When I start my '87 Maxima SE in the morning to go to work, it idles extremely rough. Sometimes its so bad the engine will stall. Once it is at operating temp though, it purrs like a kitten. Some friends have told me to check out the oxygen sensor. Does this sounds like a reasonable assumtion or are they all wet? Has anyone else run into this problem?

Abxmax

 

Things that can cause a car to idle poorly...
a. engine coolant temperature sensor (the one used by the computer, not the guage)
b. O2 sensor (in exhaust pipe)
c. major leak after air flow is measured
d. clogged air filter/clogged catalytic convertor
d. computer confused -- can be reset after negative battery terminal has been disconnected for 10 mins.

Only way to know for sure -- have anyone with diagnostic equipment read your computer error codes. Look up error code in service manual.

 

Thanks very much for your reply. I will be checking all the items you mentioned closely. I guess I'll have to take it in to have a diagnostic done.

 

My earlier post lists the sensors that the computer uses to determine proper air/fuel lean/rich mixture. Improper mixture leads to rough idle.

Idle speed control servo may need to be adjusted.
Throttle position sensor may have gone bad.

 

my 87 maxima idles pretty rough in the mornings as well, but i think its mainly the cold weather. seems the steering wheel wants to vibrate but goes away after 5 minutes.

 

purring like a kitten after your car warms up... maybe your valve seals are beginning to show signs of wear. Does your car have a tint of blue smoke in the exhaust?

 

yup they r shot, noticed it a couple days after i bought it. I dont want to replace it because i might put too much strain on the top end.

nothing really serious as far as i am concerned except for maybe a little blow by

 

my car idle madd low and everything shakes i dont know what happened cus it dont stop even thought tha car is warm just dont know

 

That might be likely, but no blue smaoke. This is something I've never had with the car. In fact it barely uses any oil... maybe 1/4 to 1/2 litre between oil changes (3500 to 4000 KM's) I've never had to add oil between oil changes.

 

mine blow blue smoke like dirty stuff and still shakes and stuff 2

 

Yeah its something like that. It gets quite cold up here some days and the car seems to start better when it's colder. If I leave it in the heated shop overnight, it starts rough and idles rough. I get the same thing with the steering though. Its almost like the power steering is disabled for about 2 minutes and then goes away. I've replaced the lower ball joints and keep them well greased which seems to help the problem a lot.

 

Are you using high octane fuel? The car will run like crap on regular 87 octane. Try this: buy a bottle of octane booster and add it just before you refuel next time. You'll be amazed at the results. My '87 maxi SE ran like an almost new car after doing this using regular gas and a bottle of octane booster.

P.S. My car is also white.

 

i will try that one time i tryed tha betta fuel it helped but it still had problem starting up when ever i start my car i have 2 use tha gas 2 help it turn over but i will buy tha octane booster i will see how it run


yea white is tha best lol

 

The FICD is part of the idle control system. After time it gets full of carbon and grime and needs to be cleaned out. If my scanner worked I could scan a pic of it. My car had the same problem, so I removed the FICD, took it apart and cleaned it out. I seemed to cure the cold idle problems. As for octane according to my 87 owners manual we Should be using at least 91 RON. Basically Nissan says our cars need 91 octane, so you can put in equal amounts of 89 and 93 to get 91 octane. Believe me you don't want to run 87 octane, my car would knock and ping on that. You get less fuel economy and performance with 87 octane.

 

but where is tha ficd located i have tha book tell me what i should look up under,i bought tha octane booster but i did not use it yet i will start using 91 octane thanks guys and it is not that hard to clean rite but what to clean it with.

 

any fuel injected engine should use no less than 89 octane. my nissan ran like crap with 87 octane.... rpms would fluxuate at idle and the car wouldnt get up and go. if u have been using 87 octane i suggest 93 octane with fuel injection cleaner. then keep running with the premium if u can afford it.

 

i am now using 93 octane i kinda dont feel no difference

 

My car runs like crap in the cold but after 3 minutes its all good.

 

I do not think that the O2 sensor will cause this problem. It seems more like the air regulator is not doing its job. The air regulator is responsible for increasing the idle while the car is warming up. If there were incoming air not being monitored by the air flow meter, the rough behavior would continue even after the car had warmed up already.
If the temperature sensor or the O2 sensor were bad that would trigger an error code.
You may want to check for a sticking trottle due to carbon accumulation also.