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08 frontier - Horrible missing / shaking

5K views 53 replies 20 participants last post by  MrEd 
#1 ·
2008 with 99k miles. Started missing while at interstate speed, and I thought it was the transmission initially. Towed to dealer and they changed the plugs, 1 coil, and a fuel line that had been chewed by rodent . Other coils were fine. Drove it 1 mile down the road, and it started shaking and missing again. Returned to dealer... and they next checked all the fuel injectors. All were good.

Unsure what to do next... dealer recommended a compression check or digging through all the wiring for damage.

The shaking and missing only occurs once at speed. and I noticed its when letting off the gas at speed, it shakes when getting back on the gas.

Any insight would be great!
 
#9 ·
So my diagnostic tool popped a misfire on cylinder 1. That's the same cylinder that the dealer changed the coil on.
I have noticed it won't misfire untill it's warmed up and been running for a while. It's very intermittent and it has to be hot.
A single cylinder misfire will not cause your truck to be act as it does. Something more macroscopic like cam or crank sensors that act up is more possible. Or something else that when warm goes out of kilter.

BTW, if you have comprehensive insurance, damages done by rodents are covered.
 
#10 ·
Sounds like cam shaft sensors to me. They will scare the heck out of you when they go bad. The whole truck bucks almost.
 
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#15 ·
If the shaking is a repetitive symptom, a way to gain more insight is for a tech with a powerful scan tool to drive the truck. Engine parameters are observed during the shake. Spark, injector firing, O2 sensors, cam and crank sensors can be tracked real time. I have to believe one of the engine parameters is going bananas during the incident. Some mechanics do this, not all.
 
#22 ·
Does the engine Miss at idle. If it does you can pull the electrical wire off each coil pack and if it gets worse that means that coil is okay and if you pull one and there's virtually no change in the way the engine's running that usually indicates that's a bad coil pack. That's what I had to do on one of my vehicles when it was miss firing. Mine would miss real bad under acceleration.
 
#23 ·
It will miss at idle only after its hot. On first cold crank and drive it runs like a top. Runs great actually since the plugs are new... I can tell it improved the power. But then, it will start misfiring after warming up on the drive or after cranking from a short stop while its still hot.
 
#32 ·
Before firing the parts cannon at it, the vehicle needs a thorough diagnosis. Make sure to use ONLY oem parts. You'd be surprised at the problems aftermarket engine, electrical and fuel system parts can cause! I have an 06 4.0 6 speed manual. When you slow down and then speed up, with an automatic try downshifting one gear. Does it still misfire? If so, it could be electrical or ign or fuel. With a high mileage (over 120K) I'd check the plugs. Nissan recommends replacement at 120K.
 
#33 ·
Update - changed both camshaft sensor and the crankshaft sensor. Didn't work. Plugs and coil were the first thing changed.

Crazy thing is.... It purs like a kitten at idle, runs super smooth and strong but when I push the motor around 40 mph or on an incline it starts the hard misfire and shudder. Then randomly after that.

Still shows misfire code on cylinder 1, but the light only flashes and doesn't stay on.

Any more thoughts are appreciated
 
#36 ·
Thought.... rodent damage was found on the fuel line around the top of the block around cylinder #2. I wonder if there is hidden damage to the wiring on cylinder #1 adjacent?

Also... the original failure happened while I was at interstate speed with the cruise control on. The Cruise has only worked intermittently since I purchased the truck a few years ago. I have only put 20k miles on it since purchase. The cruise will flash and not engage most times, but sometimes it will work just fine.

Is there any related wiring between cylinder 1 and cruise control? A common harness?
 
#37 ·
Don't know if you've found the answer yet, but here was my experience that I posted on a different thread a while back:

"This may not be it, but the lurching you have described is exactly what my 2016 P4X was doing a while back. It turned out to be something I would never have expected, and I thought the online mechanic who diagnosed it was out of his mind. He told me to check for an opening in the intake system where there shouldn't be one. Really? Sure enough, I checked and found that one of the clips on the air filter housing had broken off causing the corner of it to be opened up a bit. The computer apparently sensed this as "unmetered air flow", and it's remedy was to momentarily shut off ignition whenever it deemed too much air was coming in (which makes no sense to me, but there it is), which was causing the violent "lurch" under acceleration. I bought a small C-clamp to hold that corner of the housing shut - no more skipping.
So - check your air filter housing . . . "

As a follow-up, I ended up replacing the intake system with this - no shaking/missing/lurching since:

Car Hood Light Vehicle Motor vehicle
 
#39 ·
When mine went out, truck was hard to start even though it would turn over fine, it got to the point truck was missing and dying at traffic lights but would always start. I bought both camshaft sensors and the day before I replaced them, while having the truck with the key in the "ON" position in the driveway, it registered the SES light, scanned it and it was for Camshaft Bank 1. Replaced both and truck has been running perfectly since, although I did have problems with connectors, I bought both new pigtails, OEM connectors would not lock back in. I have yet to replace the new pigtails! lol zip ties have been working wonders in this truck! 😎 😅
 
