Pathypop

Thanks much! This is what I'll likely do. Not sure if there is a brand of boot that handles the angle better but that's what I'll look for next.

My son's '03 Pathfinder with a 2" lift has a fully torn inner boot on the pass side. The axle is a reman from Napa that we installed around 3 years ago, but the boot started tearing during the first year. Even the 2" lift seems to be rough on OEM boots. I think that taking the actual CV joint apart is hard, right? Does anyone have experience with the Flexx Boot (FB3001k) universal fit that comes with the install cone? I'm also thinking these type of boots might last longer since they are made of a material that is intended to stretch more than OEM styles. TIA. PS - haven't posted here for awhile because my son's PF has been such a good truck. He has put 55k miles on it in 5 years and he's probably spent less than $1k on parts (tires excluded) with us doing all the labor. He just bought his 2nd set of tires for it. After we replaced the rear suspension most else has been minor stuff. Mileage is not so good, it leaks a little from the rms, but now at ~170k miles with no CEL's there's no complaints.

One of the first things I needed to do when we bought my son's 03 PF in Feb. I used a pitman fork with a small air chisel on the joint, then counted the turns. I'd only used the fork because I already had the tool, but it is a little harder on the joint and rubber than the other "U" types. The hardest part was getting the boot over the rack due to tight clearances with the 4wd. I ended up greasing it and used bent needle nose pliers as a hook to pull it over. The boot is about $15 and comes with a thin zip tie, but I used a heavy duty tie instead. We put new tires on it shortly after, now 6k miles later and no alignment issues.

150 miles is probably the maximum but the tester probably wanted to be sure they all cleared. I got a new scanner that checks I/M readiness and it would take 50 - 80 miles when I was playing around with it a few times with our 2003. The ECM is looking at a few criteria, like speed over 45, full operating temp, # of starts, etc. You can do a search to find out the specifics and maybe get it done quicker. Get a basic scanner so you can check I/M yourself so you don't get told "it's not ready, give me $50".

If you are running fine for any distance (50-60 miles you mentioned earlier), I think it is unlikely to be the phaser. If it were bad it is likely to be bad 100% of the time. Not speaking as a mechanic, but just from what I read, they are fairly simple and not likely to fail other than due to sludge or debris. The sensors read the phase angle and when the ECU wants to advance the timing linear between 2k and 3k rpm it tells the solenoid to turn on/off to allow more or less oil into the cavities of the phaser. The oil exits the cavities at a fixed rate through an orifice but the solenoid controls the flow in. If you have determined it is not the cam sensor or the solenoid I still think it oil related such as sludge in a journal or in the phaser, or broken gasket. I didn't read that you replaced the VVT solenoid, but don't go to the dealer for it - get a used one from a salvage yard or ebay if you can. I see them all the time at our local LKQ pic-your-part, and only $20 each. They get an R50 PF in just about every two weeks.

Not sure about Seafoam, but having it in the oil will change the viscosity and possibly the way the VVT's operate, so you'll want to change it soon. I used a quart of Motor Medic when I changed my oil the first time. This involves adding it before changing the oil and running the engine at idle for 5 minutes, then changing it out and the filter. My hope is it does what it says and releases sludge. If you're able to drive 50 miles before going to limp mode, that sounds like progress. I couldn't drive 5 mi without going into limp mode when I had this problem.

I just replaced my idler pulley on the alternator/steering pump side and it eliminated a bad case of whine, big improvement. I thought it was the pump due to some play with the belt off, but figured I'd take off and test the pulley first since it was original and the cheapest path at $30. I tested it by spinning it with compressed air and it was loud. Very easy to change out too so I'd say try that.

That is frustrating as he11. Wish you were a neighbor so we could work it through. I'd be trying your parts on my truck to see if specific ones have a problem. If you know anyone else with your truck to experiment with. Make sure you've done everything you can to make sure the oil, filter, etc are clean and the correct 5w30. I think you already cleaned the solenoids, and you cleared out the oil passages with air as I mentioned. I also used a motor flush when I changed the oil. Added it to the old oil and let it idle for 5 minutes. Not sure if it does much, but it can only help. For the solenoids, they are expensive from the dealer (~$240 each IIRC) so I wouldn't suggest you buy them unless you are sure. I'd bought a $30 knock-off on ebay just to check it out, it did work, but I'm not using it now. I'd suggest you go to a salvage yard and buy them for about $20 each. They are very durable and doubtful they wouldn't work. The same ones are used on all the VQ35DE engines, so there are a lot available. Some have paper gaskets and others have metal gaskets. I was sure to get the metal gaskets only. I also picked up cam sensors at the salvage yard for about $5 each. Check the solenoids removed from the truck with 12v. They should click solidly.

