Having a rough 48 hours.
Have a 2006 Nissan Xterra, SE 175K miles.
Back in September, I had serious misfiring that led Check Engine Light and me having to do an emergency dealership fix which cost me an atrocious amount for Coil Ignitions and Spark Plugs... After the fix, the truck was okay until the Engine Light came on again, diagnosed it and they didn't plug the harness all the way in for two Coil Ignitions!! My Check Engine light came on and about a week to two weeks later.
Well, I have been driving since that time with no issues and this week, I noticed two days ago a very different feel to my truck. I have lost power/acceleration above 2000k/40MPH and have what sounds like a very loud fan blowing air when trying to accelerate. I believe this sound is possibly backpressure from clogged cats? I never ended up doing anything with the Cats when they did the Coil Ignitions/Spark Plugs as it appeared my truck was resolved.
All of this led me to getting under the truck last night and look around. I was disappointed to see that no holes in my cats or exhaust existed, except for a little loose connection on one of the exhaust joints.
I was in the hood and discovered that my Cold Air Intake Filter had been rubbing on my radiator hose and wow, it has put a gaping hole and slit into my Filter which has been sucking particles into my vehicle for God knows how long. Honestly, it has has been a long time since I changed the filter and I have no idea how long it has been like this, not good...
So clearly you can see I have a potential for some seriously bad things happening. I replaced the Cold Air Intake Filter, cleaned the Mass O2 sensor and tried to clean some of the fine dust inside the tube...my brother will be taking everything apart in the coming week to replace the Valve Covers and Gaskets (they have been spewing oil for quite some time) so we will further clean what we can, sea foam etc.
Also in this moment, when I was doing the filter, I noticed a black hose near the oil dip-stick, that I thought was plugged into something...but was not, it's a hose just chilling out, I have NEVER noticed this hose and have no idea where it goes!!!! Is it a breather tube, I didn't see anything obvious?
I panicked last night and ordered a cheap, 4 Cat system from Ebay. I'm going to order o2 Sensors all around from Rock Auto (Bosh, NTK or equivalent) and I'm hoping this clears my Check Engine Light and gets me power again.
I am more concerned about the dust that has been sucking into my engine so we shall get everything cleaned up when the Valve Covers come and replace the gaskets...
I can't afford a new car or a used car being marked up more than 25%, so I gotta keep my truck going and do everything I can.