# Missing under load



## Sliim280 (Sep 7, 2018)

I have a 97 pick up with manual and 4 cyl. It ran fine and then sat for about a year. Fired it up and now ive got a problem. It will idle fine, and run fine for about a mile until its warmed up and then it gets a miss like its starving for fuel or losing spark when under anything beyond just a touch of throttle. It will still idle fine and still rev out under no load. Under load It will miss until i hit about 3k revs or higher then it comes back to life. I have put 4 new injectors in it bc one was bad from sitting. Ive swapped distributor with a used one i had and problem was still there so i threw in a new reman and problem remained the same. Ive swapped back to the original dizzy and returned the 170 dollar part i didnt need. Ive been working in cars for 20 years and this thing has me puzzled. I did pull the codes and i have a p0180 for fuel temp sensor circuit a failure. Ive read up on that and i see that sensor is prone to breaking a wire but none of the symptoms ive read about online match mine as far as that code. What confuses me is that it runs fine until up to temp and sometimes it will run bad right at start up. Could that fuel temp sensor cause the problem? Does the ecu not read that until it goes into closed loop and then it becomes the problem? If so is there a way to disable anything to keep it from going to closed loop to verify that as the cause before i pull the bed and fuel pump and buy a 50 dollar sensor that may not even be the problem? Oh, and ive swapped the ecu with a salvage yard one and it made no difference. Any help here would be greatly appreciated. I just need my little beater truck back badly. Thanks


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

I don't recall too many problems with the fuel temp sender wires breaking on these vehicles, but there were a lot of air temp sensor brackets that broke and caused the wires to break on the air temp sensor on the bottom side of the air cleaner. The fuel temp sensor is on the fuel sender in the tank and should not cause a misfire condition if it is faulty, however, if there is contamination in the fuel tank (like water or stale gas), it could cause the fuel temp sender to trigger a code. One of the things I would look at is the fuel pump pressure (test it to make sure it's within specs, 34-36 PSI regulated and about 45 unregulated). EGR valves on these engines have been known to intermittently stick open, so it might be worth looking into. When the vehicle goes into closed loop, it looks at the oxygen sensor info in regards to how it manages the fuel, so you may want to consider replace the upstream oxygen sensor (I stick with NTK or Denso brand sensors on Nissans; Rockauto has pretty good prices). It would be helpful in this case to be able to look at datastream info with a scan tool.


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## jp2code (Jun 2, 2011)

This thread indicates that the Fuel Temperature Sensor is inside the fuel tank:

https://www.nissanforums.com/hb-truck/133940-fuel-temperature-sensor-location-1997-hardbody.html










Here is a video showing how to locate and test the Nissan fuel temperature sensor:






Not a great cost savings, but this sensor was the lowest price on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/372250831542

When getting to the fuel tank, I have heard lots of people say it is easier to remove the bed rather than drop the fuel tank.

Good Luck!


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## jp2code (Jun 2, 2011)

This is the part on Amazon, Hitachi TMS0002:

[ame]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GTIGYWU[/ame]


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## Sliim280 (Sep 7, 2018)

Thanks for the Intel on where it is and part number. Did a little test this morning and unplugged the upstream o2 sensor to keep it from going into closed loop. It stopped the missing. So either that sensor will mess with it or it is another problem that isnt showing up in trouble codes. Ill eventually swap out the sensor but its not high in my priority list at the moment


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