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Misfiring and Blinking Check Engine Light (CEL)?

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32K views 26 replies 7 participants last post by  copeterra  
#1 · (Edited)
Going to see if you guys might know what this issue is. Past 2 days if I accelerate a little more than usual my 2008 Xterra sputters a little. One of those times I accelerated at about 75% of Max and my check engine light started blinking. I tried it again today and it blinked again a few times and went off. Normal easy driving nothing happens. It does have 154k on it.

Editing for something I forgot. A plastic fitting on my firewall was leaking coolant down on top of the first 02 sensor for about a month till I fixed it.

I was getting a P0172 and a P0171 code during the leak. When I fixed the leak, they went away.

Could it still be that sensor??

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#2 ·
From my Owner's Manual:

Malfunction Indicator Light blinking — An engine misfire has been detected which may damage the emission control system. To reduce or avoid emission control system damage:
– do not drive at speeds above 45 MPH (72 km/h).
– avoid hard acceleration or deceleration.
– avoid steep uphill grades.
– if possible, reduce the amount of cargo being hauled or towed.

The Malfunction Indicator Lamp Light may stop blinking and come on steady. Have the vehicle inspected by a NISSAN dealer. You do not need
to have your vehicle towed to the dealer.
CAUTION
Continued vehicle operation without having the emission control system checked and repaired as necessary could lead to poor driveability, reduced fuel economy,
and possible damage to the emission control system.
 
#4 ·
Check the codes, possibly a coil pack going bad. You can get the OEM Hitachi coil packs at Rockauto for less then $40. You'll get charged much more than that a local auto parts store/dealer.

Also, the misfire can send raw fuel into the cat and ruin it, causing it to break up and clog the downstream cat, killing power and limiting rpm. Next step can be the engine sucking in cat material during valve overlap because of excessive back pressure, scoring the cylinder walls.

Don't screw around this for a long time, it can cost you an engine.
 
#10 ·
The flashing SES light indicates misfiring, it's flashing because it's not something you should continue to drive with. If this isn't a DD vehicle I'd park it until this is figured out.

That coolant leak all over the catalytic convertor might have caused it to not be able to reach the proper operating temperature. With the misfire sending unburned fuel out the exhaust pipe into an under-heated cat it can build up, eventually it will get ignited and blast apart the ceramic. Usually that clogs the exhaust pipe and there's huge loss of power at that point + more severe misfiring.

If it were my truck I'd first pull the secondary cats off to get a look at the primaries and make sure the ceramic is intact. Assuming that it is ok, I'd replace that sensor that was getting soaked in coolant, if the spark plugs are original they were due replacement at 100k, the valve cover gaskets if never replaced are probably also leaking–check the spark plugs + spark plug tubes for oil residue to make sure it's not leaking into the cylinders. After that I'd look at replacing the coil packs. Don't use aftermarket for any of the electronic sensors, the failure/incompatible rate is ridiculously high on aftermarket for those components. You can usually save some $ buying the OEM brand "Hitachi" through RockAuto.
 
#11 ·
@General_Tarfun thanks for the detailed post. The leak went on for about a month till I figured out where it was coming from. Heater house... Anyway I have a OBD plug called Automatic Pro that was throwing a system too lean code and went away when I fixed the leak....

Fast forward 2 months later till now. Now I have the sputters and flashing CEL.

I pulled one Coil and plug. Plug pic attached. Also the coil has the name Hanshin on it.

I may try the 02 sensor that is up front on passenger side. I think it's the "upstream right"?? Not sure what brand. Get all the NGK DILFR5A11 plugs, and maybe coils and see if that fixes it. I really don't have the $$ to be replacing cats tight now. I hope they are fine.

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#12 · (Edited)
Those pics help a lot. That plug is really crusty looking, definitely needs replacing. I'm not sure about that part # you listed, I used NGK 6240 PLFR5A-11 Laser Platinum Spark Plugs when I did mine last time.

The Hitachi company full name is " Hitachi Automotive Systems Hanshin," so Hanshin is actually oem part.

The upstream air/fuel sensor is the one before the cat and the o2 is the one after the cat. The X has 4 cats but only the first set is monitored by the OBDII. Hopefully you can get it resolved without damaging those because like you noted then it gets pricey.

