USA spec Frontier YD25 engine swap

[YD25Frontier]

Great reference with different models... D40 Series Service Manuals - #navlife - The Home of Nissan Navara

I created a spreadsheet to integrate the engine harness and ECU I have with 2013 Frontier body harness. Surprisingly the Auto transmission and 4x4 were a breeze. For some reason I can't upload an excel spreadsheet....?

 

[Old.Tony]

Zip it?

 

[YD25Frontier]

Zip it?

I'll try that. If not I'll see about converting it to a PDF.

also, what do you guys recommend for hosting pictures. I have a lot I would like to start posting.

 

[Old.Tony]

I'll try that. If not I'll see about converting it to a PDF.

also, what do you guys recommend for hosting pictures. I have a lot I would like to start posting.

I used to use photobucket but they closed my account because they ended the free accounts and I couldn't see the value in paying a recurring fee to store about 10 photos.

I upload a few here. That seems to work well - I don't know if there's a strict limit yet, or how much total storage is actually available.

 

[YD25Frontier]

Here is a picture of the truck when I went to pick it up. I have the engine bay ready for the engine to go in this week. I cleaned the engine up really good and gave her a coat of engine paint. I removed a lot of the original hard pipes to simplify things. I also made my own EGR plates and I intend to mount the boost sensor on the intake plate. I had an adapter made to mount the VQ40 oil temp sensor in place of the YD25 oil level sensor; this way the Frontier cluster is happy. I have all the wiring figured out and just need the ECM tuned. PM me if you want the DXF files for the EGR plates.

 

[YD25Frontier]

Here is the spreadsheet I created. Most of the wiring is working with the three white connectors in the IPDM box. You have to swap wires from the YD25 connectors to the Frontier ones. Two are the same connector series, just different size. some wires have to be routed to the body harness externally and the sensors and signals that go directly to the gauge cluster will connect on the Frontiers starter harness. Connector E40. It looks complicated but it's really not. I will have to re-pin the body harness connector to match my ECU. this wiring is for a Thai Type II YD25. There are slight changes in the pinout for other ECU configurations but the process is the same. Just match up the functions. I'll update this post if I make any major changes, but I have gone over this several times and it looks correct.

 

[Scott52]

While the YD25 engine is on the stand consider these small modifications to make life easier in future.

Extended head bolt on the oil pipe flange underneath the turbo like this:



Extended head bolts on the SCV like this:

 

[YD25Frontier]

Thank you, I'll consider doing those tricks.

 

[YD25Frontier]

Is there anyone out there with experience tuning this ECU? I'm willing to buy a file so my local tuner can just flash it to the ECU.

 

[YD25Frontier]

So my Tuner is going to pull the file off the ECU and we're going to mail it to a tuner in Thailand to modify and send it back to us. This way my tuner does not have to reverse engineer the maps. The shop in Thailand does a lot of these on a 4 wheel dyno.

Here is a pic of the engine installed. It bolted right in with no issues! You have to use the D40 4 cylinder frontier engine mounts.

 

[YD25Frontier]

My buddy and I got the transmission in and everything buttoned up underneath. Everything was a direct fit and required no modifications. We did end up using the VQ40 power steering pump because it allowed us to use the existing hoses. The pumps are very similar but the outlet for the pressure side sits in another location. Next is to complete the wiring which should be done this week. I'm hoping to be able to have the ECU back tuned within a week and should have it running by the end of the month.

 

[YD25Frontier]

I got all the wiring done and it looks great. I'm starting to fit heater hose and fuel lines. The tuner received my ECU and pulled the file. I sent it to the tuner in Thailand and I'm just waiting on him to finish the tune.

