enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

Hows it goin folks. My name is Eric and I've been an org member for quite some time now. Before now I've been deep into 4th gens for the longest. My first car was actually a 1990 Maxima SE automatic. I loved it and became a real fan of the 4dsc but then I quickly realized I belonged behind a 5 spd. Thats when the 4th gens started for me. All together I've had four maximas, 2 of which I still own today. Recently I purchased a 3rd gen from mofoaka. I must say it feels great to be in a VE5 since the last 3rd gen I had was a VG. I see there is some debate on here about which of the two are better but being a 4th genner I love that the VE feels pretty close to it performance wise. There is a few things that need fixing and replacing, mostly maintenance stuff. Right now my biggest concerns are a weird problem I'm having with hesitation during acceleration and the rare drop of my rpm's at a dead stop. The car runs smooth and in most cases strong but every now and again it will hiccup during acceleration then come back once I left off the gas and get back on, or sometimes wont until I shift into another gear. I'm not sure exactly what it is since mofoaka was unaware of the issue but we've been keeping contact and he's been good about giving me help and advise as to what it could be. I'm hoping to soon figure it out so I can enjoy my car without issue. Over all I am happy with my purchase and glad I found a decent car I can depend on as a daily driver. Well you guys will be seeing me here more often now and I hope to learn more about these cars. Thanks.

here's a pic if it right after a wash sittin next to my 4th gen.

Kountz430

welcome back

enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

thanks. Glad to be back.

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

Ahhh! You bought mofoaka's VE? Nice! Glad to have a new VE 5 guy around! There aren't too many of us left

elusivemax93

Check the connector to the maf and make sure it isnt wiggling lose. I had the same problem before. Next check connectors to tps and camshaft position sensor. As well as the iacv sensor connectors. nice to see fresh ve meat in the 3rd gen section. Welcome we are few but strong.

enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

yesss. thanks man. once i get a couple things up to par it'll definitely be all worth it. i love the ve.


thanks man, preciate the heads up. will definitely check on those. mofoaka had told me about the tps so i guess once i replace the spark plugs and check the coil packs i'll start there. thanks again.

Gunther

I would put money on injectors before anything else by quite a bit. Should ohm out around 10-14

elusivemax93

I beg to differ I ran mine for 4 years on one missing injector and recently replaced it as well as all o rings and seats and insulators on mine I have a picture of me that deep into the engine on the great picture thread that I recently did while replacing valve cover gaskets and intake lower and rear manifold gasket. As well as both temp sensors

Gunther

I was giving advice to the OP. Injectors fail very frequently so it would be a great place to start.

enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

thanks guys. if i'm not wrong i think mofoaka said he replaced all the injectors with new bosch injectors. this weekend i'll be gettin my hands on there and i'm going to try and plug it up at my cousins work place to see if throws any codes, i'm hoping we can get it in there since they're always busy lol. but i'm definitely taking notes cause of it's not one or the other it's always good to have an idea of where to look. but i'm all ears and open to suggestions. thanks.

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

True, I remember that.

Also, IIRC - he went through and replaced a bunch of the sensors.

Though likely hard to "prove", I'd bet it's from an intermittently failing coil pack.

Also, we need mOar pics of the car.

Hectic

iTrader: (20)

Knock knock.

Gunther

Yea that would be my second guess for sure.

and yes more pics

Brad92SE

iTrader: (9)

Very clean looking black 3rd gen! Post more pictures!

As far as the hesitation, I would probably guess ignition coils, so it sounds like you are on the right track. Check really close for any hairline cracks in the bodies.

I see you are in Austin; if it turns out to be a coil or injector, let me know, I think I have a few laying around for cheap .

enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

Thanks Brad. I'm trying to figure it out. Ive kept my lap top on the org for a few days cause i've been doing some hardcore searching lol. But yeah thanks man, I'll let you know for sure. Damn I love your max.

I saw that you wrecked it sucks man, sorry for your loss. I got this VE because I totaled my expedition which I almost paid off, I loved that thing so much, not as much as my max of course but I put alot of money into it and now its gone. So I decided before I get my 4th gen back and up again i should a get a daily driver.