#45 ·
Dealer did that after I took it back the first time. They confirmed the new coil was good, and it didn't move around.
I think it's in the wiring harness or a cat. Both after it heats up.
I got a laser thermometer to check the cat in and out. Plan on doing that this weekend. If that doesn't seem to be it, I'll have to start with wiring which is probably out of my depth
 
#46 ·
Update

Today I warmed the truck up for 20 mins and wiggled all the coil wires, 02 sensor wires, all the harnesses to see if I can throw a code or cause a misfire. Nothing happened. It does look like the passenger side wiring to the coils has been messed with before... electrical tape looks old, but not factory and they are bundled together where the driver side is not. It looks like that wiring terminates at the rear of the block next to the #5 coil and clips into the larger harness. I wonder if just that section is replaceable.

I then checked temperatures on all 4 cats, multiple times at different temps, and logged them. here are my findings:
Passenger Front Cat - entrance/exit
  • 372/280
  • 195/129
  • 230/140
Passenger Rear Cat - entrance/exit
  • 183/220
  • 190/210
Driver Front Cat - entrance/exit
  • 420/370
  • 280/140
Driver Rear Cat - entrance/exit
  • 360/270
  • 310/240
Do these look to be within range? or the drop offs on the entrance/exit are too much? Photos attached of the cats... are those holes drainage?

I am also attaching photos of my scanner if anything jumps out to anyone as off. I'm not familiar with all the parameters.


I then drove a few miles and only got it to misfire a couple of times, for an instant. No rough idle today at all. No CEL.

  • 99k Miles
  • Only code ever has been P0301 - Misfire on 1
  • New coil on 1 (at dealer - checked to ensure it is OK after misfire continued)
  • New plugs all around (at dealer)
  • Fuel injectors checked (at dealer)
  • Coils moved, code stays on 1 (at dealer)
  • Both Camshaft sensors replaced. Delphi. (myself)
  • Crankshaft sensor replaced. Delphi. (myself)
  • 2 cans of Berriman's B-12 Chem ran through
  • Misfire only starts when engine is pushed between 40-60 mph, under load hard. And then, only intermittent. Will randomly misfire at lower speeds and idle after initial start.
  • Started at highway speed, with cruise control on, and violently shook the truck. Have not been able to repeat to that scale since.
  • Only other issue with truck is Cruise control may/may not work random.
Pressure issue? Valve? vacuum line related to cruise and C#1? Control Module? Cat?

You guys have been very helpful in trying new things.
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#47 ·
Even though the IR thermometer is a good tool it may not tell u all the information u need to know about how well the cats are doing. If i remember correctly the Exit temp should be at the very least 50 degrees higher than the entrance. The reason why i dont completely trust the IR thermometer is cause i had similar readings with my cats even though they were only a couple years old. I took my cats off and looked through them with a flashlight and i could see through it, i didnt even need the flashlight to see through the cats so they werent clogged like the code(cats efficiency code) i was getting suggested. I also blew high pressure air back through the cats to blow out any buildup that could cause my code and to my surprise, barely anything came out. I was kinda expecting a smoke show cause ive done this in the past with actually clogged cats and the amount of black buildup was substantial. How old are ur cats anyways?
 
#48 ·
They are original. 2008. I did some reading it age can cause failure and it talked about infrequently driving the truck and only for short trips. I work from home and drive the truck into town maybe 2 or 3 times a month. It's only been on the interstate 1 other time in the last 3 years other than this last time when the missing hit hard.
 
#49 ·
I would suggest taking off ur cats to see how clogged ur cats are. Since its an 08 the bolts maybe abit rusted so id hit it with some penatrating oil now so the job is alil easier. An impact gun will make ur life easier aswell. I remember working on my 05 and i ran into some rusted bolts that ended up breaking which made the job alot more harder than it should.

Some people would run some cat cleaner and take there trucks on the interstate for an italian tune to burn off all that buildup out, but since ur truck is missing that badly, ur past using that method
 
#51 ·
It was the passenger front catalytic converter. Finally got it all broke down and when I popped the cat off chunks of matrix were all over.

Stripped it down on both sides and totk it out on the open road..... No misfire. Loud as HELL but misfire. Feels good to figure it without the dealer charging me a ton just to figure it out.

Gonna replace the bad cat and clean the other 3.
 
#53 ·
Remember ur old cat is still worth money, depending on where u go and the market its worth $50-$100 for the precious metals inside. If the primary cat is done, the other side is most likely on its way out too. If u can get a deal for both, id get that. But if theres no savings then id buy it individually then id wait till the other side fails later.
 
#54 ·
Thanks for the reminder that the old one is worth scrap money. -yes I’m doing all the cats at once, way to much rust on all of them, and the down stream O2 sensor bung holes are rusted through, so one of the sensors is just hanging there….
 
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