fluids at/before rec intervals) I'd sample all the fluids & send to Blackstone. And I'd thoroughly inspect & clean from the bottom up. Once everything was very clean, reinspect in 3k for wet spots... All the things I'm sure you already do and do at work...

ALSO there's a fella on youtube that has tricks to make common parts last longer, like tensioner pulley bearings, serpentine belts, ...

As you said, this platform has been around a good long while (especially when you consider a VQ40 is a stroked VQ35, which is a VVT version of the VQ30 (nearly 25 yr old design) and you don't hear alot of burned out motors & such... If you're opening something up, I'd change anything I touch to get to it, But I wouldn't go crazy.
-have you done timing chain/guides? folks have had issues and its a lotto draw if you'll have problems

 

[Ttman]

100 K tune

Sounds like you did all the right stuff to maintain vehicle. PCV, filters, fluids, etc.
- Don't forget drive belts and maybe hoses ( depending on condition)

O2 sensors could last the life of a vehicle- Only replace them when they go bad unless you want to spend the money and time.