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I'm thinking of buying a 1996 Nissan Frontier pick-up. It's 2wd, automatic, 110,000 miles, use regular unleaded. After driving it on the highway for about 50 miles the check engine light came on. It went from blinking to being on steady. (The manual refers to this light as the malfunction indicator light, and says it indicates problems with the emissions system.) A friend did a computer diagonstic and we got the message of a misfire in cylinder 4. He cleared the error, and I've since driven it about 100 miles. The light has not come back on. I guess my question is, do you think I should buy it, or do you think I may have problems with it. The owner had the truck sitting for about a month before I drove it, in sub freezing temperatures. If the light came back on, what repairs might be needed? Spark plugs, or something more expensive? It supposedly had a tune-up with new plugs, wires, cap and rotor this past summer. The owner claims it's the first time the light has come on. The manual says to help avoid problems don't drive faster than 45mph. (I was doing about 75mph when the light came on.) Is this a hard and fast rule, or just a suggestion? I have a long commute to work, and don't really want a vehicle I can't drive faster than 45mph. Also, a portion of the air intake has been removed. A square box pictured in the manual on the drivers side of the engine compartment was removed, and the air intake pipe was extended to the air intake hole at the side of the engine compartment. What was the purpose of the removed component, and will not having it cause problems? Thanks for the help,
Ian
Answer -
Acylinder misfire can be caused by several things. If this is the six cylinder it is probably the coils that need to be replaced. If that is not the problem then you power flush the injectors and install a new fuel filter. It was nothing you did and if it were me I would notbuy it until the owner could discount the price enough to get it to run properly or have it corrected before you buy it.
If the air box has been removed in favor of a cold air intake it is a personal preference. I do not like the air noise they make when you drive. But, to each their own. A factory air box would be very costly if you could not get the one the owner remmoved. Your choice here.
Follow up-
I should have specified it is a 4 cylinder, would that still indicate coils? What coils? The light came back on today. The engine seems to be runnung smoothly, although the light troubles me. I'm going to try new plugs and a bottle of fuel injection cleaner first (hopefully the cheap fix will work.) Thanks for the quick anwser. The info on the light and the air intake was very helpful
AnswerIf you have a four cylinder and it has a distributor I would first do the plugs, wires, cap and rotor. If that does not do the trick I would take the distributor cover off and inspect for oil getting in the optical switching device that tells the computer when to fire the plugs.