I plan on taking more pics. Last night I bought some Intrax springs and a stillen lip kit but I'm waiting to get my hands on some new bushings to install everything. In the mean time I'm getting a new radiator, replacing the valve cover gasket and trying to figure out whats causing this bogging crap...

So far I know I have all new Bosch Injectors, I replaced all plugs with NGK Iridiums, in doing so I checked the coil packs and saw no cracks in them so I'm told the only way to tell is to swap em. I know to look into the TPS and CPS, also to check the connectors to the MAF. I'm digging through the 3rd gen board hoping to find my solution.

I was thinking of taking it to the mechanics do get it diagnosed but its not throwing any check lights and it seems that people have already attempted this and got no codes. Hopefully its a small issue, I love the car and I just want to enjoy it.

Once I install the spring I will take more pics and post em up. Thanks again everyone.

mofoaka

yea, i had new injectors and o rings installed with new fuel lines. btw i have a resistor on the knock sensor which i forgot to mention. The knock sensor was replaced at the same time as the injectors but i noticed a power loss a couple months before selling the car and i put the resistor in and the power came back.. i want to think its the sub-harness because i repaired it with solder and new wire, and then i put high temp silicone to keep moisture out, but the subharness might have failed again. sorry i didnt' mention that. but that shouldn't cause the hiccup you're experiencing

the coil packs is something i think TV4184 and i mentioned to you during my trip in austin. the coilpacks DO HAVE hair line cracks.. but i put silicone to cover it up and taped it up real tight for the silicone to dry. then removed the tape and reinstalled the coilpacks. perhaps the coil packs may be failing, but like i said, make sure you clean up those connectors, they like to corrode a little after the car sitting for a month or more.. ALSO check the connectors on the CTS sensor.

Again, check coilpacks, Tps connector, MAF connector, and Coolant temp sensor (CTS).

TPS was what caused TV4184's hiccups cuz it was slightly off, but messing around with it brought it back to life. like we mentioned, there is a specific way to adjust the TPS.. so find that on autozone or even on the forum somewhere. we did that for TV4184's maxima and it helped.

to check the rear injector ohm, there is a harness you can access to the left of the Intake manifold that connects the injectors. the front injectors are in the open to check, but i am pretty sure they are all running top notch. i bought them from internetauto. I have also cleaned the MAF once.. but do it again

here are the few things i told you i have NOT done though..

cleaning ERG valve..

COMPLETELY cleaning the IAVC (taking it apart and replacing gasket) i sprayed cleaner into IAVC pipe and let it soak

replace O2 sensor


I hope this helps. motor is in great shape but electronics probably need refreshing again

Good luck

Intrax will look bad *** but will blow those tokico shocks i tell ya! haha ask james92.. we've spoke about this before.. and make sure you fix those arm bushings!

1995maximayea

wish my maxima was that fresh haha

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

I've actually been on the same pair of Toks with Intrax for 10+ years now and they don't feel overtly blown or anything. I mean, you can tell they're older but they don't ride like sh*t or anything

mofoaka

haha my bad james, didnt' mean to put you on the spot.. i guess it was my experience with my intrax and the blow tokico's up front. eric, just make sure you change those bushings! they might cause you some problems later

enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

Here to give u folks an update. Well I'm starting to get frustrated with this car already. I love it but dayumn! I got the car knowing a few things needed fixing. I've already replaced what was need like the radiator, valve cover gasket, spark plugs and sometime next week ill be doing an oil change. Not sure if it needs it or not since the oil looks decent and is a proper level but ill go ahead and get er done.

I'm starting to lose hope on ever fixing that hesitation / bucking / bogging problem... I can't figure out what it is. I know I've been told to adjust the tps and maybe the cps but truth be told is that I'm no mechanic. i can do the usual bolt on slash maintenance stuff. I usually never mind shelling out the money to fix my vehicle's in the case that I can't fix em myself but in proper timing I lost my job close to the time I got the car. Ever since I got it I've been focused on trying to get it to run like a champ but this issue is still here and seems to be getting worse! As much as I love this car because of my financial situation I'm starting to regret it.

