91 pathfinder intermittent stalling under acceleration (Not dieing)

[Precise1]

Yes!

 

B

[Alkorahil]

It has been my experience that the aftermaket pick up sensors that are out there for the 3.0L and 3.3L distributors last less than 3 months.

[msavides]

Does that include the sensors that come in the aftermarket distributors? If so I better make sure I am getting a genuine Nissan distributor at the junk yard.

[msavides]

 

Goood thing checking that vacuum hose first thing!

 

My line of thinking on this is that it may be distributor related. The camshaft position sensor is located inside the distributor of the VG30e engine. When there is a big change in engine RPMs under load the ECU is not recieveing signal correctly and the engine will cut off if the ECU doenst recieve an expected signal because the ECU freaks out.

 

 

Check to make sure it is correct if it is off it could cause your issue. Even if it isnt the issue it would not hurt to check and adjust if needed!

You can adjust timing on the trucks. Loosen the retaining bolt that holds the distributor to the block slightly and rotate it right or left to advance or retard the engine timing.

The harmonic balancer has 4 slash marks on it. They are usually hard to see on the vehicles as the paint marks have usually worn off a long tim ago. I like to take white out or white paint and fill in the four slash marks and the indicator on the block so I can see them clearly.

 

The timing should be at 15 degrees BTDC +/- 2 degrees. For AT vehicles make sure the vehicle in in Neutral with the parking brake on.

Facing the vehicle and engine bay looking down at the harmonic balancer, the four timing slash marks on the balancer are right from left:

TDC (0 degrees)

10 degrees

20 degrees

30 degrees

 

 

So ideally you want to be in the middle of the four timing marks.

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, on mine the marks on on the pulley and there is a pointer coming out to point to the marks on the pulley. There are seven marks. Am I to assume that the first mark on the left hand side is O degrees. and each mark is 10 degrees.

I put it between the 2nd and third mark from the left. ( standing in front of the vehicle looking in over the radiator)

let me know if this is correct.

thanks

Edited June 20, 2014 by msavides

[msavides]

Ok,

 

I went to pick n pull and got a distributor off the newest compatible vehicle I could find. I ended up pulling it off a 1997 Nissan Quest.

 

I did a little searching on this forum and found that the pulley that is marked with 7 lines goes like this -5 0 5 10 15 20 25.

 

I set the timing to just the left side of the 5th line. Strange that now I was able to change the timing and before I could not. I think it is because I was unable to get my idle low enough due to my MAF being faulty.

 

I think I am now all set. I hope this fixes the problem, since it was intermittent I will have to drive it more to see if it is actually fixed. I took the cover off the old distributor and looked at the CAS wheel and it looked like there was some corrosion or something on one of the square notches on the edge of the wheel. I don't know how you are suppose to replace just the CAS it looks to be sealed in there and it looks pretty fragile.

 

The distributor I pulled out of mine had a genuine Nissan re-manufactured sticker on it. I am not sure whether to keep it or turn it in for a core for $5

 

Thanks for all the help guys I will be sure to report back as to the result of the repair attempt. I know that adds value to this thread. So many threads someone has a problem and they never come back in to say what the actual problem was.

Edited June 20, 2014 by msavides

[mikestewart395]

7 marks like mine. Yes please chime back in with the results, as I am having the same exact issue.

[msavides]

I drove it about 50 miles yesterday and everything was fine, However it acted up so intermittently that i am still not going to pronounce it fixed. It had a lot more get up when accelerating, so either it was a bad distributor or the timing was off, I am not sure cause I did not check the timing before I swapped the distributor,.

 

I also noticed a miss. it is very slight , I only noticed it because the timing light would miss a flash every so often (could have been the timing light also) . So that being said if it is a miss it might be on cylinder 1 or on all of them. I left the rotor that came with the pick n pull distributor on it, so it could be that also. I will probably swap that out this week.

[Alkorahil]

I would look to see if the miss is from the old distributor cap/rotor. That would make a lot of sense.

[adamzan]

I don't mean to beat a dead horse here, but I'm pretty sure the pulley marks go like this 0 5 10 15 20 25 30. At least on mine, with the 7 mark pulley, the first line is TDC, and all the timing marks line up at that mark.

[msavides]

Well it looks like it was not the distributor. after doing great for a few 150 mile trips, yesterday it acted up on my again. just going straight no turns or anything. I am going to try and swap out the ECU now.

Edited July 21, 2014 by msavides

[msavides]

today it did it again.

 

it only seems to do this after a decent trip and then parking for a bit. then on the next trip it starts to act up. it is getting so bad now that I have to pull over on the side of the road. It does not die but it will not accelerate. If I floor it when it is acting up it will start to rev but then just make low thumping noises from the engine bay.

 

I am starting to think it may be fuel related. It seems to be ok after turn off the ignition and then start it back up after about 30 secs. Perhaps something in the tank getting picked up and stopping flow.

 

I may go to pick n Pull and grab a fuel pump assembly and swap it out to see if that remedies the problem.

 

Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[msavides]

Ok. went to PNP today. I got a fuel pump assembly out of a 1995.

 

There seemed to be a slight difference between mine and the one I got out of the 1995.

 

Mine seemd to have an auto adjuster for the height. when installed there is a little foot that presses on the bottom of the tank and pushes this spring assembly up. I can see where it has been rubbing and where it sits when removed from the tank.

 

At first glance when I was comparing them I freaked out cause the mine was longer. But then I realized that is shrinks down when installed.

 

I notices a slight build up on sentiment on the screen of mine. the one from PNP was totally clean. I also noticed that the sensor for the fuel light was longer on mine. I think it still activates at the same level just the sensor was a different size. My fuel tank was clean I saw no particles or anything in the tank. so that rules out something clogging the pickup and then moving around.

 

I also did some more research and I read that a clogged air filter could cause this as well. I had installed a foam air filter a couple of years ago, so I picked up a new fram paper one at the auto parts store. also picked up a new fuel filter.

 

After installing the PNP pump assembly I noticed that my fuel gauge moved really slowly when i turned on the ignition. It took about a min to finally come to rest at just above E. I am not sure if this is normal or not but I know my old one never showed anything under 1/4 tank. and it was always 1/4 off except when the tank was full it indicated it was full. so the fact that it is showing anything under 1/4 makes me happy. other happiness is it started up after a few seconds of fuel priming cranks. so no doa pump.

 

Now I will have to take a few trips.

 

It never acts up on the first trip. it is always on the way back from a trip. It acted up on the way back from PNP. Then again after I stopped at the auto parts store. When it acts up. If I press on the gas it does nothing. If I pump the gas it will sputter then nothing. If I keep pumping the gas it will keep doing this. The only thing to make it drive normal again is to let off the gas for about 15 to 20 secs then it will drive normal again. I sure hope it is the fuel pump. But something is telling me that it is not.

 

 

Edited August 19, 2014 by msavides