The symptoms: intermittent rough idle followed by a bad gas smell, service engine light first blinking then solid, and a burning smell. When the rough idle begins, it will subside when put into park. But when placed in drive again, the rough idle returns. It has been to a Ford dealership to have the knock sensor, and spark plugs and wires replaced. It just got out of another shop where a Nissan-certified mechanic replaced the injectors. Both times the intake manifold had to be pulled, so the repairs were hundreds of dollars. It is very depressing that it still is not running right. It is very scary too because I am worried it will catch on fire. Something is definitely burning. I'm taking it back to the Nissan-certified mechanic tomorrow. Any suggestions will be appreciated!
Update from Mar 12, 2010: I finally found a mechanic that was able to fix my van! My wonderful mechanic realized the problem was happening every time it had been wet outside. He ran water over the hood and sure enough it began missing again. He looked and discovered that the black seal under the hood (at the top near the windshield) had popped out of one of it's holes. After he repositioned it and glued it down I have not had one problem since! The codes kept reading trouble with the #5 plug, injector, etc. Come to find out, the #5 is where the water was pooling, thus sending off codes. After $1,800 was needlessly spent, and a year of hassle – it only took about an hour of labor and some glue to fix this problem once it was diagnosed correctly. I hope this will help others who may be experiencing this same problem.
The symptoms: intermittent rough idle followed by a bad gas smell, service engine light first blinking then solid, and a burning smell. When the rough idle begins, it will subside when put into park. But when placed in drive again, the rough idle returns. It has been to a Ford dealership to have the knock sensor, and spark plugs and wires replaced. It just got out of another shop where a Nissan-certified mechanic replaced the injectors. Both times the intake manifold had to be pulled, so the repairs were hundreds of dollars. It is very depressing that it still is not running right. It is very scary too because I am worried it will catch on fire. Something is definitely burning. I'm taking it back to the Nissan-certified mechanic tomorrow. Any suggestions will be appreciated!
Update from Mar 12, 2010: I finally found a mechanic that was able to fix my van! My wonderful mechanic realized the problem was happening every time it had been wet outside. He ran water over the hood and sure enough it began missing again. He looked and discovered that the black seal under the hood (at the top near the windshield) had popped out of one of it's holes. After he repositioned it and glued it down I have not had one problem since! The codes kept reading trouble with the #5 plug, injector, etc. Come to find out, the #5 is where the water was pooling, thus sending off codes. After $1,800 was needlessly spent, and a year of hassle – it only took about an hour of labor and some glue to fix this problem once it was diagnosed correctly. I hope this will help others who may be experiencing this same problem.
- silverbullet, Ottawa, KS, US