hiya guys, lately my SUV has been running kind of sluggish. i also notice that after warming the car for about 3 minutes or so and i start driving, i see like a some what cloudy smoke coming from my exhaust. for about a minute or so then it thins out. do you think this is normal?i was wondering if cleaning the the throttle body and changing the pcv valve would help. my son changed the distributor cap, wires, plugs and oil, oil filter and fuel filter and air filter about 6 months ago. he also put it the chevron fuel injector cleaner. but he did not change the pcv valve. my SUV is a nissan pathfinder v6 3.3L and 4x4. thanks again.
throttle body cleaning pls. help.
- Thread starter nissanowner1
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Cleaning the throttle body may not help much, but it certainly won't hurt. Do those engines have EGR valves? If they do, you might want to remove it and clean it out.
I definitely 'feel' the difference after cleaning the TB on my Buick. I also see the blackish deposits that run out on the rag I place under the TB. The car 'feels' very smooth afterwards. On the other hand, when I have done this on my wifes Accord I don't feel any difference and I don't get much (if any) deposits on the rag. I've wondered if the GM vs. Honda system design or the fuel, oil or type of driving account for this? Thoughts?
could you pls. explain this. how much coolant are we talking? and what does this mean?
I've noticed the same thing on Honda's. My thoughts have always been that Honda produces a tighter engine, w/ less blow-by than GM. I even notice very little on Honda's w/ 100K miles or more. A word of caution on cleaning Honda TB's - don't flood the TB w/ cleaner - you'll possibly damage the IAC valve, and you won't like the replacement cost. The rag method works just fine. Don't ask how I know this.
How many miles are on your Pathfinder?
yes they do have EGR valve. but couldnt i just buy it instead of cleaning?
I'm not sure on Nissan, but I'll almost bet the valve is electronic. You might be surprised at the high cost of a replacement. Also, check to see if the EGR valve has metal tubes, as some GM products do. These tubes tend to get carboned up, too.
it has 154k on it
I think what Amkeer is saying is that condensation burn off, shortly after starting a cold engine is normal. If you still see this vapor in say, 25 miles, that *could* be a sign of problems. If you have this, and your coolant recovery jug is losing coolant, meaning you are adding antifreeze frequently, then you have other problems ... like a blown head gasket.
Did you happen to see the plugs when your son changed them? I'd be curious to know if they were all uniform color and wear when changed.
Did you happen to see the plugs when your son changed them? I'd be curious to know if they were all uniform color and wear when changed.
hiya guys, what's the rag method? my son and i were thinking about taking the tb apart and cleaning it like the ones i saw here. is there anyway you could tell if the tb is really dirty by detaching the airduct and looking through that thing inside that spins? i believe its called butterfly or something? in addition, it says on the haynes manual that i needed to detach the tp sensor and the accelator and the cruise control cables. but then if i have to put them back i have to readjust them? whewww its alot of work. to be honest, my son and i arent mechanically inclined. i mean this haynes book is still i believe, for people that know a little bit about cars, even the pictures are kind of hard to tell. i wish they made the pictures colored. i guess that'll cost too much money. anybody in here that has the same model and year? pls. help. thanks guys.
well i can say is that we labeled everything and i am pretty sure tht it's done right because i don't really have any problems starting the SUV.
whewww. i got scared there for a minute. but no i don't add coolant at all if that's the case. my SUV doesnt overheat at all. but i noticed that for the past a couple of months i've added like about 1 cup of coolant. is this normal? do pathfinders run hot?
IMO, the "rag method" refers to soaking a rag in TB cleaner, & simply wiping down the visible parts of the throttle body.
If you remove the air intake hose from the throttle body, yes, you should be able to look into it & see how dirty it is. The throttle body plate, aka the "butterfly", is the most important area to clean. If the space where the TB plate closes gets dirty, it can cause rough idling, stalling, etc.
I'm not sure about Nissans, but I just did this very thing a few days ago on my Expedition. The cable do not require any adjustment when re-installed. I would think that the Nissan should be the same way.
The biggest thing that I would stress to you is to make sure you use new gaskets when re-assembling the throttle body, & torque the bolts to the spec's listed in the repair manual.
Also, make sure the engine is COLD when you re-assemble everything. You don't want to be putting bolts back into a hot engine. I made that mistake years ago with a Mazda vavle cover gasket. I tried re-assembling it with the engine still warm; I snapped 3 screws off into the head. Not fun.
Have faith in yourself; You can do it yourself. Just be patient & take a break if you start to feel frustrated. Be sure & report back with your results.
I've got a 92 Accord, and when I cleaned the TB, I sprayed a half can of throttle body cleaner into and all around the TB until the fluid running back out of it was clear. I also removed the IACV and sprayed some cleaner into it. It's a recommended tune-up step according to the guys at cb7tuner.com. My TB and IACV still work fine.
hiya guys, well im pretty proud of myself and my son. my son did all the work basically. hehehe. we didnt have the guts to take the TB apart only the air duct. we bought the stp tb cleaner,disconnected the battery, open the thing called butterfly and sprayed the whole can. but ****, alot of dirt came out. it was black!!. we wiped off the excess and put the air duct back and hooked the battery cable and started the truck. i got scared at first because alot of smoke was coming out of the tail pipe, i guess that's from the clearner. we drove around for about 10 minutes. and parked it back in the garage. i dont know if it did anything, but i feel pretty good that i didnt have to go to rip-off mechanic and spend $100 on cleaning it. now i can use this money to buy the transmission fluid and the filter. we are planning to change the transmission fluid this weekend. i am going to post a question pls. help us again. and to all the guys that shared their thoughts...all i can say is.....YOU GUYS ROCK!! this is the best forum i've ever been in. honestly.
You must have an old Pathfinder to have a distributor cap. I've a '97 Maxima. This model year was notorious for the starter going out at 75k miles as mine did.
first sign of this was it was hard to start and you got a big cloud of white smoke. I would never have believed it, but it happened. I guess the ECU is looking for a certain start-up rpm or something and if it doesn't get it you get the white smoke.
A remanufactured starter is fairly inexpensive and at 154K, if its your original starter, you might consider replacing it.
first sign of this was it was hard to start and you got a big cloud of white smoke. I would never have believed it, but it happened. I guess the ECU is looking for a certain start-up rpm or something and if it doesn't get it you get the white smoke.
A remanufactured starter is fairly inexpensive and at 154K, if its your original starter, you might consider replacing it.
what do you mean first sign? my son change the starter about 3 weeks ago. i just wanted to make sure that i dont have a blown gasket like someone was hinting in one of the posts.
Is your engine the same one that they used on the Quest from the 99-02 model year? Isn't there a problem with sticky throttle bodies for these engines? My dad's Quest has a 3.3 engine but I'm not sure if it is the same as your Pathfinder. It was cleaned by the dealer at 30k but now it's starting to stick again at 55k.
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