Kinda off the subject, my younger bro who loves 3rd gen maximas found a clean *** 1993 red ve5 for 650 with perfect fogs, black leather interiors, no dents, no dings, and paint also in great condition. The only bad thing is that it has a blown motor. Its got 130k on the odometer and no under body rust. The seller was asking 650 but we came with 400 and he took it. Since I let him borrow the money my bro let me get the fogs off his max. If I can only fix this damn thing without breaking my wallet for what I have left I'm planning to gt the leather interior from him for my system that I pulled from my expedition. if not I'll have to sell it to get more money to fix my car.

So having gotten the car kinda came at a good time. I pulled the coil packs and swapped the rear ones only since the front ones in the red ve5 were cracked and still it did it. i stll cant fully rul ot the coil packs since i wasnt able to swap the front ones. I swapped maf sensor from the red ve5 to mines and it only got worse so I guess that means mines is better then hus lol. I checked the vacuum hoses and there seems to be a small line that's open close to the throttle, im not sure if that could be it but ill be plugging that up real soon. My father whose worked on cars his whole life swears up and down he that its the open air box mod. I've told him that maxima owners, atleast 4th genners have always done this ane never had I heard of this issue from that. I've put a lot of money in to this car already and all I want is for this thing to go away!

This past weekend I put on some decent lil 17s thinking I was going to install some intrax springs I had bought but in doing so I noticed that the front passenger side tok looked like it had a clear coat of grease on it. So I'm assuming that's its a blown strut. Today just in the case that that's the case I bought 2 new front kyb gr2s. Its like If its not one thing its another. I love this car. Its clean, and when it wants to it runs strong. I just can't understand what the hell is causing this problem... I've had a streak of horrible luck and my family warned me that this would happen. It sucks to be wrong in this case
Usually I would just have it fixxed without them knowing but I'm not in the situation to do so rightnow.

So far like I said I've replaced what needed to be replaced, put on some 17" xxr 006's and put on some se fogs. also I have a never before installed stillen lip kit, used intrax springs, 2 front kyb gr2s, and new control arm bushings. But I'm afraid to install this if the problem won't go away.

How many of you 3rd genners have ever removed the snorkel part of the air box to open it up? Just curious to hear if any of those who have have ever dealt with these kind of issue. Thanks again guys. And ill post pics of the max as it is today. My house looks like a nissan dealership lol. 5 nissans and only 3 residents haha! Excuse me if I misspelled or left out words here and I replied on my phone and now I'm trying to get used to it.

enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

My VE5:




My bros red ve5:

enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

Also I've searched the org trying to find info on how to adjust the tps and couldn't really find much. If you guyml know of the thread and y'all don't mind coulda drop the link. Thanks again.

Mofoaka:
yeah I got some bushings for the lower control arms so they'll be goin in when I install the springs. Also I'm starting to here a clicking when the car idols sometimes, did you ever hear that? I know you said the vtc's have been grounded so I know its not that and when I rev the motor it doesn't do it. Just wondering thanks.

James92se:
Well it looks like one of the tokes are blown but ill confirm that when I install my springs. If so ill be throwing the gr2's. Hope those last a good while. I drive pretty carefull on loward cars out of the 5 vehicles I've owned I've dropped all of them including my expedition lol. My 4th gen is on tein s techs with stock struts and they're still in good shape. That's a 2.2 inch drop in th front and a 1.8 drop in the rear. I can't see why these struts couldn't handle a 1.6 drop if my oem 4th gen struts are good on a 2.2 drop... but yeah man I believe ya, I just hope I have the same luck.

