97 Pathfinder Acceleration Loss, RPM Spike. Power was fine.

[kayjay]

Hi, I've been searching online all morning. Maybe someone has some info on this forum & can help out. My GF was driving to School this A.M, about 30 mins into it (50 min drive). We have a 1997 Nissan Pathfinder 4x4 with 197k. Bought it with 171k, got it certified & have had No issues until about 3 k ago, Was the Alternator & had Alternator replaced. Driving perfect since, allot of highway driving. She drives about 7/800k per week. Keep up regular oil changes. & no apparent signs of any other issues to the mechanics who fixed Alt. at the time. She was driving 100kph, the RPM suddenly spiked to over 6k, the truck had no ability to accelerate, ALL the lights (warnings etc.) came on at once on the dash. She didn't hear any (weird or other) noises at all. She had brake & steering power. Got (coasted) to side of road, turned off car,(she is not sure if motor was running or not) waiting a couple minutes, then started it again. Everything was just fine. No 'warning' lights on the dash. No other issues. She drove around a bit, no noises etc. then got to a coffee shop & visually looked, everything seemed fine/working, then on to school (about 30 mins of driving). Shut it off. Waiting 5 mins. Started it again, No warning lights on dash, everything electrical worked fine. She couldnt verify if brake lights were working at the time. Please Note, there has been a warning light on the Truck since we got it. It goes off on its own at times. I'd say it has been Off mostly as of late. I checked the code, & it was for something to do with the gas cap seal. Sorry, it was a year ago & cant find the note about it.

Any insight/help is greatly Appreciated!

Cheerz .. ~

[Towncivilian]

Were the timing belt and spark plugs replaced around 105k miles as far as you know?

If the vehicle is driveable, could you get codes pulled at some auto parts store and list them all here?

Welcome to NICO.

[kayjay]

Hi, thanks for the reply. There is No Check Engine light on atm. It has appeared infrequently over the last few months. Since the truck was purchased used, there wasn't any service history with it, we have no idea about timing chain, if that goes, it wouldnt have started etc.back up right ..? She just texted & said she made it back home. No problems at all, 45 minute drive. It sucks because she is Nursing student, & can't miss any school without fear of failing/getting too far behind, the schedule is that tight with clinicals' etc. & they strict about Not missing any of those classes/placements. but without the truck, she couldn't even get to school. There is no one else can drive her where she is, out in the boonies..Im a couple hundred klics away. Hoping it doesnt happen again, She called the Mechanic (just now) who put in the Alt. he is a decent small town shop/guy, he said for her to bring it by Now, & he will look it over no charge, he thinks it may be a grounding issue. I thought that too,as there used to be a stereo & there is a switch. But I couldnt find any old or loose wires anywhere. ... the saga continues... :P... Cheerz ..~

[Towncivilian]

I'd still try to pull codes anyway, since the light is intermittent then codes still may be stored.

If the timing belt broke, you probably would've bent valves and the engine would no longer start, yes. But the timing belt could also have jumped a tooth and messed up the timing.

The distributor cap and/or rotor could be a potential cause too, if there's excessive dirt or dust buildup under the cap or if the rotor is excessively scorched.