1997 Nissan Pathfinder R50 VG33E-Running rough

[R50BOI69]

So I have a 1997 Nissan Pathfinder R50 that is a manual drive with the 3.3litre motor. It has 207000 miles on it. I’ve had it for about 1.5 years now an have only ran into a couple mechanical issues with it so far. About a week ago the CEL popped on reading codes P0443, and P0446. I kept driving it but kept an eye on the codes it read, and the way the motor was sounding. Then out of no where when I was driving home it started to not want to accelerate when I put my foot down on the gas. It would feel as if it were bogging out when I tried to accelerate anymore. I’ve read tons of other forums looking to help me solve this problem but I’m having no luck. Has anyone else encountered this problem with there pathfinder before? Also my tachometer does not work at all since I got the pathy, it just bounces around all sporadic and occasionally it looks like it’s reading correctly. My car seems to run well for the first 15-20 minutes. Until it warms up and the temp gauge gets about halfway in between H an C. I’ve tried replacing the fuel filter, cleaning the MAF and a few other sensors with a parts cleaner/ Electrical contact spray. At this point I don’t want to put the money into the pathfinder if I don’t have too. I recently looked under my car after all this started too happen and noticed that after my muffler silencer my tailpipe broke completely off of the muffler and was only hanging by the rubber hook that connects to the pipe. I know the exhaust is not the reason for this odd engine performance. Can someone please help me, or let me know what I can do, to fix this problem myself. The Pathy seems to start up just like normal with no issues, but the idle sounds like it is bouncing around quite a bit. Please help :/

[MisterH]

The two codes you saw were for a fault in your evaporative emission control system. I doubt if they're causing the halting and bucking when you try to accelerate. For that, one likely cause is your distributor is failing. The distributor for the 3.3 equipped engines have the cam sensor built into them and when it fails, you have to replace the entire distributor. You can test this with an oscilloscope, but given your mileage it would be high on the list of components nearing the end of its life.

[Slumpert]

Highly suggest you also “TEST” your fuel regulator. One of those hand held vacuum pumps will work. It’s a very annoying thing to access for replacement, but it’s easy to pull the vacuum line off and test it for leaking and flow

My 97 Pathy also has developed the disco tach. I tried to remove it and reflow the solder points, but that didn’t work for me and it’s different from the 99 donor Pathy I bought so I just sold that cluster on eBay.

[R50BOI69]

I will check into buying a whole new distributor I found one for 60$ on amazon that comes with a new cap, And rotor, including the bottom half. I was going to try switching out all the spark plugs tomorrow with new NGK plugs! I’ll post after I replace them. Also I removed my Solenoid Sensor that is attached to the charcoal canister and it was definitely not working any longer because it was covered in rust and disintegrating as soon as I pulled it off. I replaced it with a brand new one so I know that, The sensor is now working just fine to the canister. That should clear 1 of the 2 codes my car is reading currently. Do 1997 3.3 Pathfinder’s like mine have an Idle Air control valve ? Is it possible the throttle isn’t idling correctly because my battery was unplugged for like a week, and my codes were erased? Do I need to learn how to re train the IACV through The ECM Doing a certain procedure to make the idle set back to factory? Thanks so much, I’ll let you know about the spark plugs I replace. Someone also told me that it’s possible that it’s my crankshaft sensor, or possibly the knock sensor that’s making it jerk and hesitate when accelerating. The car works just fine when it’s cold, but as soon as it warms up it starts having some real trouble, and almost wants to stall out but it doesn’t.

[MisterH]

The 3.3 engines do have an IAC but there isn't a relearn procedure as in the later 3.5 engines.

[R50BOI69]

So I changed out the plugs, and after I did that I started it up and let it run for about 10 minutes. Then I shut it back off, plugged in the code reader to see that one new code came up which is P1336-manufacture control, which I looked up and it’s saying it’s my crankshaft sensor now? Kind of confused is it the crankshaft sensor that’s messing with the engine or is it the camshaft ? Don’t have the money to be buying part after part.