Car: 1988 Nissan Maxima GXE
Recently my car has had a problem with nearly dieing when Im at idle. I notice it mostly like when I come to a red light and have to sit there. Especially after I start the car after its already warmed up. I have to hold the brake pedal and lightly press the accelerator so it wont die. If I do not do this the idle fluctuates from normal to as low as 200. The car sputters and sometimes will quit completley. Also when the RPM's drop, the voltage guage drops from normal to as low as 10 volts.
What do you think is causing this.
Do you think its my belts are getting bad(I know I have to replace them) but would this cause this?
Also I thought it might be the alternator since the voltage guage is dropping(possibly causing the RPM drop?).
Or I thought It might be something with the fuel injectors not giving enough fuel to the engine causeing it to sputter.
One last idea is it do you think I just need to clean my spark plugs?
The car seems to run fine after it gets moving. Occasionally it will like misfire but usually is fine.
Anyways, any help would be great.

 

Looks like it's time to check codes on the ECU, as well as maybe adjust the idle. Also when was the last tune up?

S

 

I had this same exact problem, although my car was for better or worse, I'm not sure:

My car would barely make it up hills, it would stall if i would go into reverse sometimes, and it would nearly stall whenever i sat at a light. It would also choke when my car got into 2nd gear.

Tune up fixed my car's problems easily. It cost me around $120 for the parts.

 

yeah, like the popular consensus, start with a good tune up. cap, rotor, wires, and NGK plugs and you can't go wrong. also, try cleaning out the throttle body too, cos carbon buildup in there will cause idling problems like what you describe. STP works pretty good for carbon on the throttle body and plate, but seafoam does a better job at cleaning out the whole intake. if that doesn't cure it, pull some computer codes and let us know.

your voltmeter probably drops to 10 cos the car either stalled or the RPMs are too low for the alternator to produce any current.

Dan

 

and ohh yeah, do not waste your money on the bosch spark plugs. I've had pretty good results with bosch plug wires in the sentra, but not bosch spark plugs. I removed an old (but otherwise OK) set of NGK plugs from my 88 maxima and replaced them with the bosch platinum 2s and had a misfire. your best bet for a good spark plug is NGK. they're a little harder to find but they're what your maxima was built with. if you absolutely can't find NGKs, densos work pretty good too. I run the NGK platinums in my sentra and am more than satisfied.

Dan

 

my last tune up was done about a year ago. I did new Rotor, Cap, Plugs(NGK) wires(NGK).
Do you think its time to do it again?
Also I will try checking computer codes tomorrow.

 

I wouldn't be surprise if it is. Older cars require more frequent tune ups. Usually around 25-30k....which is about how much I drive in a year.

S

 

I have this same problem but I am M/T, and I have still not been able to pinpoint my problem....the car drives fine but has issuse on hot starts and idling once the car is warm. Please keep us posted as to what you do to try to solve the problem.

 

any updates?

 

no updates, or i mean cures.
i did however get my belts changed(not timing) and my car seems to run more consistant as far a power on acceleration, but my car still almost has a heart attack when im at idle(drive thru's are the worst) i also added some fuel injector cleaner to the fuel to hopefully clean it out.
but the other day when i was in a drive thru my car was running at about 100 rpm, just on the line of dieing, i pressed the brake and the accelerator lightly to keep it up at about 600 but my car was making a funny noise...it sounded almost like how a motorcycle sounds when it is idleing at a light...any ideas on that?
however i think the stalling problem has something to do with the engine getting too much fuel at idle. i know i can adjust the idle, but there is no way to adjust the mixture, right? so what is the best thing to replace to see if that fixes the problem, or what besides the computer determines how much fuel to add to the mixture?
thanks

 

Alright time for Sarin 101. Take your seats children.

Basically the ECU relies on a couple of sensors in order to determine optimum A/F ratio and igition timing. These items include:

• Crank Angle Sensor
• Mass Airflow Meter
• Cylinder Head Temperature Sensor
• Exhaust Gas/O2 Sensor
• Throttle Valve Switch/TPS

The Crank Angle Sensor (CAS) provides a pulse that tells the ECU the crank position, as well as when to fire the fuel injector and ignition coil.

The Mass Airflow Meter (MAF) is what it name suggests. It monitors the amount of air that enters a motor.

The Cylinder Head Temperature Sensor (CHTS) monitors the cylinder head temp that the ECU uses to determine whether to lean out or enrich the fuel for optimum performance.

The O2 sensor monitors the exhaust stream for oxygen density which will indicate a lean or rich condition in which the ECU uses to correct the A/F.

The TPS tells the ECU whether the throttle butterfly is open or closed. This is to help prevent the motor from going super rich everytime you let off the throttle.

Based off these, the ECU takes the values collected from each of these sensors and tests the combination against a preprogrammed table. The best match is the choosen injector pulse/igntion timing pulse the ECU uses.

Also keep in mind there are also a couple things to note on the side there are two modes the ECU has during operation. Closed loop and open loop. In closed loop, the ECU makes judgements based on the sensors. In open loop, the ECU ignores all sensor and runs with a preset fuel and timing map. This is normally during warm-up, WOT, or ECU is in diagnostic mode (not including real-time diagnostic mode in the 87-88's).

So that's sort of how it works in a small nutshell. There are more things included....but those are the most vital ones. As for your problem....the first thing you need to do is pull codes from the ECU to see if there are any problems.

S