So the kids and I are running around Death Valley on Wednesday of last week as part of our crazy spring break road trip. The gravel road to Race Track, and the one up towards the Eureka Dunes are AWFUL by the way, really washboarded badly to where either I can choose to do 5MPH or 45MPH but anything in between threatens to shake my teeth out....

So we do Race Track and then get to the Eureka Dunes, have a field dinner on the sand as the sun sets, and then head out to the north planning to jump over the mountain to Big Pine and then up to Bishop for the night.

Soon as we get out of the valley the road becomes paved and begins a very long and steep straight climb, and I'm minding my own business cruising at 45PMH with the engine purring at barely 1800RPM. Suddenly the cruise shuts off, check-engine light starts flashing, I try to give it gas but I get an painful metallic rattling noise with no power, and I coast to a stop. Oh sweet Jesus...

I turn the truck off and think for a while, trying to explain to my kids what's going on without totally freaking them out. Then restart and put it in first gear and am able to go along at 2K RPM for 5 minutes or so before again it looses power with a bad rattle and I stumble to a stop with the motor sounding like it's chugging on 4 cylinders.

I try taking the supercharger belt off, in case the bad metallic rattle is coming from it, and while it's great for the first 10 minutes (meaning I can do 2000RPM in 1st gear, not trying more), again I have to stop.

This time I just let it cool down for a while...thinking that if the belt didn't actually help, maybe it was the cool down time while I took it off. Try again and sure enough, I'm able to run for 10 minutes or so and finally reach the high plateau. I stop, let the truck cool off, put the SC belt back on (don't want to run out of juice without the alternator), and proceed to gradually work my way all the way out to Big Pine, coasting down-hill almost all the way, at around midnight.

The following morning I check the engine coolant level and it's1/3rd of a gallon low, hmmm.... I start it up and it seems fine, but it did seem fine when cold, so I don't push it at all and get a tow all the way home to the bay area (don't ask me how much that cost!!!).

So...talked to Stillen and confirmed, ouch, I'm 10K miles out of warranty for their after-market drive line warranty. Super Doh

Stillen also mention however that they've heard of around 200 cases of Pathfinder/Frontier/XTerras who've had their catalytic converters fail and plug up the exhaust, causing a very lean burn condition which causes detonation. On supercharged motors the detonation can cause the supercharger intercooler to fail and leak coolant into the engine and cause serious damage. Super double doh

However, I haven't lost any intercooler coolant...so WTF? The truck is currently sitting at my buddy's shop awaiting a chance to do some debugging, starting with compression test and somehow checking the cats (maybe we'll make test pipes and drive around and see if it's okay).

Let the wild speculation ensue...

dude that is probably the second worst news you could possibly hear on a monday morning.

good luck with the debugging, and hope it heals soon.

hopefully it's just a bad fuel problem and not a blown engine. good luck.

Hope things work out good for you!.............. Triffid

RacerZX wrote:...Suddenly the cruise shuts off, check-engine light starts flashing, I try to give it gas but I get an painful metallic rattling noise with no power, and I coast to a stop...
Let the wild speculation ensue...

I gotta mention this because the random "shut down with the flashing light" sounds sooo much like the typical symptoms of the IPDM module... Have you changed yours yet?
When mine went out the engine would start, but it sounded and felt like it was running on two cylinders or that there was a major mechanical break down inside the motor.

Sorry to hear this Racerzx.

Well, keep us posted. If the engine does end up being fried, are you going to replace it or just get rid of the Pathfinder? I'd imagine a new engine wouldn't be cheap. I'm crossing my fingers, along with BMXPath, that it might just be something as simple as the IPDM.

BTW, I was at the Racetrack on Thursday, so I just missed you. Unlike yourself, the entire length of the road was the smoothest I've ever experienced, at least until the last 5 or 6 miles, which was washboard hell.

Yeah, first half of race-track wasn't bad, construction guys said it was freshly graded with a blade. Last portion was brutal though...

I did just recently have some communication module replaced under warranty, need to go look and see what part that exactly was.

If the motor is toast, I'll probably get a used motor and slowly rebuild it and sell the supercharger off on ebay if I can't get Stillen to buy it back from me for 'diagnostics'.

You can try http://www.car-part.com/ for your engine search.

BMXPath wrote:

RacerZX wrote:...Suddenly the cruise shuts off, check-engine light starts flashing, I try to give it gas but I get an painful metallic rattling noise with no power, and I coast to a stop...
Let the wild speculation ensue...

I gotta mention this because the random "shut down with the flashing light" sounds sooo much like the typical symptoms of the IPDM module... Have you changed yours yet?
When mine went out the engine would start, but it sounded and felt like it was running on two cylinders or that there was a major mechanical break down inside the motor.

Hope you get the Pathfinder back on the road with an easy fix. Problems like those are nerve racking especially when you don't know where to start looking first.

Sorry for the change in topic, but what does the IPDM look like, where is it and how much does it cost?

Valve timing sounds like a good cause for the noise. Maybe something to a timing control part, since you were able to get it working for a while until it warmed back up. At least you didn't snap a valve, otherwise you would have stopped dead. I did that in my old bug. Check the heads for see if a cam is snapped. Better that than crank. Good luck.

I hope its not toast, but if it is there is a guy here selling his 08 frontier V6 for $1500 with 30k or so on it. He swapped in a V8 he's AndrewVK over on clubfrontier.org http://stlouis.craigslist.org/pts/1666331470.html Good luck

Npath wrote:Sorry for the change in topic, but what does the IPDM look like, where is it and how much does it cost?

It is basically a fuse/ relay panel. Located on the passenger side of the engine compartment.
Check out my topic about when I changed mine.
http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic. ... light=ipdm

OR do a search here for IPDM, there are a few topics on it that will come up.

doesn't sound like you need to be too worried. Could be a cat, could be an IPDM, could be anyting causing random misfire. R51's always have some mysterious coolant loss....and coolant loss into your engine won't do much damage except maybe poison your cat/o2's - but it would take lots. Coulda been the detonation did in your cats. I'd run high octane on any forced induction application. I HIGHLY doubt your engine is toast. I have yet to see what f-up, and I've seen some crazy stupid things done. It coming back when you cycle the key means nothing could be too bad mechanically. If you drive with the MIL flashing, it'll reduce power it save itself. Good luck, i'm sure you'll be fine.

compression test results?