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Timing belt or not


bonereaper
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Here is my story. First this a 94 pathfinder se with 211,000 miles. I noticed last week it started feeling a little sluggish and a couple of times die from a dead start,also engine light would come on if i accelerated hard. Upon restart of engine light is not on and won't untill hard acceleration. So i thought i'd look at the timing belt. I found the fr crank seal leaking. Thinking this the cause,replaced seal. belt and tensioner. Now when i fire it up it might run fine as did my test drive,but the next time i go to start it starts fine warmed 5 min then wen i start to move it spits and sputers like a diesel then dies,,hard to restart. Figured i missed something i went back in and ck'd timing O i dont know hundred times. I find nothing wrong. Is it possiabe that engine lite was indicating something else ? i need to get this fixed,,i dont want to tie a christmas tree to my wifes escort. Thanks again. I thought i would put it back together and get a scan tool.

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as it is running rough, try wiggling the connector on top of your MAF. I found this to be a weak spot and had to rebuild the connector. Truck ran like crap and died periodically because of bad information from the MAF to the ECU.

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All valid items. A timing belt issue will not be intermittent and does not trigger the check engine light so I'm sure that's not the issue. Good that you changed it though, you should be good for another 105k miles.

 

B

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I agree with the O2 sensor. My black Pathy would do the same thing. It would be ok under light throttle cold, but until it warmed up it would randomly sputter loudly like all fuel cut out. CEL would come on too. Unplug the o2 and see if that helps.

I replaced my o2 and its been great since.

MAF, ECTS and O2 would be the things to check! Just thought I'd give some I do toward my o2 experience.

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This I think is the key symptom:

 

Now when i fire it up it might run fine as did my test drive,but the next time i go to start it starts fine warmed 5 min then wen i start to move it spits and sputers like a diesel then dies,,hard to restart

 

You have:

1) starts fine cold

2) sluggish acceleration <-mixture not reading properly/running too lean

3) complains when hard on accelerator pedal <- too lean again

4) dies/sputter after about 5 mins of running/hard to restart <- ECU goes to open loop after about 5 mins fro cold start and starts reading from O2 sensor once at operating temp stays in closed loop

 

 

sounds like the temperature sensor or the oxygen sensor to me!

start with the temp sensor it is the least expensive of the two and at 211,000 miles you need a new one anyways! (IMHO same could be said for O2 sensor as well!)

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Agree with all the info already provided and here is the link to the self diagnostic check to see what your ecu is telling you as well

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/21-ecu-self-diagnostics-for-87-95-pathfinder/

 

sadly the pics are dead (on my screen at least) I'll see what can be done about that now that I know...

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Well i finished the job,fired it up and it runs better than when i bought it. Test drove last night ran better than it ever has. Woke up to 22 degrees this mornnin start her up take kids to bus stop and ran just fine,,but iam not ready to jump up and down untill i go for a longer test drive. I can tell you had i not come upon your forum i would still be pulling what hair i have left out. Thanks again guys! Go for another test dr.

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So i drove most of the day,,then just spudderd and died. Battery was dead,,called wife got jump and made it 8 blocks died. So i was not so lucky. Now i will get it home and get that scanner. go from there. The engine lite never came on will i still get a code? Thanks What could drain the battery so fast or do i just have a gremlin.

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i dont want to tie a christmas tree to my wifes escort.

don't underestimate what an Escort can do too!

So i drove most of the day,,then just spudderd and died. Battery was dead,,called wife got jump and made it 8 blocks died. So i was not so lucky. Now i will get it home and get that scanner. go from there. The engine lite never came on will i still get a code? Thanks What could drain the battery so fast or do i just have a gremlin.

this sounds like a charging system issue. did any dash lights come on at all? loss of other electrical components first (radio/lights dimming out/etc)? you have access to a voltmeter so you can see alternator output?

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Did any of the idiot lights come on before it died? IIRC it'll light up the A/T temp idiot light (if you've got an auto), the battery light, and the brake light if the alternator's not charging.

 

But yeah, I'd check all the connections to the alternator (including grounds) before assuming it was bad. Hopefully it's just a corroded contact or something.

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So i drove most of the day,,then just spudderd and died. Battery was dead,,called wife got jump and made it 8 blocks died. So i was not so lucky. Now i will get it home and get that scanner. go from there. The engine lite never came on will i still get a code? Thanks What could drain the battery so fast or do i just have a gremlin.

I have experienced catastrophic battery failure before. Started/ran fine, drove to work (2 miles), after work it wouldn't start and battery only showed 6 volts. One of the cells failed...

Remove the battery have it charged and load tested. While the battery is out, check the positive and ground connections.

 

don't underestimate what an Escort can do too!

Says the Escort owner/driver... :gay:

 

B

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Man that was a merry-go-round. I was able to get bac to it,now the kids are in scool. Found alternator no charging,took to shop load tested no good,,would'nt even spin what he said. I did not suspect that ,,its only 8 months old. So to wrap this part of the story. What i thought with the way it ran was i needed a timing belt change{which it did} also noticed oil leak ,,replaced seal done. Turns out the whole time it was the alternator. Buy cheap get cheap. I think i have been pinching to many pennys this year. Part was not in stock so i will get back to ya when installed. Thanks again

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