Nissan Titan XD Forum banner

Boooo...fuel tank antics:/

13K views 47 replies 18 participants last post by  Sentential 
#1 ·
Well I'm usually a tank half full type of guy...lol. Apparently yesterday when I hit just between 1/8 and 1/4 of a tank (no low lights)...I started getting long cranks. Thankfully I was actually at the fuel station when it stalled completely. After glancing at my receipt and squeezing every last drop I could in, it read 21 gallons. Guess I have a date with the service dept. which more than likely will result in a new pickup assembly or adjustment internally. I remember another poster with the same issue. Wonder if their issue was resolved. At least I caught this now vs when I head out for 3k mile trip in September, could have been a bummer.

BigRed
 
#7 ·
Lol Thanks^^^

Talked to the service manager and the said fuel pumps are about 7days out, and any extra parts are a longer wait. My appt is Aug 5th...by choice, because I'm in the process of building a 32X48X15 polebarn and need it to move equipment and materials. Can't afford to not have a truck the next two weeks. For now, I'll keep it at a 1/2 or above. I'll post pics when all done;)

BigRed
 
#16 ·
Does the date of manufacture have anything to do with this?

I've run my truck down real low and never had an issue. Is it the earliest manufacture dates the ones with the fuel pump issue?????
 
#21 ·
Well stopped by a week before I take my truck in for this fuel issue. Asked if they could get a fuel pump assy in so I'm not waiting a week after they drop the tank and confirm what I've already told them is wrong. Parts dept told me that the only way I could get a pump in is buy it outright (my cost) and there is no refunds....so basically I'm screwed on this deal. But they'll give me a sedan for a few days...nice:/ The biggest rub is that I need to get the tank down to the level to duplicate the problem (since it throws no codes) without stalling it out on the way to the dealer. Nissan needs to issue the dang TSB because I'm not the only one. Worst yet is that I need the turuck to travel across country with the wife and baby, and I'm worried that the dealer will drag their feet and I'm out of a truck for three weeks with no resolve. Trying to save them from dropping the tank twice and I'm not confident that they will solve the problem if it's a component defect. Thinking of just keeping it above a 1/4 tank and waiting to take it in when they have more time on the truck series, other than mine. Can't afford to have something missed on a trip that long where I'm stranded. This is why I hate warranty vehicles, can't touch anything to troubleshoot without cause them to shun you completely.

BigRed
 
#22 ·
It may take 3 weeks.... But you don't have to take it on fumes. Just take it in fairly empty, tell them it needs to be drained further to replicate the issue. Use the sedan the loan you (rag the sh!t out of it) and then kick yourself for buying a 1st year brand new production truck until you get your truck back.
 
#23 ·
The Latest,

Dropped off the truck to the dealer today (was waffling on going through with it) and they were able to duplicate the issue. Actually had the wife follow me to the dealer with a 5gal can of go juice just incase it decided to leave me short. The master tech is going to run diagnostics and log data until tomorrow during the long start and stall events for the engineers (they requested it even though they kinda know the problem). I now know that talking with the master techs, service management, they all said they were wanting to know all the details about fuel rail pressures and to perform various tests to rule out specific components. One thing I did notice is that once the tank starts getting to that long start/stall condition, you can actually hear the auxiliary pump (aka lift pump) cavitation (sucking air) while slowing down or on an angle. It's a pretty subtle whine (think dremel tool varying speeds while unloaded) with the A/C off and under 15mph. Once you get that long start condition, if you shut it off and restart within a short time, it starts as normal, but give it an hour, and long start will repeat. I don't know if this truck's fuel system is designed to hold pressure via a check valve for a certain time period, or primes upon ignition cycle as I don't have any of that info yet.

