Is this true? What a Nissan dealer told me.
 

I called up my local Nissan dealership today to make an appointment to bring in my 2k Maxima next week for my oil change, front end alignment, and 30,000 miles tune up. I did some checking around for the front end alignment (I recently put on 18's) and the dealership is the same price as most other shops where I live so I figure why not? Take care of it in one shot. So, I tell the dealer that I have been getting really bad gas mileage these past few months where I'm averaging around 18-19 miles per gallon instead of around 22. He asks me do I fill up on premium gas? Yes, all the time. Do you speed everytime you drive? No, hardly at all. Do you drive for less than 15 minutes at a time? No, more like 30-40 mins. How many miles do you have on your car? 30,895 miles. Well, theirs your problem. And I say what problem? He tells me that the more miles you put on your car, the worse your gas mileage gets until you get a complete tune up in which it will improve your gas mileage. He also says that since I have an SE, we get worse gas mileage then the GXE and GLE. Has anyone ever heard of this before? I'm still kind of new at learning these things so any help would be great! Thanks.

Shadou

I say BS. Unless the SE has a different set of gear ratios, they all have the same engine.

And at only 30,000 miles, your car should be peaking mpg wise.

This is the biggest BS i have ever heard...don't listen to any of them dealers, check your tire pressure

SEs have the same exact engine as the GXE and the GLE...its only a difference in the suspension and exterior(wheels..etc)

was it a tech who told you that, or a service manager? I can't imagine the tech telling you wrong stuff like that... but a service manager is another story :rolleyes:

Yeah it was a service manager that told me this, not a tech. I'll see once I bring my car in for service next week and I get a chance to talk to one of the techs. Lucky for me, the service manager won't be there that day. Hopefully something will get fixed. Thanks.

Shadou

Sorry to hear about your car and your little run in with the cops. Hope everything works out for you. I changed out my air filter about 4,000 miles ago so not sure if that's the problem or not. I plan on getting a K&N drop in filter sometime in the next few weeks. Heard that is increases performance by a little bit so I'll see. Could be spark plugs as well. Thanks for the advice though.

Shadou

Definitely a BS line for the SE vs the other models. As for mileage, 30k should not be when your car stops dropping off in mileage either!

The only thing I can think of are the wheels - actually, tires. What size tire is on there now? Wondering how much your speedo is off - that would definitely cause a miscalculation in the gas mileage.

Yo, man. Dealer as always full of BS. Who on the org can that really surprise? Change ur brand of gas. Change ur spark plugs(do that urself). If u still have ur 17's stockers, drop them back on. My SE with 28k averages 20-21mpg in stop & go city traffic. On long trips in excess of 40min., I averages 26-27mpg. That is an automagic. Last car I owned was a 2000 V6 Accord Coupe. Intake, Greddy full catback, 17inchers(non-stock low profiles), averaged 21-22 city driving(even with 45k when I wrecked it), 28mpg on long trips. Hook up with someone on the org in your area. Dealer BS(what a surprise). Good Luck.

had the same problem with my max too. i was getting 22 mpg on the dot every tank. and then it started to dive, don't know why. i was getting like 17-19 mpg for a while. well i disconnected my battery overnight to clear my ecu and after that everything's been kosher. i have no idea what the problem was, but resetting the ecu seems to have taken care of it.

I just recently (as in three weeks ago) put on my new rims and tires, ADR GT Sport, 18's, with Falken Z Rated 235/40/18. Love the rims and tires but you may be right. Don't know a lot about the speedo so can you possibly give me a quick lesson on what that is? Thanks for the help!!

Shadou

Re: Is this true? What a Nissan dealer told me.
 

pretty much bs. and as UMD_SE already mentioned, you need to watch the service managers, they're paid on commission and a LOT of them BS (trying to be 'politically correct' by not saying ALL:goofy: ).

besides driving 30 - 40 mintutes at a time, is that local or hi-way driving? if that's local, the max's mpg differs greatly. i can get about 500 miles on a full tank when i drive up north :eek: . no way i could get that driving local.


kafene.

Re: Re: Is this true? What a Nissan dealer told me.
 

Yeah, I believe you when you say that most service managers are full of BS. Most of the driving that I do is both a combination of city and highway as I live in Hawaii so theirs not to much highway to go far. I live in the city but work on the other side of the island (Oahu) so I have to drive on the highway through the mountains. All up hill on this one so wondering if this could affect my gas mileage as well by putting stress on my engine. I usually average around 40 miles a day rt but it seems that the gas mileage keeps slipping lower and lower. The other day my gas light came on at 260 miles on my odometer. Not good but thanks for the advice. We'll see what I can do.

