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P0430 - Hole in Air Filter - Loss of Power

7K views 61 replies 11 participants last post by  Metal-X-Cross 
#1 ·
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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.


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#3 ·
while the hole in the intake is concerning, I dont think that is causing the p0430. its most likely the cats. once a coil goes bad it allows gas to get into the cat(s) and essentially ruins them prettty quick.

I had the same thing happen, replaced the primary cat with a cheap one from amazon, and it only lasted like 20k miles, if that. I replaced it with a walker brand carb compliant this time, hopefully it lasts longer.

I understand where your at, just be aware, cheap cats wont last long at all.
 
#4 ·
Brunner- thanks, don't remember seeing it, but it looks like it popped out from where it was secured.

MTN- I'm gonna have the trucked scanned within in an hour. Those were the initial codes back in September, have not checked since!

I know I'm taking a chance with this cheap Cats, I'm hoping to get more years out of my truck but I'm just trying to get something. Hopefully they will last me a little longer than. 20k.

Again, I can't afford another car at the moment.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I know I'm taking a chance with this cheap Cats, I'm hoping to get more years out of my truck but I'm just trying to get something. Hopefully they will last me a little longer than. 20k.

Again, I can't afford another car at the moment.
There's a chance the cats might not work at all. I went with some cheap no-brand cats off Amazon, along with 4 new Bosch O2 sensors and my cat codes came back immediately and I can't get them to go away. Next step is to drop some money on the Walker cats, which I should have done in the first place. Instead I've wasted about $280 on the cats, about $200 on O2 sensors (which I'm sure are long fouled out by now), and another $260 in Doug Thorley secondary cat delete pipes (which are well made, but the rasp and simply awful, they sound horrible)...that's about $750 I spent trying to do things the "cheap" way. And I still have another $900 or so to spend on the Walker cats and new O2 sensors. It's been a hard lesson to learn, don't make my mistake. And all of that because I didn't want to drop over $1300 on OEM cats from Nissan, which I know would have fixed my problem. Sometimes going with the expensive OEM option is cheaper in the long run.


And as @mikidymac said, you're actually losing power with your current air intake set up. You're just sucking in hot air from the engine bay, hot air produces less power than cold air. Going back to the stock set up should be a noticeable improvement.
 
#7 ·
Okay, fair point on the hot air intake. The reality is. I did that a long time ago. Why I got rid of the stock setup is beyond me, but I'm done doing "mods" amd upgrades except to keep the truck going. I have been on this setup for probably over 5 years, so it's not like I just did this and things started to happen.

I mean, I may regret the cheap Cat purchase but I got a bit toasted last night, was trying to figure things and out and just went a certain direction. I may regret it, hopefully not.

I will order the Bosh O2 Sensors today. Probably should have ordered the Cats from RockAuto as well, but I did what I did. Hell, maybe I'll get into a slump tonight and order the set and return the other ones back to Ebay, the night is early...
 
#9 ·
Its possible the P2A00 is bad 02 sensor - primary sensor - ie front - on bank 1. Get a Denso as their OEM - worth the money.

P0430 is bad cat on bank 2 most likely (drivers side).

Cancel your cat order on the cheap cats - your wasting your money. Buy one decent cat for the one that's throwing a code. Or gut that one until you can afford a better one if you must. You shouldn't need secondary cats ever really - so don't waste money there.

Then go to a junkyard and spend 10 bucks on the proper air intake. Seriously, not being flip. The OEM air intake works really well.

As for the dust in the engine - if it took in enough it will start burning oil. You'll likely know in the next 1000 miles or so - so keep an eye on the oil level. You don't know until you know.
 
#10 ·
Lowcountry- thanks for the Denso point, will be adding to Rockauto tonight.

Unfortunately the Cats from Ebay were shipped, they do have a 30-60 day return window so I will absorb the advice and perhaps order tonight from Rockauto, proper, name brand Cats.

Related to this, my brother came to my shop tonight and he is busting out the original cats just to get them cleaned/cleared out so I don't get into anymore trouble driving. I'm not due for N inspection, so we'll be just fine until I figure out what I should with the Cats on order/will be ordering.

