Jwats

My '92 has an intermittent but serious stall ocassionally when I am accelerating..most of the time it will lose power completely for 1-2 seconds, then kick back in, than stall again and finally keep running...but this morning it stalled to the point I had to pull over. It happens whether warm or cold and only when accelerating. The severity ranges from several misses but then it "kicks back in" and I can keep up with traffic...all the way to having absolutely no power for 20-30 seconds forcing me to pull over. It never dies, but the engine does not respond to gas pedal during these problems.
Help appreciated
it is geting dangerous
Thank you
John

Agamemnon

You're not alone. It's a common problem on Maximas. Do a search on it and you'll find plenty of discussion. No definite solution or explanation yet, though!

shock211

iTrader: (6)

ugh!
i hate this ****, my maxima has been doing it for 2 1/2 months now.
there are plenty of threads discussing this problem and no common solution.

poorcollegeboy

check your coils. they are the 6 circular things. 3 in front and 3 in back.

subs1000w

same thing with mine ever since i got the car but ill have to live with it untill someone finds out what causes it because i cant afford to go replacing everything and none of my coils are cracked so i dont think thats the problem with mine but who knows

gold4dsc

mine use too stall at low rpms or if i went over serious bumps in the road. it was doing it for about 4 months. what i did was change my fuel filter and the problem stopped. i'm not sure if it would work for everybody but it cost like 10 bucks for the filter and it worth a try

Maximajism94se

i had this prob only once at the track...the car jumped and lurched and almost died....cause i had advanced my timing 2 much (and incorrectly as well) i cut back on the timing and it never happened again...

Bluemax92

I've read up on this problem and there may have been a possible solution found. The mass air flow sensors inbetween the throttle body and the air intake have been known to fail and cause exactly this kind of problem. A few people got their sensors replaced and the problem never showed up again. No guarantees but atleast its a running shot. My max does it too btw. Havent had the money to try this possible solution yet.

osborn21781

I'm having this same problem, only mine is usually at a stoplight or stop sign. I press the gas and......nothing. After a few seconds though, it will finally go. Like everyone else, I have searched and found no definate solution. But this faulty MAF snesor intrigues me a little. Anyone know if there is a way to test this to find out if it is indeed faulty?

osborn21781

By the way, I have tried several things, including:

Resetting my ECU
Replaced Spark Plugs
Checked coils
new fuel filter
Cleaned out throttle body
Checked ALL fluids (just cause)

ALL THIS LEAVES ME STUMPED.......

subs1000w

will someone just trade MAF with a friend that doesnt have the problem and if the problem is solved in yours but startes happining in your friends we have the solution that way nobody has to buy a new one for no reason, i would if any of my friends had the same car but none do

Smoking Furnace

My 92 Maxima SE has begun to exhibit this problem.I came to the Maxima.org website to find a solution. The behavior of the problem leads me to believe that it is electrical in nature, maybe a faulty sensor. I need more info on the car's operation. Does anyone have a reliable source for the factory (not aftermarket) service manual for this car?

ron4291

I havent been here in a while but how about you try this take the little panel off next to ur ecu. Rev ur rpms to about 200o rpm and watch the little light if it lights up green, disconnect your o2 sensor located on your cat. Drive the car and see if it stops if it does problem fixed. Costs about $75.00 to replace o2 sensor, another
symptom is your speedometer needle moving when idling and pressing gas! Hope this helps! Also to explain what is happening is your cars electrical sytem is trying to compensate for a bad sensor by retarding your timing and when that fails by advancing your timing causing the stumbling! GOOD LUCK!

Joe89se

I had the same stumbling problem with my 89. I tried fuel and air filters, spark plugs, looking for air leaks from the intake box and was going to disconnect the O2 sensor per the manufactures manual when I noticed the last easy item it said to check was poor fuel. I remembered the owners manual said 91 octain so I put a tank of premium in it. I had started useing regular, had gone down from the middle grade. In 3 days the stumble was gone I had more power and better gas mileage. Now that everyone is done laughing if your not running premium try it. It may save you some trouble. Hope this helps someone.

