# 04 Sentra has 0507, 0302 SES codes. Pls help



## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

My car has a bouquet of SES codes.

The 0507 (High idle speed) and 0447 (Canister vent valve) are ongoing codes, and 0302 (Cyl.#2 misfire) happens mostly when the engine is cold, but when it gets warmer - it disappears.
Symptoms:
a. The car has normal Idle speed on gear, but on "neutral" and "parking" jumps to 1400RPM. Tried to do several times Idle speed re-learn - no difference.
b. Also while it's cold, has very high vibration on idle. No white smoke coming from the exhaust, no bobbles on the oil probe and no oil in the green coolant.
c. Only EVAP Canister vent valve causing P0447 I found dead with the harness corroded, I'll fix it in the last priority.

First, I took the car to my mechanic. After one week of investigations he said the manifold gasket is leaking and causes the vibration. I gave him OK for replacement. The replacement didn't solve the problem.
I understood I have to go to a dealer for the diagnosis. They said - the reason for the vibration and misfire is the head gasket. After it's replacement then they could diagnose the 0507 Idle speed problem and if the throttle body is OK or not (the coils and injectors found OK) .

I'm afraid if I'll change the head gasket it won't re-solve the misfire and vibration problem and the dealer will offer some other expensive service.

Which steps should I perform to eliminate the unnecessary replacements and what should be checked either by myself or my mechanic to narrow down the problems' causes? Should I clean the throttle and MAF? If i do might other things go wrong?
I'm sure that the similar problem occurred hundreds of times for other Sentra owners and if one of them can share his experience I'd be very appreciated.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Should you clean the throttle and the MAF? Sure why not? Could you mess something up? Sure why not. Chances are you won't though.
Sounds to me like you've got a warped head and/or warped intake manifold. Replacing the head gasket (are you sure they said head gasket and not intake gasket?), and replacing the head gasket didn't fixed the warped head...imagine that...
Get a compression tester and run a compression check on all of the cylinder, cold engine, throttle wide open, disable the spark while doing the check, pull the fuel pump fuse and run it dry....all the normal stuff you do before a compression check... Have a shop do a cylinder balance test. See what that says...



> I'm sure that the similar problem occurred hundreds of times for other Sentra owners and if one of them can share his experience I'd be very appreciated.


How sure are you?
Upon what are you basing this theory?


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

jdgrotte said:


> Get a compression tester and run a compression check on all of the cylinder, cold engine, throttle wide open, disable the spark while doing the check, pull the fuel pump fuse and run it dry....all the normal stuff you do before a compression check... Have a shop do a cylinder balance test. See what that says...


Thank you. I'll confirm it with my mechanic soon


jdgrotte said:


> How sure are you?
> Upon what are you basing this theory?


I just read some Nissan forums and lot of happy Sentra owners had to replace the head gasket before 80 miles. Also the idle speed (0507) is the common issue


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## saint0421 (Sep 24, 2006)

A) High Idle is usually from people messing with stuff incorrectly. Do not spray TB cleaner directly into the TB. Electronic TBs can be finicky. MAF cleaner you can spray directly onto it. Ensure it's dry before re-installation. Please ensure you disconnect your battery before unplugginh your TB or MAF. An Idle-relearn wont always fix the issue obviously. Cleaning the TB and/or MAF is a possible fix. A vacuum leak would also cause a high idle that wouldnt be fixed by the idle-relearn. 

B) A misfire in a single cyclinder can be multiple things. Bad coil pack is one. How does your spark plug look? Have you loctited your butterfly screws? Are you noticing any oil consumption? A loose screw from the secondaries can fall into the cylinder and bounce around in an individual cylinder. A misfire in general could cause engine vibration.


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

Thank you, saint0421.



saint0421 said:


> A)
> A misfire in a single cyclinder can be multiple things. Bad coil pack is one.


I tried swapping between coils and didn't notice any difference in Cylinder 2 functionality.


saint0421 said:


> A)
> How does your spark plug look? Have you loctited your butterfly screws? Are you noticing any oil consumption? A loose screw from the secondaries can fall into the cylinder and bounce around in an individual cylinder.


1. I didn't check the plugs, but my mechanic did. He didn't say word. I'll open it today and check by myself how it looks.
2. No oil consumption. Looks good form me and clean oil.
3. No, I didn't. I bought this car 2 month ago and didn't do on it major stuff, but manifold gasket replacement. Is this procedure requires special skills or someone with hands growing from the right place might do it? If I take out the manifold, can I check and verify if all screws are sitting in their spots?


