88' Maxima 80K miles yep..... , mom owned it b4 and never drove.... 2 outer seals & timing belt replaced, new fuel injectors, rebuilt tranny, & front-end, thermostat and water pump and some brake work. all done. more recently, MAF cleaned, plugs+wires, PCV valve, vacuum lines check/replaced, EGR valve checked, O2 sensor(I only found one, and it wasn't called O2 sensor, but the parts are the same). Got the NTK type. Checked under the MAF for leaks/cracks too.

1) I am having what I believe are the same symptoms that are described n this earlier post here:


http://forums.maxima.org/1st-2nd-gen...ng-timing.html
I think when my timing belt was done no timing adjustment was made.

From a cold start I am good, but once it's warm it idles rough drops RPMs suddenly every 5_10 sec. (rough fast vibration & "phibt", "phibt" noise) when in gear, and when I pull off lacks power, someone else here once described it like dragging a tree... until they hit 2500 or so RPMs, followed by a sudden release of power. I believe this is called running a bit retarded....does this mean lean? I thought this was a mis-fire, but after reading the description of his symptoms, I wanna try adjusting the timing next, but I read a couple of things that concerned me. Somebody mentioned at 24TDC that I might only run premium gas?? Also someone mentioned cleaning a TB to address similar symptoms. What are they referring to?

 

Ok so I decided to follow the advice given last night, and the car ran better than ever, and the rough running went away. Someone with a lot of posts said that they never used a timing light, but advanced with the car off and then just drove to note the effect, they said to "advance until it "pings, and then back off the advance so it stops. I advanced mine until my test drive eliminated the rough running, and I never heard any "pinging". Unfortunately, this AM, on my drive into work, I noted the rough running again when stopped, and some sluggishness returned. I read here about locking in the timing setting by reving the car at a 3000 RPMS 3 times before moving the distributor head. I didn't do this and I guess my issue is returning. How do I start over when the cap is already turned clockwise? Go back to original position and restart the procedure?

 

I had similar problem with my 1984 Maxima.

It turned out to be the cold start injector was not turning off.

Start your car, the cold start injector should turn off after about 30 seconds.

If that doesn't happen you get extremely rich condition happening revs drop and it is difficult to keep the engine running.

When you disconnect the cold start injector the engine should run semi-normally.

Of course you still have to discover what is keeping the cold start injector turned on; water temperature switch, thermotime switch, auxillary air regulator, ECU.

-regards
bob

 

Thanks! I was concerned with my recent timing setting being way too high, I don't know what symptoms or issues to look/listen for, but I know that most people have said they are between 22 and 24 BTDC, and I think I'm way past that, to get the smoother, more powerful throttle. If you're facing the engine compartment from the right side, and viewing the timing marks, I'm on the second most mark from the far right, which I believe is only 20 degrees BTDC and I increased it to this(distributor turned clockwise). I wonder if the car would run better at a lower timing, if I find that injector stuck on. Any help with testing the other components?

 

You don't have a maintenance manual for your car? Most Nissan's are either 5 degrees BTDC or 15 degrees BTDC....that's with the distributor vacuum advance vacuum hose disconnected and plugged....I'll see if I can find some spec's I would suggest you buy a FSM off Ebay they are going really cheap this days...Most Nissan timing marker Tabs have lines on them and each line is equal to 5 degrees..... there should be long lines and short lines! I The crank spins clockwise if you're facing the engine from the radiator....So move the timing mark on the crank pulley counterclockwise is advancing the timing or moving the timing mark on the crank clockwise is retarding your timing....

 

Also look for a possible vacuum leak....

 

We talking about adjustments made by twisting the distributor, correct? The timing marks are below oil pump...88 max gxe...hood says 20, I believe.

 

Ok cool at least you found it...