 

[YD25Frontier]

Update. I got the fuel tank cleaned and converted for diesel use along with installing the lift pump. I ended up using the Holley sniper 96GPH unit with a 7psi pressure setting. The large 2 micron fuel filter/water separator I chose will be here Saturday. I should have the ECU back tomorrow with a stage 2 tune, but they did not have a solution to delete the IMMO or would not admit they did in writing and did it anyway; we'll see this weekend. I borrowed a very nice Autel MaxiCheck scanning tool that should let me pair the ECU to the truck (if IMMO was not deleted), set the VIN and input the injector calibrations into the ECU. I also ordered two new keys to pair to it. I got the 2.5" downpipe fabricated, ceramic coated, heat wrapped and hooked up about a meter from the stock VQ40 muffler. Everything fit perfectly without forcing things together; we'll see how that works for now. I've also had to order other Navara parts from across the pond like the airbox, intake hose and cooling fan but they should be here soon enough. If I can get the engine started this weekend I will be extremely satisfied!

 

[landmannnn]

Great progress.

 

[YD25Frontier]

So the fuel filter came in early and the ECU will be here tomorrow!! Here are a few pics of the fuel system. The fuel filter says to put the filter before the pump but I rather have it after to catch any particles if something goes wrong.

 

[tweak'e]

So the fuel filter came in early and the ECU will be here tomorrow!! Here are a few pics of the fuel system. The fuel filter says to put the filter before the pump but I rather have it after to catch any particles if something goes wrong.

View attachment 37964View attachment 37965

looks like 3/8 line which is good.
i like to put a 100mic filter before the lift pump just to catch any big stuff. i've used one of those 7" long ones before.
i take it you got the return to the tank sorted and also the fuel cooler.

 

[YD25Frontier]

looks like 3/8 line which is good.
i like to put a 100mic filter before the lift pump just to catch any big stuff. i've used one of those 7" long ones before.
i take it you got the return to the tank sorted and also the fuel cooler.

Yes, 3/8" hose but it steps down to 5/16" right before the Denso pump on the engine. I have a screen filter in the bottom of the sender unit to protect the lift pump. I used the EVAP line as the return and had to use a few adapters, but the gas cap allows air to come into the tank as the fuel level drops so it should be good to go. I have not plumbed in a fuel cooler yet, I just want to get it running first.

 

[tweak'e]

Yes, 3/8" hose but it steps down to 5/16" right before the Denso pump on the engine. I have a screen filter in the bottom of the sender unit to protect the lift pump. I used the EVAP line as the return and had to use a few adapters, but the gas cap allows air to come into the tank as the fuel level drops so it should be good to go. I have not plumbed in a fuel cooler yet, I just want to get it running first.

get rid of that 5/16" section. they need flow, lots and lots of flow.
filter on the pickup is fine, on my old 4wd they had that. however its a right pain if you ever get diesel bug. many guys used to get rid of that screen as they eventually clog up.

 

[YD25Frontier]

So the engine is running smooth! The only issue I have now is that I'm getting U1000 and U1001 CAN faults for the ECU, TCU, Combo meter, 4WD controller and ABS. I can talk to each module individually with the scanner and see the live data, but I have no Tach and the transmission and 4WD information will not display on the gauge cluster. I have a 4WD and ATP light on. I measure 60 ohm overall on the CAN network. Is it possible that the Navara ECU and TCU use a different OBD2 message protocol? I can read engine RPM with a generic OBDII scanner just fine.

 

[YD25Frontier]

I figured it out! The engine speed (Tacho) and the accelerator pedal CAN messages are not the same between the Navara and Frontier. It turns out that all I need to do is swap out the gauge cluster and the Transfer Control Unit and I'm good to go. These two are the ones that rely heavily on the engine speed to properly operate. I found a seller on eBay from Lithuania which has the cluster with speed in MPH and both parts at a really good price shipped to me in the states. The RPM range will also be correct for the YD25. I was able to confirm the Lithuanian model Navara components would work because my scanner would talk to the ECU when configured as such. If the scanner is configured as a US Frontier it won't establish communication with the Navara ECU. I can talk to the Navara transmission control module with the scanner configured as a Frontier or Navara, but it's the only module that is reading the engine speed and accelerator position from the ECU and displaying it on the scanner.