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Rough idle and loss of power


WxChaser
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For starters, this is a 93 pathfinder with a 5 speed trans. 160k on the clock.

Just started out of nowhere this week, idling low (500-450 rpm) after it warmed up. Go to drive and slowly letting the clutch out nearly kills it. Give it gas at the same time and there's no power. It takes a while to finally catch and go. Top end power (3000 RPM) does not have same feel. Struggles to get to 65 on interstate and climb minor hills. To get it going I have to rev to 1800-2000 RPM and let the clutch out. But overall lack of power across the board.

 

New fuel filter, air filter is fine and I cleaned the butterfly and air intake out real well. Timing should be fine. Could it be the EGR? Or is there something else in the mix?

 

Or it's probably the fact that I went to test drive a ford ranger the other day, and the pathy is feeling a bit pissed at me.

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Unplug the o2 sensor and see if it drives better. It's in the tree of connectors on the passenger side. It has 3 wires. I find on these trucks they will go bad enough to make it run like crap but not so bad the ecu throws a code.

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Unplug the o2 sensor and see if it drives better. It's in the tree of connectors on the passenger side. It has 3 wires. I find on these trucks they will go bad enough to make it run like crap but not so bad the ecu throws a code.

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Got it warmed up and pulled the connector, and the idle didn't change. My thought process then tells me that it is the O2 sensor malfunctioning. Might go check to see if I can pull the codes on it to see if anything is stored.

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From what I've seen the Idle Air control Valve can do that also. I'm waiting on a new one to fix the same issues, hopefully. It's under the intake plenum at the back, driver's side. Others thatmhave more experience will probably give more/better advice, though.

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Or it's probably the fact that I went to test drive a ford ranger the other day, and the pathy is feeling a bit pissed at me.

 

Mine was skipping and having a good time pissing me off for a long time. I went in yesterday to a lot that sold....let's just say Wranglers......and started the credit app to get one this week. On the way to work it ran smooth, skip was gone, etc.. lol Of course today it still runs like crap.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I've since checked the MAF wires... they all seem fine. Disconnected the harness while running and it caused the truck to die. So I know the MAF is working properly. "cleaned" the EGR by spraying a bunch of carb cleaner into it (assumed this was a way to do it, may put it in the parts cleaner bin at work).

Adjusted the distributor to set the idle higher, which did take away the rough idle issue. However, if I slowly let the clutch out, and then apply the gas, the motor has a hard time getting going. At a certain point it picks up and goes, but there is still a power loss.

Could it be an Idle Air Control Valve? A coolant temp sensor? Something else I'm missing?

Also, as an FYI, when the truck ran fine awhile back, whenever I kicked the AC on, it dropped RPMs slightly for a second then kicked it up about 50RPMs higher than normal idle. Now, when the AC is cut on, the idle goes to a really rough idle, and there is more power loss when driving.

I will try and check the codes sometime Friday. I think the Pathfinder is a bit pissed at me for going to buy a Ford Ranger a couple weeks ago.

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Got it warmed up and pulled the connector, and the idle didn't change. My thought process then tells me that it is the O2 sensor malfunctioning. Might go check to see if I can pull the codes on it to see if anything is stored.

Yes, definitely check for stored codes first.

Since disconnecting the O2 sensor didn't make a difference, it would be worth checking it's output. IIRC, it is 0-1 volt, but if it is stuck in that range there will be no malfunction code. From there I would check the coolant temp sensor (closest to the block), the TPS, the AICV, the EGR valve... All free and relatively easy, the info is in the FSM available for download in the Garage section, just use the 1994 version, it will be the same under the hood.

 

Did you take a look under the distributor cap? Someone had their rotor come loose, and I've had the center electrode wear off (as in gone) so the coil input was arcing down to the rotor. It ran pretty good, but stumbled a bit when I was first letting the clutch out... :rolleyes:

 

B

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