Engine light in 01 Pathfinder

garrys · Jun 28th, 2004, 12:32 AM

I live 1500 kms. from my nearest Nissan dealer and have had to use a local garage and Canadian Tire for service (I'm beyond the warranty period as well). My "service engine soon" light came on several months ago. My local Canadian Tire dealer said - "needs new plugs", and put them in. Three days later, the light came on again. They then changed a crank sensor. Three days later, the light came on again. They cleaned the other crank sensor and things seemed fine for a couple of weeks.

Lately, the engine has run rough a couple of times, and the "service engine soon" light flashed. I turned off the car and restarted and it ran fine, with no engine light on. It happened again a couple of days ago, though.

Any ideas on things to try next? I'm up to about $800 so far and this continuing problem is making me lose sleep. I'm tempted to drive to my nearest dealer, but am not confident they could find anything if the engine light is not on when I get there.

BTW, I live in Yellowknife, and the nearest dealer is Edmonton.

jadcock · Jun 28th, 2004, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garrys

Any ideas on things to try next? I'm up to about $800 so far and this continuing problem is making me lose sleep. I'm tempted to drive to my nearest dealer, but am not confident they could find anything if the engine light is not on when I get there.

It sounds like your local Canadian Tire shop really has no idea how to properly diagnose a problem such as this. They may not even be able to READ the computer codes. The first clue is they advised new spark plugs the first time you brought it in. Unless the check engine light is flashing, indicating a misfire, you don't need new plugs. Same deal with the crank sensor -- unless they actually pulled the codes, they're just "shotgunning" parts and labor at the truck, and as long as you keep paying them to do that, they'll gladly continue.

Bring it back to them and ask them to give you a printout of all the codes stored in the vehicle's computer. They should be able to do that, or at least show you on a screen what the computer indicates the problem is. If they can't, or won't, do that, I'd advise taking it elsewhere. Do you have an Autozone near you up there? They'll plug into your truck and read the codes for free.