Dead-ish Truck, fix or scrap?

Looking for some hive advice on whether it's worth reviving my truck. 

The subject: 2005 Nissan Frontier, CC, 4x4, 215k miles. Mechanically pretty solid (minus being dead) w/ new quality tires & suspension, everything works, cold air, about 25k on a rebuilt auto trans. Cosmetically it's challenged w/ some damage to the side of the cab & bed from a bollard, cracks/tears in the leather seats, cosmetic chassis surface rust but no rot.

The issue: driving home from the airport late at night it starts to misfire, I figure it's a coil pack, drop out of OD and it's happier. Misfire comes back, drop to 3rd, happy for a few miles, then misfire returns again. Pretty quickly, it starts to loose power, I limp it off the highway, by the time i'm in the gas station it will barely move and doesn't want to rev above 3k rpm. Oil pressure is good, temp is good. I park it, catch a long uber ride home & get it towed to the mechanic the next day.

waiting for the tow:

I got a call from the mechanic today, apparently the cats (multiple?) failed and the exhaust restriction caused the coil packs to fail. He said it would need all new cats, 02 sensors, and coil packs, and the cost to fix it just isn't worth it. He won't put aftermarket cats on it as in his experience they tend to fail quickly and aren't worth the hassle. He didn't know if the engine suffered any collateral damage. I was between meetings at work and didn't have a much time to talk, I need to get there in person and get a more detailed download.

His advice? Drag it to the junkyard.

Ultimately, the truck was a cheap adventure vehicle, it owes me nothing, but I was hoping to get another year or so out of it while I searched for a replacement. It's my only (road worthy) vehicle, but i commute by bike and the wife has a reliable ride.

I'm tempted to bring it to a muffler shop & ask them to throw on a set of cheap cats & 02 sensors, I can replace the coil packs, and hope for another year of trusty service. My only real hesitation is that it would be a bummer to put 2k into it and find the engine is borked. 

Anyone have similar experience with failed cats? 

a photo of it doing truck stuff, just because:

Is "smog testing" a thing where you live?  

It seems that rust is not a thing where you live?  

Fupdiggity (Forum Supporter) said:

I got a call from the mechanic today, apparently the cats (multiple?) failed and the exhaust restriction caused the coil packs to fail. 

I would have expected the other way around -- coil packs fail (might only be one), it misfires, starts dumping raw fuel into the cats, and the contamination causes the cats to fail.

I have a hard time imagining that a running truck isn't worth the thousand bucks you suggested it would take to fix.  Why do you think the engine might be bad?

I'm in central VA, no smog/emissions testing, just a state safety inspection that includes a visual for cats. Vehicles don't rust too bad here, especially compared to farther north.

Here's what the rear frame looks liked (from some suspension work a few months ago):

In reply to Fupdiggity (Forum Supporter) :

If you don't hate the truck, and aren't looking to dump it in favor of something that gets better mileage, then you should definitely fix it. 

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

Fupdiggity (Forum Supporter) said:

I got a call from the mechanic today, apparently the cats (multiple?) failed and the exhaust restriction caused the coil packs to fail. 

I would have expected the other way around -- coil packs fail (might only be one), it misfires, starts dumping raw fuel into the cats, and the contamination causes the cats to fail.

I have a hard time imagining that a running truck isn't worth the thousand bucks you suggested it would take to fix.  Why do you think the engine might be bad?

 

Good point, I haven't thought too hard about it yet. The truck has had a P0420 code (catalyst efficiency) since I bought it 3 years ago. Same mechanic recommended to leave it for the same reason (oe = too expensive, aftermarket = high failure rate).

It lost a coil pack last year, I probably put <5 miles on it limping it home & replacing it. It's ran strong since. I don't know exactly how long I drove after the mis fire started the other night, maybe 5-10 miles? It was pretty late and I was still almost 2 hours from home so I wasn't feeling empithetic to it. Seems like i've been driving on borrowed time and maybe the misfire (at 215k miles, it's allowed to have a coil pack failure or two) might have put the catalyst over the edge. 

I've heard stories about cats coming apart and somehow being ingested back into the engine, no idea of how vehicle specific that is or if it's just internet lore. A quick check on rock auto shows that all 4 cats are about 1k, add in a few coil packs & 02 sensors, it should be well under $1,500. I really don't want to replace the cats myself as i'm mid engine-removal on my track car and I really don't like working on this truck, but that might be the best path forward. 

Ultimately, if 1-2k gets this back on the road for another year or two, I'd be very satisfied. For reference, the mechanic was saying the cheap option (aftermarket cats) would be a 2.5k, but he wouldn't do it as he doesn't feel comfortable standing behind them. OE cats would be more in the 4k+ range apparently. 

