I have a 2001 SE with the V6 3.3L engine. It has about 70K on it. I need to find something to give it more Horse Power. Right now it runs like a 4 cylinder S-10. (I owned two so I would know) I do all the regular maintenance and put premium gas in like I am supposed to. I am thinking about putting a new Cold Air Intake on the engine to boost HP but I am not sure how well those work. Any ideas on how I can get performance from my otherwise sluggish truck?

Thanks,

I'll jump in here before the flames flare up. There's not much that can be done, however most will tell you to search before you post. :rolleyes: And won't be too helpfull until you do.

There are Cold Air intakes, K&N filters, Timing Adjustments, Spark Plugs/Wires, Throttle Body Spacers, Replacing the Hydraulic Clutch fan with Electric, Etc. That can be used to gain a little HP, but the Results are rarely documented accurately IE. Dyno'd.

Good luck.

Edited to add, You probably are wasting your money on the Premium unless your timing is too advanced and you are getting pinging.

Using premium gas like you're supposed to?

You are NOT supposed to.

The trucks come tuned for regular, not premium.

The supercharged models take premium, and are tuned for it. No '01's have the SC...so its regular for you.

You can actually lose power from running premium, as the timing will be firing for regular...so you are throwing away money. (For nothing)



Question - You have 70 K on it, how long has it been sluggish?

Yeah I had done some searching prior to the post and had found the information on the Cold Air Intake and the computer chip. I wanted to see if anyone else had some other experience. I have only had the truck for the last 20K miles and it has only been really sluggish the last 10K or so. I guess I have always noticed a lack of performace at higher speeds. Also, I had driven a Pathfinder with (what I thought)was a similiar engine and noticed a major difference.

As far as the gas I have read in a ton of places that you should put Premium in the Xterra. I was told that by a Dealer and also read a ton of reviews that said the same thing. I thought it was BS until I took a trip and saw a major difference in MPG from the tank of Premium and the tank of Regular. I normally put in Mid-grade but lately I have put Premium in and it has drastically increased MPG and the engine runs a lot smoother. My friend with the Pathfinder was told the same thing when they bought the vehicle and has noticed the same results with Premium.

http://www.carreview.com/cat/automobiles/suv/nissan/PRD_134_1524crx.aspx

If you're having notible gains in MPG with the premium, I'd bet you have too much advance on your timing. I had many problems with lack of power (Even with S/C) until I discovered my Timing was ~5 Deg. Too Advanced... No Wonder... Gained about 40 Miles per tank or about 5 MPG. (Edited to add, I get about 14.6 MPG now compared to about 9 MPG! If you really want to change your performance I recommend Port/Gasket matching and cleaning up the castings in the manifold. I did this on a 87 Buick Le Sabre and gained about 10 MPG, too bad the damn thing fell apart. ) Nice to see the Trip meter reach over 200 Miles on a tank.

I would bet your last 10K are on different Gas I.e. Summer Blend or different gas station (Brand). Check the Timing and your air filter, then go from there.

Comparing the X to others is Apples and Oranges. Both edible, but different.

Good luck.

Conundrum: You're getting 14.6 now? I take it you have the s/c model. That's what I'm getting and I'm thinking that my timing is about 5 degrees too retarded. I was just this minute going to turn the dist. 2 or 3 degrees and see what happens.

Check me out on this: I'm an ear tuner (no timing lite) and I am going to turn the dist. about 3 degrees clockwise and pull the neg. battery terminal for about 15 minutes. Think that'll do it?

If I get it too far (just going to bump it a little, really) I'll be counting on my knock sensor to back it off for me. When the knock sensor backs off the timing, does anybody know how far it goes, degree wise?

.

Read the post above and you get your answer...

Want more power? Get an 05

Two Bills, I would suggest using the timing light and the timing is adjusted with the Throttle Position Sensor Disconnected, This also allows you to adjust the Base Idle. Mine was 100 RPM to High.

Ear tuning is what we all did on our older vehicles, but with the Computer adjusting for your moves, you may have created more problems. I did disconnect my Battery to reset the Computer however I didn't notice any difference afterwards. I'm actually thinking of Retarding further to use Mid grade or regular fuels. I'll let you know how it works out.

I just received my BR-3 Scan tool and love it, but didn't have my X to try it out on. It was at the Dealer getting a new Steering Gear Box.

Good luck, Adam

If you have the S/C...use Premium...if not, use regular.

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Hah, I'm getting the opposite of you. My idle is about 100 rpm too low and the truck doesn't seem to have the "snap" it used to have. MPG never changes, unless I'm on it too much.
I'm going to Pa. tomorrow night so I'll have use of one of my brothers timing lights. Jeez, we've come a long way from gapping points w/a matchbook and advancing it 'till it hollers.
Thanks for reminding me of the tps, I would've forgot that. Guess I better read my FSM. I usually wait until I screw something up before I crack that thing open.

Damn I hate greesy books... Good luck and hope you get the "Snap" back in your X.

By the Way, I hooked the BR-3 Scantool up last night and found my throttle position sensor reads 0.0% at idle. My Friend Defibvts, '05 Read about 4-5% as comparison... Looks like I need to get my Greesy fingers on a book, er, keyboard...