I have a 2002 LE with 68,000 miles which stalled and began making a knocking sound under the hood when restarted. No malfunction indicator lamp ever illuminated. Upon inspection by my mechanic, it was discovered that four of the six brass valves on the intake manifold, as well as the screws that were supposed to hold them in place, had detached themselves and were sucked into their respective cylinders. A fifth valve had only one of its two screws still in place.
The engine needs to be replaced at a huge cost.
My mechanic explained that there was almost no chance this occured because of driver negligence, but that the screws became loose because of normal vibrations caused by the engine. A similar problem was posted by another '02 Pathfinder owner with 68,000 miles at
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...athfinder.html
Could this be a major design flaw at the fault of Nissan? Has anyone heard of such an issue? I will bet that as more 2002 Pathfinders hit the 60,000+ mark more of these problems will appear.