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95 Pathfinder shut off last night


crue313
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Hello. Ok so my 1995 Pathfinder decided that it was tired and shut off on me last night while driving lol. I am actually really pissed right now cause I have no money to fix anything and no way to work. Ok so while driving it just died, completely shut off and all the lights on the dash lit up like the battery light and everything. So I made it to a church parking lot and jumped out to see what was going on. So I try cranking it up and it turns over it just doesn't want to start. I try a few more times but it just keeps making the attempt to start, just not starting. After a few more attempts at getting it to start I start smelling something like something is burning like something electrical or something. I let it sit for a while and try again. Still nothing and still the faint smell of burning. So I walk home (it was 104 degrees out). This morning I have a friend drive me over to pull it home with some tow straps. We try cranking again still nothing, wants to start, but wont. My friend says its either the timing chain (which sucks because that means I probably bent some valves), or maybe the fuel pump or possibly the fuse to the fuel pump because that happened to him where they went in and replaced a bunch of stuff and it turned out the fuse was blown and it fixed everything. Ok so does anybody have any idea what I should do to check or any experience something like this before? My thoughts range from anything from a clogged fuel filter, bad fuel pump, pump fuse, alternator, or worse the timing chain. I can possibly post a video of the engine trying to turn over if that would help. I have several shops around that I could probably tow it to but damn I don't have a pot to piss in at this point.

Edited by crue313
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The first thing I would want to know is how many miles are on the Pathfinder, and has any work been done to it that you know of? Specifically has the timing belt been serviced at the proper interval? If it was a TB failure it shouldnt sound like it would normally sound in the starting aspect... there will more than likely be some out of place noises coming from the top end of the motor.

 

Second thing... has your CEL been on at all, or intermittently coming on and going off? Even if it has not been on, it would still be wise to check your codes.

 

Third thing... if it is a fuel pump related issue.... turning the key to the on position and listening for the pump is a good place to start. Typically (at least every WD21 I have worked on) the fuel pumps are loud, and can be heard if listened for. If no joy on the pump, start with the usual suspects, fuses, relay etc.

 

Lastly... and this is going to sound silly, but make sure that the vehicle is fully in park or neutral, or if it is a manual check the neutral safety switch or the switch on the clutch...

 

I know my solutions are vague, and for that I apologize.

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The burning smell is interesting... I wouldn't expect a busted timing belt to do that. Not saying you can rule out the belt, but I'm thinking electrical. You can check the fuses easily enough, but I'd also take a look at the fusible links (little loops of wire coming off the positive battery terminal). If something shorted elsewhere, those might be blown, and I'm sure that would cause problems.

 

Check for spark as well (pull a plug wire, hold it next to the intake while somebody tries to start it, see if you get sparks). If not, you can narrow your search down to the ignition.

 

How low was it on gas when it died? Mine crapped out about a month ago because I ran it low on gas, and it sucked some gunk from the tank into the fuel pump. There was fuel in the system, but it couldn't push it through fast enough. Pulling the pump out and cleaning it solved the problem. It stumbled for a few miles before it died, though... yours sounds more out-of-the-blue.

 

From what I've read, an engine with a busted timing belt sounds different when you try to start it. (There's no compression since the valves aren't opening and closing.) You say it's still trying to start, so that could be a good sign. Also... if you held the starter for too long, there's a chance that the burning smell came from in there.

 

Hopefully something here helps.

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The caps on the fuel sender tend to corrode and create a short circuit. Pop off the rear fuel sender lid located below the carpet and have a look inside.

Edited by Tungsten
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The first thing I would want to know is how many miles are on the Pathfinder, and has any work been done to it that you know of? Specifically has the timing belt been serviced at the proper interval? If it was a TB failure it shouldnt sound like it would normally sound in the starting aspect... there will more than likely be some out of place noises coming from the top end of the motor.

 

Second thing... has your CEL been on at all, or intermittently coming on and going off? Even if it has not been on, it would still be wise to check your codes.

 

Third thing... if it is a fuel pump related issue.... turning the key to the on position and listening for the pump is a good place to start. Typically (at least every WD21 I have worked on) the fuel pumps are loud, and can be heard if listened for. If no joy on the pump, start with the usual suspects, fuses, relay etc.

 

Lastly... and this is going to sound silly, but make sure that the vehicle is fully in park or neutral, or if it is a manual check the neutral safety switch or the switch on the clutch...

 

I know my solutions are vague, and for that I apologize.

 

For starters it just turned over 200,000 miles, and the check engine light has been on since I bought it last November. I don't hear any unusual noises coming from the engine when trying to turn it over. I just sounds like either its not getting fuel or not sparking, but I'm just a shade-tree mechanic so I don't really have the knowledge to know. I do hear the buzzing noise from the fuel pump when turning the key. How should I go about checking the fuses and relays for fuel pump and ignition? Lol and yes it is completely in park and I even checked just to make sure there was fuel in it lol.

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The burning smell is interesting... I wouldn't expect a busted timing belt to do that. Not saying you can rule out the belt, but I'm thinking electrical. You can check the fuses easily enough, but I'd also take a look at the fusible links (little loops of wire coming off the positive battery terminal). If something shorted elsewhere, those might be blown, and I'm sure that would cause problems.

 

Check for spark as well (pull a plug wire, hold it next to the intake while somebody tries to start it, see if you get sparks). If not, you can narrow your search down to the ignition.