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## saint0421 (Sep 24, 2006)

If you pull your spark plug and the gap is closed, then a screw would be the likely culprit.

A HEAD gasket failure would cause several but not all things: oil consumption, lose of coolant, bearing failure, misfire in one or more cylinders.

A compression test would help diagnosis a failure. An oil analysis would most definitely diagnosis much more. An oil analysis can be had from Blackstone Labs. I, myself, have had several done. The analysis is a look into the overall health of your engine. 

If you are mechanically inclined, the upper Intake Manifold can be taken off to check to see if all of your butterfly screws are there. At which time you should loctite the screws. It is good advice to replace the upper IM gasket before re-installing it. faulty IM gasket, loose vacuum hoses, dry rot/ bad vacuum lines would cause an erratic idle.


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

[Thanks for advice. As for the HG, I already asked for the kit from Blackstone Labs. The oil analysis could clarify some doubts.
In parallel on the next weekend, I'll take out the manifold for the butterfly screws inspection and replay with my findings if any.


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

Today happened something new: the SES light start blinking for a minute or so and then returned back to steady "ON". It happened twice. Used the ELM327 scanner to check out if I have any aditional codes - nothing new. Only the old 0302, 0507.
Is it alert for something serious?


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

k.micha said:


> Today happened something new: the SES light start blinking for a minute or so and then returned back to steady "ON". It happened twice. Used the ELM327 scanner to check out if I have any aditional codes - nothing new. Only the old 0302, 0507.
> Is it alert for something serious?


It blinked most likely because of your 0302, which would likely mean you're dumping raw fuel into the exhaust which would likely mean you are going to poison your cat and/or start it all on fire. There's a reason why it blinked...look it up. You're probably still driving it around...asking for trouble, and if not trouble, at least more and more problems down the road...


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

jdgrotte said:


> There's a reason why it blinked...look it up. You're probably still driving it around...asking for trouble, and if not trouble, at least more and more problems down the road...


Thank you for the warning.
I know it is bad, and I trying to fix it by finding the problems and eliminate or fix them as I go.

Some updates and finding on my previous topic:
The recent finding shown up the strong vacuum leak via injectors' o-rings. This has fixed the 0507 code.
But to 0302 also been added 0300 random cylinder misfire code and I guess that's the reason for SES blinking.
The compression test result:
#1: 155lb
#2: 130
#3: 175
#4: 180
The cylinder #2 has a little lower reading, but I think this shouldn't be a problem for misfire, but indication to the future big issue with HG.
Checked the plugs. All plugs are dry. The plug #2 darker then others (including the ceramics inside). Checked the plugs for spark. All of them - OK. Might be injector? Tomorrow will swap between them.


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## saint0421 (Sep 24, 2006)

k.micha said:


> Thank you for the warning.
> I know it is bad, and I trying to fix it by finding the problems and eliminate or fix them as I go.
> 
> Some updates and finding on my previous topic:
> ...


There should NOT be that much of a variation between cylinders:

QR25DE Engine
Standard compression: 181 PSI / 1250 kPa / 12.8 kg/cm^2
Minimum compression: 154 PSI / 1060 kPa / 10.8 kg/cm^2
Max. variance between cylinders: 14 PSI / 100 kPa / 1.0 kg/cm^2


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

The injectors were OK too. Even the waveform of signal was checked. The spark is excellent. Put new plugs. The 0300 has gone. 0302 is still active. So, the head gasket? or any other possible defects in the cylinder #2 that doesn't work?


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

k.micha said:


> The injectors were OK too. Even the waveform of signal was checked. The spark is excellent. Put new plugs. The 0300 has gone. 0302 is still active. So, the head gasket? or any other possible defects in the cylinder #2 that doesn't work?


Head gasket - yes
other possible defects in cylinder #2? Only about a hundred possible defects...
WARPED CYLINDER HEAD
Worn intake lobe on the cam
worn exhaust lobe on the cam
bent intake valve
bent exhaust valve
burnt exhaust valve
burnt exhaust valve seat
bad intake valve guide
bad exhaust valve guide
scratches in the cylinder wall
broken compression ring
broken oil control ring
and so on and so on...
But you'll never know any of that without tearing the engine apart.


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

Yea...
Now I have a dilemma what shop to choose: the steallership or my mechanical shop. Next week I replay with the result.
Thank you.


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

Put my car at the dealership for the HG replacement. Prior the work the price was discussed. But today they called me and said - "we should send the head fro grinding. It's 180$ more then the discussed price". I was confused. Isn't a grinding a part of any standard head treatment? I asked different mechanics and they said that always send removed heads for grinding.
Is Nissan's standard procedure for HG replacement not to grind the head?


