LOUD Intermittent engine clicking

[jp1051]

Hi all-need some suggestions please-02 pathy-76K-developed extremely loud clicking in engine (so loud that people along the road were looking at me like it was going to blow!) At first thought it was the fan hitting the shroud for some reason, but not that. Then thought it might be a lifter, as when it warmed up, went away, but ive never heard a lifter that loud. Went home and changed the oil (change it every 5K anyway, and just changed it the week before from a sythetic blend to full sythetic-probably bad idea looking back). Anyway, noise has not been present for 250 miles. Reappeared today when it was warm-parked truck, went into store, came out, started it and loud ticking/clacking noise again. Increases in loudness and pitch as rpms go up, but not steady (ie one loud click, then nothing, then loud clicks all close together). Then after i got on the freeway went away and not doing it any more. Also, when it was at idle and clicking, it was idling a bit rough. Sorry post so long, but wanted to explain thoroughly! Thanx a ton-great forum

[spjordan]

I don't know if you resolved your issue or not, but I had a similar problem with my '02 when I hit 48,000 miles. Took a dealer weeks to figure out the problem. It was rare for a Pathfinder, but I sucked in a small brass venturi screw, and it was sitting on top of my piston. This is more common in Sentras from what I'm told. Anyway, your symptoms sound just like what I experienced. I hope your problem is less severe, but thought I'd share this info with you just in case. Good luck.

[jp1051]

dude! youve got to be kidding-so they had to crack open the engine to get that out-I thought about running into the dealer but it has only happened twice and only lasts for like 2-5 min. so my margin for getting it there while it does it is pretty slim-i changed over to synthetic and a week after is when it happened, so someone told me the sythetic may have loosened some carbon up and that i got a hunk stuck on the piston or lifter. what did they get you for fixing it if i can ask??

[spjordan]

Oh yeah, they cracked the engine open all right. This happened to me on the NJ turnpike while on a trip, and the only dealer nearby was a small time Nissan dealership. It took them a long time to figure this one out. They showed me the screw that they took out of there. It was completely flattened. My hometown dealership knew right away what the problem was when I explained the symptoms. That was in WA D.C. where they see many more cases of this. Normally, they would have replaced the engine, but in my case they only replaced the top end and "made note" of the situation. Luckilly I was covered under warranty because they had my vehicle for SIX WEEKS! I was given a Dodge Durango during that time frame, and I missed my Pathfinder. All is well now, and so far no more troubles with my vehicle. Like you, I had just changed my oil (the day before), and I was thinking that I had run out of oil. It sounded like noisy lifters. I had oil pressure, and the dipstick measured full, so that's when I know the problem was more than low oil. I wish you well with your Pathfinder. Hopefully its something small. My recommendation would be to take it to a professional. If there is something sitting on top of your piston, you don't want to keep driving it.

[jp1051]

Problem resolved (i think!) Took it in to the dealer-they scoped the engine-no damage, no sound ...said that the full synthetic i used may have broke loose a hunk of carbon, so that was their assessment. good news for sure! Had em do an injection clean on it so hopefully.....

[NFSPD]

am having an issue with Nissan motors. I live in Melbourne Florida and have my 2002 nissan pathfinder at nissan of melbourne currently. My Pathfinder has 46,000 miles on it the warranty is 5 years or 60,000 miles so I am just outside the years but way under the miles. I am having what seems to be a common problem that Nissan will not recognize.

My pathfinder was driving fine then started making a clunking noise then it stalled. I brought it to the dealer to be told that 2 screws in the intake manifold back themselves out and got sucked into the engine and completly destroyed it. Nissan is saying it is my problem because i am outside the warranty. But this is a huge manufacturing defect that Nissan knows about and won't recognize. They want $9,000 to put in a new motor or $5,000 for a used one that has more miles then the one I had. The car is only worth a bit more then the repair costs. I found many othes with this issue and the links are below.

onehttp://x.nissanhelp.com/forums....html

anotherhttp://npora.ipbhost.com//inde...alves

..http://www.consumeraffairs.com....html

morehttp://www.canadiandriver.com/....html

morehttp://forums.nicoclub.com/zer...64383

[warrantyvoider]

hey, mine is having the same problem i think as some of you. its a 2001, 47k miles, and there is a loud clicking under load 2-3k rpm. anyone know what that is?

edit:its only under load, it wont do it just revving in park and it only does it sometimes.

[jp1051]

wow-probably different than mine-mine did it in neutral as well-transmission maybe? Mine hasn't done it for the past 500 miles, so maybe it was truly carbon from swithching to synthetic? I may buck up, take it into the dealer and have the power valve screws tightened/locktighted as others have-hey, it might be worthe the 200 clams just to have that piece of mind...any others out there taken their 3.5 pathys in to have them checked/tightened/locktighted?