Truck In the shop.
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#12 ·
Thanks, it's my pride and joy :geek:

We ended up cutting driver side at the Flange, or between the flanges to cut the bolts but we still have to drill out the old corroded bolts etc...or so we thought.

Decided to do passenger side and just cut the damn pipe just behind the Flange. We'd be doing the same if not more work just to get rigged back to before Cats come. Yea, it's going to be super loud, and my wife will be pissed when I leave at 5 am for work but...shouldn't be more than a few days before we install real hardware.
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#13 ·
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We had a late night but very good work, we discovered that the Upstream Passenger Cat was shot. But we got the Cat cleared and drop the exhaust, perhaps not quite legal but at least I know I'm not sucking anything up into the engine.

Turns out the Driver Cats both Upstream and Downstream are okay.

Bulk of the labor done.

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#16 · (Edited)
Question, as of now I only have my Upstream cats installed, one we think is okay (driver) and one that is gutted and cleared (passenger) , clearly what has been the cause of my issues.

Is it necessary two plug back in the rear o2 Sensors and zip tie them until I finish this job? One of the rear sensors could be bad(or it could be the upstream one), our assumption is that it is all driver side only since the front Cat was clearly damaged, clogged.

Just want to know if I should waste any time this morning trying to get the o2 Sensors off the rear Cats and plugging them back in and zip tieing them. They obviously won't be installed into any cats since I'm waiting on parts.
 
#17 ·
I went for a test drive. Not sure I'm going to be able to drive like this for a couple of days.

I can't get very much speed/power and just feel like my engine is gonna rip off the mounts (sarcastic) but man, not sure I can actually drive with just the front cats...
 
#18 ·
I would recommend at least getting a cheaper primary cat on each bank. the engine is designed with those as a critical component. the rear ones are not as critical and really all that does is make it sound louder and raspier when they are gutted or removed.

and yeah the ecm is going to want to see all 4 o2/ AF sensors plugged in and reporting within range or its going to throw a code and mess with the fuel trim. I notice once the p2a00 is triggered, the engine has less power.

im dealing with cat issues myself. just replaced the pass primary cat and sensor and still getting p2a00 which i hopefully fixed today by sealing up an exhaust leak at the exit flange of the primary cat.
 
#19 ·
MTB- Both my primary cats are installed, except the passenger was internally gutted because it was clearly the Cat that was damaged.

Rear Cats are removed along with the entire exhaust. But this morning I did install the rear sensors.

I'm a bit worried driving my commute tomorrow, I gotta take it slow and ease into the speed. I might be in "limp mode"... but I did disconnect my battery.

Ordered 4x Denso Sensors.

Here are what the rears looked like, left is Driver side (those cats should be okay). The right is Passenger, again, the front Cat was busted.

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#21 ·
The one thing that confuses me, is that the scanner reading gave me P0430 on Bank 2. Isn't Bank 2 Driver side?

Perhaps the Driver side cat, while it looks intact from the rear could be damaged in front portion. But it was clear as day, the front passenger Cat was busted. Feel like I should have received a code for Bank 1, if that truly is the Passenger side
 
#22 · (Edited)
" MTNBound - so are you saying there is nothing after the primary cats, one of which is gutted? no pipe or anything?

i wouldnt drive like that at all really, except to move it around in my drive way."


Yea, nothing after the primary cats. No pipes, no rear Cats, no exhaust...zilch.

God damnit, not good. Not good.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Prep night Part 1.

The Magnaflow exhaust is getting prepped. Since we cut the back passenger side behind the Flange on the back convertor, the bolts had to be removed. I angle grinded cut the corroded nut/stud side
and punched them out 1-2-3 ...

I worked both flanges by removing the previous seals and whatever was left over of the gaskets, with abrasive wheels. Rough sanded the surfaces to get everything smooth to an acceptable point. Tomorrow they will get some parallels across the surface and test fit begins with new converters arriving🙃

I also prepped the back converters for the scrappy yard. The passenger rear 100% had some debris from the front, it however was not clogged. The Driver side did NOT have debris in the rear. Which again confirms my confusion as to why I only threw a P0430 (Bank 2)- Driver side, and nothing on P0420 (Bank 1) - Passenger converters.

Tomorrow I'll try to get the truck jacked and get the front tires off along with the wells. I'll start removing the front converters hopefully without too much pain.

