service engine soon frustration
 

Hi All. Ok so this one is baffling me. 2010 vert with less than 50k on the clock. Shes an old gal but treated right. Have cold air intake and exhaust as only upgrade. two times now the service engine light has com on and two replacement gas caps have solved the problem. Well its back again and after trying a third cap this time it wont go away. Any ideas? this is a second owner car and well maintained. hope someone can help

What's the code?

This. There are like a zillion things that could cause the light, you are flying blind if you don't pull the code. They will do it for free at the auto parts store... or you can buy a cheap blueooth OBDII dongle and pull the code with your phone.

ah sorry forgot to get the code. Will stop in later and post back

Without code info,its difficult to get a clear picture on what is causing the SES.
At times the SES can be a bit vague.
Noted you are in Florida. Temps not too bad even though lately has been om LOWS.

Is the car running OK?
May try to add some Sea Foam to the fuel.
Its very popular here.
I had a similar situation.It went away after adding.
Temps/Moisture?Gunk in the tank?

Not saying it will definitely work in this situation, however, Seafoam has worked well for me in both 2 stroke and vehicular applications.

ok going to get the seafoam to try that first. Have not had a chance to get code yet but will this weekend. Car seems to run fine except it wont idle below 1000rmp

Is this what I want?
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sea-Foam-16...YaAvFtEALw_wcB

do I pour the whole bottle in?

Don't seafoam the car, or do literally anything else, until you get the code. That's step one.

Yes, that's it. I pour the whole bottle in when I fill up (couple times a year)
Like I said, not sure if it will address your issue, but I use it in all my vehicle (as a fuel additive, not an oil additive) and have had great results. Apparently there are others on this site that have a different opinion. So I guess do some research and decide what makes you most comfortable.

(Don't get me wrong here, this is by no means an alternative to figuring out the code)

I am having the same problem. code PO900 THE MULTIPLE MISFIRES. I changed to HFC when it started and a light pulley.Then changed full agency exhaust and K&N drops and my mechanic keeps erasing the code. Now I added the exhaust extenders and it threw the same code in 40 degrees 2 days later. Changed spark plugs at 93k and wondering if its the COIL PACK. # 5 HAS 3 MISFIRES. :ugh2: FOLLOWING

Switch the coil pack with one of the other cylinders and see if the code follows it.

Ok finally got my code P0300

Seems it could be a variety of things.

Also, with 50k on the clock, should I be changing out my KN air filters for the cold air intakes? Looks like you have to take the whole bloody front bumper off to get at them

P0300 seems to have a limitless number possibilities, but they all seem to be vibration related. I have read some folks have gotten it fixed with clutch/flywheel changes. I've had it pop up on me a twice in a little over two years and both times I just cleared the code and moved on with my life.

If I were you, I would buy a cheap bluetooth code reader (~$10) and just clear it and wait to see how often it comes back.

Keep in mind - at this point you don't know if this is the same code you were throwing before. Clear it and wait to see what comes up... if the same code keeps reappearing then you will at least have a starting point for your search.

ok got it. All I know is that when this comes on the car which previously idled at 500 now wont settle down past 1000. I had replaced the fuel cap before and that did the trick but this time no go. suggestions for a BT reader?

Also, any comment on the filters

Thank you all

Do you have a stillen g3 intake? If so are the filters dry or oiled? And if so all you need to do is take them off the tube and clean them. Taking the front bumper off is really easy. There is a DIY on this forum. Also I have this code coming up off and on and now I just ignore it. I'm pretty sure it has to do with vibration b/c my car drives fine.

Interesting! I would not think there would be any kind of link between a P0300 and your idle speed... but who knows (probably Nissan).

As far as the fuel cap replacement goes... I wouldn't think the two would be related (but again, who knows...) ... which makes me think the code may have been completely different the previous times. Or also possible is the light went off coincidentally with the gas cap replacement. Since the code wasn't pulled those times there really is no way to know... I would probably just forget that earlier "data" because there was a lot of guesswork involved.

Have you pulled or cleaned the throttle bodies recently or anything like that? If so did you forget to perform the throttle body reset procedure?

You may want to perform that procedure and the idle air relearn procedure just to see if it corrects your idle.

Also, did you clear the P0300? Maybe the idle will normalize after the code is cleared? Just throwing out ideas now.

For the OBDII reader, I have used this one in the past and it worked perfectly for reading/clearing codes (way too slow for real time data though):
https://www.amazon.com/Veepeak-Bluet...bdii+bluetooth

I don't believe it is iPhone compatible though..so if you are an apple guy you may have to track something else down. Worked great with my android phones.

As far as the filters go - K&N Website cautions against over-cleaning/oiling and shows a picture of what they should look like (absolutely FILTHY) before they need to be cleaned. At 50k, I would think you should definitely check them!!! Pulling the bumper is no big deal... I have done it enough times that I can do it in about 5 minutes not without even lifting the front of the car.

I would hold off on doing any kinds of upgrades until you have a handle on what (if any) problems your car is having.

The idle gets raised to 1k rpm when that code pops. Clearing it will drop the idle back to where it normally is. P0300 is a real pain in the *** since the ecu uses it as a general catch all code when something weird happens. It very well could have been caused by the fuel cap before, and by something else this time. Clean tbs and mafs, and see what happens.

As usual Chuck has all the answers. =)

Clear the code... see if it comes back...

Cant I just take the tube off and lift them out. Rather not take the bumper off. As for dry or oiled I dont know. I am not the original owner of the car

You have to take the bumper off. It takes fifteen minutes.

And only that long the first time you do it. Taking off the bumper is far, far easier than trying to fish the pipes out from the top and then trying to get them back in (which probably isn't even possible with the filters on).

If you ever plan on doing any work on the car yourself, learning to pull the bumper is a good thing anyway =) It really is much easier than you think.

This is why I love this place... Sadly I am about as mechanically includes as a two left handed giraffe. I will attempt the bumper this weekend. The other stuff you all said... was like greek to me... ugh

Yeah we all start somewhere but trying new things out on your own is how you learn! Here’s a diy on the front bumper removal. You will be able to do it! http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...r-removal.html