subs1000w

i run 93 octane so its not that

BLAKZIMA

OK EVERY ONE HERES WHAT U DO
STEP ONE: GO TO ADVANCED
STEP TWO: GET NEW MAF SENSOR (SAVE RECIEPT)
STEP THREE: SEE IF IT SOLVES PROBLEM
IF FAILS GO TO STEP FOUR
STEP FOUR: RETURN FOR FULL MONEY BACK

subs1000w

i might try that as long as i can return it with out being hasseled for opening it

Jwats

Since it looks like the MAF is a probable culprit, does anyone know:
1. Cost of Part and typical availability?
2. Labor hours to install
3. Source of less expensive parts: online or mail order or?
Thanks
John

5spd92SE

Off the top of my head...
1. $100 - $250, should be available at Nissan
2. 30 min to install yourself
3. Shop around, then bargain with the place closest to you when you find the lowest price.

rhard49

Just called Courtesy its 366 for the new MAF

BTW I have had the same problem for 2 years so far I've replaced
Plugs twice
Fuel Filter twice
Throttle Position sensor
O2 Sensor
MAF

And had it on the nissan consult system Still got it comes mostly with change in temperature and humidity. Comes and goes. The consult diagnostic showed nothing cuz its intermittent they recommended they'd seem it before and it was coils just ordered 2 and going to move them around. When the MAF goes you get the can't get above 2500 RPM thing. Anyone having any tach issues mine just goes to strange numbers like 3 grand engines not at 3k it idleing normal like 3k is its new starting point but the red line does not cause the limiter to cut in. I can't believe no ones figured the stall thing out yet.

Willow9238

So What am understanding is that there is a faulty sensor somewhere in the electrical system and no one has traked it back to which senso it is yet. Did n e one put the car on Diagnosis machine yet? I'll see if I can do this and I will get back to u.

rhard49

I can tell you from my experience's I believe its a sensor or connection in the eccs system. To me this is one of the major symtoms
your driving along fine then its like someone turned the key off ,most time its not stalled as soon as the RPM's drop below 2500 its on again almost as if it were going in and out of limp home mode. It does this some number of times then disappears. Ultimatly it progress's to stalling at any time then disappears for days or weeks at a time. Mine in the last week is at the point its almost undrivable maybe what ever it is is finally going to fail! BTW I paid nissan and hour on the Consult system and they could not come up with it, naturally it did not do it.

Jwats

I posted the original thread. Talked to mechanic who finally experienced the problem himself while car was on a scope and indicated that there was no output from the computer during the time it was missing. He is baffled as well and plans to drive the car with scope on it to see if it malfunctions again. No check engine light and no error code. He ruled out sensors for the moment. He said " If I had to replace one part, it would be the computer"...to which I responded..I'm sure the part is worth more than the car.

Seriously, what is a good source for used Maxima parts?

John

5spd92SE

I think we have it narrowed down to 3 things:

MAF sensor
02 sensor

...and I would like to add a 3rd, fuel pump. I am pretty sure that the fuel pump is a go/no go item, but I am not positive on that. I dont know why it would be intermittent if it was the fuel pump, but being electrical and mechanical by design, it is possible.

Someone shoot this theory down if they know better.

rhard49

When mine died last year I was on the parkway drove for 2 hours pulled into a rest stop got back in dead wouldn't start 1/2 hour later it started drove it another 3 hours shut it off in the driveway of my sons house at college and it never started again dead fuel pump had it towed in and replaced certainly not go/no go in the end it was nogo


Starting to wonder why I keep it, actually I gave it to him

ron4291

The problem is you need to dis connect the o2 sensor and drive the car if it doesnt do it problem fixed! If it was your fuel pump u would know ur fuel guage would not register and fuel consumption would really suck. Try the o2, if its not the o2, reset your ecu per your repair manual and drive the car and send it in to diagnostic mode and check all the codes! Thats how I fixed my car when it was doing the same thing! It turned out to be the o2 sensor, your problem is in the eccs, one of yuor eccs sensors is not functioning properly and its sending an error code to the engine and its causing your car to advance and retard to rectify the problem. It only takes a couple of seconds to disconnect it! try it! Good luck!

rhard49

When my fuel pump went it had NO effect on if the gas gauge displayed correctly nor did it affect my gas mileage. It died after having driven about 350 miles in about 6 hours and averaged over 20 miles per gallon as it always did. All it did was no longer deliver fuel.

I will try disconnecting the O2 sensor Thanks for the idea!

