Good morning everyone and thanks for having me on this forum!
On a 99 Pathfinder I am experiencing the following problem:
Last 3 days:
the vehicle starts, idles and runs flawlessly for a good half an hour.
When it gets into temperature or left parked for a while in the heat (we are in the 100’s…) will start and run fine until about 2,200 RPM then it bulk, stall and there is zero power
It was drivable as long as it would stay below 2,200 RPM. Engine would do that in Drive or in Park. It would not rev past 2,200 RPM.
Yesterday morning:
the same problem came in earlier in the warm up process and ran worse than the day before, still drivable below 2,200 rpm.
Yesterday afternoon:
while trying to diagnose the problem with a friend it started fine, drove around the block for maybe 2 minutes and ran even worse, bulking and loss of power came in earlier in the tachometer 1,800 rpm. It turned itself off at a stop light and then I had to restart it.
We immediately parked the car for about 5 minutes to try to check everything we could think about and then it would not start at all. Tried at different intervals to no avail. Towed car back home.
This morning:
the car started right up, idling correctly but before the temp gauge reached operational temperature the problem came back. Just revving up the car in park you can hear the hesitation and lack of power.
I have evaluated a bunch of scenarios but I am left pretty confused.
The first diagnose in my mind because of how the problem evolved (raise of outside temperatures, progressively getting worse and total shut down when hot would be to look at the Catalytic converter(s).
I am also not ruling out the MAF and/or the distributor since the 3.3L engine seems to be prone to this problem although the one on the car I can see it has been replaced at some point more but than 4 years ago.
What I have done so far
Changed both coolant temperature sensors
Changed air filter
Opened and cleaned throttle body
Opened and cleaned MAF
Checked for loose cables/connections did not find anything visibly wrong.
Disconnected battery for 2 hours
There is no CEL, CEL comes on normally when key is turned on
I did not check if there are any codes active or stored.
WHAT I HAVE DONE/NOTICED BEFORE THIS
The day before the start of this issue I drove for about 100 miles at highway speed (60-70 MPH) which I basically never do with this car. Car was running fine that day probably because rev was constantly below 2,200 rpm. I did notice some lack of power on the only passing I did that day. Kind of like pressing the gas but nothing more would happen. Issue started later that day while city driving.
On the weeks prior to this I would rarely see a slight laziness of the engine but thought nothing about it because it would not affect drivability.
Maintenance is up to date. Recently changed oil/filter, radiator, water pump, timing belt. Vehcile has 235k miles
I have extensively researched similar issues on this forum but could not find a close enough situation and I have done everything recommended by other owners on similar problems on slightly different scenarios.
I hope to find someone with more talent than me on this forum! Thanks to all for your interest! Have a great week-end