Augustus Maximus

iTrader: (6)

Swap the air box assembly and throttle body your brother's car, disconnect the o2 sensor, swap the power transistor while you're at it. Clean up all your ground connections. Swap out the injectors with the rails from the red max. No time for frustration, focus all your attention on the problem, save the looks for later. When I got my VE she would stall out even when I would be flying down the highway at 90+ mph. I had to start it like six or more times on my way to work. I wasn't gonna let a 20 year old car beat me so I found the problem and fixed it. You should rebuild the VTC and unleash the full potential of the motor. It's faster than the 4th gen you got flossing in the driveway, you know that don't you?

Brad92SE

iTrader: (9)

To adjust the TPS, you need to loosen the little bolts holding it to the TB, then unplug the oval-shape connector and hook up a volt meter between two of the terminals, and rotate it until it reads the proper voltage. I cant remember what terminals or the right voltage, but they are called out in the FSM. I'll try to remember to check over lunch; I would suggest getting one though (you can probably find one for free download online somewhere, if not I can give you an electronic copy of mine if ya want).

What Tokico is blown? I have the fronts and one rear from my max still, if you havent bought new GR-2s already.

Hang in there! These cars can be a PITA with those little issues, but they are worth it in the end

EDIT: The resistance between the middle terminal and right-most terminal (when looking at it head-on, clip on top) should be 1kOhm when the throttle is closed.

VV Good link to have!

Augustus Maximus

iTrader: (6)

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/maxima/1994/

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

Your brother dun good! That thing is CLEAN! I cannot believe you guys got it for $400 even with the blown engine. If I ever manage to get another VE 5, it'll most definitely be red. That way I'll have a red, black, and a TK3 blue one.

Was your brother looking for a VE 5 on his own or did you kind of turn him onto it?

And yours is looking fantastic too with those wheels. Now it just needs the drop.

Anyway, now that you've got an extra VE there, this is actually kind of ideal for you in terms of fixing your problem. Like Augustus said, start swapping things over. I would start by swapping in all his coil packs, even the front ones that are cracked. Not ALL cracked coil packs exhibit driveability symptoms - it's just that normally cracked coil packs are a tell-tale sign of them being bad. But I've had two VE's now that had cracked coil packs with no issues. So it's worth a shot.

I wouldn't even both trying to adjust the TPS first. Just do like Augustus said, and swap over your brother's whole TB assembly (with unmolested TPS).

What exactly is the "open" line close to the TB that you speak of? There should be nothing open/disconnected there. Take a picture to show us if need be.

DMad8724

iTrader: (4)

so im completely jealous that you have a VE5 and i dont but i have a similar hesitation issue ill describe mine

not looking for help to fix mine just trying to see if youre dealin with what i am as well

92 VE AT 240,000!

car runs "strong" most of the time as you said but whenever I go to punch it about 50% of the time it hesitates and the RPMs drop to 1.5k and jump from between 1.5k and 2k (exactly) until I take my foot off the gas pedal. Usually the next attempt to hit the gas and its working normal again..

Ive also had a few extreme idle drops when in park or idling in drive...900rpm to about 300 also the car has died in Reverse Drive and Park for maybe a total of 5 or 6 times when I first got it but Ive yet to have the dying issue reoccur

maybe if we have the same issue something I described in further detail can help you out?

enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

Augustus Maximus:

Yeah i was going to install the throttle and full air intake system but when we got to the the maf sensor everything else behind it had oil resin in it. so this weekend I'm going to clean the crap out of it and give it a shot. I'm always down to fix a car but its not throwing any check lights or codes so I cant figure out what it is. I salute you for figuring yours out though. Like I said I would usually get it fixed but I cant afford to do that at this moment cause I unexpectedly got laid off. As far as the looks, I already bought that stuff so it is goin on lol. I bought it for 2 reasons, 1 because I had the money at the time, and 2 because I honestly thought it was a small issue. But I'm still hoping to figure it out though.

