2015 Frontier with 180000 miles

Joined
Feb 11, 2008
Messages
1,183
Location
Louisiana
I have a 2015 Frontier with 180000 miles and have owned since new. I drive it 3000 miles a month mostly highway. I do oil changes at 6000 miles and transmission and rear end changes at 30000 miles. NEVER had any problems except noisy serpentine belt when wet which I have been unable to stop.

I think its time to get other one.. my questions are:

What common problems are on these past 180000 miles?
Anything more I do I need to do now?
Can it make it to 250000 without major issues?

I will add that Blackstone Labs says the rear end has a lot of wear on it but NO noise or metal shavings.

Any advice would be great

thanks
 
I have a 2015 Frontier with 180000 miles and have owned since new. I drive it 3000 miles a month mostly highway. I do oil changes at 6000 miles and transmission and rear end changes at 30000 miles. NEVER had any problems except noisy serpentine belt when wet which I have been unable to stop.

I think its time to get other one.. my questions are:

What common problems are on these past 180000 miles?
Anything more I do I need to do now?
Can it make it to 250000 without major issues?

I will add that Blackstone Labs says the rear end has a lot of wear on it but NO noise or metal shavings.

Any advice would be great

thanks
I would drive it until it has a major repair (engine/tranny),why not unless you have the itch for a new one.
The new ones really look good.
 
When I had a 1987 Nissan "Hardbody" with the V6 motor, I had a similar goal. I wanted to keep the truck as long as reliably possible.

I called "Nissan Motorsports" and they were really great to talk to. At that time, the V6 in the Hardbody trucks was the same block as the 300ZX. They told me that the V6 motor really did well with high oil pressure, so they suggested I buy the oil pump for a 300ZX - Twin Turbo and replace my existing pump. It was an easy job and a bolt-on replacement since it was the same block. They also suggested I use Mobil 1 oil because that's they used in their race cars at the time and their tear-downs of their race motors showed the motors were in great shape.

After changing my oil pump, my idle oil pressure went from (roughly) 30psi to 60psi. The motor ran great, didn't leak, etc. I kept the truck for appx. 180K miles until some moron ran a red light and decimated the truck front and my insurance totaled it.

I don't know if you could swap out your oil pump as easily, but I thought I'd pass along my experience.

Ed
 
Drive it. Step it up to Mobil 1 0W40 or Castrol 0W40. Those VQ engines favor the 40-grade anyways, so might as well get the best one. 40-grade does help with longer life of timing chain components. Doesn't fix the issues if your chains are already rattling, but good preventive step to keep them quiet until 250k miles as you intend, or even longer.
Also I would go ahead and do the biggest separate ATF cooler you can get. They are cheap, considering the benefits they provide.
 
Former Nissan tech. Yes the VQ loves thick 30 weight oil. A whole lot of enthusiast that have there’s serviced always used Mobil 1 FS 0w40 or Castrol Edge 0w40 which are both thick 30 weights. The dealer keeps the Mobil 1 FS 0w40 in stock bc of the GTR. As far as the radiator/trans cooler, the reason they failed is due to people not using phosphate coolant, which is the Asian coolant. When silicates are used that’s what damages the built in trans cooler in the radiator. I had a 06 frontier that had 357,000 miles in it and never had to put a wrench on it. I used the Mobil 1 0w40 from new changing at 7500 miles, changed coolant with the Nissan green every 30,000 trans fluid with Mobil 1 Multi vehicle ATF every 60,000 and rear end fluid with Mobil 1 75w90 fluid every 60,000. We also did bypass the in tank trans cooler to the built in liquid to air cooler that came from the factory on them. Trans temp was monitored and remained 150-170 degrees. No need to buy a new aftermarket cooler as it has one from the factory.
 
Fantastic vehicle.
I just did the first repair on my 2011 Xterra (Mechanically identical to a 2015 Frontier) ever ; Camshafts sensors at 12 years old and 166,xxx miles.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JTK
Tough trucks. My ex-neighbor (we have moved) has a 2017. I posted on it back in the day, but I did the first oil change in it (23K!!!!!!!!!!!!.) He uses it for a side business pulling a trailer full of landscaping/lawn equipment. I finally got him to agree to do the oil every 7500 at least.

Truck is still going today. He is easily close to 150K in it. Since I moved, who knows what kind of maintenance it has been getting......
 
With your driving style and maintenance I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t hit 250k bar something catastrophic. I will also echo the 0w40 crowd here
 
  • Like
Reactions: JTK
I have a 2015 Frontier with 180000 miles and have owned since new. I drive it 3000 miles a month mostly highway. I do oil changes at 6000 miles and transmission and rear end changes at 30000 miles. NEVER had any problems except noisy serpentine belt when wet which I have been unable to stop.

I think its time to get other one.. my questions are:

What common problems are on these past 180000 miles?
Anything more I do I need to do now?
Can it make it to 250000 without major issues?

I will add that Blackstone Labs says the rear end has a lot of wear on it but NO noise or metal shavings.

Any advice would be great

thanks
I've got a 2014 Fusion with the 2.5L 4 and have only put maintenance parts on it - shocks, brakes, belts, etc. It's got 181000 on it now and had 23k on it when I got it in 2017. We drive a a few highway miles a year...I'm driving it til the wheels fall off or a big repair comes up and then I'll even consider a repair.
 
PHO00014.JPG
 

Attachments

  • PHO00023.JPG
    PHO00023.JPG
    99.1 KB · Views: 48
  • PHO00024 (1).JPG
    PHO00024 (1).JPG
    87.6 KB · Views: 48
How did the drained gear oil look? Is this the C200k or M226 rear? Any symptoms?
 
Last edited:
Back
Top