'13-'20 Pathfinder Hard starting issues

Joined
Dec 3, 2016
Messages
240
Location
Maine
I've seen online that others have this issue on their 2017 but there's no fix that I know of.

-Battery is good, it cranks fine
-MAF sensor, air filter, throttle body are clean

I've tried cycling the ignition on and off, leaving it on for a bit, keeping my foot on the brake too long, taking my foot off the brake early, mashing the throttle when it's struggling (which helps sometimes) etc.

So-
It's been doing this since 25k miles or less.
About once a week (car has 90k and is driven often) when the engine is cold or has mostly cooled down and you try to start it, it'll crank fine but longer than usual and then start shaking because the engine is literally hovering at about 50rpm or less!

After 3-5 seconds of a nasty, bogged sounding engine, it'll hesitantly fire up and slowly rev to it's cold idle. During this time the idle is a bit unsteady and will soon drop VERY quickly to about 500rpm and then rise back up to cold idle ~1800. When it drops it sounds like it dies.

This seems to happen more in cold weather but I'm not sure. It will do it about every week at 100 degrees and at 10 degrees (fahrenheit)

I can't tell when it will happen and rarely cold start the car with somebody, so I can't spray starting fluid every time I start it to see if its a fuel issue. There have never been active or pending engine or transmission codes.

Last night it did it and was pretty bad, so I'm hoping to get to the bottom of it before it ends up being a problem, if at all.
 
Didthese engines have timing chain issues like the 2007-2011 or so Nissan Frontiers? They relly chewed up the guides and it resulted in all kinds of wierd behavior and damage.
 
2017+ Use the VQ35DD direct injected engine that seems to have this issue. I've not read of it on the port injected VQ35DE that the 2013-2016 Pathfinders have. Are you the original owner of this vehicle? Do you use quality engine air filters with wire mesh on the clean side? Filters w/out the wire mesh tend to sag into the air cleaner housing, allowing unfiltered air to pass and mess with the MAF that can lead to hard starting and MAF related codes. I had this happen on my 2019.

The other disturbing trend I can think of is the engine choked with sludge. Read up on that on the VQ35DD. There's dozens of owners reporting this.
 
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They aren't known for any chain issues that I know of. I'm thinking of replacing the maf sensor when I can. Engine should be clean, I change the oil every 5k since I bought it with about 25k on it. I've done an oil analysis a few times.

I use good quality filters. Right now I have an AEM filter that I've had for about 15k miles and is cleaned regularly. The car has zero mechanical issues or concerns otherwise. Based on the behavior it seems like an air or fuel mishap. Possibly a bad sensor too. I'm going to change the plugs soon and will do a good cleaning on the intake system.
 
I just realized it doesn't make the popping noise out of the exhaust during a cold start like it used to. Possibly the high pressure fuel pump in the engine bay isn't working correctly. I don't hear it ticking as loud as I remember either.
 
I just realized it doesn't make the popping noise out of the exhaust during a cold start like it used to. Possibly the high pressure fuel pump in the engine bay isn't working correctly. I don't hear it ticking as loud as I remember either.
I have read of the popping/skipping noise out of the exhaust issue on 2017+ I believe some owners had dealers troubleshoot, replace high pressure fuel injectors, etc to no avail.

My 2019 does sound like it has a cold start misfire on occasion on very cold starts, but it sorts itself out quickly.

I just came across a very interesting potential smoking gun on the sludging issues 2017+ VQ35DD's can have. A collapsed PCV hose. This is interesting to me because I've been tracking/following this issue since 2019: https://www.nissanforums.com/threads/sludge-in-my-engine-very-unhappy-customer.276163/#post-1735903
 
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