The sensor might be ok, I'd try coil packs/plugs first and see how it runs after that. If it's still throwing a code at that point then the air/fuel sensor.
 
#13 · (Edited)
@General_Tarfun. Good I'm glad. I'll get more pics. Yes the plug is quite crusty. I'll check more on that sensor to see which one. But it is the on your can see on the website he passenger side.

That's wierd about the coilpacks. I bought this with only 30k miles on it. Odd if they were changed by the first owner. I got 154k on it now.

It's funny, I sent in my last payment 3 months ago. It's like cars know when they're paid off so they start tearing up.

Thanks again for the help




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#14 · (Edited)
copeterra said:
@General_Tarfun. Good I'm glad. I'll get more pics. Yes the plug is quite crusty. I'll check more on that sensor to see which one. But it is the on your can see on the website he passenger side.

That's wierd about the coilpacks. I bought this with only 30k miles on it. Odd if they were changed by the first owner. I got 154k on it now.

It's funny, I sent in my last payment 3 months ago. It's like cars know when they're paid off so they start tearing up.

Thanks again for the help
Click to expand...
I researched the name a bit further and found out that the Hitachi brand full name is " Hitachi Automotive Systems Hanshin". So that's an oem coil, makes sense because like you said who changes coils out under 30k haha. In that case the coil might be fine, that would leave those spark plugs as suspect.
 
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#18 ·
#19 · (Edited)
Update. @General_Tarfun. I replaced the plugs and so far so good! Doesn't seem to have the misfire anymore. I do have some bottom end slowness still. If I hammer it it seems to take 2-3 seconds for it to really pick up. Could be age and mileage.

However, I did run into an issue. I used a torque wrench on the intake manifold and not sure what happened, but it didn't "click" on the closet to the front bolt.....so it snapped. So, half of the bolt is in the block sigh.....now I gotta figure that out.

Thanks for everyone's help! [emoji106]

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#20 ·
copeterra said:
Update. @General_Tarfun. I replaced the plugs and so far so good! Doesn't seem to have the misfire anymore. I do have some bottom end slowness still. If I hammer it it seems to take 2-3 seconds for it to really pick up. Could be age and mileage.

However, I did run into an issue. I used a torque wrench on the intake manifold and not sure what happened, but it didn't "click" on the closet to the front bolt.....so it snapped. So, half of the bolt is in the block sigh.....now I gotta figure that out.

Thanks for everyone's help! [emoji106]
Click to expand...

Good to hear that the plugs worked out, it's always nice when it's an easy fix!

I'm not too surprised that torque wrench didn't click when it should have, was it the type with a higher limit (100 ft lbs +)? Those usually aren't accurate at all with the lower specs, I usually just use a 1/4 inch ratchet held by the head to tighten stuff like that. It's easy like you found out to snap off some of those bolts.

You can get the broken bolt out, depending on how much of the bolt is exposed above the hole will tell you how much fun you'll have doing it. If enough is exposed you could try to grab it with a set of vice grips and twist it out. If it's down in the hole you'll have to drill it out, I've used small drill bits in the past to drill out the center until enough is gone to get a small flathead screwdriver in there and twist it out.

Or you can try one of those bolt remover bits, basically they're a drill bit but designed to drill opposite how a regular one does. Honestly I wouldn't go that route unless you're spending money on a quality tool, all of the cheap ones will just make you angry haha.

The manifold gasket is supposed to be replaced each time it's removed so if you pull it off again you might want to replace it while you're in there, definitely make sure to cover the intake while you're drilling you don't want to get anything in there.
 
#22 ·
Any codes showing up yet? If it can pick a cylinder with a problem I'd swap that coil pack with another cylinder and see if the misfire follows the pack. Be careful with the misfiring you don't want to blow the cats out, if possible take it easy and try to avoid any more of them than absolutely necessary. Were your spark plugs tubes clear of oil back when you replaced them?
 
#24 ·
The manifold oil shouldn't cause a misfire that bad, maybe a rough idle at most although I have heard of intake manifold leaks causing problems like that before, did you have a chance to replace that bolt yet? I know you had that leak on the passenger side before, the crankshaft position sensor is on that side below that connection, I wonder if any of the coolant was getting onto it?

I'm looking through the FSM for more info, here's what it list to check out for misfiring:
Image
 
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