Ok hears the deal: The car will be just fine driving down the road but on and off it will change idle/exhaust sound and i will notice a HUGE loss of power and throttle response. When it happens if i go WOT it all sounds very fluttery and its like taking off from a stoplight in 3rd gear to give u an idea of how the power feels. RPM's stay @ normal range they dont fluctuate, car doesnt stall. Been happening the last 2 days.

It doesnt do it rapidly back and forth or anything, it will be fine and then ill stop and go at a light, turn a corner, go over big potholes, etc and it will change. When it changes it stays that way for quite awhile. Exhaust has a lot deeper tone and more lopey sounding. Deff can hear the change when standing at my exhaust too. Its more put put sounding.

I have Cattman intake-y-b-muffler. Had it all for awhile. I checked for exhaust leaks or intake leaks today, didnt see anything. Checked to make sure everything was hooked up, maf, etc. all fine. Pretty much the only other mods i have worth mentioning is an 00VI

Ive searched till my eyes are bleeding and nothing rly sounded exactly like whats going on for me. Fuel injector, coil packs, cylinders, etc, etc are what came close to sounding like what i have. One question would be which of those problems can be intermittent?

I cant check my codes atm cause my buddy has the only screwdriver that fits in mine in his truck and hes gone lol. I tried to get it to do it again driving up and down my driveway when i got home (long driveway) and couldnt get it to do it. Main reason was i was going to check the codes while it was running like crap. You think if its not doing the $hit its doing and running just fine and dandy like it does half the time the codes would show anything? Or should i keep trying to duplicate the problem first and then try pulling codes?

Any ideas? Hints? same problems from anyone? Tried to be as informative as possible. I know u cant hear sounds in the forums lol but maybe u can relate to what i wrote


Thx -steve

 

Well, you need to pull the codes.. also im gonna say its a plug or a coil. oh, and check your TPS and MAF...

 

autozone checks for codes for free,in case you don't know about them,let them do it for you and report back if any codes exist

 

Just a guess , but if bumps etc cause this, you may have loose baffles in the muffler. they could have rusted loose or not been tacked well, and be flopping around? otherwise, loose wire/harness around engine/coils?

 

Yes!!! In addition you might want to check for vacuum leaks if you have a aftermarket intake. After installing my short ram a few days ago, I forgot to clamp one of the vacuum hoses and it slowly started coming out and before it got completely disconnected I had random power losses. But when the hose completely came off my car just died and it wasn't until when I opened the hood that I noticed the problem

 

Sry to leave this thread dead for so long. I had a family emergency that came up unexpectedly and had to leave for soon after posting this thread. I ended up staying for quite some time due to it taking a turn for the worse and losing the family member. Best uncle i ever knew!



I pulled my codes and these are what came up.

*0304* - Knock sensor (i had this, rear 02 sensor and egr codes before. now its just the 0304)
*0201* - Ignition signal (new)
*0701* - Multiple/random misfire (new)
*1302* MAP/BARO switch (new)

Its still doing the same thing. Randomly changing from normal car to crappy car. So my question now would be which of these codes and the part(s) associated with them could go bad/be going bad and be randomly going in and out of working to nonworking.

Im sure these codes are tied together somehow like most are. i.e. 02 sensor and knock sensor codes ussually go hand in hand when one craps out. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks again

-steve

 

i say ignition coils are the culprit here

 

I doubt it's coils. Unlikely that multiple coils would fail intermittently like that, and if it was one, you'd have a distinct misfire on one cylinder (if any detected).

Sounds like you have a bad knock sensor and already knew that. That would explain some power loss, but not the intermittent severe situation you just described.

Sorry I don't have a good guess as to what the problem is. Just trying to help eliminate. That MAP/Baro switch code might be the key. I don't know a lot about it.

 

Would an exhaust blockage cause these problems? (Banana in the muffler ala Beverly Hills Cop) if say cracked headers altering airflow at times, cat totally screwed blocking airflow at times, etc?

