As an entry point to the North American pickup truck category, the Nissan Frontier opened the doors toward this vehicle type for the brand. Now in its third generation, the model has already established itself as one of the most reliable pickup trucks, largely due to dependable Nissan engines.
Even so, it’s impossible to avoid getting slight issues or misfires at some point, so if you own a Frontier, this guide may help you out. So, we’ll go through the Nissan Frontier (1998-2023) firing order and describe the cylinder positions for every engine here to help you navigate the cylinders and apply the firing order.
| FRONTIER YEARS | ENGINE | FIRING ORDER |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Gen (1998-2003) | 2.0L | 1-3-4-2 |
| 3.3L V6 | 1-2-3-4-5-6 | |
| 2nd Gen (2004-2021) | 2.5L | 1-3-4-2 |
| 3.8L V6 | 1-2-3-4-5-6 | |
| 4.0L V6 | 1-2-3-4-5-6 | |
| 2.5L diesel | 1-3-4-2 | |
| 3.0L diesel | 1-3-4-2 | |
| 3rd Gen (2022-present) | 3.8L V6 | 1-2-3-4-5-6 |
First-generation Nissan Frontier (1998-2003) firing order
The first-gen model of the Frontier only came with two offered engine options and these were the base four-cylinder and the V6 engine. We’ll focus on these two engines first and then move on to compare the firing sequences to the following generation models.
Nissan Frontier 2.0L firing order
As the regular base engine option, we have the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that was only available for the first-gen Frontier. The engine’s firing order is 1-3-4-2 and cylinders are aligned in a 1-2-3-4 order from the left side of the engine to the right side.
So, if you are standing in front of the engine, the first cylinder would be the furthest one on the left side.
Nissan Frontier 3.3L firing order
For the V6 option, the Nissan Frontier 3.3L firing order is 1-2-3-4-5-6 and this engine has a regular, longitudinal cylinder placement. In other words, there’s a passenger’s side and a driver’s side cylinder bank with three cylinders each.
The first cylinder is on the passenger’s side in this case, along with cylinder numbers 3 and 5 ordered front to rear. The driver’s side cylinders are laid out in the 2, 4, and 6 order front to rear as well.
Second-generation Nissan Frontier (2004-2021) firing order
The second-gen Frontier model featured a lot more engine options when compared with the first-gen one, and all the first-gen engines weren’t used any longer. So, we had a new palette of engines including four-cylinders and V6s, so let’s take a look at the firing orders for each:
Nissan Frontier 2.5L firing order
The 2.0-liter engine from the first-gen Frontier was replaced with the 2.5L engine for the second-gen model. However, the Nissan Frontier 2.5L firing order is 1-3-4-2 just like it was for the first-gen model, and the cylinder arrangement also matches.
That means you’ll have an easy job identifying the cylinders as the first one is located on the left side of the engine, and all the others range in a straight order toward the fourth cylinder on the right.
Nissan Frontier 3.8L firing order
Unlike the first-gen V6 engine, the second-gen Frontier had a 3.8-liter six-cylinder under the hood and there were some major differences between the two. Still, the Nissan Frontier 3.8L firing order is 1-2-3-4-5-6 so both these engines share the common firing pattern.
Even so, the most important thing to note is that the first cylinder of this engine is located on the driver’s side this time, along with cylinders 3 and 5. Even cylinder numbers 2, 4, and 6 are laid out on the passenger’s side front to rear.
Nissan Frontier 4.0L firing order
As the largest capacity Frontier engine used so far, we have the 4.0-liter V6 from the second-gen model. This is where things may get a bit confusing since the cylinder layout of this V6 isn’t like the one of a 3.8-liter V6, but more like the previous 3.3-liter engine.
The Nissan Frontier 4.0L firing order is 1-2-3-4-5-6 as well, but the cylinders 1, 3, and 5 are once again ordered on the passenger’s side. Cylinders 2, 4, and 6 are located on the driver’s side of the engine, looking at it from front to rear.
Nissan Frontier 2.5L diesel firing order
The diesel-powered 2.5-liter engine was pretty similar to a petrol version of this engine used in the second-gen Frontier. So, the Nissan Frontier 2.5L diesel firing order is 1-3-4-2 as well, and the cylinders are laid out in a straight sequence from 1 to 4 when looking at the engine from left to right.
Nissan Frontier 3.0L diesel firing order
Finally, there’s a 3.0-liter diesel engine used in the second generation of this model, and this one is a bit different from the previous diesel option. It still features the 1-3-4-2 firing order which is common for all the four-cylinder engines made by Nissan at that time.
However, the cylinders are arranged differently this time, with the first one being at the front end of the engine, and the rest spreading toward the fourth one at the rear end.
Third-generation Nissan Frontier (2022-present) firing order
The third-gen Frontier made its debut in 2022 and it only featured a single engine option in the form of the 3.8-liter V6 which was also featured in the previous generation. So, the firing order was still 1-2-3-4-5-6 and the cylinder configuration also remained unchanged from what we discussed a few sections prior.
Our take
Well, that settles it for our review of the Nissan Frontier firing order and cylinder configurations for the Frontier engines. Our team mainly wanted to cut your worries short and avoid misconceptions regarding the engines and their firing orders, so hopefully we’ve cleared some major concerns with this guide.
