02 Frontier Rough Idle

Nissan11

Nissan11

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2005
Location
Marston, NC
Hey guys. My 02 crew cab v6 has been giving me an issue lately. It has 215k miles and has been a great truck. However, lately it has been idling very rough when cold. It sounds like it is about to die at 750 rpm. The sound is like it is starving for fuel. If I rev it up it runs fine and it drives down the road just fine with no hiccups. It also seems to run fine at idle after its warm. The problem is getting worse and today I noticed it coughing at 1000 rpm too. The truck had a fuel system service at a dealer at around 130k miles but has had nothing since except for cooling system parts and oil changes. No code has been thrown. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Here is a video of how it sounds.


 
Before you do any other troubleshooting, clean your idle air control valve (IACV), and reset the ECU. But, don't reset the ECU if you need to get it inspected very soon (like within the next few hundred miles), because it will also clear all the readiness monitor flags that are part of an inspection OBD2 scan.

You may have more than one problem, and something like the IACV clogged up may obscure the rest of your troubleshooting if it's idle related. The 1000RPM hiccup is likely not IACV related, but it may be as that's still within the idle speed range that the IACV would control.

Google says this is a pretty common problem with Frontiers of that generation. Apparently a lot of people replace the IACV.
 
Have you ever put spark plugs in it? It almost sounds ignition related.
 
Fabrik8 said:
Before you do any other troubleshooting, clean your idle air control valve (IACV), and reset the ECU. But, don't reset the ECU if you need to get it inspected very soon (like within the next few hundred miles), because it will also clear all the readiness monitor flags that are part of an inspection OBD2 scan.

You may have more than one problem, and something like the IACV clogged up may obscure the rest of your troubleshooting if it's idle related. The 1000RPM hiccup is likely not IACV related, but it may be as that's still within the idle speed range that the IACV would control.

Google says this is a pretty common problem with Frontiers of that generation. Apparently a lot of people replace the IACV.
Click to expand...


Thanks, I will try this and report back.


The truck had plugs and wires done at 130k.
 
If it's at 215k now, it's probably due for another set...just a thought. I'd at least pull one and look at it.
 
Is this the IACV?
 

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no and you don't wanna know where it is either. Damn nips! It's under the plenum on the driver side...
 
I'm not saying that's absolutely the problem, but the ECM doesn't know if the wires or plugs are in good shape...especially with 85k on them. Any time I've ever gotten a misfire code, it was because of a coil pack.

The IAC sounds promising, but that sucks that it's all up under the manifold!
 
you ought to see where the knock sensor is. Luckily,somebody figured an alternative fix for that issue. Sparkplugs on the left head are a biioootttccchhh esp the last one. Hmmmm....I'm wondering if that plug was replaced. Did you replace the plugs or have somebody else do it?
Not everything sets a code on this critter. Daddy's 99 has been having running issues since I cleaned the throttle body. No codes thrown but doin funny crap from start up till operating temps are reached. Again....fuckin Nips!
 
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