I only ask before tearing my car apart because lately ive been living on a pretty bumpy dirt road that shakes the living hell out of my car when driving on it at times. Plus the sound of my exhaust while driving. Sounds like a damn V-8 my friend told me while driving behind me. And to me as well. Its deep..... like a camaro with cams lol

I just always picture in my head some piece of my cat falling into the airflow of my exhaust and moving back out of it at times based on airflow (stop, go, turn, etc)... Im not an auto expert just mechanically inclined, thats the cause that always just pops in my mind i guess.. sry if it sounds dumb lol


Maybe electrical?

Its late and im just reaching here. Ill just wait for some experts to chime in here =P

 

yo man...throw some chevron techron in there. Might have some fouled infectors. MAP/BARO easy to replace. KS is prolly reason for power loss. Especially if auto, Definitely replace.

 

Hey man, it sounds like the same problem l am getting intermittent power interuption @ WOT. I think it's coils as well. This problem started for me when l did the 00vi swap, and swapped in some 00 coils on a 00 valvecover they where from a junkyard. Before the 00vi swap my car ran perfect. The first thing l did was clean the MAF with cleaner and that did'nt help as well as check tps output voltage 0.47 perfect. So tommorow l will be putting in 3 new rear coils. I will post the results tommorow.

 

Car's a 5spd, I pretty much only ever use shell premium, and i doubt its the KS. Ive been in people's car's with a bad KS before, not even close to the loss i feel in mine.

Its starting to stay crappy when it switchess from good to bad alot longer now. about 85% crappy and 15% good car now on a daily basis. My CEL is starting to flash at me also now when i give it gas to accelerate while its in crap mode.

I just dont know.. Its so freakin RANDOM!.. Sometimes it'll be crappy car accelerating from a light in 1st or 2nd gear then in an instant i feel the car come alive, change tone and pedal/engine feel and smooth strong power at my command like its all normal. Sometimes the car will be normal while cruising @60mph in 5th ill give it gas to speed up and itll be fine for a sec and BAM.. i can feel the car change in the gas pedal and the exhaust sound and power goes to $hit. It could go back to good car 10miles down the road, or maybe stay crap for the next 2 days...

*pulls hair out!*


I mean if i have to bite the bullet and take it to the shop i will, but if its something stupid simple i can fix and save myself truckloads of cash i will. Im not exactly rich atm. I have 2 jobs and would still need to get help from the family to get it fixed right away..

 

lol recently I have been having a problem that sounds the same as yours. However, I know for a fact that something is in my resonator. Something metal that is clogging it up at times. Same as you described..Sometimes, the car suddenly changes tone and gets really deep. Feels like a misfire. However, for me, its something that is inside the resonator thats causing it. I suggest jacking your car up and tapping the whole exhaust from cat to muffler to see if anything rattles inside of it. That's how I found my problem out. Gonna be dropping the whole exhaust and seeing what the hell is in it that is causing this. Good luck.

 

U got the 00vi swap so u gonna have to do some serious troubleshooting. Check coils first tho. Sounds like one of them or more is gone bad. Grab a mutlitmeter and check voltages and harnesses

 

Ya thats one of the reasons i hate taking my car to a general mechanic or even a nissan dealership. So much if different about my car from stock that i dread even taking it in for minor maintenence for fear they will jack something up and not know wth to do about it...

Ill check the harnesses and voltages like u said. I have 5th gen rear coils, will they put out different voltage numbers than the 4th gen fronts? ill do a search just thought id throw that out there.

And yes this week im going to jack my car up and rip my whole exhaust off as well. Just gotta go by nissan sometime and pick up a few crush rings first.

 

Exhaust blockage would explain a lot, as mentioned above. So would a loose vacuum line or a leak in your swapped intake gaskets. Is there any hissing coming from under the hood when it runs like crap? A vacuum leak is usually pretty loud and easy to find.

 

I wd think with the 00vi swap that ur fining order would be different. Prolly more close the 5th gen specs. Try asking Fallen or maybe FLava. I think they have the swap. Maybe the Wiz too.

 

Are you saying firing order would be different? With the 00vi intake swap. If so it's just the intake not the ecu that we swapped, the firing order is still the same as before the swap.