I actually looked into fixing the VTC's but I heard it could cost up to a couple grand. I had a friend back in the day when I had my 90 VG who had a VE5 with 80k on it and working VTC's and I must say I did feel a huge difference compared to my vg. But then soon after that I got my first 4th gen and we would run all the time. The race was always close but i would pull him, not by much, he'd be a few feet from my back bumper. once my stock clutch started giving out he would take it to me pretty good. Once I replaced it with an ACT stage 1 heavy duty street disc I was gettin him all day, not by more then a car, car and a half though. He had a custom made exhaust system, test pipe, and the stillen pop charger intake, I had greddy cat back, Injen intake, and thats pretty much it. My 4th gen has mad torque, i love it. On good tires I would get a second gear scratch (more like a rip lol) and also a 3rd gear scratch but I don't drive my current 4th gen the that way though. I baby that car, every now and again i'll go wot. I do love and respect 3rd gens but the 4th gen is my pride and joy you know. but yeah this weekend i'll be looking into my bros engine to see what else i can pull. Thanks for the link also.


Brad92SE:

Thanks for that info bro. I'm going to look into this this weekend. The strut I'm talking about is the front passenger strut. Are they in good condition? How many miles are on them? Are they still firm? I might just be interested. Shoot me a pm with more details and some numbers and we'll see if we can work something out. Also I remember you said you had extra coil packs layin around, do you have the front ones?

I did already buy the KYB's but it turns I might have to take em back. I'm literally down to my last couple hundred bucks now, yikes! I spent 165 and thats a bit to steep for me right now. So yeah I'm interested, I here toks are ways better then GR2's anyway. Thanks again man.

James92se:

Thanks man. Yeah he's always loved the 3rd gens but he dont really know much about em. It wasn't till I got mines that he started going crazy over it asking me to sell it to him. He jsut got a new job so he's got money now so i told him just check craigslist. All he knows is that he wants an SE and a 5 spd. He found it but thought it wasn't worth it since it has a blown motor. He then showed me the pics and I was like "woah". I tried to explain to him that he could get a motor for about 400-600 dollars. Then he was like "okay lets go look at it". When I saw it i was like Holy Crap!!! The poor guy was telling my bro that he was quoted 3 grand for a used motor or 4 grand for a rebuilt motor, so my brother was like naaaah. we left and we told the guy we'll see what we can do. I pretty much told him if you dont get it i'm going to get it lol.. I woulds tool just for the leather and parted it out. So he ended wanting it and that is that.

I'm going to be working on the car this weekend, again for the 3rd weekend in a row, i'll go ahead and take a pic of that open line. I'm hoping i find a solution soon. and trust me i'm taking everyone's advise and suggestions serious lol.

DMad8724:

Yeah man it sounds pretty close... but mines drops bad sometimes at a stand still and it will turn off on me every now and again. I just never know when its going to happen. Like yesterday I was driving and for the first 5 miles it was fine but then I noticed that my acceleration was real sluggish, once i hit a red light it just turned off on me. I attempted to turn it back on and in most cases it will just start like nothing happened but this time I would start. I let sit (thank god it was a long red light) and finally i started. but while i'm driving I notice that it will just bog bad. like its cutting off the fuel or something and sometimes it will start bucking out of no where. Its a difficult situation but I hope I answered your question.

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

You can get clean JDM VE's for cheap nowadays. There's actually an importer up here in the Dallas area that has JDM VE's now for under $500 (http://www.jdmenginescorp.com/). I'm going to grab one from them this summer and just go pick it up so I don't have to pay for shipping. Anyway, I mention them for your brother's car because shipping will be cheaper than from one of the coasts. Although I'm sure there's probably importers in Houston with some VE's in stock.

Your latest description to DMad makes me wonder if it's not maybe something as simple as a bad fuel pressure regulator or something.

But I'm also still suspicious of the TPS. I remember when we did the d16 swap in my brothers '79 CVCC, it kept giving us a CEL and bucking/hesistating hardcore at acceleration. It would sometimes drive just fine for a few minutes at a time, then throw the CEL and start bucking/hesitating again. New TPS solved it.

