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Another pathfinder issue, so start


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Well so far I have purchased my Pathy twice in repairs in the last two months woohoo!

 

So the other day I decided to take the Partsfinder out for a spin after battling off another case of tonsillitis.

While driving down a road doing about 40km/h with the ambient temp around -18c the motor stalls and will crank and crank but no start. Nothing looks to be out of the ordinary however a while ago a slow coolant leak had developed.

 

I am not familiar with the common issues of the truck so don't be afraid to point out the common issues :)

 

And I will post up some photos for your viewing pleasure... enjoy

 

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6520_271360730192_579025192_8452762.jpg

 

6520_271360780192_579025192_8452769.jpg

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Check to make sure you're getting fuel pressure. If not, I'd suspect the fuel sending unit on top of the gas tank. I've had mine go, and the symptoms are the same.

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My friend just had a similar issue on his vw jetta and it was the coolant temp sensor. It would go nuts thinking the car was overheating when it warmed up in really cold weather and cut fuel to it.

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Yep, "pull your distributor cap and crank the engine, see if the distributor turns."

This will tell you if your timing belt is ok, not to mention see if your rotor is wasted). On your year, it is supposed to be changed every 55 or 60k miles. When was it last replaced?

 

Another quick test is to see if you have spark. Pull a spark plug wire and slide the boot back so you can see the metal contact. Hold it near a metal ground and have someone crank the truck. You should have a fat white/blue spark if all is well.

Don't shock yourself, it won't harm you but it doesn't feel great either.

 

I have never had any fuel issues so I have no suggestions there.

 

Good luck, keep us posted and keep asking... :beer:

 

B

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I agree with usually, not always. There are plenty of mechanical failures that happen suddenly and without warning.

 

Have someone turn the ignition to "on" while you listen very closely, and if possible with a stethoscope, to the fuel tank area. You will hear the fuel pump whine if it's functioning.

 

As was said, check all the fuses, spark, cap and rotor, timing belt, etc. Your ignition coil may have given up, which would be diagnosed if there's no spark coming from the coil wire when you ground it out. If you have spark coming from your coil wire, but no spark from the distributor to the plugs, the problem is likely with the cap and rotor, though usually that will cause degrading engine power and running quality, not just suddenly give up and cause everything to quit. Also check the distributor power wire, which is different than the ignition coil wire. It's attached to the lower part of the distributor and is only a small 18 guage wire. I've had that come off or undone a few times and kill the engine on my old Pathfinder until i soldered it together and onto the distributor permanently.

 

Good luck! :aok:

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I agree with usually, not always. There are plenty of mechanical failures that happen suddenly and without warning.

 

Have someone turn the ignition to "on" while you listen very closely, and if possible with a stethoscope, to the fuel tank area. You will hear the fuel pump whine if it's functioning.

 

As was said, check all the fuses, spark, cap and rotor, timing belt, etc. Your ignition coil may have given up, which would be diagnosed if there's no spark coming from the coil wire when you ground it out. If you have spark coming from your coil wire, but no spark from the distributor to the plugs, the problem is likely with the cap and rotor, though usually that will cause degrading engine power and running quality, not just suddenly give up and cause everything to quit. Also check the distributor power wire, which is different than the ignition coil wire. It's attached to the lower part of the distributor and is only a small 18 guage wire. I've had that come off or undone a few times and kill the engine on my old Pathfinder until i soldered it together and onto the distributor permanently.

 

Good luck! :aok:

 

with the exception of the timing belt, everything you mentioned is electrical.

 

even the fuel pump dieing is electrical.

 

only about .01% of the time does a vehicle that runs fine dies for no reason and its not electrical.

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Had a converter come apart internally and plug itself up once with no warning, no rattles, no power loss. Shut it off, didn't start again untill dropping the y-pipe. Not trying to show you up, and it might have been a fluke thing, you just asked(and I don't think thats the problem here), as for the issues at hand, gotta agree with whats been already said with checking simpler things like cap/rotor listenign for f.pump etc...

Edited by nunya
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Had a converter come apart internally and plug itself up once with no warning, no rattles, no power loss. Shut it off, didn't start again untill dropping the y-pipe. Not trying to show you up, and it might have been a fluke thing, you just asked(and I don't think thats the problem here), as for the issues at hand, gotta agree with whats been already said with checking simpler things like cap/rotor listenign for f.pump etc...

 

Had the same thing happen on my buddies Kia Sephia.

and when the converter came apart it started running like @!*%. i.e. Symptom of failure. (on his anyway)

 

but that doesn't count.

cause it didn't stop RUNNING.

 

even a fuel pump that dies will generally show signs of power loss prior to failure unless its the ELECTRIC MOTOR.

 

again, not being an ass, as this has been my experience for many moons.

 

 

I really hate to say it, but i really hope its not his timing belt.

Edited by 87pathy
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I agree, I'm hoping for electrical!! Some relay or coil or connection...

