Let me preface this post by saying that I've spent countless hours reading over all of the threads on this forum, as well as others, to figure out what's going on with my truck. First, overview of my Titan:
In the last two weeks my truck has died on me while driving it. Sometimes it would fire back up when i put the transmission in neutral. Other times it took about 10 minutes of trying to get it to crank before it start up. I did the ECU/fog light relay swap and it made no difference. I knew the ECU relay was good because when I put it in the fog light port, the lights worked. I read something about hitting the fuel cell with a rubber mallet, so i would do that as well as tap on the cover of the box where the IPDM lives.
The truck never threw a code, so I drove it to the closest Nissan dealer and was able to talk with their lead technician. He asked if the IPDM had been replaced. I said no. He said that was the problem. So I went home and ordered one online. I paid $80 extra to have it sent 2-day air. Set me back $500 in total. It arrived on Monday and I installed it in 10 minutes. The truck wasn't any better - kept stalling out on me and would run horribly at idle then shut off. I checked my ground wires Wednesday night. The ground that connects to the back side of bank 2 was very loose. I tightened it up. Since I secured that ground wire the truck is cranking up immediately - just like it's always done over the past 16 years.
I was driving the Titan yesterday afternoon and had to get on the gas to merge in to traffic. As soon as I got on it the truck hesitated hard! It bucked two times, then accelerated. Later in the evening, I was picking my daughter up from practice. I pulled up to the pool and came to a complete stop so she could jump in the truck. Right then it started idling horribly, barely staying at 500 rpms. I shifted the truck into park hoping it would stop but it didn't. I pressure the accelerator and it did nothing...truck continued to idle bad another 2 seconds or so, then it jumped up to 1,200 rpm and acted like nothing happened.
I dropped my daughter off at her mother's house, came home and did more research online. I'm not finding anything.
This morning I crank up the Titan in my garage with the AC running and let it idle. About 10 minutes later it starting idling really bad, then died. It still hasn't thrown a code, and I followed the steps in the service manual to see if my MIL light was burnt out, and it's not. The light is working fine. This also has nothing to do with the anti-theft feature. I've confirmed that via the service manual. The anti-theft light does not come on with the key in the "ON" position.
Because I'm not getting any CEL/SES codes, i'm not going to waste anymore money on what I am not convinced is the issue. It's not the crankshaft or cam sensors. The Nissan technician told me if it was, it would definitely throw an error code. I'm also not convinced it's the fuel pump because the problem is intermittent. The tech told me when a fuel pump goes, it goes. It does work, fail, then work again.
I made the mistake of installing one of those cheap air-tek fuel pumps 6 years ago only to have it fail two years later. That's why I went with the high-end Bosch fuel pump back in 2016.
So, does anyone have any suggestions on what the issue is? I really love my truck and it's in incredible condition! No one that sees it believes me when I tell them it's a '04 and I've put every single mile of the 312,000 on it myself. I'm not in a position financially where I can throw much more money at it only to hope I've fixed the problem; I'm already out $500 for that new IPDM.
- I bought it brand new in August of 2004
- It's a CC SE 4x4 with the offroad package
- It's about to turn over 312,000 miles
- I've done 98% of the maintenance on it myself (had to pay a dealership to repair a ruptured fuel line underneath the bed in 2017; that's the only thing I haven't done myself)
- It has JBA longtube headers, Cajun B-pipes, Borla catback exhaust w/resonator from Cajun B-pipes, K&N air filter, UpRev tune
- I did a full tuneup on the truck back in February of this year
- I'm on my third fuel pump; installed a Bosch unit ($500) back in November of 2016. It has roughly 70k miles on it
- Replaced the battery last month, alternator back in December, and the starter in 2015
- I've been running the original white IPDM up until Monday of this week (8/24) when I installed a new unit. My truck was never recalled to have the IPDM replaced, only the ECU relay
In the last two weeks my truck has died on me while driving it. Sometimes it would fire back up when i put the transmission in neutral. Other times it took about 10 minutes of trying to get it to crank before it start up. I did the ECU/fog light relay swap and it made no difference. I knew the ECU relay was good because when I put it in the fog light port, the lights worked. I read something about hitting the fuel cell with a rubber mallet, so i would do that as well as tap on the cover of the box where the IPDM lives.
The truck never threw a code, so I drove it to the closest Nissan dealer and was able to talk with their lead technician. He asked if the IPDM had been replaced. I said no. He said that was the problem. So I went home and ordered one online. I paid $80 extra to have it sent 2-day air. Set me back $500 in total. It arrived on Monday and I installed it in 10 minutes. The truck wasn't any better - kept stalling out on me and would run horribly at idle then shut off. I checked my ground wires Wednesday night. The ground that connects to the back side of bank 2 was very loose. I tightened it up. Since I secured that ground wire the truck is cranking up immediately - just like it's always done over the past 16 years.
I was driving the Titan yesterday afternoon and had to get on the gas to merge in to traffic. As soon as I got on it the truck hesitated hard! It bucked two times, then accelerated. Later in the evening, I was picking my daughter up from practice. I pulled up to the pool and came to a complete stop so she could jump in the truck. Right then it started idling horribly, barely staying at 500 rpms. I shifted the truck into park hoping it would stop but it didn't. I pressure the accelerator and it did nothing...truck continued to idle bad another 2 seconds or so, then it jumped up to 1,200 rpm and acted like nothing happened.
I dropped my daughter off at her mother's house, came home and did more research online. I'm not finding anything.
This morning I crank up the Titan in my garage with the AC running and let it idle. About 10 minutes later it starting idling really bad, then died. It still hasn't thrown a code, and I followed the steps in the service manual to see if my MIL light was burnt out, and it's not. The light is working fine. This also has nothing to do with the anti-theft feature. I've confirmed that via the service manual. The anti-theft light does not come on with the key in the "ON" position.
Because I'm not getting any CEL/SES codes, i'm not going to waste anymore money on what I am not convinced is the issue. It's not the crankshaft or cam sensors. The Nissan technician told me if it was, it would definitely throw an error code. I'm also not convinced it's the fuel pump because the problem is intermittent. The tech told me when a fuel pump goes, it goes. It does work, fail, then work again.
I made the mistake of installing one of those cheap air-tek fuel pumps 6 years ago only to have it fail two years later. That's why I went with the high-end Bosch fuel pump back in 2016.
So, does anyone have any suggestions on what the issue is? I really love my truck and it's in incredible condition! No one that sees it believes me when I tell them it's a '04 and I've put every single mile of the 312,000 on it myself. I'm not in a position financially where I can throw much more money at it only to hope I've fixed the problem; I'm already out $500 for that new IPDM.