Stock 92 SE was running great until a peculiar idle problem started surfacing. It manifests itself in 3 ways:
1) When warming it up in the morning, it will idle beautifully at around 800rpm or so, but then suddenly dive to near 0. Sometimes it will even stall. It only does this once or twice during a 10 minute warm up.
2) When driving at freeway speeds and then decellerating for an exit ramp, etc., it will sometimes come damn near to stalling or will stall and I have to turn the key off and start it back up (which it does right away).
3) It seems to sporadically develop some sort of flat spot in a variety of rpm ranges when I am attempting to accelerate.

What I have done so far:
1) Replaced my fuel filter.
2) Put some of that fuel injection cleaner in.

It still acts the same.

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

This is not a complete fix, but you can disconnect your battery(negative) for about an hour. This will reset your ecu. Again, this may only be a temporary fix. Have you tried replacing your air filter or clean it if it is a K&N? This helped mine.

Scott

 

Well, because there is no idiot buzzer for leaving your headlights on, I was able to test the theory of disconnecting the battery, since I had to charge it overnight! That didn't work.
I have not even looked at the air filter since I have owned it, so I will try that. Thanks.

 

That won't do anything.

EGR valve could be stuck open, or more than likely a vacuum leak. Check all vacuum hoses closely for cracks etc... A small vacuum leak can lead to erratic idle and sluggish part throttle running

 

Thanks Jeff. However, I'm not sure about the vacuum lead idea is true mainly because it happens soooo infrequently. In the morning, the rpms will drop only once or twice and then be done. While driving, the car nearly or does die one out of 3 trips. Seems like a vacuum leak would present its symptoms each outing, but what do I know. At any rate, great suggestion and I will take a look. Thanks.

 

Not finding any cracks in the hoses, I found this potential solution while performing a search on this site. Hope it works...

The EGR is located on the drivers side near the firwall and shock tower, its at the top. It's large and got a round dome on top, you will see a small rubber hose running out of it and a larger steel pipe running out the lower side, facing the middle of the car. If you want to remove it:

The engine should be off and cold.

1) remove the rubber hose by pulling it off, If it doesnt wanna slide off then grab the hose and give it a twist to loosen it.

2) you need to disconnect the steel pipe on its back side. You will need an adjustable wrench to loosen it. (When reassembling you should use some anti-seeze grease on the threads)

3) there are two nuts that hold the EGR to the engine, remove them and then the EGR should come free.

4) With the EGR out you can then start cleaning it. Spray carburator cleaner inside the two openings that have the carbon deposits in. You will need to open the valve and work it open and closed to clean out the inside thouroughly. To open the valve reach with your fingers under and inside the round dome and pull up with your fingers, it should move freely when you pull up and then it should pull itself shut when you let go.

You should pick up a new gasket at the dealership, it should be less than five bucks. not replacing it can cause an exhaust leak.

 

 

sorry, how long would that cleaning process take? and does someone have a diagram or photo of where it actually is located on the car? thanks

 

On my 92 se it is just to the left of the fuel filter at the back of the engine bay. I am yanking it today, so I'm not sure how long it will take...

 

hope all goes well let me know-thursday i have appointment at dealer to clean valve-i live in canada and dealer is charging me $64 gasket and taxes included-if what you are doing does not solve problem will cancel appointment-also if valve busted being charged $214 for new valve let me know how it goes good luck

 

The gasket costs 5 bucks and the egr costs around $84,- at my local Nissan dealer (US). I don't have a way to test the vacuum, so I am stumped...