What's this?
 

I was driving home the other day and my SES light came on. I took it to the dealership and they said that the code that came up showed that the Intake Valve Timing Control Solenoid Valves for each bank needed replacement.

What does this part do? They had to order these parts and will put them in next week. Thank god it is covered under warranty (they were going to charge $500 until they found out it was covered under the powertrain warranty).

Anyone at all know what this part does?

The VQ35DE has a Continuous Valve Timing Control System(CVTCS). It constantly adjusts and fine tunes the timing of the valves to ensure that the engine runs at its peak from idle to redline.

I'm not too sure that I've described that clearly enough; someone may want to chime in and maybe explain it better.....

Could this affect fuel economy at all?

Service Information: If a 2002 Maxima/I35 or a 2002 Altima w/V6 engine should develop the following symptoms; - DTC with P0011 or P0021 with a possible P0300 stored (with possible misfire) The cause may be the Intake Valve Timing Control Solenoid. Ifthe Intake V.T.C. sprocket is not in the correct position at the correct time because of Solenoid malfunction, incorrect valve timing could occur, causing the symptom. Service Procedure: Look for a cylinder misfire that is isolated to only one bank ofcylinders. Once the bank is isolated, check the function of the Intake Valve Timing Control Solenoid for that bank.

The NVTCS, or Nissan Valve Timing Control System, which is often just referred to as VTC, was first introduced on the 1990 300ZX. There are dual cams in each cylinder head, but the timing gears are not directly attached to them. Instead, there is a spring-loaded helical gear between the drive gear and intake camshaft that is adjusted by hydraulic pressure controlled by a solenoid. Based on engine speed, intake airflow rate, cylinder temperature and throttle angle, the computer can adjust intake valve timing up to 20 degrees for optimum efficiency.

Yes; as for how much, that I don't know.

sure it could. if the engine is running at a sub optimal level, you could be wasting fuel.