If anyone has read my posts, my Max has been pissing me right off, no power at times, very bad mileage, i was at just over 300km to a full tank, city/hwy.
I changed many things and nothing worked, fuel filter, pcv, O2, thermostat, I did a diagnostics scan on it, and nothing showed up.
So i referred to the Nissan FSM, and check all the emissions components, took readings, everything was okay except for one thing,
The ENGINE TEMPERATURE SENSOR was NFG( no f**** good)
so i changed it, and voila, i have power once again, and my mileage is already improving. So all this over one damn sensor, which should of showed up on the scan with the Consult scanner from Nissan.

I can breathe easy again and stop cursing this car. It will still be up for sale midsummer.

 

My car has same mother f-in problems and symptoms, poor milage, power loss... So where exactly is this thing located? I have a Haynes repair manual but the one I have doesn't cover VE engines..... Can I use a voltmeter to check it? what should the reading be? Where is this POS located?

thankx.....

 

hey dude, nice pic of your max.
its in between the heads, near the thermostat, there are two sensors located next to each other. a small one with only one prong, and another one with two prongs. The two prong, or two wire one is the ENG temp sensor. the other small one is the temp sending unit for the dash gauge.
it's a 21mm nut type of screw in sensor. I used a deep 1/2" drive 21mm socket.
its located more to the drivers side of the engine.
It cost me 38$ CDN from the dealer.
The readings you should get are some sort of resistance between the two prongs on the sensor. the fsm says anywhere from 2ohms up to 32ohms, depending on the temperature of the engine. I had to set the meter to 2000ohms to even get a reading on the new sensor, so i was reading 200ohms. maybe it was a typo in the fsm?
The old one had no reading at all.Mine showed up with infinity for a reading, meaning an open circuit, and the sensor is messed up.
I guess the ECU, once the engine warms up fully, and doesnt get any readings from this one sensor, it goes into a safe mode, being runnning rich, so rich that there is too much fuel in the chambers that the stock ignition system cant fully ignite, making the POS maxima be inefficient.
One symptom of this bad sensor will be backfiring thru the exhaust, according to the FSM, which is one of the symptoms i had.
Exactly what symptoms r u having with your POS.
dont take the pos seriously, im just joking. Im just not a fan of these new cars being all computer controlled.

Need more info, or numbers on what to test, let me know

 

Well, I don't know where to start on the symptoms with my POS .... I get horrible fuel milage (180 miles on full tank)....Sometimes, I can be accelerating at slightly more then regular throttle and the RPMs would just hang around the same range and the car wouldn't really be responding in gaining speed and me pressing the pedal harder... then, RPMS could just hop up another 1-2k, after that the car can pause, they will hop up even more and the POS would fly like a bat out of hell..... Sometimes it just looses power and accelerates like ****, I have to really push it close to the floor to get any kind of lively response. I was blaming the auto tranny for a while, thinking it shifts poorly and restricts power, but I had the damn thing rebuilt completely just 12k miles ago....

I'm going to check the sensor as soon as I get a chance.. thanks for the info man.

 

Wow! Glad I looked at this post!

My gas mileage went to $hit right after I changed my thermostat! I guess I either unplugged or ruined this little guy. I've been getting under 250miles/tank since then. when my car gets out of the body shop, I'll definitely take a look.
thanks for posting this.. time to FAQ this sucker!

 

i was on the highway for a bit with the max last night, and damn did the gas needle move, i think its cause i still had the air box open, with the K&N filter. to a 1/4 tank i got 100km, where i used to get about 180km to that point, Ive noticed that when on the highway, with the open air box, especially in the below 0 celsius, or 32 farenheit, the mileage goes down, but power goes up. The same is true with my colt turbo. I guess cause there is more air rushing in , and the density of the air, due to being cold, the MAF picks all that up, and demands more fuel. At least I had some power on the highway this time, so i dont mind the extra fuel consumption. If it means i can keep up with the guy i raced with for a bit in the 2001 25th ann. SE Max, I dont mind it one bit!
I am going to get my injectors cleaned up too, i might have fowled them up when i used to pump 87 octane last year, when the gas prices when up. Hopefully that improves pwer and mileage a bit too. Plus my Max is nearing 200k kms.
My Nissan mechanic, says sometimes the knock sensor goes on these engines, making the car run like crap. I tested mine, and it seems to be okay. I priced it out at Nissan here in Canada, and the knock sensor goes for $151 CDN. So the part is priced within reason, its getting at it that is a pain. Its below the manifold, between cylinders 1 & 2, on the block.