Anyway, l posted about the possibility of it being the 00 rear coils. Because l just did the 00vi swap and put in 00 coils and valve cover from a junkyard and had the same problem you are describing. I said l would post again when l got my brand new 00 rear coils from Nissan put in and post the results. Problem gone it was 1, 00 rear coil from the auto wreckers that caused the problem. l replaced all three of them. And for what it's worth, testing the coils with the multi-meter according to the FSM is a waste of time unless your problem with the coils is at idle. This problem is under load, impossible to test at idle. Buy one rear 00 coil if you are skeptical and and swap it in with the rear coils till you find the crap one. And remember 2000-2001 coils are Junk new let alone used, get some extras.

 

PRE-Recall coils are junk, your coils are POST-Recall if they have a gray dot on the tops of them, and just out of curiosity what in the world are you guys talking about firing order? Why would the 00VI swap change your firing order?

 

Unless you are running an after market ecu then your mods will not scare any qualified mechanic. But no service is free.

You are going to have to address the code issues with your car. If we assume that your car was running well for a while then it is possible that there IS a bad sensor. Don't just assume that your new codes are all related. They have to be tested, etc.

When I had power loss on my car it was accompanied with the crankshaft position sensor code. Your symptoms sound somewhat similar to this or a bad maf as well, yet you have no codes for that.

If you think you have an exhaust restriction then you can detach the exhaust before the cat. Then cover your ears and drive it... Did this on a 4 cyl turbo years ago, expect it to be loud and ugly, lol. Thats one way to tell if you have a clogged cat.

 

yea i was having trouble describing what i meant by firing order. I think its spark ignition or detonation.

 

Ya, the new 2000 coils l got have a grey dot on them. And your saying these Hanshins are fine no problems with them? If so, cool one less think l have to worry about l thought they were all junk. Now that my 00vi swap is purring like a kitten on to my next install headache clutch/flywheel, Supercharger.


Seximus Maximus, l would start looking at the 00 coils as the problem, first.

 

Quick question, what should happen if i unplug the connectors on the front fuel rail? I unplugged the left 2 and car idle went alot lower, etc. with the far right one unplugged it did nothing, car stayed the same. Didnt mess with the others because im not gonna take my 00VI off if i dont have to. Gotta wait till later when buddy gets home tomorrow to use his multimeter to test everything voltagewise, coils, etc.

BTW my car doesnt have the original '99 engine in it. I had to replace the coils on that one awhile back when i had it tho lol, stupid '99's.... I swapped engines some years back because the old one siezed from an oil leak. This one is a '96 engine. So the "omg its a '99 the packs are dying" might not apply as much. Just throwin that out there =P

After doing some forum searching today i just want to add my car doesnt *jerK* while driving - 20mph, jerk, 25, 30, 35, jerk, etc, or while stopped, it stays constant while in "crap mode", doesnt stall, or shake. The only "shaking" done is because the idle is a tad different and the car is alot deeper sounding.

I might just take it to my mechanic at the end of the week and let them look at it. They are some pretty smart cookies so im sure they will figure it out. I at least want to troubleshoot it myself to give them more info if i can tho. If i can fix it i will but if i cant figure it out ill let them deal with it. But at least ill have some kind of a good understanding of wtf is goin on with it.

If i keep driving it for too long do you think ill mess it up? (kinda dumb question i know..) I mean i need to get to 2 jobs a day, but if its gonna screw it up ill take it in even sooner... I know nothing will get messed up when it goes into its "normal mode" cause well... it feels normal like it should lol. But when it switches to $hit mode i dont want to drive it into the ground if something bad is going on... worse case scenario?


just trying to add all the info i think might help

thanks,
-steve


p.s. btw Nismomax did u ever find out if the resonator was your problem?

 

Just got off the phone with the mechanic, he said the #5 coil was dead. The main problem was what i needed to know since my codes were telling me random misfire without a specific #. Also the map/baro but that one was in the codes i pulled so i expected that one.

Should get it back mon or tues having a few other things done as well. Ill update this post when i get it back and let you all know anything else that was wrong with it making me have the problems i had. So that others might benefit from this thread if they have future problems like this.

 

My car had the same issue a couple months ago and it was the injector not the coil. I did the same test you did and assume it was the coil. When I switched coils the miss stayed in the same cylinder. I then pulled the coil and plug, grounded it and the plug had plenty of spark. I tested the injector and it failed. $55 and its back in action.

 

has anyone even mentioned about the cat? maybe your cat could be bad o_O