Questions and Answers

Nissan Pathfinder Ate Crapola Q. Hi Vince, I have a 1988 Nissan Pathfinder with a V-6, 4WD automatic transmission, 176,000 miles, throttle body injection, no ABS, P/S, A/C, cruise. While I was changing the fuel injectors, I noticed that the EGR galley in the manifold was completely clogged (this and not faulty injectors were my problem all along).

Before I put the throttle body back on the manifold, I cleared out the crap in the EGR galley.This done and everything back in place, the engine started but was rough. Unscrewing a bolt on the manifold that allowed access to the EGR galley made a noticeable improvement, but the engine was still rough. I sprayed carburetor cleaner into the galley via the bolt access and it helped. I gave the engine a few good revs and a lot of crap blew out of the exhaust.

After a few minutes of this the engine was running better than it ever had. Then I attached the vacuum tubes (which had been plugged up till now) to the air cleaner. As soon as I did this the engine died. I tried starting it again but it would just backfire like crazy.

My guess is that, once I attached vacuum hoses, the EGR valve opened and some crap came through, clogging my valves. Could the valves be clogged? If so, what’s the best way to clean them. I verified that there were no problems with the timing.

Thanks for the help,
Abe

P.S. Where can I get a nice Datsun B-210? Those are the best cars ever.

A. I really don't think the valves are clogged. That would take some doing. I think it's more likely junk got into the EGR valve and stuck it open. I would take the EGR valve completely off, clean it out and make sure it opens and closes properly before putting it back on.

If a piece of crap got into the intake and is hanging a valve up, a compression test will tell. What I'm concerned about is that this is an interference engine and there is the possibility of a bent valve(s). If this is the case, you might be able to take off the intake and both exhaust manifolds and try to clean out the valves through the ports. If not, the heads will have to come off to do it proper.

I wish I knew where there are some B-210's. I loved those little cars and at one time I owned seven of them. They would run forever and give great gas milage. My favorite of the bunch was a 1978 B-210 4-speed hatchback with 325,000 miles on it, purred like a kitten and got 41 mpg.