2002 Pathfinder persistent p0011 and p0021

[wotsac]

Hi-
I know this one pops up on occasion, but I am stumped and I haven't found any new ideas in a while.

I've got a 2002 Pathfinder with 257,000 or so on it (and at a minimum a leaking RMS and bank 1 valve cover gasket). It keeps throwing P0011, with occasional P0021. It had a slow crank-reluctant to start when hot issue that's now replaced with a fast crank reluctant to crank when hot (also substantially less frequent).

So far I've:
- changed the oil. Twice. 1st time Mobile 1 5w30, 2nd time some basic Oreiley store brand 10w30 high mile.
- Put in new Hitachi solenoids. This seemed to move me from a frequent issue where the truck would barely crank when hot to a less frequent fast crank reluctant to start issue. So it was very much worth doing.
- Replaced the front and rear crank position sensors.
- Replaced the Cam PHASE sensor (driver's side front, shaped like a drum). Original part had cracking on its sensor face, so I didn't figure it was worth hoping that a cleaning would do the trick.
- Replaced the Intake cam position sensor (passenger side front, longer and flat on the top and bottom).
- Replaced the spark plugs (probably irrelevant, but they were pretty ugly).

The truck honestly seems to run fine when it's running (maybe down a bit of power on the top end, but I don't know it from when it was younger), so maybe I should just ignore the problem and move on. But this is just annoying me. Thanks for any wisdom.

[wotsac]

Oh... that's where the bank 2 Cam Position sensor is. I've tidied that up as much as I could, and cleaned the adjacent ground points a bit. But the P0011 is pending again.

[Rockwood]

There have been a couple of people who have used Seafoam in the engine to clear p0011. There is a valve advance control mechanism in the front of the passenger cylinder head that I think gets gummed up over time and the Seafoam seems to help.

It probably would also help with gummed up / dirty solenoids, but I see you have already replaced those.

Since it has worked for some people it may be worth trying.