When to say goodbye-- 1999.5 SE 3.3L 4WD w 158K miles

[deltaR50]

I just did all those work on my recently acquired 96 4x4 with 179k on the clock.if you were local to me. Id do most the work you posted for half of what they asking for! Those suckers are definitely ripping u off

 

 

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[EvF]

Hello everyone,

 

Belated thanks to the replies. Life intervened.... But now back at fixing my Pathfinder.

 

One thing I forgot to tell all of you. Nissan has a "Value Line" of parts. The dealer originally installed struts from their "Value Line". They clunked, especially on the right side. The Service Manager ended up bringing in OEM parts and placed the two right side struts, Value Line and OEM on the floor, side by side, and they weren't even the same length. So, buyer beware.

 

I found out that I did not have a 100k tune-up and so had the Service dealer do one, spark plugs, new wires, distributor cap, and rotor.this past winter. But since then I have had intermittent rough idling and the car dying on me at slow idles.

 

Here is the history:

 

1. Dec 15, 2014, At the Nissan dealer, I paid for a 4 cylinder tune-up: New plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor changed. I also replaced the valve cover gaskets that were leaking oil.
2. Dec 30, 2014 Service engine light came on and car ran rough and died, as I was backing out of a parking space. I had run short errands and this was my third stop of the day. The shop said "No current codes service light turned off, no repair made."
3. Jan 5, 2015 Again I had been running short errands around town. And after the third errand, again, when I started to back out of a parking space the engine ran rough and died. It restarted and ran rough for a bit; I gassed it and it ran so I was able to get to the dealer's place. As I was driving it across town the roughness went away. The dealer shop found: " Multi cylinder misfire vehicle runs rough intermittently, replaced distributor Error code none." Note: they replaced the distributor that had been new on December 15.
4. Jan 15, 2015 Again, the car ran rough. But this time, it was from a cold start in my garage after having been sitting overnight. I was able to restart it, it ran rough and then settled down. I drove it to the dealer's. They found a code that indicated that Cylinder Number 2 misfire. They replaced the OEM new spark plug on cylinder 2 as they found it be faulty replaced spark plug cylinder 2 .
5. Jan 29, 2015 Again, in running errands and, again, on my 3rd stop, the engine ran rough as I was starting it, it was able to catch on and eventually even out. I drove it to the dealer's shop. They found an error code: "P0302 Cylinder 2 misfire unable to replicate. Swap number 2 spark plug wire to cylinder 4." The Service Manager said they didn't know if it was a faulty wire but because they had now had two instances of a cylinder 2 misfire they would swap the new spark plug wires, 2 to 4, and 4 -> 2, to see if was the wire or something else to do with the number 2 cylinder. They kept the Pathfinder for about a week giving me a rental to use while they ran it
6. April 19, 2015 Again, a series of short errands. This time it starts to run rough as I pull into a parking space. I don't remember if it was my 3rd stop of the day ;-) but it was after several. Again I drive it to the dealer's shop. They find: "Service code Cylinder 4 misfire Code number: P0304. Could not replicate the cylinder 4 bad code." This time they kept the Pathy for about a week and drove for errands but could not get the Code to replicate. They had my permission to run the Pathfinder for their errands and did not charge me for 4 wheel drive loaner. Note: they did not replace the spark plug wire on cylinder 4 that had previously been on cylinder 2.
7. Beginning of June, 2015 I drive the Pathfinder pulling a U-Haul out to Arlington, Virginia from Lincoln, Nebraska. Several times the engine starts to run rough on parking but the service light doesn't come on. I press on to Virginia, deliver myt son's used furniture to his new apartment, and park my Pathy as I developed a medical issue (Posterior Vitreal Detachment) and am under an eye surgeon's order's not to look down or lift anything or drive.
8. June 26, 2015. Two days ago, I drive my Pathy for the first time and it runs rough at start and the Service Engine soon light comes on. It runs rough differently now. At stoplights and stop signs, it starts running rough until I put it in neutral and give it some gas. I make it back to the apartment complex where I have been holed up (my separated spouse's apartment) with medical issues. I park it glad that I made it back without it giving up on these incredibly crowded streets.

What do I do? I called my Service Dealer back in Lincoln, Nebraska and they recommend that I take it to a nearby Nissan Service Dealer here in Arlington, VA and they will cover any warranty issues as parts are covered for 12,000 miles or 12 months.

 

My husband and son use an independent repair shop, Cherrydale Motors of Arlington, Virginia where he and my son have had good luck on a 1990 Ford Crown Victoria and a 1999 BMW Series 3i.

 

I am so frustrated by this intermittent and now more usual problem.

 

I am also upset to find out that Nissan dealers do not have access to a common database of repair history. This means that the closest dealer, Brown's Arlington Nissan at 3200 Columibia Pike, Arlington, VA will have no history to work with other than what I have.

 

 

 

ALSO PROBLEM #2 On the drive out to Virginia both of my front side combination lamps fell out and dangled by their wires. I am disgusted to investigate the problem (now that I can look down) and see that it is a simple case of bad engineering. The lights are held on by one piece of plastic that obviously outgassed and broke in the same place on each side.

 

Do they sell cheap 3rd party front combination lamps? I don't want to buy a 15 year old lamp that has been sitting in a box or on a shelf somewhere similarly outgassing.

 

This is certainly a repair I can do myself. It looks like I need Parts # 26120 (RH) and # 26125 (LH). Since the lamps were often hanging by their wires on the interstate (in between stops to shove them back in) should I also buy new wire harnesses?

 

Many thanks. Help, as always, appreciated.

 

 

Evelyn

[Rebelord]

You mention distributor cap and wires and rotor. But what about the actual distributor? They bushing in it likes to go bad which ends up shorting out the actual coil in the distributor. I would make the original dealer that has been doing all this "diagnosing" pay for any repairs and labor costs. Since they havent been able to do anything since December '14.