So, I've been doing an ignition tune up on my 2000 Pathfinder (VG33E). I replaced the plugs last week without incident. Today I changed my wires, distributor cap and rotor. I started it up afterwards, and all seemed fine at first, but then the engine skipped a few times. When I put it into drive, the skipping got worse, to the point the engine came close to stalling. I at first thought I'd gotten some defective parts, so I completely undid everything I did, and put the old parts back on. The skipping did not go away though. I followed the directions on this forum how-to-replace-plugs-cap-rotor-on-1999- ... 27336.html, as well as the info in the FSM, so I'm 99% sure I didn't do anything wrong in the install. I tripled checked to be sure the wires were on the correct plugs, and the torque on the rotor screw was correct. As I continued the troubleshooting, the skipping only got worse. Currently the engine will barely start, and only if you give it gas and hold it at 2000+ RPM. The second you let off the throttle, the engine will stumble and sputter, and eventually die.
Before I started messing with the distributor today, the car has never had issues like this before. From flipping through other threads, the symptoms sound like my distributor has gone bad, but this is only a guess. And I really don't understand why replacing the cap and rotor would have caused this to start.
Any ideas?
P.S. Checked the car with my ScanGauge, no trouble codes.
Changed distributor cap and rotor... killed my truck
Re: Changed distributor cap and rotor... killed my truck
Glad my How-to somewhat helped!
Anyway, the way I did my wires was I did them one at a time so I wouldn't mess with the firing order. You might have the correct wires on the correct plugs but did you double check to make sure you got them right on the distributor cap? Sounds like a misfire? Maybe take the cap off and check if the rotor is seated properly.
Good luck!
Anyway, the way I did my wires was I did them one at a time so I wouldn't mess with the firing order. You might have the correct wires on the correct plugs but did you double check to make sure you got them right on the distributor cap? Sounds like a misfire? Maybe take the cap off and check if the rotor is seated properly.
Good luck!
Re: Changed distributor cap and rotor... killed my truck
Thanks for your reply Pathy415.
Took it to the dealer because I couldn't be without my car. Turns out my timing was off... way off. After I changed the cap and rotor, and the engine started skipping, I checked the timing and adjusted it. It was after that the car got to the point it wouldn't start. Apparantly my crankpully has warped and rotated a bit so that the timing marks on it are no longer accurate. Even though I set the timing right according to the marks, it was still wrong. They took out the #1 and #6 spark plugs and rotated the engine until #1 was at TDC and #6 was at BDC and reset the timing that way. Car drives OK now, but it's still skipping a bit at idle and there's now spark knock when accelerating. Guess I'll take it back and hope its just the timing that needs to be refined a bit.
Took it to the dealer because I couldn't be without my car. Turns out my timing was off... way off. After I changed the cap and rotor, and the engine started skipping, I checked the timing and adjusted it. It was after that the car got to the point it wouldn't start. Apparantly my crankpully has warped and rotated a bit so that the timing marks on it are no longer accurate. Even though I set the timing right according to the marks, it was still wrong. They took out the #1 and #6 spark plugs and rotated the engine until #1 was at TDC and #6 was at BDC and reset the timing that way. Car drives OK now, but it's still skipping a bit at idle and there's now spark knock when accelerating. Guess I'll take it back and hope its just the timing that needs to be refined a bit.
Re: Changed distributor cap and rotor... killed my truck
Ok, I think I found the issue. Replaced the entire distributor and the car seems to be driving like it used to. No more skipping at idle, and was able to set the timing back to where the spark knock is gone. When I tried that before the skipping worsened to the point it would again stall at idle under load. Seems the distributors on this engine have an unusually high failure rate. I suppose before I started the ignition tune up it must have already been on the verge of failing, and my messing with it was the nail in the coffin. I'll update in a few weeks and confirm the problem is gone for good.