[warrantyvoider]

I may do it myself since i work at a dealer (not nissan) now that some people have had some issues. i'm going to run some 44k through it and i'll let y'all know if it solved anything. since it's not doing it at idle and only while i'm going down the road and it doesnt do it all the time for me, i'm going on the assumption that its just heavy carbon buildup hopefully. we'll just have to wait and see.

[jp1051]

44k? is that an oil additive?

[warrantyvoider]

yea, you put it in your gas tank. its a valve, injector, and combustion chamber cleaner. its pretty potent stuff. its about 23$ for 12oz

[jp1051]

wow-sounds good-i took mine to the dealer (last resort) and they did a fuel injector cleaning (125 buckaroos) and it hasn't done it since (about 300 miles). But tell you what, if it was carbon, i thought the whole stinkin engine was gonna blow-LOUD knocking like a the fan would make if someone tweaked the shroud or something. people on the side of the road were gawking at me-bad stuff-then queited down, but still a really load lifter noise upon start up for the next couple of weeks, but now back to normal-so if it was carbon, i guess its burned up or whatever it does-

[SayNoToPistons]

Those fuel injector cleaners and all those "engine cleaners" never work. Back when i had the Mazda MPV i used Seafoam. Many tuners (or sport car tuners if you don't know) use seafoam to clen out their engine. Don't wet your paints when you see puffs of smoke coming out from the exhaust when using seafoam! It's the dirty stuff.

[dgerson76]

Hi all-need some suggestions please-02 pathy-76K-developed extremely loud clicking in engine (so loud that people along the road were looking at me like it was going to blow!) At first thought it was the fan hitting the shroud for some reason, but not that. Then thought it might be a lifter, as when it warmed up, went away, but ive never heard a lifter that loud. Went home and changed the oil (change it every 5K anyway, and just changed it the week before from a sythetic blend to full sythetic-probably bad idea looking back). Anyway, noise has not been present for 250 miles. Reappeared today when it was warm-parked truck, went into store, came out, started it and loud ticking/clacking noise again. Increases in loudness and pitch as rpms go up, but not steady (ie one loud click, then nothing, then loud clicks all close together). Then after i got on the freeway went away and not doing it any more. Also, when it was at idle and clicking, it was idling a bit rough. Sorry post so long, but wanted to explain thoroughly! Thanx a ton-great forum

I have a 2002 Pfinder with about 75,000mi, and this exact problem started happening today.The clicking is in sync with the RPMs, and are constant. It just sounds like the type of thing you should not be driving and diagnosing at the same time. Luckily I was right by a gas station when it started and just pulled over. I just got my oil changed about 3 days prior, and checked the oil level, normal. Interesting thoughts on the carbon deposits, as well as the loose screws. That would really suck if the engine was trashed from the screws, but i am bringing it to a Japanese car specialist tomorrow, so we will see what happens. THis really sux since i was about to head to the snow!

[jp1051]

dude! so sorry-keep us updated on that what they find! Mine has 81K on it now, and have had no return of the noise since fuel inject. cleaning, so hopefully that is all that is wrong with yours. What IS interesting is that mine happened just like yours-just a few days after the oil change-did you change from dino to syn. like me? wow-anyway, no trouble with mine at all now, except for ANOTHER blown 02 sensor which i replaced (so thats 2 of em-only has happened when we have driven to CA from WA state-weird!)

[Bow_Tied]

The local dealer service manager had not heard of it being an issue on pathfinders. For the sake of $70 of gaskets and a day's work, I chose to take the engine apart and loc-tite the darn screws. Here is a detailed account:(this link contains a lot of pictures and will be slow if you are on dial-up):http://npora.ipbhost.com//inde...17104

BTW, I do not believe the screws are brass, but rather a zinc di-chromate coated screw. It is magnetic and the yellow wore off when I wire wheeled the threads.

Hope you find the link to my thread useful.Ron

[timmack]

awesome post + nice pics. hey kouki, any way we can sticky that?

[timmack]

just to clarify, its those 12 little screws staring us in the face in the pic below?

http://i160.photobucket.com/al...8.jpg

[KoukiS14]

awesome post + nice pics. hey kouki, any way we can sticky that?

Yes sir -- I can sticky this thread anyway

edit: give me some time and I'll re-do the original thread and sticky that.

[KoukiS14]

Alright, done -- hope the original poster doesn't get mad at me. I gave him credit, so hopefully all is well.

[timmack]

nice, thanks kouki. ive been looking for something like that for a while, im really not in the mood to be swapping the motor out in my pathy just because of a couple tiny screws. and that dude did a heck of a job with the pics and details.

[KoukiS14]

I agree. . the guy did an awesome job. Just hope the credit I gave him is good enough. I at least re-hosted the photos -- we'll see if he shows up here angry or not.