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

k.micha said:


> Put my car at the dealership for the HG replacement. Prior the work the price was discussed. But today they called me and said - "we should send the head fro grinding. It's 180$ more then the discussed price". I was confused. Isn't a grinding a part of any standard head treatment? I asked different mechanics and they said that always send removed heads for grinding.
> Is Nissan's standard procedure for HG replacement not to grind the head?


By 'grinding the head', you probably mean 'milling the head'.
About the only reason you'd have to 'mill the head', is if it was warped, due to overheating, uneven bolt torquing, and a few other reasons.
If the head isn't warped, no reason to mill it (other than to modify it and/or raise static compression), no reason to waste the money.
Problem with getting a price 'prior to the work' is that with something like a warped head surface, you'll never know it's warped until you get the damn thing out!


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

Thank you for the answer. Makes sense for me.


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

It's been already one week since the car went from dealership. The head gasket has been replaced and they found the exhaust valve of cylinder 2 was bent. Everything was fixed and now - no vibration and now misfire. But, after one week of driving i realized that the gas consumption is too high: full tank 45 liter - for 300 km. I asked the dealer about that and he said that the throttle body position relearn was done and I should drive one week more and confirm it again. I guess it won't solve the problem. Does anybody can suggest what can be a reason for such a high gas consumption?
Error code that is still remaining is 0447 (Evap canister valve). I didn't replace it yet, but it should not affect the gas consumption, I guess.


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## Faja (Aug 31, 2009)

k.micha said:


> It's been already one week since the car went from dealership. The head gasket has been replaced and they found the exhaust valve of cylinder 2 was bent. Everything was fixed and now - no vibration and now misfire. But, after one week of driving i realized that the gas consumption is too high: full tank 45 liter - for 300 km. I asked the dealer about that and he said that the throttle body position relearn was done and I should drive one week more and confirm it again. I guess it won't solve the problem. Does anybody can suggest what can be a reason for such a high gas consumption?
> Error code that is still remaining is 0447 (Evap canister valve). I didn't replace it yet, but it should not affect the gas consumption, I guess.


I used to have an 04 too. Evap Vent Control Valve had to be replaced also, should not affect gas mileage by that much if at all, I used to average 500-600 kms on a tank. Off hand, can't say why, do as dealer suggests and give it another week and see what happens. Apart from the gas consumption, everything else seems normal now since the fixes?


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

Now everything seems to be normal except gas.


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## speedcrazy89 (Nov 24, 2009)

Hi, I have a 04 Nissan Sentra SER auto trans, I installed a new intake in my car and at first it worked normaly. Later i noticed that my RPM's were a little high then latter they went even higher and the check engine light is on for High idel rpm. Any suggestions what could cause this. Also my rpm's return to normal when my car is on load like in gear or loud base music since i got 1000 watts subs 2 channel amo and 400 watt's four channels amp. When I blast the music that Idel also return to normal the same way when im in Gear. So any suggestions what casuses my high idel. I did not do any cleaning but aleady had to replace the cam shaft sensor twice and the evap valve in the back of the evap box behind the bumper.


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## speedcrazy89 (Nov 24, 2009)

So how do u check for vacuum leaks or if everything is fine since nothing seems out of the ordinary just that my car has high rpm but everything seems the same or and i forgot to mention that my whole left side of my engine moves about 5 inches in both directions to the front and then to the back. when im in reverse the engine moves 5 inches to toward the radiator and then when im in drive it moves back. but it does not say at the place it just moves and goes back to it orginal spot in the middle of the engine bay


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## speedcrazy89 (Nov 24, 2009)

if ur car is making 18.8 miles per gallon then its fine since even with pedal to the metal i still get average miles per gallon to be 18 to 20 even when i had the evap problem


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## k.micha (Oct 19, 2009)

speedcrazy89 said:


> So how do u check for vacuum leaks


Just do simple compression test. Also there were other siphtoms pointing to the possible head gasket leakage like vibration when the engine is cold, misfire.


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## speedcrazy89 (Nov 24, 2009)

no vibration just the movement of the engine since something is not holding it as thight as beforeand plus my car still starts on first crank never longer then a 1 sec for it to start and no problem when cold or worm just the problem with high idel when parked and the engine big movement. The left side really does move a lot when changing from park to reverse to drive. Could that be from weak engine mounts. also are there any other stuff casue my high idel instead of vacuum leak. could it also be becasue my valves are not setting correctly or somethign else in that general area?


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