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Pathfinder died on me


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bladerunner9405
Novice

Sep 5, 2009, 11:42 AM

Post #1 of 9 (2922 views)
post icon Pathfinder died on me Sign In

I was on my way home, which happens to be on an uphill road and all of a sudden my truck momentarily stalled for a few seconds without warning (no lights lit on the dash board), no hickups, no backfiring, before I got home it did again a couple of times and then on the last one the lights went on ( the dasboard) and it died on me. I let it cool off for about 20 minutes, checked the battery terminals and also checked for strange smells and managed to turn it on without any further problems. Although it did stall once again before I got home. what is wrong with my truck???

Nissan Pathfinder SE 6cyl Mannual trans 4WD
111,000 miles fully overhauled a year ago


(This post was edited by bladerunner9405 on Sep 5, 2009, 12:06 PM)


Sidom
Veteran / Moderator
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Sep 5, 2009, 1:17 PM

Post #2 of 9 (2913 views)
Re: Pathfinder died on me Sign In

1st thing you are going to have to find out what you are missing..... fuel or spark to narrow the search.... From what you say it sounds like spark, but you can waste a lot of diag time by guessing & being wrong........


bladerunner9405
Novice

Sep 6, 2009, 12:35 AM

Post #3 of 9 (2910 views)
Re: Pathfinder died on me Sign In

Now that you mentioned it, I recently, about three months ago had a set of Nology Hotwires installed, you know the ones that come with a built in capacitor, but these wires are supposed to las a lifetime, then again there is Murphy´s law; but getting back to the check up I would have to check the plugs, the coil, and the distributor........where would yur best bet be??? taking into account the breakdown itself.


bladerunner9405
Novice

Sep 6, 2009, 4:04 AM

Post #4 of 9 (2906 views)
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I replaced the Nology Hotwires with some original ones and the truck continues to fail on me, but I´ve noticed that it does it when running, because I idled the engine for about half and hour and it didn´t stall. So I´m still guessing electrical or fuel?????????? Next I will run some tests on the fuel pump..............


Sidom
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Sep 6, 2009, 4:29 AM

Post #5 of 9 (2902 views)
Re: Pathfinder died on me Sign In

Like I said it would really best to see what you are missing when it dies to narrow the search. If you are losing spark, then any fuel system testing wouldn't be necessary.

On those systems I've seen the plate inside the dist get dirty or oily & cause problems, I've seen coils short out. A lot of the problems only fail under load so having a scope hooked up while running really helps to find the fault quickly. You can't really trust an ohm meter due to the fact that once you get there, the defective part has already cooled & will pass a resistance test.........


bladerunner9405
Novice

Sep 11, 2009, 5:45 AM

Post #6 of 9 (2888 views)
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I don´t want to make it sound like a Get Smart line but here it is: Woud you believe I did everything you told me and I still haven´t figure out what´s wrong with my truck!!! We checked for the spark (with a live spark tester) and and we got a positive response, we used an improvised manometer(with a T-copper tubing plus a rubber hose) to check the fuel pressure and all the readings were normal (the pressure once the car stalled wouldn´t diminnish)...now I do have a question: does the fuel pressure regulator act separately fron the fuel pump??? will it cause my truck not only to stall but prevent it from starting thereafter, because now once it stalls it seems it has to cool off for several minutes before it can be restarted.......cool off means something is overheating, but what?????? Crazy

appreciate your response you seem to know a lot about these trucks!!!


bladerunner9405
Novice

Sep 12, 2009, 11:40 AM

Post #7 of 9 (2882 views)
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OK, so far I have determined that the flaw is somewhere in the electrical system; so it happens that whenever the truck stalls no electricity can be perceived at the injector ports, for some reason the electrical flow breaks downs and stops just at the ports. In the mean time the fuel supply seems to be just fine, the pump doesn´t stop working. Would the knock sensor have anything to do with my truck stalling?????


Sidom
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Sep 12, 2009, 12:48 PM

Post #8 of 9 (2876 views)
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Nice work.

The knock sensor isn't going to cause the injectors to lose power, it's purpose is to retard ign timing if it detects a pinging condition, so one symptom is a loss of power but not a no start.

Did you use a noid light to determine the injector problem? One quick thing you could do would be to check the cmp postion sensor. It's in the dist under a plastic cover below the rotor, one problem on those is the plate gets dirty or oily and can cause problems. Or if the cover is missing it can effect it because it uses a light emitting diode. I would probably look there 1st.


bladerunner9405
Novice

Sep 12, 2009, 8:15 PM

Post #9 of 9 (2873 views)
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Yes, I used one.(when the truck stalls the light simply refuses to turn on)...... Come to think of it, one of the first things I did was to change rotors, since I had a brand new one, when I replaced it I took a visual at the plastic cover, but since it was spotless clean I didn´t bother taking it off, first thing tomorrow I will check under it to see what I find.....I´ll keep you posted, your advice has been great!!! Angelic things r looking up!!!






 
 
 






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