SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT ON - ENGINE CODING P1110

[Pathfinder Crisis]

I bought my 2001 Nissan Pathfinder a little over 2 weeks ago and it had an exemplary car fax on it so I felt confident it was a well taken care of vehicle. Any way to get to my issue; 3 days ago the service engine light came on and I immediately took it to AutoZone to code it. The code that came up was P1110 and said several things like about debris blocking but the main thing was the Variable Timing Control - Left Bank. I wanted to make sure I got a second opinion so I called my local Nissan dealer and he said that code meant the same thing AutoZone had said and quoted me a horrendous amount of money to fix it.My husband and I work on vehicles a lot so we would like to fix this sensor at as cheap a cost as possible but this is our first Nissan so I was wondering if someone could tell me as simple terms possible how to fix (as I have read through a lot of blogs it isn't hard) and possibly have a diagram of exactly where both the left and right sensors are? I'm desperate not to have to take this to the dealership for a good robbing of my wallet!!

[Pwnin O'Brien]

P1110 (Bank 1) Definition: The alignment of the intake valve timing control has been misregistered. This malfunction will also cause your ECM to enter fail-safe mode.

Three possible causes of P1110:1) Crankshaft position sensor2) Camshaft position sensor3) Accumulation of debris to the signal pick-up portion of the camshaft

So you may have a bad camshaft or crankshaft position sensor. For issue three you can just visually examine the signal plate at the camshaft for chips or breaks. You can knock out two and three at once, so I would start there.

[Pathfinder Crisis]

Thank you and please forgive my ignorance but where are those sensor and are the tough to get to?

[Pwnin O'Brien]

I'll see if I can find a diagram...

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Assuming you have a 3.5L.....

This is the diagram of the sensors. The diagram lists a lot of sensors, not sure if you have them all, but check the locations anyhow. The red underlined part numbers are crankshaft position sensors and the blue underlined parts are the camshaft position sensors.



The next image is of a 3.5L but it is for a 2003 model, so this picture may not help you, but since you have to check the camshaft position sensor anyhow, you might as well check. This shows the location of the sensor plate in relation to the camshaft position sensor (also for your problematic bank, Bank 1).



Let me know if this helps any!

[Chuck Tribolet]

With a 2001 PF, it's a 3.5L.

Don't panic. I drove around with that code on both banks (other bank is P1135)for a couple of years.

Do poke around here. Nistech did a nice write up on trying to figure out whetherit's the sensor or the actuator.

I googled this bug a lot. It seems to be most common in 2001 PF/QX4. Uncommon in later years and other models with the 3.5.

My dealer replaced both actuators, bug came back next morning. They said thethe problem was likely the gear mechanisms on the front of the camshafts($2500 to fix). I decided to live with it. I eventually chased the bug away by doing two things:

1. I have an AutoTap, and it told me that it was happening at full throttle at1500-2400 RPM. Dr., it hurts when I do X. Dr: Don't do X. I worked real hardat keeping the revs above 2500.

2. I switched from Castrol GTX 5w30 to Castrol GTX 10w40. The theory herewas that the actuators are powered by oil pressure, and since the truck as160,000 miles on it, the oil pressure was dropping. So let's try a thicker oil.

These two things pretty much chased the bug away for six months (twooccurrences, both when I badly lugged it) and got me through this year'sCalifornia smog inspection. Lately I've had two more occurrences that aren'twell explained. With the warmer weather it may be that the oil gets thinner.I might try 20w50 next oil change

I'm not too worried because I'm keeping the truck two moreyears (next smog inspection, 200,000 miles) and getting a new truck.

I'm not sure this code puts the ECM in fail-safe mode. It ran really well withthe SES light on.

You can clean the camshaft sensors yourself. They are O-ringed, not aflat gasket. Just make sure the O-ring has a little oil on it when it getsreplaced so it slides into place and doesn't deform. Dunno about thecamshaft sensor.

[Pathfinder Crisis]

The diagrams aren't showing up. Can you attach them somehow?