05/07/2024
Long Read But This Was An Adventure in Itself
Well Bandit and I made it to New Mexico but not without challenges, on the way my #5 cylinder misfired and the truck lost power just outside Midland Tx, I pulled over and changed the #5 spark plug because I had some in my spares hoping that would fix it. While I was changing it I met a really cool small town sheriff who saw me working on my truck and came to check on me ( by the way he was the only one to do so on this whole adventure). The spark plug however did not fix the issue so I looked up an auto parts store in midland and called to see if they had a coil pack, they did so I made the 30 mile trip at a slower speed do to the engine running rough. I made it there changed the coil pack in the parking lot and all seemed good. Now running way behind on time this 11 hour drive was turning into a 13 hour drive so I made the decision to head for a camp spot that was closer I’ve been to before. Bandit and I arrived at the campsite around 11pm and quickly settled in for the night. The next morning we woke up to beautiful New Mexico and decided to continue on our journey despite the setback. We began making our way through Carlsbad past Sitting Bull Falls and towards the start of the trail past Queen NM. About 8 miles from Queen NM on the winding desert canyon road I experienced a very bad sudden loose of power to the point the truck was barely moving and jumping forward like it was surging. When I’d stop and put the truck in park the rpm would act normally but as soon as I’d start to drive it would get to 2,000 rpm and begin to fluctuate a lot. I drove very slowly til I got to the top of a mountain where there was a big pull off and began looking for what I felt was a vacuum leak causing the engine to misfire and run lean. I saw some cracking on some vacuum and intake hoses so I began trimming hoses and using tape on larger ones to cover any cracks temporarily. I hopped back in the truck and took off everything seemed fine til I got a mile down the road and it happened again. I pulled off into a little rv and cafe in Queen NM in the shade and began to troubleshoot again and by the way I’m using my OBD2 code reader to see what it’s saying is going on and again it says running lean possibly a vacuum leak. My dad calls at this moment to ask how it’s going and I tell him what it’s doing, well he’s very mechanically inclined and asks if I have WD40 with me to which I said yes, he tells me to spray all the vacuum lines one at a time and listen for rpm to increase ( with engine running of course) so I do and and well I heard the engine idle up turns out I left the worm clamp to my air filter box loose ( I’m such a du***ss) lol. So I tighten it up and start to drive , nope that wasn’t it still loose of power, surging and now P0300 multiple cylinder misfires occurring. So I make the difficult decision to abort my trip I’ve been planning for so long and concentrate on just getting back home. Not gonna lie I feel like a failure at this point I’m literally at the start of the trail and have to turn back. No the frustration sets in because I feel like a failure and I’m getting angry. I start limping the truck back to Carlsbad where there are multiple auto parts and thinking maybe my TPI sensor is acting up that’ll cause all these issues but no one has it and they tell me to go to a dealer but I don’t see any Nissan Dealership in Carlsbad. So then I decide I’ll buy the whole throttle body it comes with one but it’s a couple hundred dollars but I need it, auto parts says yes we have that so I’m like yes!!! But not in store it’ll take 2 days to get. Disappointed I leave so facing the fact i might be stuck here I decided to return to the original place I camped to rest and regroup. However the truck gets worse on my way back and I decided to replace the #5 coil pack with the other new one because I bought a spare earlier. My parents are watching me on Live360 and my dad suggests taking the Negative terminal off for a period of time to reset the computer, I’m literally trying everything I can think of but my gut says it has to be something by the #5 cylinder so I removed the battery post and begin burning myself on coolant lines to get the coil pack off. I take the bolt out and pull up on it only to have it separate and leave the lower part in the engine now I’m thinking that’s it I just got a bad part. I finally got it out of the engine and new one on, hook up my battery and it’s now 1pm 100 degrees outside so I’m making bandit drink lots of water and stay in the shade as well. We hoop back in the truck and take off now only a few miles from the campsite and sudden loss of power and surging again, now I’m on the side of the highway again with the hood up, I thinking what is causing this lean fuel problem and I decided to clean the Mass Air Flow Sensor with the 99% alcohol I have in my first aid kit. I start the truck and all seems good til I get right by the campsite. Finally at camp I decided to soak the Mass Air Flow Sensor in alcohol for a while and begin looking over the throttle body and vacuum lines looking for anything that might cause this. The temp was so hot out I used the ZeroBreeze air conditioner to keep bandit cool, I deploy my rear awning for more shade and continue working changing all my spark plugs, inspecting wires and overall just looking at everything. Then as I’m finishing putting everything back together the wind picks up like crazy, blowing stuff off the table, I ran to my awning but to late it was flying and twisted up on the back of the truck. I fought to get it rolled up and stowed. By now the frustration is really setting in and I’m just so aggravated I decided to try and make it home. The truck starts and takes off fine so I let my parents know I’m trying to make it back tonight. Now 600 miles is a long way with a truck that’s not been making it more than 15 without power loss but it seems good now ( like it had several times before) but I’m going anyway. I made it about 15 miles and once again power loss. At this point I have nothing left to try but I know Nissan Frontiers have issues with cam shaft position sensors and I bought both cam shafts and a crankshaft position sensor before I left for this trip so once again on the side of the road with the hood up laying on top of a hot engine burning my hands and arms I change the driver side because it’s the easiest to get too. Start the truck up and take off and same thing so now I’m thinking of course the #5 cylinder is on the passenger side that makes sense so I pull over and climb on top the hot engine reaching around behind it blinding feeling my way changing the right side cam shaft sensor. I got the sensor out but lost my 10mm socket somewhere under the truck but luckily I had another, I got the sensor changed but noticed the #5 coil pack bolt wasn’t tight so I put the ratchet on it and snugged it up. I get back in the truck and take off 5 miles, 15 miles, 30 miles and running great so I’m on my way home. Now I need gas so I head to Hobbs NM for fuel but surprisingly they had flash flooding from the storm I saw in the distance so now I’m driving in bumper deep water through Hobbs to get gas, I fuel up and leave making my way home. Looking on my Garmin tread weather radar I’m heading the same direction as this massive thunderstorm line so I have no choice but to drive through it. Now at a reduced speed not from engine power loss but Mother Nature and the high winds and heavy downpour I find myself making my way through hundreds of lightning strikes all around me. Slowly i make my way through only to find the winds on the front side of this storm are blowing causing a huge sand storm that I have to get through now. All I can say is the weather out west Texas is crazy. The truck was doing great, I was running 70mph with no issues. 369 miles left and the issue happens again so I limp my truck to a gas station thinking I messed with the right side cam sensor and #5 coil pack last and the cam sensor is fixed and brand new so I immediately go to the coil pack and discover the bolt looks flush but the coil pack is loose, I push down on the coil pack and notice that the bolt isn’t tightening up all the way , so I decided to make a spacer out of a zip tie to hold it down till I can get home. And suddenly fireworks start going off everywhere around me and bandit is terrified of fireworks. I work quickly to get the temporary spacer on and it works. I drove the remaining 369 miles home arriving at 4:30am. I didn’t have the adventure I wanted but I certainly learned a lot from this adventure. It tested my patience and willingness to not give up no matter how frustrating the situation is. I’ll be back once I get my truck squared away again!
