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Squirrels, engine harness .... hesitation on Acceleration

380 Views 8 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  VStar650CL
I have a 2013 Nissan Ultima, I owned it for one week before squirrels built a nest and chewed through several wires of the engine electrical harness near the throttle body.
I had my car towed to a shop and they repaired the wiring and replaced the throttle body. When I picked it up I was told that the car was running fine but that it would hesitate if I floored it (which I don't do).
I drove the car and discovered the following. Within the first 2 minutes of driving after the car has not run for a couple of hours it will hesitate a couple of times before accelerating. After the 2 minutes it drives fine.
I also found that the cruise control will randomly unset itself.
The hesitation is dangerous and I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions what the issue could be or how to figure out what is causing the problem.

Thanks in advance.
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If they replaced the TB without performing an IAVL (Idle Air Volume Learn) and CTPL (Closed Throttle Position Learn), it can cause those sorts of symptoms.
If they replaced the TB without performing an IAVL (Idle Air Volume Learn) and CTPL (Closed Throttle Position Learn), it can cause those sorts of symptoms.
Unfortunately, that did not solve the problem :-(

So, it would appear to only be an issue when the car is first started when it has not run for several hours. After 2 or 3 minutes of running it appears to settle down.

Thank you for the suggestion.
There isn't much reason for a new TB with good calibration to cause hesitations, so it's probably time to go back to basics. Check your IAT sensor (Intake Air Temperature) to make sure it isn't reading higher than it should. You could also have moisture in your brake switch, see if the brake lamps are misbehaving when the problem occurs. The TCM won't let the car accelerate if it thinks the brakes are applied. Lastly, check fuel pressure, it's possible you have a weak pump that's spinning up slowly when cold (it should shoot straight up to around 51 psi and stay there).
#### Update ####
Well the first place that "repaired" the harness were unable to resolve the issue with the car running dangerously on a cold start for the first 3 to 4 minutes.
The car is now at the Nissan dealership and after initial analysis stated that there were some weird voltages in the Mass Airflow Sensor. This sensor was attached to one of the wires that was repaired.
Nissan is installing a new wiring harness $$$$$$
Hopefully, a new wiring harness will resolve the problem.

Any suggestions on what I should expect from the original car repair shop ? They managed to get the car running but not safely. Their $1000 fix is going to be replaced with the new wiring harness. While I appreciate their effort, they didn't fix the car.
It isn't like Nissan doesn't allow subscription services like Alldata and Identifix to publish wiring diagrams for professional use, so there's really no excuse for a professional shop to screw up wiring. However, having paid them already, you might need to resort to a lawyer or Small Claims Court. Small Claims is usually a good option if your state allows it, there's probably no judge on any bench in the world who hasn't gotten a raw repair from some shop at some time in their life. Get the dealership to document exactly what was done wrong and you'll likely get some sympathy from Hizzonor.
It isn't like Nissan doesn't allow subscription services like Alldata and Identifix to publish wiring diagrams for professional use, so there's really no excuse for a professional shop to screw up wiring. However, having paid them already, you might need to resort to a lawyer or Small Claims Court. Small Claims is usually a good option if your state allows it, there's probably no judge on any bench in the world who hasn't gotten a raw repair from some shop at some time in their life. Get the dealership to document exactly what was done wrong and you'll likely get some sympathy from Hizzonor.
Hopefully, it won't come to that. Once it is fixed and I know the issues I will see what can be done. Thanks for the quick response. I've never had a shop partially fix something 😁
When we get a car with rodent damage, we charge 2 hours just for a complete inspection, because unless you look underneath everything you can easily miss things (or even miss a rodent which is still hitchhiking in the car). Some years back, one of our techs broke the rule and replaced a couple of Murano headlights which were chewed but didn't inspect the whole car. Insurance paid, but a month later it was back with a chewed injector harness and a gnawed CVT cooler hose. The adjuster told us (and I quote), "We'll pay for it, but only if you bring me the head of the rat." We did. Two of our advisors sat out back after hours with a pellet gun and the engine hood open, and sure enough, they bagged a big ******* (almost 14") emerging from under the left front fender (cool it, PETA, we didn't actually behead him, just sent the adjuster a pic of the corpse). The point is, if the original tech had been more thorough, he would have found the nest and the rest never would have happened. Wiring repair is no different, the information is there for anyone really professional, so there's no excuse for not being thorough.
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