Basically they are generally concerned and gave me a maxima to play with for now. The most telling on the techs is that they admit that they know next to nothing about these trucks though some drive and tune other diesels. When I provided them my experiance and incite, they really appreciated it, which in turn actually makes me feel better. I'd much rather have a tech know his or her limitations accepting others' input, than ones who goes full steam ahead on a platform they don't understand and make things worse. Leads me to believe they'll be more apt to using tech data and following repair guides. Most of the senior techs at this shop have been with the shop over 20yrs. More to come;)

BigRed
 
#24 ·
More from the peanut gallery. Got a call out today on the status of my truck. It appears my theory is correct, there was an issue with the fuel pickup in the tank not being low enough. But not how I was thinking. After they removed the skid plate (Pro-4X) from the tank, there is a pretty significant bump inwards toward the tank below the pickup assembly creating a high spot within and pushing the pickup off the bottom where it normally should be. They verified on other trucks that this phenomenon is not found on the others in the lot. Must be a molding defect as the engineers wanted pictures ASAP and insisted on the following. They are replacing both the tank, sending unit, and a vent line as it looked like it may have a defect as well (dented). Pretty happy with the daily updates from the dealer, the service manager and techs seem to be on the ball. They have the sending unit and expect the tank to arrive Wednesday for install. I'll post details as they come. But other folks having this issue may want to take a peak at the bottom of their tanks.

BigRed
 
#25 ·
More from the peanut gallery. Got a call out today on the status of my truck. It appears my theory is correct, there was an issue with the fuel pickup in the tank not being low enough. But not how I was thinking. After they removed the skid plate (Pro-4X) from the tank, there is a pretty significant bump inwards toward the tank below the pickup assembly creating a high spot within and pushing the pickup off the bottom where it normally should be. They verified on other trucks that this phenomenon is not found on the others in the lot. Must be a molding defect as the engineers wanted pictures ASAP and insisted on the following. They are replacing both the tank, sending unit, and a vent line as it looked like it may have a defect as well (dented). Pretty happy with the daily updates from the dealer, the service manager and techs seem to be on the ball. They have the sending unit and expect the tank to arrive Wednesday for install. I'll post details as they come. But other folks having this issue may want to take a peak at the bottom of their tanks.

BigRed
From what I have been reading on here it seems like Nissan and its dealers pretty serious about resolving issues quickly and taking all complaints from customers as actual problems found. Not saying it doesn't happen, but I am not reading where customers are being turned away with "that's how they all are" explanations.

About the priming - If I hit the start button twice to put the truck in run mode with out pressing the brake I can hear the fuel pump priming. The in tank pump will run for quite some time with out ever starting the engine.
 
#39 ·
I'll update what they say but I want to clarify for anyone reading what happened was this.

Truck read 1/2 tank, filled with approx 20gal of fuel and turned the truck back on, still read 1/2 tank. Repeated startup still 1/2 tank. Tried more fuel, pump immediately cut off indicating the tank was full. Turned truck on, still 1/2 tank.

I tapped the gauge and it still read 1/2 tank and trip computer was wildly off showing 225 miles to empty. Started driving and each time I hit a road imperfection the gauge would tick slightly closer to full. Over a 15 min drive the gauge eventually read full.
 
#47 ·
Have the truck back. Engineers are under the same conclusion as me at this point, the damaged vent line was causing the tank to collapse on itself as the aux pump was pulling fuel. I can confirm there is no vacuum condition when opening the fuel cap and gallons of fuel serviced is correct along with functional Low lights and warnings. Parts replaced were fuel tank, fuel sender, O-ring (fuel tank portal), and fuel cap. The techs at Nissan including the service manager were top notch, and happy it was resolved;)

Service manager will send me pictures of the fuel tank work to me via email, I'll post them when received as the engineers wanted the tank and associated parts back the same day the replacements were in:)

BigRed
 
#48 ·
Nissan has been surprisingly responsive to any issues with the truck for me as well which is very comforting. They looked at mine and said honestly that because the gauge was reading correctly they'd rather not have the hassle of draining my tank just to be sure. I've got to go back in to replace the seat and they said they'd check it then.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top