Post by
laylasowner »
https://forums.nicoclub.com/laylasowner-u199455.html
Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:41 pm
Hello,
Thanks in advance to everyone in this forum. I've been a reader, not a poster, for quite sometime and have gleaned a ton of good information and techniques from the posts here. While I have found pieces of my issue described in other posts here and around the net, I have yet to discover a fix. Hoping that someone here has seen what I am experiencing.
Somewhat quick history: 97 Nissan Hardbody SE 4x4 4-cyl with stock everything except for small lift. Has almost 180,000 miles. No 'major' work under the hood.
Over the summer a friend and I were off-roading for over 8 hours looking for camping and fishing spots. Around the 8 hour mark the truck started to run really rough while driving and was idling rough. Black smoke was pouring out of the exhaust pipe and it would die if I did not keep my foot on the gas. On top of that, it was having issues going above (I believe, don't have a tach) 2,500 rpms. It would just rev up then jerk violently and stop accelerating until the rpms dropped then I could gas it and they would go up again to the 2,5000 rpm mark before it would do it all over again. I was able to get home by shifting into the next gear every 9-10 mph. To get to 30 mph I had to be in 3rd gear, 40 mph in 4th, and could only get up to about 50 mph in the final (5th) gear. And the CEL was now lit.
I let the truck rest until the morning before starting it again. It started fine, was not idling rough or blowing out black smoke, and I had no issues getting the rpms up. It drove as well as it ever did. The CEL was still on so I drove it down to autozone for a free diagnostic. Their reader showed a cylinder 3 misfire as well as a MAF out of range. When I started the truck but up to leave autozone, it went back to running poorly and not allowing the rpms to get up past 2,500. Went home and cleaned the maf. No difference. Checked connections to oxygen sensors and anything else I could reach under the hood. Everything appeared to be connected properly. With the help of a friend, I replaced the fuel filter, checked the cat converter, replaced spark plugs and cables, checked the timing, and changed the oil. Of course none of those things worked, but he was hoping it would be a 'simple fix' so we tried those first.
But what I did discover was from then on, the truck would start and run fine if it had not been driven for at least half a day. As soon as it got warmed up to running temp the problems would come back. The first 10-15 minutes it ran as good as the day I bought it and then when it reached that temp or whatever sensor/part turned on, it was a completely different truck. From what I read it was going into 'limp mode' as soon as it warmed up.
Anyway, I ran out of time and money to get her repaired so I have just been driving another vehicle and the truck has been in the garage. Started working on it again last week. A mechanic suggested replacing the distributor. After replacing the distributor it ran better and stopped dying at idle. I also replaced the maf and that further smoothed out the idle and also fixed the rpm problem. I drove it around the block and noticed it had a 'dead spot' in the rpms. By this I mean that while accelerating, it hesitates early in the gear and I have to force the accelerator to the floor so it 'gets past' this part and then accelerates as normal. Then I shift gears and it happens again. It also idles better but not perfect. It sounds like it wants to backfire and you can tell it's not smooth. The exhaust also stinks and it sounds like it's 'coughing' while idling... increased spurts of sound coming from exhaust. Disconnected battery overnight and when I plugged it back in and turned it on, the CEL was out but it was not driving better. Let it run for a few minutes and the light came back on.
Now, this was yesterday and I plan on taking it back to get the codes from the CEL light today. Wanted to post this to see if anyone has suggestions or answers. Thanks for taking the time to read my first post!