The darn car's been spitting, sputtering and stalling at higher speeds for a week now. The garage diagnostic said the Mass Air Flow Sensor was shot. Got a new one. Still have same problem with new MAF. Now mechanic is talking about an Ignition Module. This is getting expensive. Where will it end? Anybody got a real idea of a solution?

 

dont just go to one garage.. try to go to more than one and get more than one oppion. and if they all say the same thing then they are probably right.... did they give a new MAFS? or a used?

 

They gave me a used MAF Sensor which was about 1/3 the cost of a new one. After it failed to cure the problem a third MAFS was installed. Same results! Now I'm thinking it may not have been the MAFS afterall and I blew $200 on a non-repair. Mechanic says the Ignition Coils check out okay, as do the Fuel Injectors, Plugs, and all the other standard stuff.

 

I would check for the following:

Plugged up Converter
Vacumn leak
Bad TPS
Bad O2

 

CHANGE THE THROTTLE POSITIONING SENSOR $40.00 AUTOZONE

 

don't you think he should try to test or adjust his before replacing it?

 

Mechanic sent the SE to the Nissan dealer's mechanic for diagnostic. The results are in: Nissan says the Ignition Coils are bad. Does that mean all 6 are bad, or just 1 or two?
Should I expect to get my money back for the MAFS the mechanic said was the cause of the stalling and I paid for last week, since I kept the original one?
This is crazy.

 

I was right!!! hahaha!!!

you only have one coil. Go ahead and get one for about $26 at AutoZone. they're EASY to put in..takes about 20 minutes and no special tools.

as for getting money back on the afm.. I'd definitely try it. Offer to give it back and ask your money back. You asked them to find a problem with your car and fix it, not take blind stabs in the dark and send you bills for replacing parts till they find the right one.
If all else fails, about $100 will let you file a civil suit in small claims court. If they get papers from the court they will get an atty...who will most likely offer a settlement. In my state any incorporated business is required to get an atty when sued. They may refund the money just with the threat of a suit.

 

He has an 92SE with a VE30DE engine, there is a total of six coils. How many are are bad? You think is only one that is bad? Can you get the same coils out of the dealer at pep boys or napa etc, etc?

 

The Ignition Coils cost about $60 at AutoZone...more at other places. There are 3 left and 3 right. Could all 6 possibly fail at the same time? It doesn't make sense that even if one failed that the car would stall or buck violently, and only at higher RPMs. One would think that a coil failure would only cause loss of power.
Anyway, the local mechanic has egg on his face for telling me the coils were okay.
I'll try to get him to replace only the bad coil(s) and put the original MAF back and see what happens. Thanks for the advise.

 

I was thinking you had a vg30e, and not a vg30de. I am not as familiar with those engines. I dunno how you'd go about figuring out which coil it is that's bad...

 

Dealer wants $80 per coil and all 6 replaced - PLUS LABOR! Will not guarantee that the coils are the fix, and will not refund me if the problem continues. So this is turning into an expensive Shot in the Dark. Found a salvage yard in Virginia that will sell me all 6 for $150 plus S/H. Its worth a try.
Mechanic still says he thinks the Ignition Module is bad. That will be next if the Coils don't fix it.
Anybody want to buy a 92 SE?

 

I have the same car as you and had a 91 Twin turbo with the six coils. I find it HIGHLY unlikely that any of the coils are bad enough to cause the stalling. I would go to a junk yard or contact sites that specialize in Japanese salvage and locate a good used ignition module, and distributor. I would then replace these parts as they are found on the right side of the visible valve cover when you open the engine bay. Do you have a test pipe to replace the catalytic conv? Sometimes these units get plugged up and cause all kinds of weird stuff. Dealers are rip offs....in the age of computerized diagnostics and the special tool that Nissan dealers have to test these units, I would not accept an answer like, "we can't guarantee that this will fix it. That's a bunch of BS

 

Hey gang,
I am a new jack and having the same issues with my father in laws Maxima. It will stallat high speeds like when on the x way an will even stallwhile idling in the driveway. Itstarts to buck andtrhen catches itself andthen just stalls wthin 5 mionuts of the bucking. It will not idle for 20 mins without staling. have had it checked out and I am getting the run around. tune up, etc......

Do you think it is the same issueas this ( ingnition coil)?
what would you guys recommend.

curt
92 Maxima se

 

The problem with the 92SE, Curt, is that nobody knows what the problem is. Somewhere in that engine is a sensor or modulator or coil or something that is screwing the system up. I can't even get the professionals to agree with the diagnostic.
First guy told me it was Mass Air Flow Sensor, but that didn't help.
Mechanic still insists MAF needed replacement....Can you figure??
Nissan said its the Ignition Coils, but won't guarantee them if that doesn't work. I'm putting in used Coils this week-end and throwing in new platinum plugs to boot. If that doesn't work will try Ignition Module. Everybody claims the fuel lines are okay, so I'm not concentrating on that aspect of the cause. I'll post the result of the new Ignition Coils later.

 

I have to say how bad my typing was when I typed that last nigt. How did you follow it, cause I just had hard time. lol.

Well, I doubt you will get the cash back for the MAF. Coming from mchanic family an my dad being a tranny builder, you take the good with the bad. Sometimes they just shotgun parts in the cars to find out what the problem is, process of elimination. There is a switch underneath the dash that is related to the tranny downshifting and if it goes, the trnny nevr goes back to 1st gear. I have had this problem before and after putting in 3 cores and 3torque covrters, I called my dad and he told me about it. $13.00 cost me another $400 in parts I didn't need.

I have no problem spendin the cash on the coils if it needs it. I look at it this way, $1000 fix is cheaper then going out and buying a new car. As long a the car is worth more then the cash it will take to fix it. He is the original owner of the maxima, so he has gottn his moneys worth, so the 1K it may cost is ok by me and him.

 

I think the mystery of the stalls has been solved. Replacing both The MAF Sensor AND all the Ignition Coils with good used parts seems to have eliminated the stalling. Probably all the Ignition Coils were not bad, but finding the good ones seemed to be a pain so I got a whole set. Also replaced the plugs with platinum bosch just for thr hell of it. Thanks for everybodies help.

 

How did they know that the coils were bad? And if they knew they were bad, why did they not guarantee that they were the problem?