The Nissan Path

I have a 1996 Pathfinder LE 4x4 automatic transmission. I've had it since around August of 2007. It has been a great car until about 6 months ago. I was driving down the road when out of nowhere my truck just starts sputtering and finally stalls out. I couldn't get it started for about 10 tries. I finally got it started and limped home. I had it towed to my regular shop and they changed my distributor rotor and cap, spark plugs, and wires. It started right up. On the way back home, the truck began to do what it did before, except much less severe. It was kinda like the truck was coughing. It was most noticeable when I'm stopped at a red light in gear. In park, the coughing was there, but very little. This problem has persisted and gotten worse. It idles anywhere from 1500 RPM to 900 RPM and you can see the RPMs fluctuating everywhere in idle and in gear, worse in gear. I've replaced the TPS and I've cleaned the MAF. This weekend I'm replacing the fuel filter and seafoaming the engine. Is there anything else it could be? Please help!

Check the manual for the camshaft position sensor. It will do weird things like make it stall and start right back up. The crankshaft sensor will either not let you start or if the cam shaft sensor is going bad and stalling it out, it won't just start back up. Are your problems happening during humid/wet conditions? That is when it usually happens.

boogyman wrote: Are your problems happening during humid/wet conditions? That is when it usually happens.

The problem is present all the time, but it is worse after driving for a while. Then again, i live in Augusta, GA, and it is humid 24/7.

Well i think there are 2 cam position sensors. So it's best to replace both, because figuring out which one it might be is not worth the time. Are you getting any codes, because something should have popped up as soon as it happened. I would get the crankshaft sensor while your at it, since it wears out over time and could be causing some of your headaches.

im not getting any codes. i think i am going to replace those sensors though.

Has Fuel Filter been replaced as well?

fat_frog wrote:Has Fuel Filter been replaced as well?

no, im doing that tomorrow though.

So has the new fuel filter fixed the problem

i found the problem. bad distributor.

Glad you finally found out what the problem was, too bad it isn't a cheap fix. Hope this is the end of your troubles for a while.

yeah, i hope so. my next project is to get some 2" lift coils and BF Goodrich all terrains. it will be a slow process, but it'll be awesome.