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Pathfinder seems weak


edicer2
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Hey guys,

 

So i have noticed this ever since i have owned my pathfinder. It seems like it runs great and has okay power for getting around besides when it comes to hills, and deep stuff. The performance mods i have done have been cold air intake, pacesetter headers, and high flow cat and muffler 2.5", 32x10.5 wide tires and 3" suspension lift. I would think with the intake and better exhaust it should of helped a bit. Also this a 92 vg30 se 4x4 5speed.

 

The examples where my pathfinder is showing that it could use more power is going up kind of steep hill (regular city driving)i need to get a running start to go 30 up the hill if i am in 3rd gear (FLOORED) if i down shift to 2nd i can get up the hill ok but im at like 3k rpm and its loud. I have that problem on multiple hills in my area since i live in a river valley.

 

The next time i notice it has kind of weak power is when i am driving off road in deep snow/mud in 4x4. It doesnt seem to mater if its fluffy or runny or thick or heavy just thats its deep. What happens is after i get stuck and like after 2 mins of rocking the pathfinder forward and back it seem to keep loosing power and to me almost feels like the parking brake is being applied each time. I was stuck in about 2.5 feet of snow and the truck when i would go back would move and then it would get really hard to go back and felt like it was driving with the pbrake on and not spinning the and then i would go forward and it would have no power even when floored i couldnt spin the tires at all and felt like the ebrake was on. I also noticed that if say i am just sitting there spinning in thicker mud if i am giving it decent amount of gas it i will slowly slow down and struggle to spin the tires even in the mud like it was when i had first gotten stuck.

 

At first i thought this might be because i know my clutch is on its last leg but instead of bogging out it should just shoot up in rpm right?

 

 

Just trying to see if other people have that problem or if i should be taking the time to go check my codes

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I hate to say this, but this is exactly what my Red 95 Pathy is doing g and why I bought the black one.. If you find out anything be sure to post up! :)

I've replaced every sensor on it and nothing fixed it.

It also has

Cold air intake

Efan swap

 

When I get on red Pathy like.. Over half throttle it just gets loud and.. Powerless. Like it's ducking on air but not going! (I'm not thread jacking I swear, just seeing if maybe we have the same problem and we can collaborate and fix it!

Does yours, say, the more throttle you give it the louder and less powerful, compared to light throttle?

I just know it's slow and hills I usually have to take at 4-5k rpm to hold 55mph.

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i think so like once only had this for like 4 years. maybe 30k miles.

 

also last summer it got new wires and plugs and cap and rotor...i have never checked the codes though.

Edited by edicer2
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I would do a compression test. See what the readings are, then maybe perform a wet test. Our VG's are very well know for carbon issues. Intake runners, valves injectors and the combustion chamber all get carboned up fast. I have done several "induction" cleaning service to clean the carbon up. Recently, well, a year ago, I did plugs, did the induction service and did a fuel injector cleaning using the 3M system at Nissan. This made a huge difference! I will try to find my writeup and let you check it out.

 

Here it is...

 

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/31832-making-it-run-like-new/

 

I have almost 223,000 and it still runs great. Power is what should be expected from a Vg, you know, adequate!

 

Oh, clean that MAF!

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I agree with above but also since you have a 5 speed I thought of your Gearing in the rear Diff. A lot of Auto's have a 4.90 gearset which I think would help with low end power a bit.

 

Consider it.

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The auto pathys should have HG46 (not all autos!) and that equals out to 4.625... 4.9's came in x's and newer trucks. maybe r50s. the 5spd's should have HG43 (again, not ALL 5spds) and equals out to 4.363.

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Whoops, I actually meant to put 4.6 gear set, not 4.9. 4.9 is actually what I wanted to put in but haven't gotten around to it.

 

Regardless there is a noticable difference between the 4.3 and 4.6 gear sets. I didn't mean that every auto had 4.6 and every manual had 4.3 but I think it was most common to find them in that variant.

