87 Pathfinder Problems

[87BeachCruiser]

Hey all, have some q's on the Pathfinder.

 

Two days ago had the oil changed, and a new fan clutch put in, and yesterday drove 250 miles out of town. While driving the truck started to hesitate, or stutter, while cruising at 3k rpm. Felt like it wasn't getting fuel for a second. Not when I hit the gas, only when keeping light and steady pedal pressure around 3k. Put some 93 octane and injector cleaner in it, damn near bankrupted me, thought I had the problem solved for twenty minutes and then it came back. Happens in all gears, or def in 4th and 5th. ECU spit out crank angle/cam position sensor. Then I did the no. 5 diag with the truck on, it gave no codes at idle then I ran it around 3K and it gives the three long red blinks- crank angle again. Taking off the filter box I noticed one of the vacuum lines (the one that goes from a post behind the throttle body to the underside of the hot air thingamabob inside the air box, for whatever that's worth) was disconnected. Cleaned the MAF while I was there, shearing only one of three screws. Neither of these seemed to make a difference, although when I put my thumb over the vacuum line it definitely made the idle steadier. Also, the fan clutch doesn't seem to have worked as advertised either. It's noticeably louder, but I was hoping for something that spins at a much lower rate than the motor when cool, and that is not the case with the cheapo replacement. It's a little better, I guess.

 

Some other background info- I bought this truck in the fall and it ran great. Then I got paranoid about the timing belt and had it changed (along with all the other stuff one does with that job). Ever since then I've had various problems with the truck. It ran like total garbage shortly afterword, and spit out the CAS and fuel temp sensor codes. I was convinced the mechanic didn't do the t belt right, he convinced me to pay him for a tune up, which I did, and the truck ran pretty good at that point (I didn't recheck the ECU here, should've), although it idled a little high and took longer to warm up. Somewhere about this time I lost my tail-pipe (muffler-back) and my mps went from roughly 17 to less than 12. I'd be surprised the exhaust would have that much effect on mpgs but I could be wrong. Same with the idle- when warm it drops to 700 then changes it's tune w/ the muffler and jumps back to 1K... point being I'd be surprised if all this had much to do with the exhaust but would that effect the way the motor runs that much? Anyway, all this brings us to today... after playing with the MAF, idle, etc., and getting nowhere I've got my head down in the passenger footwell and I hear this sloshing, squishing sound. Sounds like water in the blower motor or something, but unaffected by heater fan speed, BUT much louder and more pronounced when I got on the gas (in neutral). When listening from the engine bay around the fuel filter you can't hear it- engine's too loud. Redneck stethascope on the fuel filter and around there- nothing. Looked under the truck and I think there's some extra oil around the pan, etc... actually kind of looks like there's some splatter marks around...none on the driveway though, so maybe I'm seeing things (this is a couple hours and couple beers deep). I'm out of town, no lift or jack stands, but I'll take a closer look tomorrow.

 

My questions:

 

1. There's no way someone could dump enough oil on/in a starter or other component that'd it be audible, right? I'm just crazy, right? What's making that noise? Sounds like a washing machine behind the firewall.

 

2. Could simply not having a tailpipe have that much impact on performance (idle, mpgs, hesitation at speed)?

 

3. When a crank angle sensor goes, doesn't it crap out entirely? As in, the truck won't start or will run in failsafe mode or something? Or will a new distributor solve all my problems? What other things would trigger that code?

 

4. Are there better mechanical fan clutches (or flexible fans) or should I just try an electrical fan? I drove around for a little while without a fan at all (cold start to the New Year in NYC) and that was the best for warm up and idle drop when warm. Although the idle still doesn't drop as quick as I thought it would.

 

Besides the hesitation at cruising altitude and terrible gas mileage, the truck seems to be running pretty good, good acceleration out of the gate, etc. It is having trouble finding an idle when warm though, kind of trying to sit at 700, dropping precipitously, jumping to 1000, hunting around, etc.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading (sorry for the novel) and I appreciate any thoughts. I'll take a closer look underneath and re-run the ECU diagnostics tomorrow and report back.

 

EDIT: the reason for all this extra info in paragraph two there is 'cause if one of you says "your %$#@! mechanic has the belt off a tooth and that's the source of your trouble" I wouldn't be surprised- I trust the guy not to screw me but question his talent.

Edited January 17, 2010 by 87BeachCruiser

[Tungsten]

from my experience i am able to answer some of your questions

 

if you lost your tailpipe, chances are that the rest of your exhaust is rusted out as well and yes it can impact the mpg depending on where it rusted

 

the sloshing squishing sound is from that big black carbon canister, there is a way to clean that thing

 

get a good mechanical fan clutch for the summer (dealer is best for this or you can buy a beck arnley replacement one but it will take quite a while to shut off in the winter), don't bother with electrical unless you want to put in a bigger alternator as well