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Limp Mode in Xterra


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24 minutes ago, Zixuan Huang - Charlie said:

Then probably some sand in MAF, I always blow the residue sand away from the air filter container after each drive, very likely some got into MAF and caused the limp mode. Will get a car use vaccum machine to do the job then, thanks again Thomas, always learning things from you! 

 @Chinthaka Ruwan Be aware of this

Take it to a garage immediately if you don't want to change your engine soon. The sand will reach the throttle body and enter into the inlet manifold plenum and end up in the cylinders scratching them badly and making the valves stuck. As you were already out of the desert this will take a couple of days to reach to this stage. Take out the inlet manifold and wash them thoroughly in petrol to clear it off any sand. Be very careful when you blow out the sand from the air box. Don't attempt this without sealing the rest of the hose with a cloth. Also refixing the air filter box to the bottom as I explained is very important. If you don't know then learn it from a mechanic. Sadly I learned this at a cost of 6000 AED. Had done this mistake and had to replace the engine in less than 6 months. The throttle relearning cleared the code and your engine is running but it didn't clear the sand from inside the manifold. 

Its good to do the servicing yourself at the end of the drive but if you don't know the correct procedure it will dent your wallet. My assumption is the sand entered the air inlet hose when you did the cleaning or you may not have closed the air filter box properly which sucked in dust later. 

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11 minutes ago, Thomas Varghese said:

Take it to a garage immediately if you don't want to change your engine soon. The sand will reach the throttle body and enter into the inlet manifold plenum and end up in the cylinders scratching them badly and making the valves stuck. As you were already out of the desert this will take a couple of days to reach to this stage. Take out the inlet manifold and wash them thoroughly in petrol to clear it off any sand. Be very careful when you blow out the sand from the air box. Don't attempt this without sealing the rest of the hose with a cloth. Also refixing the air filter box to the bottom as I explained is very important. If you don't know then learn it from a mechanic. Sadly I learned this at a cost of 6000 AED. Had done this mistake and had to replace the engine in less than 6 months. The throttle relearning cleared the code and your engine is running but it didn't clear the sand from inside the manifold. 

Its good to do the servicing yourself at the end of the drive but if you don't know the correct procedure it will dent your wallet. My assumption is the sand entered the air inlet hose when you did the cleaning or you may not have closed the air filter box properly which sucked in dust later. 

Thanks Thomas, will definetely bring it to mechanic!

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Same thing happened to me during Action Photography drive with @Gaurav. We did lot of sand splashing  and sand went in to the filter box. Check engine light came and engine wasn't revving.  Then Gaurav cleaned the air intake  sensor and removed sand in the filter. Then disconnected the battery for half an hour and after that everything was fine. I didn't go to a mechanic. Maybe in my case situation was not that worse.

 

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@Chinthaka Ruwan I meant sand may have gone inside the intake plenum. Its not necessary sand has gone inside 100%. But if it has gone inside by any chance even 1%, its better to clean the entire intake system before any damage is caused in the engine. In my case sand went inside because the rubber hose connecting the air filter box and the intake plenum cracked and sand entered into the throttle body and the intake system. 

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36 minutes ago, Thomas Varghese said:

@Chinthaka Ruwan I meant sand may have gone inside the intake plenum. Its not necessary sand has gone inside 100%. But if it has gone inside by any chance even 1%, its better to clean the entire intake system before any damage is caused in the engine. In my case sand went inside because the rubber hose connecting the air filter box and the intake plenum cracked and sand entered into the throttle body and the intake system. 

Thanks @Thomas Varghese for your valuable advise. Better to check it before getting in to trouble.

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Sand in the airbox is totally normal and should be part of your weekly maintenance to clean air filter and the box itself.

Sand in the intake (after the MAF) is a big alarm and means you either have a cracked air intake hose or a damaged filter element. Like @Thomas Varghese states if you see this occurring you need to get it checked ASAP. Sand will destroy your engine in a matter of days or weeks and will lead to expensive rebuilt.

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"Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further."

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@Frederic the air intake box of the Xterra is its most weakest part inside the engine bay. Don't know who and why they designed like this but the beginner mechanic like me who is not used to the car and is very enthusiastic about keeping the box and the filter clean are in for the shock of their life when they realize they are actually destroying the engine as they didn't close it properly because of ignorance of how its done. The top cover has 3 tongues on the side facing the engine which goes inside 3 sockets of the bottom cover. The trick is to get all the tongues and sockets to properly align and slide into each other so that the air filter box is tightly shut and can be closed from the fender facing side by clicking the two hop on clips. Easy to say but little difficult to achieve. One need to align the tongue and the sockets on the engine facing side and do a bit of hitting and pushing on the top cover until all the tongues and clips slide into each other and the orange color of the air filter edge disappears from view. At this point the click on clips at the other side can be pushed and the box closed properly. 