 

How low was it on gas when it died? Mine crapped out about a month ago because I ran it low on gas, and it sucked some gunk from the tank into the fuel pump. There was fuel in the system, but it couldn't push it through fast enough. Pulling the pump out and cleaning it solved the problem. It stumbled for a few miles before it died, though... yours sounds more out-of-the-blue.

 

From what I've read, an engine with a busted timing belt sounds different when you try to start it. (There's no compression since the valves aren't opening and closing.) You say it's still trying to start, so that could be a good sign. Also... if you held the starter for too long, there's a chance that the burning smell came from in there.

 

Hopefully something here helps.

 

 

hey. I'm definitely going to check the spark plugs out tomorrow. I'm already having to call out of work again tomorrow, Its been above 100 degrees everyday so working on it has been difficult. I'm really hoping that I can fix this like in the next day or so.

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The caps on the fuel sender tend to corrode and create a short circuit. Pop off the rear fuel sender lid located below the carpet and have a look inside.

 

Ok that sounds interesting because I often run the tank on E before I fill it up, so I'm sure that has been messing with the fuel filter and all sorts of stuff. So how do I go about checking that and telling whether or not they need to be cleaned? I

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Thank you guys for the help. Any other things you can think of will help. Tomorrow I will posting a video of what it sounds like when i try to start it up.

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Peel back the carpet and remove the cover. It should be obvious. :aok:

Ok so I checked it out and peeled back the carpet and took the cover off, so Im looking at the 2 fuel lines and a few sets of wires that come out of the top of the fuel tank I believe. Do I need to take that top piece off to check the lines from there?

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Ok so this morning me and friend go out there to start looking at the stupid thing. Now the battery died so I had to jump start it, still nothing. First thing we check is the distributor cap and check to see if its cracked or anything like that. It looks to be in really good condition. Then we basically just sat there just thinking of what it could be. I'm not very good at diagnosis, but when it comes to fixing it I can do that I just need to know what I need to fix. the only luck that I had was when I took off one of the wires and check the plug wire to see if there was spark coming from the wire, and nothing. So is there is suppose to be spark coming from the wire or should I just take off the spark plug with the wire attached and look for spark that way? I have a short video of what it sounds like. The first part of the video is when the battery was dead so I had to jump it. the second part is when I tried to start it. It actually didn't sound like this when it first died. When it first died the whole engine would kinda of jerk when trying to start, at least as far as I remember it was a few days ago. Now it sounds either like something electrical or the stupid thing is flooded from trying to start it so much. If i can't get it fixed today it looks like I'll be driving my illegal car to work tomorrow.

 

[media=]http://youtu.be/P-qbMXLq-DM[/media]

Edited by crue313
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sounds like timing belt jumped or stripped or distributor bad

 

clean around #1 cylinder spark plug(front one pass side) use an air compressor to blow the dirt away from the hole if not then when u remove the plug all the dirt will fall in the cylinder

 

next follow the plug wire back to the dist. and remember where the post is and remove the dist. cap then rotate the engine by socket on the crank till the dist. rotor button matches up to where the #1 post would have been on the cap and the #1 piston should be at top dead center if its pointing in the opposite direction turn the engine 180 degrees and again the #1 piston should be at top dead center with the rotor button being at the #1 post for the dist, if the rotor button will not line up at top dead center to the dist ccap #1 then your t belt if bad

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sounds like timing belt jumped or stripped or distributor bad

 

clean around #1 cylinder spark plug(front one pass side) use an air compressor to blow the dirt away from the hole if not then when u remove the plug all the dirt will fall in the cylinder

 

next follow the plug wire back to the dist. and remember where the post is and remove the dist. cap then rotate the engine by socket on the crank till the dist. rotor button matches up to where the #1 post would have been on the cap and the #1 piston should be at top dead center if its pointing in the opposite direction turn the engine 180 degrees and again the #1 piston should be at top dead center with the rotor button being at the #1 post for the dist, if the rotor button will not line up at top dead center to the dist ccap #1 then your t belt if bad

Ok how do I rotate the crank with a socket?

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Nothing yet. There's a shop across the street where I'm just gonna have them look at it. Not gonna tell them that I think it's the timing belt because they would probably be just too happy to charge me for that.

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Ok so yesterday my worst fears have been confirmed. Its the timing belt!! I had a mechanic come to my house and look at it. He owns the shop that is across the street. He saw that it wasn't getting any spark so he check the distributor and saw that the button wasn't turning. Then he did something weird, he put his fingers in the spot where you fill the oil, checking the lifters I suppose. I tried turning it over and nothing. He said he couldn't feel them moving and with that distributor not moving it must be the timing belt. Anyone have any other opinions? Unless its possible the distributor went out but while driving it doesn't make sense. Plus I thought that when the timing belt goes the distributor still turns? And wouldn't the timing belt make all sorts of noise in there like sounds things hitting each other like valves bending and the belt moving around?

 

So does anyone know where to get a motor? Anyone here near me that could help? lol. How much should I be paying for a motor? And is a 3.3 a direct swap?

Edited by crue313
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No the rotor doesn't spin if the t-belt is broken, that's one of the ways to check. You could have been lucky not done any real damage (that has happened before) but usually there is some valve damage. Step one would be to put a new belt on it and do a compression check. Motors can be had for $750 or less depending on where it is sourced, the 3.3 can be swapped in but there are a few things that need to be addressed and all the 3.0 furniture has to go on it, so that's labor intensive.

 

In the interest of helping you, I have to recommend you search for the answers to your questions as they have all been well documented and discussed to the point the info can't and won't be repeated here.

 

B

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