Augustus Maximus

iTrader: (6)

I'm going with coil pack...I had all of the above symptoms with the coil pack on cylinder #1 which ohmed out and looked perfectly, but had an electrical arcing problem between the primary and secondary coil. Heat and years will eventually break down the insulating enamel coating on the wire. It is after all a step up transformer (1:1000 or more driving a diode configured as an half wave rectifier). Make sure you got good NGK plugs in there. The problem is so simple that when you find it you will laugh.

elusivemax93

Id say pull one C.O.P. at a time and make sure you have the idle turn bad and if it isnt then you might have an injector issue even if they were replaced not to long ago. Next up I would agree tps or fuel pressure r. Believe me I recently finally got to replace a missing injector on cylinder #5 but since replacing haven't started her up yet becuase I placed ao ring on the power ssteering pump in the wrong place and need get in the and place it on the right line. Also still need to drill and extract three motor mount bracket bolts that broke off on the rear mount bracket.

enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

yeah i already placed a bid on that motor... with 60k do you think the vtc's are still in good shape? i wanted to get that motor for my car but i figure i have a good engine just gotta fix that one problem...

DMad8724

iTrader: (4)

just wanted to add that mine will also start right back up after dying, although that hasnt happened in about 2 months but yeah would fire up like nothing happened...

Augustus Maximus

iTrader: (6)

What's the difference between a Japanese junkyard motor and an American one...what do I call my VE, it's 92, 93 and 94 SE wired into a 90 SE shell. I could buy another motor or I could use the money and sweeten up this one. I know it burns no oil, I know it does not clack, I know it goes up to and beyond the 145 mph on the clock. I know I don't look forward to pulling the engine again and I know what a money pit it is .

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

There's no telling. It seems the JDM VE's guys have installed here over the years have had about a 50/50 shot. Some had no VTC clack, some developed some after a year or two, and some developed some after a few weeks.

My personal JDM VE came with BRAND NEW VTCs installed. When I got the engine I was kind of annoyed because I could tell the timing covers had been opened up (i.e., the engine had been worked on). Well I took the valve covers off and did some inspecting on the VTC sprocket assemblies and determined they were brand new (and if not technically brand new, MUCH younger than the rest of the engine as because the sprocket assemblies had NO wear at all).

So I kind of lucked out I've got no VTC clack at all on it. For what it's worth, my black VE has ~175k and no VTC clack either.

Augustus, there's no difference except the crank angle sensor and the CTS. The benefit of JDM engines is that, on the whole, you're guaranteed an engine with much less wear and tear. Not to say that every junkyard American engine is junk/trashed - it's just that with JDM you pretty much know you're getting a relative low mile one. On my JDM VE I replaced all gaskets and seals even though I didn't need to. The engine pretty much looked brand new and had no signs of drips/leaks/anything.

Augustus Maximus

iTrader: (6)

Replaced the front crank seal and I'm doing the rear along with the half moon seal. Got the VTC rebuild kit too, I'm kinda paranoid about the VTC cap, it is after all the Achilles heel of the VE30DE. Maybe I'll buy me a JDM VE for my birthday in August .

enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

Fixed!!! I think... I appreciate everyone's help. There were a couple lines directly under the throttle that were left open. Also found the the connector to what seems to be my front coil packs was disconnected. After getting my bros jdm VE motor today we pretty much went through each line sensor and hose to make sure they matched. With in 15 minutes of comparison we found it. No drop at idol, no bogging, and bucking... Its only been a good couple hours worth of driving since we did this and so far so good. keeping my fingers crossed. thanks again.

enomik-1

iTrader: (3)

I'd also like to thank Brad92Se for coming through for me. Thanks bruh, greatly appreciated sir!

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

That would definitely do it! Wow and to think all the headaches/trouble that caused over some simple little lines. Glad you hung in there and figured it out you must be quite relieved!

What's the connector to the coilpacks you speak of?

Augustus Maximus

iTrader: (6)

I got my VE with an engine from an auto and the jackass who swapped it didn't bother swapping the UIM so the power valve setup was left off, I had to work exclusively with the diagram in the FSM. When I swapped out the oil burner in my 5.5 that took a little thought in the reconnection process and the 3rd gen is so much simpler. Thus you figuring out the problem was only a matter of just slowing down and looking at it.