Speedometer fluctuates & engine surgers

Occasionally, this has happened when driving at higher speeds, 65-75mph. The speedometer will go to 0, then the engine will begin surging or staggering, then the speedometer fluctuates between 0 and 60mph. This will go on for aprox 15-20 seconds and stop. The engine will regain full power and the speedometer will read normal. No other instruments appear to be effected.
Today, it happined 3 times to my wife on her way home. I turned the van around immediately after she got home, aprox. 3-4 min after she arrived, and couldn't get it to happen. In all situation the van was warmed up and running fine.

Any Ideas?

Occasionally, this has happened when driving at higher speeds, 65-75mph. The speedometer will go to 0, then the engine will begin surging or staggering, then the speedometer fluctuates between 0 and 60mph. This will go on for aprox 15-20 seconds and stop. The engine will regain full power and the speedometer will read normal. No other instruments appear to be effected.
Today, it happined 3 times to my wife on her way home. I turned the van around immediately after she got home, aprox. 3-4 min after she arrived, and couldn't get it to happen. In all situation the van was warmed up and running fine.

Any Ideas?

Like to add this is an 2001 3.0L Sport.

Occasionally, this has happened when driving at higher speeds, 65-75mph. The speedometer will go to 0, then the engine will begin surging or staggering, then the speedometer fluctuates between 0 and 60mph. This will go on for aprox 15-20 seconds and stop. The engine will regain full power and the speedometer will read normal. No other instruments appear to be effected.
Today, it happined 3 times to my wife on her way home. I turned the van around immediately after she got home, aprox. 3-4 min after she arrived, and couldn't get it to happen. In all situation the van was warmed up and running fine.

Any Ideas?


I am not sure....mine was doing it at about thirty five mph about a year ago. These new computers really stink. Check the battery first, before you go any further. I saw one of the dealer mechs do that and I asked why. He responded with, "If the battery is bad, it can cause all sorts of electrical problems." Also, have you done any electrical work on the van yourself? If you have adjusted anything-----anything at all----the computer sees it as a possible theft and shuts down certain systems ---also a quote from the Nissan dealer mechs! Also the e-mail is FIREINDN---NOT FIREINDIAN @AOL.COM -- Phil

This is a common problem with the Villager/Quest. Unfortunately, not even Nissan mechanics seem to agree on its cause. Bad plug wires, leaking vacuum hoses, defective bypass traansducer, and carboned up throttle body are a few possibilities.

There is some good information on this at the villagerquest yahoo group.

I have a villager 2000 with 80K miles. I recently experienced the same on my van, between 65 and 70mph the speedometer drops to 0 sometimes the engine surges and sometimes not. I am not sure what the problem could be. I had recently had installed a daytime running light module to the vehicle, but this didn't start immediately after that so I don't suspect they are related. Also I did the following on the van in order to fix the problem, 1) cleaned throttle body, added moisture absorber and injector cleaner to the fuel tank and also chenged the fuel filter. I am going to wait until it applears again.
Pleaes keep me posted if you have found the cause of the problem.
thanks
--Jatinder