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well i did a spark plug, cap , rotor, wires, oil, valve cover gaskets, intake gasket,"cold air" intake, and all new suspention last summer. but yeah when i got stuck it was fine but after 5-10 mins of rocking the truck back and forth it started to slowlly get weaker and weaker and didnt want to really go. I would just sit there and act like im not pretty pressing the gas and couldnt even spin the tires or driveup a slight incline what so ever just bogged like i had the ebrake on and just letting the clutch out. After i got out and stopped for a few mins and it was fine. The temp gauge never got hot. I know my clutch is kind of ****** and needs to be replaced soon but it wasnt shooting up in rpm at all was hard to get it to even rev.

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like i said earlier too it only does this when im driving heavy going up a long steep hill i loose power, or after a few mins of rocking it back and forth (2 or 4wd) ....few mins after stoping driving it hard its back to normal again.

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I had the same, VERY slow up steep hills..

So I did the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, fuel filer, air filter, all that good stuff and nothing changed.

 

When I replaced the O2 sensor the thing came alive again.

 

Remember, with these vehicles the 02 can be 'stuck' and not throw a CEL or code.

Edited by Alkorahil
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I have had something (I think) similar happen to me before as well and I was on flat ground, I would push the gas and seem to have no power at all. Well come to find out the transmission wasn't downshifting, so I had been crawling through whatever in perhaps 2nd gear and this had all happened I realized while I had my power switch turned on. I turned it off, turned the truck off, restarted and voila got my pep back, I mean before I did that it was starting in 2nd gear from a cold start, it would start moving very sluggishly as you would expect.

 

I've just recently had my trusted mechanic do a "Flash" on the transmission control module because sometimes it would stay in first for too long before shifting. That did fix it and it seems to run a lot better now and shift earlier, even my mpg seems to have improved a little. Might be something you want to ask about.

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Oh Duh I just re-read your post and now I see you've got a manual, well it's good info for those with auto trannys anyway.

 

2.5" sounds kinda big to me for the exhaust, have you had strong torque up until recently? I would imagine you have sacrificed a good bit of your back pressure which equates to torque in leiu of more hp. The other thing I'm think of now is your timing advance, which I think is controlled by the ECU, right? That sectore of your computer might be failing.

 

A worn out / slipping clutch would do this, it wouldn't bog out, it won't stress the engine because the clutch is not grabbing hold and sending power so the engine would spin more freely. Occam's Razor Sir.

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2.5" for pathfinders with headers (vg30 in any...) is just perfect. that's what a lot of the guys run. i have 2.25" right now (i believe) and will be going up to 2.5" asap..

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Yo Eric,

 

I can speak from experience with those hills. Mine being an auto, would have to drop into 2nd around 3-4k rpm or so to make it up the lookout dr. hill. Power was not as boggy as yours seems to be. Just recently did a trip from Phoenix up to the flagstaff area, pretty much climbing the mountains all the way up there. Would have to downshift frequently to hold 70-80mph around 4k rpm. I have done plugs and wires, and have your same intake and it Handled it like champ. Check the O2 sensor, could be the issue. Clean the MAF. Compression check would be a good thing to do just to see what's going on in there.

 

Should put those on my todo list...

Edited by 95champagnepath
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Ok thanks for the tips guys yeah it seems like its find 99% of the time its when i have been pushing it hard for a few mins. I havent noticed it as much street driving but when I am stuck in a rut or mud or deep snow it starts out fine and then gets weaker to the point where it cant even spin the tires in snow or mud just bogs out. I am going to try the o2 sensor since i have never done that one yet. Like it said most of the time its fine its just that random time you do like little bursts forward and back a lot to get unstuck is when i really noticed it. Its just weird how the power fades after a few mins but then if i let it sit for like 5 mins its fine again. Unless my heat gauge is junk which it could be it only goes like 1/3 of the way when at full time and running warm.normal is like 1/4 even after a new thermostat was installed.

 

Thanks Adam that rules out the hill thing then guess its mainly just when i get stuck and am rocking it back and forth. I will order a o2 sensor this week and try it and see if any other codes are on the ecu.

Edited by edicer2
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Try the O2 sensor and if that doesn't help maybe take it to an exhaust shop and have them test the cat (back pressure test). You should have close to none. A prematurely failed cat makes power tank but a root cause of it can be running too rich or just a faulty one.

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