Hey, my 1992 Maxima SE's been doing this since I got it, so I don't know what a good condition Maxima is like, but I know that mine has horrible, inconsistent acceleration at first... and I know Maxima's are supposed to be kinda fast. I never really know what to expect when I floor it from a standstill.. sometimes i get a VERY anemic start, and a few seconds later it feels like the engine wakes up. Sometimes it just shakes terribly while it slowly picks up speed. Actually, when I start more slowly, it seems to work almost fine, althoguh a little rocky (But what fun is starting more slowly?). Once my car's already coasting, it seems powerful and smooth enough, it's just horribly inconsistent when laucnhing. I was just wondering if anyone's experienced and diagnosed this, or if anyone has any ideas on what could be wrong? The tires are fine and all fluids are fine, but aside from that I have no maintenance records and I don't know what parts the previous owner has already replaced (I havent had it for very long). The car seems to act the same whether it's warmed up or not. The car has 128k miles.. thanks

 

well you can try some fuel injector cleaner and do you know when or if the car ever had a tune up...

 

Exactly, you said it. Since you have no maintenance records it might be a good idea to start with the basic. With the VE there isn't much "tune-up" parts to change, besides plugs, fuel/air filter, pcv, and maybe throttle body cleaning. These alone is a good foundation to start with. "Your" problem could be fuel, ignition, ECM/sensors related.

 

the only thing that fixed my slow exceleration was advancing the ignition timing. this is a common problem with the ve engine

 

I have the same problem and after a throttle body cleaning, I only notice a little difference. Even after a tune up, the engine is smoother but like sub1000w said it is probably the timing. I am waiting for warmer weather to check on the timing.

 

thanks all