I've found it more challenging to find out how to increase my truck's ability to get a good miles per gallon because I've never been a truck owner until this Nissan Frontier 4X4, which I've only owned for a few years. It may be more challenging to figure out how to improve it's miles per gallon more because I'm learning how to drive it for good fuel mileage.
Showing posts with label 2004 Nissan Frontier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2004 Nissan Frontier. Show all posts
On my Generation 1 V6 2004 Nissan Frontier 3.3 L XE...we have a *stock cold air intake. It's winter now and like a lot of us, I have watched the MPG's go down 2-3 points. (*see below for 2 week update!)
Stock "Cold Air Intake" commonly known as an air box.
The filter is high and far away from the IAT stock location.
When driving slow the IAT will sometimes see much warmer
temperatures than what the pod filter is seeing. I believe it's actually drawing a lot of cold air from behind the head light.
I was thinking a hot air intake or short ram intake might work to boost MPG's I am interested to find out if there are other performance changes, good, bad, or none. The next picture I show you above of the stock cold air intake with the conical filter really doesn't work as there's no where for one of the tiny tubes behind the air box to connect to anything, but it had a valuable lesson while I had the shiny tube missing.
The MAF air flow sensor is hooked up nicely, but this leaves the IAT or intake air temperature sensor floating away (above) the cone filter and it's not actually in the air pipe, which the filter is drawing air from like on stock. When you're driving slow the fuel trims spiked all over the place rich sometimes. When on the move the IAT is accurate enough.
Once I located the missing pipe and installed it completely, the conical filter is actually touching the wire side of the IAT, which I think is important to do as now the fuel trims are stable even when driving slowly (less air coming in when you're not moving but at least the air is being drawn next to he IAT now so fuel calculations are much more accurate). (needed to replace the factory zip-tie holding the MAF sensor wires away from the pulleys)
2 weeks later update:
The next series of photos will show you that the stock cold air intake that we Nissan Frontier owners believed we had was just a trick of the manufacturers. You see the pipe that has the red rag in it below? I was trying to block the cold air source, but it turns out it supplies no cold air. If you look at the next to pictures, you can just make out below the short ram intake filter, you can just see the picture of pipes which are in the engine bay. They are the actual source of air for the pipes that "go into the fender well". I see this all the time on car after car. No manufacturer wants to have a real cold air intake. They'll make it look like there is one, just to design in some feature that makes the apparent design a lie. I'm sure it helps emissions and lowers power however, as colder air does mean more power if your fuel pump and injectors can keep up.
Notice the red? It was my attempt to raise the temperature for the intake, but it turns out no air comes from there! See below!
At the bottom right corner is the pipe shown in more detail next.
The IAT (Intake Air Temperature) sensor is on this pipe, which goes into the fender well and back into the engine bay via the original air box.
It is KILLING me that a new fuel sending unit has improved my gas mileage so much. I haven't seen 19 MPG on the freeway all year. It was even windy. before when it was windy, I only got 14-15 MPG unless I drove like 55 MPH to get up to 16 to 17 miles per gallon (always good for gas mileage on at least my 2004 Nissan Frontier).
Let me explain. The fuel sending unit on this truck also has a fuel temperature sensor. Without this information, the truck had the following DTC's (diagnostic trouble codes): Codes that apply to this issue: P0183: Fuel Temperature Sensor A Circuit High Input (fuel temperature sensor was missing as it was damaged while installing the new fuel pump last year) P0463: Fuel Level Sensor Circuit High Input P0328: Knock Sensor 1 Circuit High Input (Bank 1 or Single Sensor) (similar effect, poorer gas mileage because the truck may run less timing advance or spark advanced as this model of truck doesn't have valve timing)
The shocking add-ons to my DTC's recently that'd cost me approximately $620 is devastating. I need an engine for my Chevy Prizm (see Did I Hydrolock My Engine?), not catalytic converters for my Nissan Frontier! P0420 Catalytic converter inefficiency code for bank 1 P0430 Catalytic converter inefficiency code for bank 2 Check out my diagnosis and understanding article on this topic: P0420/P0430 Catalytic converter below efficiency
Personal story of almost killing myself a year ago:
(BE SAFE!)
I got stuck under my truck once when I tried adjusting how the truck bed was lifted up by myself. I didn't have the strength to get out from under the bed, but I had to use strength continually to keep from getting crushed as well.
As I kept trying to get leverage to get an old fence post back up and under it I let myself get crushed for a few seconds, feeling my life risking, slipping away, I exploded, using the nearly planned on fear to get the truck bed up and get that board back underneath it!
Don't let the apparent ease in the video of the leaning truck bed tilt bed method fool you. It, like any other raising of a vehicle is DANGEROUS.
Spoiler alert for part 2!
With this fault gone, the truck is willing the create LTFT, or long term fuel trims. This is a permanent fuel adjustment for more or less fuel to get the O2 sensor behaving right, which is how much it's adjusted versus what the truck thought it needed to satisfy the O2 sensors, but then it needed to adjust a bit.
As vehicles age or break down, these LTFT's can change a lot and seeing their patterns, they can help find a diagnostic direction.
STFT, or short term fuel trims, are adjustments that are changes on top of the LTFT. They can be additive or take away whatever change the LTFT commanded. STFT are exactly as they sound, they're temporary adjustments, when a certain level of them is needed enough times, LTFT's come in to set a baseline so that STFT can do it's job, which is to make the O2 sensors switch across lean and reach, which helps the catalytic converters last the longest possible, keeping the engine in a range that is safer for all of us. It's our world. Let's take care of it.
Something I've learned since the part 2 video is that my Nissan Frontier has flipped it's roles on it's miles per gallon to something for normal. I was getting freeway MPG in the city and city MPG on the freeway and they've flopped back.
So it'll save me more on trips and less the rest of the time. Oh well, my longer trips cover far more miles than my little city uses in gas.
