Just bought an 02 Altima 3.5SE and having problems

[daniel240]

Well I just bought a 3.5SE today and on the 4hr drive home the Service engine soon light came on. Since it was after 5 on a friday I just took it to autozone and they said the code was the camshaft position actuator. Also since then it seems like it is taking longer than it should to start. Im pissed cause I didnt purchase a warranty and this is happening on the first day. If anyone can help me or knows what going on please let me know. Thanksbtw the car only has 65k miles on it

[daniel240]

bump

[audtatious]

Did you lookup the code to see what the fix is?

[daniel240]

Well I took it to the dealer the other day and they replaced the crankshaft sensor, fuel pump cold start, and some rear suspension peice under recall. However shortly after I left the engine light came on again and the car had a significant lose in power and was bogging while accelerating at higher rpms and it was still hard to start after the engine cooled down. I took it back in today and the ran a diagnostic and said it was the intake valve timing solenoid, and the exhaust purge valve. The intake valve solenoid is $250 to replace and the purge valve is $200. I realy dont want to spend the money on these if im not sure they are causing the problems and the hard start. has anyone had any problems like this or know anything about them?

[audtatious]

What are the actual codes?

I'm going to move this to Nissan Online Mechanic for some professional comments...

[audtatious]

bump

Come on gang, help this guy out

[daniel240]

yeah really, Im use to the 240 forums where you get tons of responses. Anyways I think the one code was a P0011 intake valve timing solenoid and the purge valve code Im not sure what it is. Im pretty confident that the intake valve timing solenoid is causing the loss in power cause its probably retarding the timing too much. Im going to try to test it with an ohm meter like the fsm says before I go buy one. My main concern is why the car is hard to start. It seems like anytime the car sits for more than about 20-30min it is hard to start. I have to crank it 5-6seconds to start. Sometimes in the mornings it will start fine an other times it wont. But anytime I drive it anywhere and it sits it is hard to start. If anyone can help me out with any of this please let me know.

[dickie]

sorry to hear about your problems, are these very common on altimas?

[NISTECH]

You have two intake timing SENSORS. this code is for one of them. You car had a recall on those sensors. If you give me your vin I can run it on nissans DCS to see if its been done. However I have seen the replacements have the same problem. You can do a real quick check on these sensors yourself. located at the back of each head (Above the Trans) you will see a black sensor plugged into the head. The connector is black with a green slide in tab. Push that tab in and pull the connector off the sensor. You may need to hold the green part in while pulling the connector off with your other hand. Once you have this connector off look really close at the terminals on the connectors and the terminals in the sensors. If you find ANY oil your sensor is leaking internally and needs to be replaced. This is a VERY common problem with those sensors on just about any nissan built after 02. This is the same problem the pathfinder has with its intake timing sensors. Your vehicle is also known to have issues with the fuel pump but not anywhere as common as that of the sensors.

Again if you give me your VIN I can run it on DCS to see if its had the campaign. DCS goes down at 8pm pacific time today and wont be back up till 4 am monday morning. So it might take awhile to get you an answer on it.

[daniel240]

my vin is 1N4BL11D12C111025 I took the car in last week to have these 4 recalls done: P5216 MBR, R3001 Air bag clip, R3012 F/Pump cold NTB03-077, and R3022 Crank Pos. sensor NTB03-124. They said these were all the recalls for my vehicle. From my understanding they said there are 3 different sensors and that they replaced all of them. They said the sensors are not causing the CEL. Now they are saying that I need a new intake valve timing solenoid. They said labor would be $108 for this which I dont understand because I just took the part off with a 10mm socket in about 1.5 min. The other part they said that was bad was a purge valve in the exhaust. They said it was opening but not closing or something. This part is $193 for parts and labor.

[Japtech947]

Yes all three sensors will take of your recall problems for the 3.5 but it's not uncommon to have one or both intake timing solenoid valves go bad either on Bank-1 or Bank -2 usually foreign debris from oil or sludge build up from lack of oil maintenece gets trapped in the plunger causing it not to open and close properly.This is also common on the Maxima's and 350Z's as well for solenoids and if the oil level gets to low it will set this code too.

[daniel240]

So would I just need to go ahead and buy a new intake valve timing solenoid or is there anyway to clean it out? Also I think I read that you can test it to see if it is bad by testing the resistance between the two contacts on the soleniod. I think it said they should be between 7 and 7.5ohms. But would this work if the plunger is not opening. As soon as I can find a meter Im going to try this. And now that I think about it the oil level was very low when I bought the car, but I changed it right away.

[NISTECH]

The crank sensor recall is the one I was reffering to. Make sure theres no oil in the connectors as I mentioned. Clean them out with brake clean if there is. They may have not done that when they did the recall. The fact your oil was very low when you bought the car is a sign you may have bought a car that was poorly maintained. You can put some solvent in the passage ways of the solonoid itself to try and clean out the debris. Then blow it out with air. Also do your resistance check on the solonoid to make sure electrically it is ok.

