Ways to improve Gas mileage??

[qx4dude]

Hey Guys, I know this topic has been talked about alot, and i have done my best to search and still looking for a few answers! Hopefully this thread can help out more than just myself

I have a 2002 qx4 with 165,000 km on it.

It has newish spark plugs
k&n air filter
new fuel filter
synthetic oil and filter ( does not burn a drop)
New tires (nitto terra grapplers AT) 33psi
Always use premium gas and fuel injector cleaner every other month.
New trans fluid, diff fluid, and transfer case fuild.


Most of my driving is city driving and i am getting between 350- 400 km per tank. (have never gotten over 400km) winter or summer i get 350-400

Also the ciry i live in is about 3000 ft above sea level which i know will hurt gas mileage vs at sea level.

My truck runs butter smooth, and starts everytime.

Is this amount of km per tank correct? Seems a little low in my opinion. I dont drive it hard at all. Can anyone think of anything else that could help improve my gas mileage? Could cleaning the MAF help? I have no clue if its dirty or not, it for sure has been running just fine! I also seem to get no better mpg on the highway vs city, they seem to be pretty close.

Any ideas could really help! at $65 a tank and filling up this often its starting to hurt the wallet!

Thanks again guys!

[Towncivilian]

I get very similar mileage (230-250 miles to gas light) with an '01.5 PF with 93 octane Chevron. Just used Gumout fuel system cleaner (which didn't seem to do much) and cleaned MAF, things remained the same. I keep tires at about 32PSI. Air filter is new. No CEL. Have new trans fluid/filter and rear diff sitting in the back of the PF waiting for tools so I can change them out, but I expect same mileage anyway.

[fueler]

if your QX4 is a 4x4, then i recommend the warn locking hubs. By far the best MPG mod I have ever done to mine. I saw a 2 (ALMOST 3) MPG improvement!

The hubs only cost $150 they pay for themselves in less than a year!! And that's not even considering the other benefits like WAY less wear & tear on the front CV axles, ability to continue driving in the event of a broken CV axle, lighter feeling steering, etc etc etc

A must have for any long-term 4x4 R50 owner!!! the full-time drive flanges that Nissan equipped on these cars are stupid

[jpedderson]

Interesting...Good application on a Pathfinder or only on full time 4WD like the QX?

[fueler]

warn hubs apply for any 4x4 pathfinder/qx4 from 1996-2004 (none of these are full-time 4wd)

basically, when you drive your 96-04 pathfinder in 2WD mode, the front wheels spin the front axles, which spins the front differential, which spins the front driveshaft and part of the transfer case!! Thats a few hundred pounds of rotating mass for no reason. How inefficient is that. When you put freewheeling hubs on, these things no longer spin with the wheels (way less parasitic drag).

The only downside is, if you want to use 4wd, you have to get out of your car and manually lock the hubs (very easy) whereas the fulltime drive flanges are locked all the time.

(86-95 4x4 pathfinders had freewheeling/locking hubs from the factory - nissan switched to the cheap full time drive flanges in 1996 simply to cut down production costs)



If you ever had broken CV boots or front axles in your pathfinder, just think that a pair of hubs could have prevented this saving you money WHILE saving gas!!

[CanuckQx4]

I dont have much advice but for comparisn, Im also in canada, but only use 87 octane and I get about 480-500km out of a tank with mostly 80km/h driving

I put in a brand new MAF when I bought the car though, cleaning it would definetely make an improvement, depending how contaminated it was.

If you have an oiled K&N filter, they are known to contaminate MAF's overtime and they do need to be cleaned with MAF specialty cleaner, Id give that a try first

[Innovazn]

i got new plugs,
new air filter (k&n)
and i have my CEL light on whih is my passenger cat....


and i get 290km till light.... 315 if i push it....

how the hell do you guys manage that.......

[Densetsu]

The only downside is, if you want to use 4wd, you have to get out of your car and manually lock the hubs (very easy) whereas the fulltime drive flanges are locked all the time.

When the hubs are locked, you can still shift in/out of the various 4WD modes, correct? Locked position = operates like stock hubs, unlocked position = always 2WD no matter what position the 4WD knob is in.

During the winter I shift from Auto <-> 4Hi a lot depending on road conditions. Rural roads and side roads around here are almost never plowed, and intersections are a nightmare the first couple days after a decent snowfall. It'd be a huge pain to have to go outside and manually lock/unlock the hubs several times a day.

[fueler]

^^ yeah you can leave them locked and they act like stock.

you would only unlock them whenever you know youre gonna be doing a lot of 2wd driving.

[01silvapathy]

I vote Warn Manual Locking hubs as well. You may see 1-2mpg gain but they really are more tuned towards reducing wear

[KyooX4]

Driving behavior is also a factor. You can expect to see lower gas mileage if you're always stomping on the skinny pedal.

[NCGuy]

How easy is it to install these manual locking hubs? Directions?