Jwats

my mechanic ran car with a scope
talked to Nissan Tech
and Believes I should replace all 6 coils
does that sound right?

AKAICEBERG

I never experienced anything as sever as what you guys are mentioning, but I used to get this 1-2 second hesitation when accelerating from a stop. It was the most annoying thing I have experienced with my max. After a bunch of research I decided that is must be the MAF, so I found a guy on this board that was parting out him car and I bought his for like $40. FYI if you buy a used MAF make sure you have them give you the harness connector for free because you never know if that might be the culprit. If its the harness then you can get someone to splice it for you.

I changed the MAF and I really didn't notice a difference, but after a month or so I have yet to experience the problem again.

Other things to check/replace would be the O2 sensor, fuel filter, clean or replace air intake filter, spark plugs, plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, ignition coils, bottle of injector cleaner, etc.

Later

onegoode

My 92 SE runs great except when I get down on it hard it sorta hesitates or misses for a second and then it catches up.I'm an older guy so I don't run mine hard except occasionaly to get on the interstate.It sounds like I have the same problem as you but maybe mine is not as severe.

eric93SE

iTrader: (1)

The relay for the fuel pump is known to go bad. There is also a known problem with one of the ignition relays. There is only one fuel pump relay, but there are a ton of ignition relays (they are also located in the car in the left most kick panel).

Also, there is the chance that you have bad gas, and if its bad enough it will clog the sock thats on the fuel pump.

maxinmaxima

iTrader: (2)

I have a similar problem, just replaced my MAF, got a used one for $50cdn used at a junkyard, now the car keep revving really high, and then kicking, i think this is the same problem, can someone put a diagram or explanation of where the o2 sensor is so I can try this

northrabbit

My car is Maxima SE 1992, auto.
My car has the same problem recently. One day it stalled on the road
after the engine just warmed up. After somedays, I found that the
"chocking" problem occationally happened when I pressed the gas peddle
too fast. So I changed the Spark plugs (NGK plantinum),fuel filter,
air filter, but the problem is still there. Finally I went to the
local nissan dealer and asked them to have a check. After 3 days check
(I don't know how they checked my car), they told me the ignition
coils break down when hot. The recommended to change 6 ignition coils
which could cost me more than $600. I doubt that because normally my
car runs well during high speed(very few time I can feel the engine
hesitates during high speed). So the problem is still there. Maybe I
can buy one front ignition coil and one rear ignition coil to replace
the the igition coil one by one to find which coil(s) is(are) out of
service. Or maybe we can rotate the the ignition coils if it's the
electrical contact problem.
If anyone solve this problem, don't forget to tell us. Thanks.

pezking4

You guys are right, the problem is sensor related. Possible culprits have mostly been mentioned; O2 sensor, MAF, knock sensor, coils and spark plugs. It probably won't help your problem much, but if your fuel filter hasn't been changed in a while go ahead and do that, you'll probably regain some of that lost gas mileage. Same thing goes for cleaning out your throttle body.

MaxHeadroom

Except I went to a reputable mechanic that put the car on an ECU scanner and the code came up for a bad knock sensor. He explained that this sensor advances and retards the timing to keep the engine from spark knocking. As soon as I replace it I'll post if that fixed it. Also he told me one of the coils might be going bad.

Aaron92SE

iTrader: (128)

Is that how you got that awesome stock 1/4 mile time? By advancing the timing? I believe you had a 15.90?

Aaron92SE

iTrader: (128)

Yes, please let us know when you replace your knock sensor. There are many people up here that want to do it, but don't have the time or money. We are all curious as to if the knock sensor is the cause of all of our problems.

I got the knock sensor code once before. That was probably b/c I was fiddling with my timing about 6 months back. I reset the ECU and erased the code from memory. And the code has not returned yet after 3 months. I still have my timing advanced about 4-5 degrees.

rhard49

Mines been doing it for almost 2years and has never thrown a code.

Jwats

I am originial poster of this thread.

My mechanic after doing a lot of diagnostic work, driving car, consulting with Nissan Factory Techs determined problem was a faulty coil and replaced all of them because there is not a good way to pinpoint the bad one....I will let you know if this really works

Aaron92SE

iTrader: (128)

If you have a knock sensor code, it won't trigger the Check Engine light. You will have to check the code straight from the ECU by turning that little screw and follow the diagnostic procedure in any FSM.