Hey, I got a 1992 Maxima SE 5spd a few days ago and the starts in first gear are horrible. Whenever I start accelerating in first gear, no matter what I do, the car rocks and jutters. Once I've picked up speed, there's no problem whatsoever, and no problem when shifting into any other gears, only when starting in first. Sometimes, the car also seems very hesitant when starting acceleration. First gear also seems to be much harder to shift into than the others. I don't know much about cars yet... any ideas on what could cause this stuff?

 

For the hesitation, you could have a bad knock sensor, apparently a common problem on the VE motor in maxima SE. The knock sensor is basically a microphone that listens for engine knocking and tells the engine control computer to retard the ignition timing when knocking is detected. This retarded timing stiffles the knocks, but results in temporary sluggishness. Knock sensors tend to go bad with age, and the wiring harnesses that connect them to the ECU corrode easily. I'm pretty sure I have a bad one in my '94 SE.

The rocking could be caused by a bad engine or tranny mount, or clutch chudder (if you hear and feel loud vibrations when letting the clutch out). Also, the hestitant motor will make it harder to launch smoothly.

I'm a bit of a maxima novice too, but I've learned a lot from the guys here. Stay tuned, I'm sure some of the people I've gotten this stuff from will chime in with more ideas on what could be wrong with your car.

 

I think I have this same problem. When launching from first I hear a knocking up front (2-5 times), and it isn't too smooth lately. It started doing it in second. Feels like something in the clutch but could also be a mount. Any advice is greatly appreciated. It took me a little while to search this old post. Thanks

 

Why oh why did you bring back a 3 yr. old thread to ask this question..

 

Cause I searched instead of posting a new thread on an old subject. My bad I guess.

 

I,m pretty sure everyone had forgotten about this thread...

The main purpose of the search function is to find the solution to your problem without posting a new thread...not to bring back old threads with no solution to the problem in them....

Don't get me wrong here,i am not trying bust your *****...Just trying to help you in org."etiquette"