Hi all, I'm not an Altima owner, but I'm trying to help out a girl in our church who is putting herself through college and can't afford to take her car to a real mechanic.

The car is a 2003 Altima with the 2.5L engine. The engine sounds like it's not getting fuel or the choke is on or something like that. When I put the gas to the floor, it will only rev up to about 2000 RPM. To drive it, there's just no power. It will barely crawl. I got stuck on the other side of a hill the other day, and I couldn't even get enough power to go up the ramps onto a trailer.

I made a video that shows how it sounds and revs. It is here: [youtube][https://youtu.be/97x24R-atuI]

It is throwing the following codes:
-P0420-Catalyst Efficiency Below Normal (Bank 1)
-P0217-Engine Over Temperature
-P0300-Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
-P0731-A/T First Gear Circuit Malfunction

Since running those codes, I replaced a spark plug that wasn't firing right and I found a leak in the electric throttle control actuator inlet hose so I replaced the hose. It did not change the behavior of the engine.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I have some skills and am pretty good at following instructions.

This kid I'm trying to help is an awesome kid who is doing everything right-going to school full time, working full time, and there is no way she can afford more than a couple hundred dollars.
Thanks!!

I forgot to mention, I did a compression check, and everything was good there.

mike_b_ar wrote:Hi all, I'm not an Altima owner, but I'm trying to help out a girl in our church who is putting herself through college and can't afford to take her car to a real mechanic.

The car is a 2003 Altima with the 2.5L engine. The engine sounds like it's not getting fuel or the choke is on or something like that. When I put the gas to the floor, it will only rev up to about 2000 RPM. To drive it, there's just no power. It will barely crawl. I got stuck on the other side of a hill the other day, and I couldn't even get enough power to go up the ramps onto a trailer.

I made a video that shows how it sounds and revs. It is here: [youtube][https://youtu.be/97x24R-atuI]

It is throwing the following codes:
-P0420-Catalyst Efficiency Below Normal (Bank 1)
-P0217-Engine Over Temperature
-P0300-Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
-P0731-A/T First Gear Circuit Malfunction

Since running those codes, I replaced a spark plug that wasn't firing right and I found a leak in the electric throttle control actuator inlet hose so I replaced the hose. It did not change the behavior of the engine.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I have some skills and am pretty good at following instructions.

This kid I'm trying to help is an awesome kid who is doing everything right-going to school full time, working full time, and there is no way she can afford more than a couple hundred dollars.
Thanks!!

Well for starters you could gift her a AAA membership with 200 miles of free towing.
With a fourteen year old vehicle the problems could most likely be emission related? Catalytic converters, O2 sensors, etc?
If it were me I would first speak with a local Nissan dealer describing the codes. Most likely a one hour labor and diagnostic charge can provide an accurate estimate of needed repairs.
A decision can then be made whether to repair or look for another vehicle.

Good luck

Telcoman

Probably a plugged catalytic converter. Try disconnecting the exhaust manifold from the cat and see if performance improves at all when hitting the gas in the driveway. If so, a new cat will be required. Also, if so, you will need to find out why it got plugged up - most likely is a bad spark plug that's not firing or a stuck-open fuel injector making a cylinder run rich.

Yeah, bad cats, possibly O2 sensors. Do a basic tune up and reset timing and idle to avoid toasting the new cat(s). PS - start with the primary cat. I went through something very similar recently with a buddy getting ready for SMOG. We had one cat replaced and we put on new O2 sensors and that was it.

PS - get your church friend to sign up with NICO! We have lot's of good information here for everyone, not just racers and mechanics.