This is what I understood from the experience of @Zixuan Huang - Charlie's XTERRA about the limp mode he experienced after he finished the drive, cleaned everything and drove off. There are 2 possibilities 1. He didn't cover the air intake pipe which leads inside the MAF sensor and when he blew the sand in the bottom cover the sand flew up and everywhere and went inside the MAF sensor which rendered its readings awry and the ECU went mad thinking something is wrong in the air flow and let me cut down the engine before something gets damaged. 2. The air filter box itself was not closed properly after cleaning earlier or last time and the sand intruded into the throttle body which threw the throttle position sensor out of position which confused the ECM again and cut down the power as means of self protection. Most probably the 2nd scenario is what happened as @Zixuan Huang - Charlie mentioned when the throttle relearn process was initiated the car regained power. This is an indication that the somehow the throttle position sensor was compromised and started to work when the ECM learned about the throttle position readings once the relearn process was initiated and again there are 2 possibilities for this to happen. 1. Sand intrusion which threw the senor out of range for the ECM readings. 2. The wiring harness which comes at the throttle position sensor has come loose probably because of fast paced jumps on bump as it was an IM drive and is confusing the ECM with consistent flawed signals. Again I believe its the 1st scenario as the behavior repeats after sometime and there is no need to initiate the relearn process for the engine to rev up if its the wiring harness loose connection. 

This definitely points to only 1 conclusion - there was sand intrusion into the intake chamber and the inlet manifold has to be completely removed and washed in petrol. 

Regarding Angela's @Foxtrot Oscar XTERRA I believe its the 2nd scenario which made it limp - the wiring harness had come loose somewhere. Maybe at the throttle body itself, maybe MAF sensor, maybe crank position sensor, or perhaps the O2 sensor which are placed before the CAT. This will render the car in limp mode but will reset itself once the battery is disconnected and connected back after 5 min or sometimes when you just switch off and switch on the car. 

Sorry for the lengthy post but these are from my experiences with the car over 2 years.  

Edited by Thomas Varghese
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Ah, Nissan with its Electronic Throttle Body that has  Limp Mode Lever (figure 1).

@Zixuan Huang - Charlie & @Foxtrot Oscar there's a Nissan bulletin on how to Clear Check Engine Light / Reset ECU without OBD2 scanner (figure 2) 

Figure 1: ETC with Limp Lever

ETCSi.gif.87d53ebcc68a425945992dbe336aa743.gif

So based on this, if you keep on getting Limp Mode, first clean the MAF (Mass AirFlow Sensor), if still persists then might want to replace the APPS (Accel Pedal Position Sensor - cheaper) and the Electronic Throttle Body (combination of Throttle Position Sensor + Control Motor in diagram) - more expensive unless aftermarket or original-reconditioned.

 

Figure 2: Nissan Reset ECU "Pedal-Dance"

Nissan_ECU_Reset.gif.b258d632fc4402e8261f8032697ba438.gif

Textual Description of Figure 2:

1. Confirm that accelerator pedal is fully released, turn ignition switch “ON” (without starting vehicle) and wait 3 seconds.
2. Repeat the following steps (2a and 2b) procedures quickly five times within 5 seconds.
2-a. Fully depress the accelerator pedal (HARD).
2-b. Fully release the accelerator pedal.
3. Wait 7 seconds, fully depress the accelerator pedal and keep it for approximately 10 seconds until SERVICE ENGINE SOON starts blinking.
4. Fully release the accelerator pedal (while SERVICE ENGINE SOON is still blinking).
5. Wait about 10 seconds.
6. Fully depress the accelerator pedal and keep it for more than 10 seconds.
7. Fully release the accelerator pedal (The SERVICE ENGINE SOON light will continue to blink).
8. Turn ignition switch to “OFF” position and now you can start the vehicle. The SERVICE ENGINE SOON light should be gone.
If the SERVICE ENGINE SOON light continues to remain ON, repeat the above steps. Timing is EXTREMELY critical to resetting the ECU.

 

Idle Air Volume Re-Learning "Pedal-Dance"

After clearing the Check Engine Light, follow this PDF (Charlie already shared the video, but I thought keeping this PDF is handy when there's no Internet) : 👇

Nissan Engine Idle Re-Learn Procedure.pdf

 

Edited by Zed
forgot MAF
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  • 5 months later...

Further to this thread I wish to write up a little more about the car going into limp mode. It can be the A/F sensor aka the O2 sensor connection issues or a broken sensor too which can prompt a car to go into limp mode. In fact it is always an electrical issue related to the myriad number of sensors which puts a car into limp mode. If the car stops while running most probably the crankshaft position sensor or the camshaft position sensors are going bad. If the car misfires and coughs it maybe the knock sensor. Recently found out a very interesting phenomenon which makes the car stops while in idling and you try to park. The power steering sensor is the one which creates this. This sensor tells the ECM to increase the RPM while you are turning the steering wheel so that the engine can accommodate the additional power requirements demanded by the steering pump or the engine has no clue the pump is turning and needs to rev up, stalls and dies off. 

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