derf1776

I own an 89 Maxima. I've had a problem with the car bucking and hesitating on acceleration when driven for 20 minutes or so. It will get so bad that the car will start to stall. You can start the car right up, and then put it into drive and have it stall. The hesitation is as if I took my foot OFF the gas petal instead of pressing down on it. The car has 130,000 miles on it. I have just had a major tune up, replacing all wires plugs and filters. I have had the car to 2 mechanics. I also had the car to the dealer, who drove the car for 5 miles at a time for 2 days, and could not reproduce the problem. The problem happens every time, as long as you drive it for 20 minutes to a half hour. When starting from a cold start the car drives great. If the car is at a hot parking lot all day, the problem may start immediately when I pull out of the spot though. Could it be something to do with heat? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

derf1776

FYI: I've also repalce the fuel pump

derf1776

Yesterday I brought the car to the dealer. The car had not been started for 3 days. This problem happened quickly right after I pulled out of the driveway. The car then stalled on the corner when stopping at a stop sign. Maybe it's not related to heat after all. It might just be the longer I drive it the chances increase that it happens more.

mourice

YO, I HAVE A 91SE AND I GOT THE SAME PROBLEM DUDE, MY EXHAUST MANIFOLD JUST WENT BAD AND THEN THE CAR STARTED STALLING OUT ON ME. I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT EITHER, I'VE CHANGED PVC, FUEL FILTER, PLUGS/WIRES, CHECKED ALL HOSES, AND NOTHING. IF YOU FIND OUT ANYTHING LET ME KNOW PLEEEAAASSSEEEE!

derf1776

My car is still at the dealer. I think they are having a problem having it happen to them. I'm going to call them today and post an update.

Tram

I have 89 maxima with 180,000 miles and it does the same thing. I can drive the car with no problem when first starting up but when it gets warmed up it starts hesitating. When i give it more gas it stalls then goes and keeps stalling. When i'm doing about 55-60mph it seems like it is slipping in and out of 3rd and 4th gear.
A mechanic i know said it maybe losing fire from somewhere like the distributor cap where corrosion may be inside where you plug up the wires. If anybody knows anything about this please respond.

Pervis Anathema

iTrader: (8)

Mass air flow sensor? Possibly fuel injectors?

nubiannupe

iTrader: (9)

I was thinking the same thing, Pervis! Fellas, have your mechanics (if you can call them that... LOL) check those two things out. I'm thinking one or the other or a combination of both. Either way, you'd better get ready to fork over some "benjamins"!!

derf1776

thanks for the reply's I will suggest that to the dealer. The problem I have is that the dealer can't seem to duplicate the problem! Everytime I drive the car I experience it but when they drive it...NOTHING. I don't think they are test driving it long enough. I will post followups until I find a solution.

1993MaxSE

I had the same problem with a stupid dealer, my electrical system was going haywire but only after 1/2 an hour of driving, so when I took it in they were like "oh we will drive it later" and when they did, it was too cold, and they never reproduced the problem...vey annoying...but here is the solution:

Schedule an appointment for a specific time, and ask them to be ready to test drive it when you get there- drive it around for a half hour, until it's really hot and you know the problem is happening, then while it's having trouble bring it straight there and be like OK, you said you were ready, test it now. That's how I finally got mine fixed

derf1776

Thanks for the info....I just called and they were able to finally reproduce the problem. It only happened for a little bit so they want to test it more. I gave them permission to take the car home at night. They are leaning toward a clogged fuel injector. There are 6 in the car so they want to narrow it down before they make a decision. This problem started after 20 miles or so after I filled up my car, it was at half a tank. Could bad gas have caused the issue or was it just a coincidence?


I'll keep everyone informed.

SecretAsianMan

I've experienced symptoms like you described a couple times in my life with other automobiles. The following is for generally info and may have nothing to do with your issue--

In one case with a conventional distributor the wire that went to the ignition points was rubbing slightly against the distributor cam. The insulation had worn off the wire and when the car was warmed up, the wire would expand and the points would short to the shaft through the break in the insulation. That was a real pain to locate because once the car started to cool everything worked just fine...for a little while.

The second case was caised bu an old, fatiqued ingition fuse. The fuse would slowly heat up and then momentarily open causing the car to die. From that lesson I learned to periodically check the condition of the fuses and replace them periodically.

Editorial: So often I hear people speculate about "bad gas" being the source of a problem. From personal experience, I can't recall a time when, once the problem was identified, that it had any thing to do with "bad" gas.

P. S. Anyone with a bad exhaust manifold may want to take a look at where the hot exhaust gas is blowing. While this problem sounds like an intermittent electrical fault, it could easily be a fuel vapor lock issue or one of many other things.

--SAM

derf1776

IF YOU CAN BELIEVE IT THE DEALER HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM AFTER THAT ONE TIME. They have driven the car over 80 miles and have not been able to reproduce it. I may have the car towed to my old mechanic in NY. At least I can trust him to fix it. I'll keep you guys updated.

1993MaxSE

There was a report in Consumer Reports' special car edition about dealership-mechanic satisfaction levels, and Nissan dealers were close to dead last, barely inching out Mitsubishi. It was pathetic to look at this bar chart...the percentage "satisfied" was barely over 50%, while the average for all dealerships was like 70%+, and the highest was upwards of 85%. Wouldn't it be great to have a dealer like that?