Shadou

IMPORTANT~~
 

YOU KNOW WHAT, SINCE U HAVE PRETTY BAD GAS MILAGE, U NEED TO DO THE FUEL INJECTION. TRUST ME, AFTER U DO THAT, UR GAS MILAGE WILL INCREASE "A LOT"....I JUST GOT MY MAXIMA LAST WEEK SO I DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT MAXIMA, BUT I USED TO HAVE 2000 ACCORD V6, I ALSO START GETTING BAD MILAGE AFTER 30000, AND AFTER I DID THE FUEL INJECTION, I WAS SO IMPRESSED THAT MY GAS MILAGE INCREASE A LOT...SO U SHOULD TRY THAT, COST U ONLY 40-60 DOLLARS DONT PUT THE FUEL INJECTION LIQUID INTO UR GAS TANK, CUZ THAT'S USELESS....SO GO TO THE FUEL INJECTION SERVICE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE~

SE's should in thoery actaully get worse gas mileage. Why you ask? Because the tires are wider, this causes more drag and results in a slight loss of MPG. The difference is very little I am sure. Possibly heavy 18" wheels and wide tires will also give you worse gas mileage. FYI I noticed that I lost 1-2 MPG with my old 17's rims when compared to my 15's.

Re: Is this true? What a Nissan dealer told me.
 

which dealer? i got a friend that works as a service manager at tony nissan. sounds like bs to me.

Service managers will BS the most out of anyone at the dealership. I've had nothing but BS and trouble at my dealership.

Next Cruise...
 

hey Todd...

Next cruise, or whenevers, let's fill up on gas, cruise aroud till maybe 3/4 tank then fill up again. Then we can compare numbers and see if there's something up w/ your car or both our cars... I get bad mileage too... I increased air pressure in my tires to 36 front and 33 back. That seemed to help.

Initially I used to get 18mpg when i first got it, these days it stays around 20 sometimes 22. . .

sleeptime...
Bryan

Re: Re: Is this true? What a Nissan dealer told me.
 

Yo, what's up? I went over to King Windward since I work over in Kaneohe and I figured it would be easy. I guess they would do anything to get me to pay $280 for my 30,000 mile check up even though it is due for that. I just can't see paying that money right now. Let me know about Tony Nissan if you can. Thanks. Aloha!!

Shadou

Re: Next Cruise...
 

Sounds like a plan to me. Let me know when you free or we can wait until December when Keegs gets back from school. Maybe I try the air pressure thing to. Laterz.

Todd

Re: Is this true? What a Nissan dealer told me.
 

talk to shane over a tony nissan. you should think about doing the 30k check/service yourself. all of the stuff recommended you can do, just buy oem or better parts and fluids. save some $$$, times are tough. i only go to the dealer when something big happens or something i can't do myself. btw, i take my car to new city since i work nearby. if you need parts go to new city, chad is a nice guy.

Well, after checking the tire sizes, they're close - actually, really close. Your 18s are only throwing the speedo off by 1.8%, meaning at 60mph on the speedo, you're really traveling 58.9mph. Don't think that would cause this big of a change in mileage though for gas.

Hehe... right idea, wrong reason... nothing (actually very little) to do with drag, more to do with the increased moment of inertia of the larger wheel... Still, i don't see how this could affect gas mileage to the degree of even 1mpg!!! ESPECIALLY, if you are mostly highway driving... (increased moment of inertia would only affect the amount of torque needed change the angular acceleration of the wheel (get it to spin faster, or slower)... So just cruising on the highway in your 17's, 18's should have virtually NO effect on gas mileage. (aside from the extremely minor increase in drag, due to the wider profile of the tire)

-Tom Z.

Re: Re: Next Cruise...
 

I get 22 mpg on the average, but I drive speed limit and my car is heavier, therefore more resistance and more strain on the car. Also, with the AE kit, I get more front end downforce, but then again this downforce could cause the car to be more aerodynamic in having a lower center of gravity, and allowing a slipstream to pass over the car more so than under the car (also causing additional downforce). The kit really made a big difference, and I felt it immediately. What type of gas do you use? But yeah, when I get home, then we can try something too. So far (knock on wood) the gas mileage has been pretty good. The K&N should allow some small difference in your car's performance. It's well worth the money in the long run. Let us know how everything turns out.

I go to New City for service too, but I don't like the guy Craig...I think he's a service manager. He gives me attitude no matter how nice I am to him. Talk to Orlando if you can (@ New City), he's a service writer I think, and he's nice.

Re: Re: Re: Next Cruise...
 

Mahalo!!


Shadou

Re: Re: Next Cruise...
 

craig is japanese and a little older guy.
orlando is philipino looking and younger looking.
hope that helps.

Worse Mileage on SE
 

Maybe the dealer thinks that SE's get worse mileage because they are on average driven a little harder than the other Models. If you are accelerating more than needed to have some fun, it wastes some gas. So I guess it is possible that on average SE's get worse mileage. Just a theory so don't go bashing me.:kiss:

Re: Worse Mileage on SE
 

No worries my man! Don't go bashing on purpose but thanks for the advice. I'll let everyone know next week what they said when I bring my car in. Thanks.

Shadou