WHAT WE LIKE: That we can dispatch our Nissan Titan XD to far-flung places where it can undertake the heavy lifting and hauling that it was designed for—that is, when it is working properly.
WHAT WE DON’T LIKE: Being stranded multiple times in far-flung places with a wounded truck that is down on power, belching white smoke, and lighting up its bank of warning lights like a Christmas tree.
WHAT WENT WRONG: The Titan was operating properly at 26,100 miles when we picked it up from a routine service visit, called for via the truck’s onboard oil-life monitor. Consisting of a tire rotation, inspection, and oil change—plus new filters for the engine oil, fuel, and air entering both the engine and the cabin—it set us back $503. Since then, however, a serious malady has befallen our XD, and we’re still in the midst of investigating what caused it. The problem started at about 30,000 miles with a check-engine light (CEL) and a reduced-power notification early in a cross-country trek from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to California and back. A Nissan dealer in Iowa investigated, determined nothing serious was amiss, and then cleared the fault code and topped off the engine coolant, some of which had curiously vanished on our drive, before giving us the okay to carry on. But this was just the beginning of a long, cantankerous journey. That same warning illuminated a few more times on the return trip with a loaded trailer in tow—one that carried this multicolored Mitsubishi and weighed well under the truck’s six-ton towing capacity. But given the all-clear from the Iowa dealer and experiencing no additional drivability issues with the truck, each time the warning popped up we continued on after performing the same code-clearing and add-coolant routine.
Unfortunately, our trek ultimately came to a halt in Nebraska with the Titan limping into another Nissan dealership, plumes of white smoke billowing from its tailpipe, the Cummins V-8 diesel down on power, a clatter emanating from under the hood, the CEL again illuminated. More than 20 fault codes and warnings were logged in the Titan’s computer, most of which indicated an issue with the engine’s exhaust-gas-recirculation (EGR) system. We completed our mission in a rented U-Haul truck while the Titan received one new fuel injector and the entire exhaust system, including its accompanying emissions aftertreatment components—all under warranty. The dealer explored several possible problem areas, including pressure testing the engine-cooling system and removing and bench testing the EGR heat exchanger for leaks. Both systems checked out, and the dealer was unable to re-create any of our coolant-loss issues or provide us with a root cause for the breakdown.
Back in Ann Arbor and cautiously hoping the problem to be fixed, we sent it off to Virginia International Raceway to support our annual Lightning Lap event. But the Titan began running rough again, throwing similar warning codes as before and necessitating another dealer visit, this time in Danville, Virginia. There, the service techs replaced the engine computer’s wiring harness and, curiously, the same fuel injector that had just been replaced. After we made a separate trip back to Virginia to retrieve the truck, supposedly once again with a bill of good health, the check-engine light lit up on the way home in Ohio. It was another EGR-related fault code, but this time the dealer reflashed the powertrain control module and resolved the issue. That reflash apparently didn’t completely erase the computer’s memory, though, as a previous fault code triggered the CEL again at around 34,000 miles, which our local Nissan dealer investigated and cleared from the XD’s brain.
Now with the 40K-mark approaching and the truck, at the moment, in proper working order, we’re still searching for the cause of our Titan’s woes—and, more importantly, wondering whether they have actually been fixed. While a casual look at online owners’ forums cite a litany of issues with the XD, including some EGR-related problems and the grumbling transmission that we’ve previously called out, we weren’t able to find a reported problem similar to our latest experience. Unreliability in any vehicle is a drag, but it is especially troubling to deal with in a new workhorse of a vehicle that you depend on to help get jobs done. Thankfully, our long-term Ford F-150 Raptor is around to pick up some of the Nissan’s slack while we continue to evaluate its health. Watch this space for a full rundown of the Titan’s troubles once we hit 40,000 miles.
WHERE WE WENT: Along with local commuting duties, our Titan XD chugged to VIR and sunny Santa Barbara, California. And it graced the service bays of Nissan dealerships in Ann Arbor; Davenport, Iowa; North Platte, Nebraska; Danville, Virginia; and Lima, Ohio.
Months in Fleet: 12 months Current Mileage: 34,636 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 15 mpg Fuel Tank Size: 26.0 gal Fuel Range: 390 miles
Service: $1273 Normal Wear: $0 Repair: $0 Urea-Solution Additions: 37.3 gal