The only benefit of the reader is the cost, as low as $20, but they still do the job, including clearing the codes. I recently bought an Autel scanner for $100 so I could see O2 sensors output (in a graph) and they also see detail on the emissions status.plus a database of codes (nice but not really necessary). Good luck on the clean out, specifically clearing those oil journals that feed from the engine into the solenoid with 50psi of air. From the time I did that I've not had any issues and that was 3k miles ago.

Sorry to see you're still still having this problem. Did you get my late pm response? For the VVT solenoid I measured the voltage a few months ago: when you disconnect it and the lockclip is up the left lead is pos and rt is neg, I get ~13v with engine on or off. I get 13v with the left lead to ground too, so I think the rt lead is ground. I don't think knowing the voltage helps much though as I measured it while my wife rev'd it to 3500 rpm and the voltage didn't change much so it always has 13v. This tells me it is the current that changes to activate the VVT between 2 and 3k rpm. If you pull the solenoid out of the housing and run the engine up the solenoid will "buzz" between 2-3k rpm. You could probably put a scope on it without pulling it and hear that it is operating. Below 2k rpm it is full off, above it is full on. Have you been able to drive as I did, with the cam pos sensor pulled out but still connected, until sorted out? Right now our Pathfinder is operating perfectly. Even the mpg seems to have improved to what it should be.

No, I swapped the coil from one side to the other. I mean I could have pulled it, cleaned it alone and the terminals and put it back in the same spot but figured if it really is a bad coil the code would follow it to another cylinder. It was clearly miss-firing rough with the specific cel/code and now it isn't with no codes. I didn't even pull the plug, but that would have been the next step before buying a new coil. I didn't know that about the #1 pak, thanks.

On your 2000 do you get a CEL or a pending code when an injector goes bad? Before buying parts (even cheap ones) I'd try removing the bad injector, cleaning it, and then swapping it with another cylinder. If fixed, great. If the problem stays on the same cylinder it could be the harness or something else. If the problem is the same injector in the different cylinder, then I'd buy a new one. If cleaning it works, I'd be sure to clean all of them so they should be somewhat even. Just went through this with a coil on cylinder #2 (code 0302), but swapped out the coil with another cylinder and all is good. Best to replace all, but I'd still buy just the one, in the interest of keeping costs low, and then see how it runs.

Reading your posts you have the exact same problems I've had and we have the same year. I've got 125k miles. You mention you use 10/30 oil, I'd suggest going with fresh 5/30 as the VVT is oil sensitive from what I've read. Doesn't seem like a big difference, but that's what they say. The manual says not to use synthetic btw. Also, make sure filter is new. While the oil will travel through and around a dirty filter as a fail-safe, the pressure could be reduced enough to not actuate the VVT properly. If you haven't got a code reader yet they are ~$20 at Walmart. Necessary because you will go into limp mode before the CEL turns on. This is because the computer is programmed to wait as to avoid false readings. I'd recommend a code scanner because they give live data, more useful, but they also cost around ~$100. Try this - clear the codes and remove driver side cam sensor from its socket, but leave the connector on. See if it runs without limp mode. It will be slightly harder to start but mine ran fine but with the CEL on. If this doesn't work, replace it and then try removing the passenger side sensor, again, leave the circuit connected. I'd also suggest removing the VVT bodies, cleaning them and shooting compressed air into the 5 holes where they mount up on top of the engine. It's the last thing I did two weeks ago and so far >300 miles and running great. I'd like to think there was some debris or sludge that cleared out and we're now good for a long time. On your catalytic, I think driving much under limp mode might be bad for it, possibly contaminating it with unburned fuel. It might clear up once everything else is in order. I'd wait and fix your other problems before replacing them. Good luck.

340k Miles ! That's the most I've heard of. Any history of major repairs (rebuilds, trans work, etc) to achieve that? Keep going!