New problem...P1320....etc

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99TexPath
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Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2017 7:26 am

New problem...P1320....etc

Postby 99TexPath » Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:21 pm

Well, I am back with our 1999 Pathfinder...V6 4x4 about 238,000

This morning the battery would not quite crank the motor, I jumped it off my truck and drove my wife to work....bought a new battery all good....the old one was from 2014....

Later in the day I was sitting in a parking lot with the AC on....(Texas)....as I turned the wheel while the car was stationary the motor died....

Drove about 5 miles home and it lost power for a split second close to the house.....

Seated in the driveway I plugged in my reader and got the P1320 and the motor died once....restarts easily...so far....


Recently I purchased a Nissan distrubuter assembly and replaced the old one when it went bad...so:

The car has 6 ignition coils right? so my reader says possible ignition coil condensor short or primary circuit open or shorted for ignition coil.....can you give me some ideas to narrow my hunt.....unrelated to bad battery this morning??

When driving it does not buck per se it is more loss of power and then regain power....

I am starting to think that this needs to be our 3rd car and not a primary driver given its age.

I appreciate any thoughts!


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smj999smj
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Postby smj999smj » Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:43 pm

VG33E only has one ignition coil and if I'm not mistaken, is built into the distributor assembly in 1999. It sounds like you may have another bad distributor. Nico Club has free Nissan factory service manuals at their site. The diagnostic procedure for P1320 is in the "EC" Engine Control section. NissanHelp.com would also have that "EC" section in their "knowledge base" section. You may have to register to access that but it's free at either site.

99TexPath
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2017 7:26 am

Postby 99TexPath » Fri May 31, 2019 5:48 pm

Ok, so it has been about not quite 2 months....I examined the EC section of the FSM and pondered my minimal skills and time and viola the Pathfinder started the next time I tried.....there definately was a problem,but I could not at that point get it to duplicate the aformentioned difficulties of spontaneous shutdown, etc......so yesterday it shut down on my wife at an intersection and then a few more times but restarting with difficulty making it to a public parking lot.

After it was cooled I returned hoping to drive it home but ultimately I had it towed to the house.

SO now I get serious with the EC diagnostic list for P1320. On EC-370 I went through a number of the steps and am now stuck on this......

I stripped tape off the loom where the resistor and condenser are located on the underside. BUT the picture on EC-370 step 2 shows two object whereas I only have one grey one with two wires....a blue on with a white stripe and a white one with a blue stripe....I am wondering if the object is the condenser or resistor and is the other in the loom? I was hopin to not tear into the loom as it is so old and prone to breakage.

I ask this because I do not visualize the resistor terminals mentioned in step 7 (EC-371)for checking input signal circuit....maybe they are inside the loom.....I am guessing the grey box I found is the condenser azs it looks to be the longer of the two in the picture although I only found one.

The current state of the car is it sometimes starts sometimes not and not to be trusted to drive down the road.....


I have checked the ignition coil and power transistor as per EC-372
and performed steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 6....soon to perform the others...

smj999smj....if it is clear what I have said can you talk be through if I am looking at the condenser and how to find the resistor.....

Thank you and anyone who has taken the time to read this.......so far it seems that the distributor may not be the problem.....except....not of these diagnostics will find say a fault with the camshaft position sensor that is integrated inside the distributor?

99TexPath
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2017 7:26 am

Postby 99TexPath » Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:49 pm

Well, the pathfinder starts and seems to perform like there was never a problem at this point. I am unable to diagnose it using the FSM and the Chilton's but alas I saw a picture in the Chilton's that answered one of my previous questions. The photograph shows the resistor in the engine bay on the wire loom as the only device taped to the loom where as the fsm shows two items in a drawing. This kind of stuff can lead a guy like me to confusion about terms such as condenser and resistor being used in the FSM. Everything I have tested checks out, so I am thinking that at this point it is about trying to duplicate conditions for an intermittent failure....kinda don't trust the car now. Considering parking it and looking for another car later this Summer with the goal of later inspiration :) On the other hand I also have a 2003 Desert Runner and I could swap the tires over if I never get confidence in the Pathfinder again.


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