 

As for instant non electrical failures without warning, yes most exceptions that I am thinking of are catastrophic failures of components and often related to timing belt like Red sheering the key on his crank pully, k9sar snapping the stud on his tensioner, mws snapping his cam shaft... Wait, that last was due to poor assembly. You get my point 87, and no, I'm not saying that is what happened here.

 

Some odd ways I have cars cut out are mostly fuel related, but not necessarily.

 

75 Dodge Coronet, the battery shifted over and the positive terminal grounded out on the inner fender. That pretty much shut down the electrical system quickly and caught fire. My sister was driving it and my dad had chained the hood shut because the previous battery was stolen. It burned until the fire department showed up, caved the grill in with an ave, shoved a hose in and put it out. I had it towed home and got it running again.

 

77 Plymouth Fury, there was something with the fuel filter that only when you were accelerating up a hill, it would block sufficient fuel flow and cut out without warning. Get it turned around and down the hill and it would run fine until the next hill.

 

74 VW Superbeetle there was a fuel additive waved paper seal in the gas tank that would drift around and at the worst moments would get sucked against fuel pick up tube. It would die 10-15 seconds after the first splutter. Let it sit for a few minutes and it would start up and run fine until the next random event. That one drove me nutz!! Took months for me to figure it out...

 

I can recall other weird ways like my dune buggy that suddenly ran wide open on a highway in Mexico and wouldn't stop until I killed the ignition. It was on fire at the time and the throttle return springs on the dual cabs detempered and couldn't close the throttles. That doesn't count, does it?? :D

 

 

 

Ok, so lets hear what he learns when he first takes a look. :aok:

 

B

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I hate to say it but when I read this I was thinking Timing Belt. I sure hope its not it man. Especially after you just finished saying you spent a crap load of cash on it.

 

On a more selfish side, if it is the timing belt and you engine is a large paper weight, and you decide you done spending money on it, I'd like to let ya know I'm ALL OVER THAT SNORKEL if you part it out. :omg::stickwack::new576:

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I hate to say it but when I read this I was thinking Timing Belt. I sure hope its not it man. Especially after you just finished saying you spent a crap load of cash on it.

 

On a more selfish side, if it is the timing belt and you engine is a large paper weight, and you decide you done spending money on it, I'd like to let ya know I'm ALL OVER THAT SNORKEL if you part it out. :omg::stickwack::new576:

it would be sad, but x2 :blush:

 

hope it works out though!

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Well I thought I would update you guys, I tried out the distributor thing and it doesn't spin when I crank the motor so the timing belt snapped.. WTF! It was changed last year, oh well, I have a guy dropping by tomorrow to see if he will take the whole thing as is to make some cash off of this.

 

Thanks for all the help though guys!

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Haha I thought about it, but there are boot size holes of rust in some spots, and the Pathy already is on it's second heart. If this truck wasn't originally from BC the body might have been a bit of a better situation and I would be more interested.

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Other than the timeing belt,

 

Name 1 thing mechanically that will happen without any warning or symptons to a perfectly running rig.

 

seriously wanna here it, and no i'm not being a smart ass.

the gas in the tank could be jelling up and he sucked some into the fuel pump,the gas tank could be rusty and a piece of sh1t could of been sucked into the full pump...

My camaro doesnt like sitting in the barn with hay bales,she will refuse to start every time I leave it in there with them,will take me like 20 minutes of babying it to get her to fire and then runs crappy after wards until its warmed up.Any other pole head or garage(non are heated) and it fires up on the first try,I dont know what it is ether other then shes a tempamentle old hag that doesnt want to get her pretty face dirty...

 

 

Sorry o hear that you t-belt broke,that sucks.If you just had it replaced I would go b!tch at the guy that did it,since he clearly didnt doe it correctly.

Edited by nismothunder
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If you don't mind me asking, what are you asking for it?

 

And if buddy decides to pick it up ask him if he would mind if you gave me his number so I can contact him just in case he purchases it, and it sits for a while doing nothing. He may decide to let go of that Snorkel to pay for either a new engine or make some of his cash back from purchase.

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^Check out the snorkel weasel!!! P...

 

A lot of good parts on it though...

 

 

Well I thought I would update you guys, I tried out the distributor thing and it doesn't spin when I crank the motor so the timing belt snapped.. WTF! It was changed last year, oh well, I have a guy dropping by tomorrow to see if he will take the whole thing as is to make some cash off of this.

 

Thanks for all the help though guys!

Sheit, that sucks!! I highly recommend talking to whoever changed the timing belt, it should not have let go like that. Perhaps they will try to repair it, I have heard of cases where the people got lucky and ther wasn't much real damage. Not trying to get your hopes up, just saying...

 

B

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^Check out the snorkel weasel!!! P...

 

A lot of good parts on it though...

 

I totally agree about being a weasel. But like you, I dont want to spend $400 USD on a snorkel and One Mans Trash is another mans Treasure.

 

Its a tough break though and I feel for ya. I'd feel worse though if I wasn't already on my 3rd Pathfinder. I still miss my first one.

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