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Fupdiggity (Forum Supporter) :

If you don't hate the truck, and aren't looking to dump it in favor of something that gets better mileage, then you should definitely fix it. 

"don't hate" would be an accurate description of how I feel about it. 

I think you probably have a pretty low chance of engine-ruining damage from the cats clogging.

If you're worried about dumping money into it, why not drop the exhaust after the cats, punch the clogged material out, and have the truck running again for the cost of coils? Then you can decide if it's worth putting cats back in. Especially since it was already setting codes for them for the last 3 years.

Visual cat inspection? That's just begging for you to hollow them out, put new coil packs on, and keep driving. 

A bad coil could take out the cats but not the otherway around.  I also doubt that both cats, all the o2 sensors and all the coil packs died at the same time.  I think you need a second opinion.

I could definitely get away with hollowing them out, although my morals and nose probably wouldn't agree with that. Never mind that I've been driving with a bad cat for a few years...

Mostly, I really don't want to work on it, so at the point I'm hollowing things out, i'm probably just replacing things.

Sounds like the chance of engine damage is low. I'm going to have another talk w/ the mechanic to see exactly which cat(s) failed, find someone with lower standards, get them to throw some aftermarket cats on, and send it.

Thanks for the quick advice, it's helpful to bounce ideas off of the hive mind here. I needed to have a little pity party, but I'm (mostly) over that now, clarity is coming back. 

APEowner said:

A bad coil could take out the cats but not the otherway around.  I also doubt that both cats, all the o2 sensors and all the coil packs died at the same time.  I think you need a second opinion.

yep, 2nd opinion is in order.

Fupdiggity (Forum Supporter) said:

Good point, I haven't thought too hard about it yet. The truck has had a P0420 code (catalyst efficiency) since I bought it 3 years ago. Same mechanic recommended to leave it for the same reason 

I might gently suggest finding a different mechanic.

It's a Nissan - good chance the problem is a dirty or faulty MAF....it may not even be the coils themselves. If the MAF is acting up, it will affect the fuel mix and could cause those issues. My days in the Nissan community in the early 2000s taught me to carry a spare MAF, because Nissan MAFs suuuuuck. 

When Nissan MAFs go bad, the ECU goes to limp mode and won't let it rev over 3k (IIRC). 

Just something to check. IIRC if you unplug the MAF it'll go into a closed-loop set fuel cycle so you can diagnose if it's the MAF or not. 

My '97 Nissan 240sx also had MAF issues back in the day.  The car would run really erratic.  

I also +1'ed the idea of get it running with the cats off first and +1'ed the idea of a different mechanic after twice stating the scrap idea.

Unless there is evidence the cats have come apart and had material sucked up into the engine (probably can do a quick compression test to find out), it's worth fixing in this market. That is extremely solid for a 17 year old truck.  I'd find another mechanic, though.  Maybe I'm paranoid, but I wonder if they want to buy it from you to "haul it to the junkyard", so they or someone they know can cheaply fix it and flip it.

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

THIS! I bought my pathfinder thanks to this. Limp mode, mechanic said you gotta replace all the cats, was too much $ so they sold it cheap, and i got a good deal.  Its not the cats. 
 

have someone who really knows nissans take a look at it. They are nice trucks. 

Check MAF as suggested. But even if it ends up being $2k to fix it, it's worth it. Your mechanic doesn't seem up on current car values. I bet you could spend $2k to fix it and immediately sell it for $5-$8k. 

In reply to dculberson :

Agreed!  
$5k and bashed

$7k

$5.8k, only needs head casket! 

In my mind, if you'd be looking to just buy another similar truck again and this one is in otherwise good condition, it's cheaper to fix it than to buy another one. 

Fix it.

Even with body damage, that's a solid example.

Fix it and rape it some more......

Next topic.

If you can determine it needs cats, there's ebay cat kits for under $300 and it looks like everything bolts together so you in theory shouldn't need to weld anything to replace them.  

With that kind of mileage on them, and if Nissan MAF's are as bad as this thread makes it seem, it might be worth shotgunning the cat's anyway.  

I'm not saying your mechanic is a crook, but I don't like it when someone says they won't fix it but one way, and that way happens to be the most expensive way.  This thing rolled into his shop behind a tow truck, and he sees a boat payment coming his way.   I'm not sure I'd believe his story.

I realize logistics may force you to deal with this guy, but me?  I'd fix it, preferably at a different shop, or in my backyard.

Even in limp mode, that's worth fixing- or selling, as at least where I live, you could probably get $5k for it as it is.