Hi All.

About a month ago my 2000 se with 98,320 miles developed a sputtering issue. Whether at speed or when at idle, once the car warmed up the car would hesitate, sputter, jump, etc.
You could watch the tachometer and the needle jumped from 3 down to 2 back up to three, etc.

I took it to a shop where thy decided it was the knock sensor. Since I was paying through the arse to get the knock sensor replace, i had them replace the plugs, wires, and fuel filter.

Everything was fine for a bout 20 days or so then it started doing it again. After spending so much money i was P.O. and decided just for my own piece of mind to get a Equus 3130 code reader with live view, partly because i thought it would be fun and partly b/c i have no idea what was up.

So i got the reader and after letting the engine warm up and driving it it started to sputter. I pulled over and attached the code reader and got the following reading at the exact time the se would being to sputter:

fuel sys 1 OL-Drive or OL-Fault - (these two would switch back and fourth during the sputtering)
fuel sys 2 OL-Drive
calc load (%) 18.8
ECT (f) 179
STFT B1 (0) 0
LTFT B1 (%) 0

once the sputtering stopped the readings were:

fuel sys 1 CL
fuel sys 2 CL
calc load (%) 17.2
ECT (f) 179
STFT B1 (0) 17.9
LTFT B1 (%) 0

There were no stored DTC codes for the reader to download from the se when i first plugged the code reader in.

I have tried to be a good noob on this board and search for an answer first before posting what might be a repeat question, but haven't found much in the way of an answer.

Can any of the Xterra gods out there lend their expertise?

Thanks!

I ran the scanner again last night and this DTC code popped up

p0171
system too lean (bank 1)

While the code popped up on the screen the
"cat", "02S" and "EVA" circles were blinking.

Could that point toward the O2 sensor?

Man, it's hard to say, but it sounds like you have a vacuum leak. That would explain the lean condition and it would cause a misfire. However, you would think that it would have the leak all the time. It is possible that the metal or plastic is expanding with heat when the engine warms up causing it to get an intermittent leak. When it is doing it at idle try spraying some carb cleaner or brake cleaner around the intake manifold. If it's got a leak it should cause the rpm to change.

When I had that problem, my distributor was bad. Was missing when warmed up.Tach was jumpy also.