Looks like I'll be doing a tune up on the Villager tomorrow. I played with it some a week or two ago and managed to extinguish the CEL, but at the same time I introduced a miss. I then realized how long it's been since it's had new plugs cap and rotor, it's time- I think it's been 6 years. At 185K on the odometer I can't complain about needing some maintenance.

Any thoughts, tips, tricks or advice? I've been a Chevy and old VW guy forever, not much experience on Nissans.

Yesterday I put in a set of Denso plugs, and the only cap, rotor and wire set Advance had on hand (Thank you retail me not- $40 off!). It runs better, but still has that miss- and no CEL. When it warms up some I'll look into that more. State inspector was closed yesterday, maybe tomorrow.

Well, it passed inspection with no trouble, but the miss is still there. I think I introduced it when I sprayed throttle body cleaner into it *gulp* through the MAF sensor. I ordered a replacement, it should be in today. We'll see if this helps.

New MAF made no difference.

The miss had gotten stronger, occasionally stalling. CEL is on, codes are 34, 51 and 32. Haynes translates these to:

34: Knock sensor and or circuit fault (it bucks pretty hard, I can see it sensing abnormally strong knocks. The sensor put out .5 volts when I tested it with a meter)

51:Fuel injector signal fault. I haven't looked into this one yet. Only so many hours of daylight, and I'm not 20 years old anymore.

32: EGR Control solenoid and or circuit fault. As nasty as the throttle body was, I figured there was a strong chance the EGR was crudded up so I pulled it off to check it. Lots of work laying on my back in a confined space under the van to get that pipe off the exhaust, only to find a light coating of carbon and no significant buildup. The EGR valve itself holds vacuum when moved manually and the port is blocked with my thumb. Pipe and exhaust passages around the valve are clear.

I pulled the cap and rotor to inspect the (cam?) sensor underneath, hoping to find a crack/dirt/something wrong. I blew out a little dust, reassembled and found no difference.

This van is kicking my butt, and I don't like it. My to do list is getting longer and longer, and this van isn't letting me get much else done- not to mention my stress levels going up every time I look at this thing. I just keep reminding myself "THIS is my car payment... THIS is my car payment....THIS is my $10 property tax bill... THIS is my cheap insurance..." Even that is beginning to wear thin.

FWIW if I plug the main vacuum line at the vapor canister the idle smooths out. time will tell if the engine light goes out or not, and at this point I don't really care one way or the other.

don't use a haynes. use the FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL from this site!

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Quest/1994- ... est/ec.pdf

they'll give you a more comprehensive diagnostic procedure for each trouble code

Thanks for the link to the proper section, I saved a copy of the manual when I registered. Looks like I have the hoses on the canister backward, I'll get it switched soon.

A while back I put in a junk yard canister, the idle smoothed out. I think the engine light still comes on once in a while though.