Something I bypassed in your last post. I have no idea what they are talking about when they say "Exhuast purge valve" as that part doesnt exist. Perhaps they are talking about the EVAP purge valve? If thats plugged or stuck open you really need to check and see if there is charcoal in the hardline between the canister and the valve. If so you need a new canister as well.

[Q45tech]

One or Two treatments with BG Quick Clean for engines [follow directions precisely] should remove the varnish.

Since the car appears [from comments] to have been mistreated as to 90 day oil changes, I would pull the valve covers to look and see how much damage [wear] has occurred!

Amazing how much damage typical previous owners can do just neglecting the oil.

[daniel240]

what is the BG quick clean and where do I get it? Are you saying that this might help clean up any debreis in the intake valve timing solenoid?

[daniel240]

Well I just checked the codes myself and I got: 0021 (intake valve timing solenoid) and 0455 Im assuming that is the evap but I cannot find this code. I found code 0453 and 0456 but not 0455. Also I checked the two different sensors and the back one did have a little oil on it so I cleaned it off as good as i could. I just filled the car up with gas today on my way home and while I was out doing this stuff to the car I could smell gas. I dont know if its because i just filled it up or if it has something to do with the evap thing or why its hard to start.

Modified by daniel240 at 11:41 PM 8/14/2006
Modified by daniel240 at 1:00 AM 8/15/2006

[NISTECH]

P0455 is evap gross leak. We typically see that code appear when the customer leaves the fuel cap off. However being your smelling gas under the hood take a look at the hose with the green cap on it coming up to the solonoid on the intake manifold. This is the evap purge valve I think the dealer was reffering to. make sure the hose is connected from the metal rail all the way to the solonoid and that the hose going from the solonoid to the intake is in place. The green cap should be somewhere between the engine and the brake booster.

The oil you found in that connector may have been your problem. After checking the evap hose drive the car for a couple days and see if the light goes out or you have better drivability.

[daniel240]

You say the oil I found on the sensor may have been my problem are you referring to the code 0021 intake valve timing solenoid? The CEL light hasnt came on since I cleaned the oil off the sensor yesterday however I have not driven it hard at all.

[NISTECH]

yes. The oil that was on the connector may have been residual from the prior sensors. If the light is off that means that neither the EVAP or the timing code are failing. Go put her to the test see if the problem returns. I would first recommend though following Q45techs advice and run some cleaner through the engine then do an oil change to remove any possible sludge build up.

[daniel240]

well the light still has not come on yet however I still have not driven it hard. I did notice today that when I get out of the car I can smell gas. It seems like it is coming more from the rear of the car like maybe around the gas tank.

[NISTECH]

make sure you cap is installed properly. If you have one of those locking gas caps ,loose it they tend to not seal properly. All of your evap components are located above the rear suspension member. If you can get under there take a look at all the hoses you can and see if they are all in place. it is dead center of the car between the rear wheels.

[daniel240]

Yeah the dealer just replaced the rear subframe parts under recall, I wonder if they knocked something loose down there around the evap stuff while they were working down there cause Im still smelling gas back there.

[NISTECH]

Yeah the dealer just replaced the rear subframe parts under recall, I wonder if they knocked something loose down there around the evap stuff while they were working down there cause Im still smelling gas back there.

Most likely or they craked the canister. It is located right above the subframe. This is likely your p0455 code as well.

[daniel240]

My light came back on last night and I just checked it and its still throwing the 0022 intake valve timing code. I guess I will try cleaning it real good and if that doesnt work I guess Im going to have to buy one. Also Im still having the problems with starting the car but I noticed that if I turn the key on and wait a couple seconds then turn it off and back on before I start it, it starts fine.

[NISTECH]

Also Im still having the problems with starting the car but I noticed that if I turn the key on and wait a couple seconds then turn it off and back on before I start it, it starts fine.

This is a strong sign the fuel pump is weak.

On your sensor spray some brake clean in the connector and in the terminal area of the sensor. Then blow it out with air. If you dont have compressed air blow on it best you can and let it air out a bit before you plug it back in.

[daniel240]

This is a strong sign the fuel pump is weak.

On your sensor spray some brake clean in the connector and in the terminal area of the sensor. Then blow it out with air. If you dont have compressed air blow on it best you can and let it air out a bit before you plug it back in.

Ok, what sensor are you talking about?

[NISTECH]

The cam postion sensor you have been messing with. here is a pic.

[daniel240]

Ok well yesterday I pulled both of the cam sensors out that you talked about and cleaned the sensors and plugs real well with brake cleaner. Then I removed the intake valve timing solenoid and cleaned it out real well with brake cleaner and put it all back together and drove the car and I am still getting the 0021 code. I also checked the resistance on the intake valve timing solenoid and it was within spec according to the fsm.

[NISTECH]

dumb question here but did you clear the code before you drove it?

[daniel240]

Yes I cleared the code by holding the pedal down for 10sec after reading the codes. This is getting really frustrating. I dont have the money to just be buying a bunch of parts if im not for sure they are going to fix the problem.