did you figure it out? i have the exact same problem with an 04 xterra
2000 Pathfinder 3.3L Repair Help
Hey guys, new to the forum and first posting! Thank you in advance!
Problem: 2000 Nissan Pathfinder 3.3L 4wd 184,000 miles starts, idles, and drives perfect until the truck is thoroughly heat soaked. Once it's hot, the truck chokes/misfires. If you give it any throttle it's coughs, bogs down, will have no power and won't rev higher than about 3k rpms. It will continue this until it cools back down. Repeat over and over. No SES light. I had one code for an o2 sensor bank 2 sensor 2 and one random misfire.
Prior to this issue, the truck has had within the last two years: Cap, Rotor, spark plugs (ngk), plug wires (ngk), fuel filter, engine oil is maintained, air filter, thermostat, water pump, harmonic balancer, timing belt & tensioner, all new belts, egr solenoid, knock sensor, bank 1 sensor 1 o2 sensor.
I started with the basics. Double checked spark plugs for fouling and gap. Cleaned the throttle body and MAF sensor. Tested TPS and MAF and both work as they should. Vacuum tested egr valve - functions as it should. Replaced bank 2 sensor 2 o2 sensor. No change.
I began to suspect an injector. Removed intake and tested injectors. Found 2 injectors to have higher resistance. Replaced all 6 and reassemble with new plenum gasket. Same results
Suspecting ignition coil. Removed and found the bearing on the distributor completely destroyed. Removed all metal and replaced bearing. Installed new ignition coil. Doubled checked timing. Same results.
Still no SES light and now I'm lead to the exhaust system possibly choking the engine when it's hot.
I'm currently tearing down the exhaust system. I've found both catalytic converters missing large sections of honeycomb on the downstream side and the muffler rattles and weighs about 50lbs. I've got new parts coming to completely replace the oem exhaust.
I'm out of ideas guys. If the exhaust does not fix my problem I'll be at a dead end. Is there something I may have overlooked? Are there known computer problems with these vehicles? The truck had been terrific for me over the last 4 years. Again, the truck starts every day and runs perfect cold.
Thank you for your time!
Problem: 2000 Nissan Pathfinder 3.3L 4wd 184,000 miles starts, idles, and drives perfect until the truck is thoroughly heat soaked. Once it's hot, the truck chokes/misfires. If you give it any throttle it's coughs, bogs down, will have no power and won't rev higher than about 3k rpms. It will continue this until it cools back down. Repeat over and over. No SES light. I had one code for an o2 sensor bank 2 sensor 2 and one random misfire.
Prior to this issue, the truck has had within the last two years: Cap, Rotor, spark plugs (ngk), plug wires (ngk), fuel filter, engine oil is maintained, air filter, thermostat, water pump, harmonic balancer, timing belt & tensioner, all new belts, egr solenoid, knock sensor, bank 1 sensor 1 o2 sensor.
I started with the basics. Double checked spark plugs for fouling and gap. Cleaned the throttle body and MAF sensor. Tested TPS and MAF and both work as they should. Vacuum tested egr valve - functions as it should. Replaced bank 2 sensor 2 o2 sensor. No change.
I began to suspect an injector. Removed intake and tested injectors. Found 2 injectors to have higher resistance. Replaced all 6 and reassemble with new plenum gasket. Same results
Suspecting ignition coil. Removed and found the bearing on the distributor completely destroyed. Removed all metal and replaced bearing. Installed new ignition coil. Doubled checked timing. Same results.
Still no SES light and now I'm lead to the exhaust system possibly choking the engine when it's hot.
I'm currently tearing down the exhaust system. I've found both catalytic converters missing large sections of honeycomb on the downstream side and the muffler rattles and weighs about 50lbs. I've got new parts coming to completely replace the oem exhaust.
I'm out of ideas guys. If the exhaust does not fix my problem I'll be at a dead end. Is there something I may have overlooked? Are there known computer problems with these vehicles? The truck had been terrific for me over the last 4 years. Again, the truck starts every day and runs perfect cold.
Thank you for your time!
1 - 11 of 22 Posts
new distributor, maybe 2 months old. 140k on the truck.
i'm searching everywhere and everything. either no answer if they figured it out or no reply to the post. so i figure its either stupid simple or physicist hard
(to the op, sorry for the thread jack?) distributor is in time. followed the instructions to pull the tps plug, etc. it is carquest from advanced. i wondered if it might be bad, but the xterra runs great, like its supposed to, for about 30-45 minutes. then it wont rev over 3000 rpms. if i keep driving eventually it wont rev over 1000. it almost sounds like it backfires through the intake when you try to push it past. let it cool down it revs to 3000. let it cool overnight, runs like a champ. will rev to the rev limiter. fuel pressure from the pump is 36 at idle, 45 koeo, 45 if you pull the hose from the fpr. could it be the fuel temp sensor? i understand it has one.
thanks. we posted at the same time. maybe i will look at the distributor again then.
no, i WILL look at the distributor again
Thanks. I have heard that they are very picky about the distributors. Bad thing is at this age there aren't a lot of options. I could order one online or source one locally. I chose to go local since i can walk to the store and replace it under its lifetime warranty. Not that I want to do that a lot, tho?
one warranty distributor later and she runs like a champ again. thanks everyone.
I was going to go with that one but none of the three stores in my area could locate the one they each had "in stock". Hopefully this one lasts.
If you only knew. I worked for Advanced for a while. All of the auto parts stores in my area work together. Autozone, Advanced, O'Reilly's. They send parts to each other and deliver parts for each other. All of the management knows each other. It's good in a way, they are taking care of the customer, but as you can see, inventory gets messed up.
That's why I said in my area. I don't figure that's a nationwide thing. They do it with the commercial customers so the customer is already getting parts from all of them. I would pick up a part from AZ and deliver it to the customer with no paperwork involved. It was always "squared up later". Which gets forgotten sometimes. I know in house we would be out if something we showed and go get it from a sister store and they would never do the transfer. So now we are both out of something we show. Nothing malicious. Just get busy and forget. Again, I can't speak for everywhere. Just here.
1 - 11 of 22 Posts
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