Denso Sensors came in and they look nice.


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#25 · (Edited)
Part 2.

Convertors arrived, tube ends were rough/sharp, deburred/smoothed with wire wheel and stoned the flanges and cleaned all eight (8) ends. Laid out the hardware and got going.

Started with Bank 1 (Passenger) and removed heat shields. Only got one screw out, the other two (2) screws were a bit tighter, but the heatshield corroded around them and was removed. I plan to leave it off as it was pain getting out, I needed space and needed to inspect the area - lots of oil dripping from the top which may have led to some failure on this end.

I test fit the new "Canadian" Made Bank 1 Cat from Ebay. You know... the initial prep of all mating surfaces has me feeling good about the initial test fit. I used 2000*F Anti-seize in specific areas to enhance the fit, protection and sealing opportunities. Had to re-use oem stud nut as hardware provided is a coarser pitch, cleaned it up and used it.

I plan to leave all heatshields off as they have corroded and vibrated to destruction. Hopefully this is okay as I move on tomorrow with the entire assembly. Additionally, I have valve covers and gaskets coming to fix the oil leaking. The Oil leakage is less prominent on the Driver side and NOT on the sensor etc.

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#27 ·
Yea, it has bothered me for some time but I would clean and monitor, but it has gotten worse. As mentioned, I have the Valve Covers/Gaskets and additional sealant (for the corner(s)) on order from Z1 OFFRoad.

The Passenger side is bad, the Driver side not as bad but Oil has definitely been all over the cats and sensor on Bank 1 and has smoked over the years.

I am looking to finish the convertor install tonight, I'm leaving the Heatshields OFF the Exhaust Manifold as it will be impossible to replace without a huge amount of work, plus I basically destroyed them getting out.
 
#36 ·
Neither here nor there perhaps ....

I recall reading that the OE A/F ratio and O2 sensors on the 2005 and 2006 Xterras were made by Bosch.

The NTK/NGK and Denso sensors are supposed to be OE and seem to work.


Anti-seize is only required for re-installing a used sensor.
 
#37 ·
I used a denso one for my prinary bank 1 replacement. it also came with antisieze preappied to the threads and alitte tube of copper stuff. i just installed it as it came. didnt see the need for extra gunk on there.

i had to cut away the bottom 1/3 of the bank 1( pass side) heatshield.
 
#38 · (Edited)
Westslope - the original sensors that came off my 2006 X are identical to the Denso.
Only the front OE A/F sensors had pre-applied anti-seize, the rears did not.

Mtnbound - Now I have extra little tubes for the parts bin! Both my Exhaust Manifold Heatshields have been removed, along with some others under the frame. Just about all of them only had one (1) screw holding them on.

I found the Bank 2 (Driver) side a bit more annoying to tackle with the brake lines in the way. For the rear convertors, I pre-installed the Denso Sensors and for the fronts, I put them on AFTER the converters were installed.

Everything is just about finger tight and except the joint between both converters, those I tightened once I set and centered the metal crush 'O' seals. The gap between the Exhaust Manifold Flange and the up-stream convertors is just tight enough so that I can get some movement, I will do a final tightening when all connections to the rear are bolted so I don't over flex the exhaust manifold(s).

Hardest part last night was getting my damn Exhaust back on and getting it aligned. I have one (1) Exhaust bracket left hanging it, the rear mount/Bushing is about to fall apart, the front one snapped off and the middle one is holding the Exhaust. It looks like the exhaust flange and rear convertor flange is way off, but that is because the exhaust is just hanging in that picture, I'm actually quite happy with how everything has aligned so far and I have been rather tedious with the installation to make sure everything is as good or close to as good as I can make it.

Once the front converters are tight, that should help align the Exhaust flanges to the rear converters, everything will be bolted tonight for good! I'll be making hangars for my Exhaust as well or get some new mounts ordered.

Hoping that the Truck runs normally after this installation and all four (4) sensors replaced, if it does not, I I will be concerned. Bank 2 (Driver) side OEM Convertor was still -intact but clogged up a bit, now I have three (3) scrap worthy convertors!

Oh and my valve covers, gaskets and some hoses came in too from Z1Offroad so I'm ready to get that started, soon.



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