we never seen to be able to track this down. I get this on my VE 5-sp also. So that automatically counts out plug wires/dist. But the odd thing is, it happens at the same rpm(in my case, about 2,000 rpm.) Cold or hot. I took off my CAS cover too take a look. I doubt it's that as the thing spins and the sensor just counts the notches/holes or whatever. I don't that thing reads rpm anyway. Just where the crank/cam position is.

So if it happens hot or cold, it must be a part that's used for both hot/cold programs. Cold would be easier. Let's see the ecu ingores what in the cold program?
02
water temp sensor
set fuel/air maps
But uses:
TPS??
rpm
maf?

I wonder what rpm based unit that the engine uses for our cold start could be causing this?(that the engine also uses for it's normal hot functions)

 

it reads the engine speed via the CPS, we dont have crank shaft position sensor (I forget the techincal ASE names but blah).

I've noticed it will be various things. Some guys will say they fixed it by replaceing the CPS, others will say fuel pump/filter, others (D-sta) the rear injector harness. Chris fixed his by replacing the bad coil. Is it completely random?

I would start with the coils.

 

But I wonder why it's always at the same rpm?

 

What exactly is the 'cutting out' problem??

 

From a stop, I'll press the gas and go, then right at 2,000 rpm, the car will buck. Will do it a few times to. I had it also happen when the revs come down to 2,000rpm but it's not that noticable because you are basicly coasting. Once happens, it won't happen for another day or so. I think most think it's a maf problem. Which it could be. But it happens cold/hot. So if the ecu ignores the maf during warm up, it can't be that. Or that's what I'm thinking anyway. Well the 2,000 rpm mark IS the cut off for when a faulty maf will disallow the engine to rev any higher. Hmmmmmm

 

I think chris's happened at higher up on a decent load, that or he just wanted to keep doing 3rd gear pulls on the highway

my car loves me

 

Is it possible to repair those little cracks in the coils? If that means they are bad why don't they miss ALL the time. On my three SE's the front,shorter coil packs tend to get some small cracks that I have covered tightly with electrical tape. My black 92 is the only one that misses and all three front packs have some cracking. The rear packs never show any cracking. why?

 

maf can definitely cause problems cold. not to say thats your prob. you seem to have a lot of guys from the org in your area from reading your other posts, why not try swapping MAFs so you can at least rule that out or maybe solve the problem?

 

I have more than one spare maf to switch. Just been too lazy to do it.

 

I once experienced this 'cutting out' problem a few times in my first year (2001) of owning my old Maxima. The problem just magically went away and I haven't had the problem come back in more than 2 years.

Here are some of the things I've replaced that maybe could have caused the problem.... I've replaced my fuel filter and all vacuum hoses. I haven't touched my MAF ever. I've never replaced my coil packs. None of them have cracks and they all test fine. I just thought it was bad fuel or something. Sorry if my post sucks, but I just wanted to say everything that I knew on the subject to see if it would help anybody out there.

 

I changed countless stuff (changed MAF, swapped FPR, IACV, full tune up, walbro 255, new gauge tank unit, ground wire kit, swapped ecu, swapped cps, and countless other crap), the last thing I did was replace the knock sensor with a harness and also did a TSB, I forgot which one exaclty (a harness) and had maximum tuning do it, well I took it out of the shop it happened once and it never came back again. The car has been running great. Well I just hope it doesn't happen again, next time I burn it .

 

yeah... ive had the problem, but it seemed to go on hiatus for most of the summer, than it came back after not happening for like 3000 miles, but now it happens every now and then, but seems to happen at any rpm regardless of hot or cold, so it is hard to pin down.

Brian

 

when mine used to do it (along time ago) it would be at various rpms but always under a decent load

and likle ive said many times i bought some used coils off ebay and swaped them in and have never had it happen again but im sure theres lots of other things that could make the car do it

 

my problem was the rear coil pack closest to the passenger side. I tried the following different than what I had:

MAF
Cam Sensor
Front coil packs
ignitor (?)
ECU
Throttle Position Sensor

I didn't initially think it was the rear coil packs because they were not cracked. I don't have a way to test them, so I just kept getting on the freeway and hammering third until it finally stopped stalling. The rear coil pack was it. My car stalled at WOT usually over 3500 rpm. Sometimes it wouldn't stall for long stretches when I didn't go WOT. Once I got it to stall (easy to do on the freeway in 3rd hammering the throttle) it would buck and stumble like crazy almost regardless of rpm. I replaced all three rear coil packs and it never happened again.

This is only my own experience. Yours may differ. I know there are lots of variables, especially with the electronic systems (MAF, coil packs, sensors of all sorts, etc).

Now my JDM engine has the JDM coil packs still in it, but the US cam sensor out of my old engine. I have not had any kind of problem at all with it.

 

i have (had) the same problem before i pulled my motor as i discussed here but it was related to only one cylinder, #1. I unplug the coil for #1 and it didnt do it anymore, but still have no idea what it was (checked coil, plug, etc), unless its the injector. If it acts up when i put the motor back in im gonna flip

diego, what exactly did jeff do to it

 

all of you have this happen on your VE.. but my VG does it too.. it seems to do it only when warm, and precisely at 2000rpm(happened many times), but also stalls during idle.. i put the throttle down and the thing would rev up to 2000rpm and then it would start bucking. when i let go of the throttle it would stall..

 

How does the throttle respond when this happens to you?

I have a similar issue where the car suddenly bucks and loses power, but the engine doesn't stall and die, it just tries to go to idle and the throttle does either:

a) Unresponsive until you depress the gas pedal down far enough.
b) Totally unresponsive no matter what.

Then it goes away by itself after a moment of trying to drive around or playing with the gas pedal. This lead me to thinking it was an intermittent TPS problem, but it happens so inconsistently that I've been too lazy to hunt the problem down. I should really pay more attention to what RPM this occurs at, but it seems to hit somewhere between 2000 to 2500, which is why this thread caught my attention....

BTW, my problem also seems to happen most commonly shortly after the car has fully warmed up (but not all the time), so your comment about the ECU ignoring the MAF until warmed up is certainly interesting.

 

sounds exactly like what happens to mine, but mine adds the following:

c) Totally unresponsive no matter what, then stalls.

and mine happens shortly after warm up as well. seems like lots of people are getting this problem these days.

these symptoms are very similar, whatever your problem is, it probably is my problem too..

here is what i've discovered from trying to fix the thing during the last agonizing week: when i take off the distributor cap and let it sit over night, the following morning it seems to be more reliable. i can get about one trip out of it without it stalling. maybe someone else try that to see if it happens too.

 

Joe, when I took it to Maximum Tunining, I had Jeff do the knock sensor, knock sensor harness and then had him do a TSB, the TSB was labeled VE30DE lacking power or something close like that, Jeff thought that it would be a good idea to try that out. So the TSB required changing a piece of the harness, the harness I think that goes behind the knock sensor harness but I am not very sure. I didn't have time to see exactly what they were doing to my car. I just dropped it off and picked it up since I had no time to get out there and be at work at the same time. I'm sure if you call Jeff he can tell you what he did to my car.

 

it is the Knock Sensor sub harness. When you buy from Courtesy Nissan, they have a package deal with the KS and harness (I think it's even on their website as a package). Most Nissan dealerships know about this problem when you go to order a new VE knock sensor and will tell you to buy the sub harness, too. Of course the morons at my local dealership didn't know this. They couldn't even find the sub harness on their parts list and told me that I didn't know what I was talking about. I called a dealership in Portland that I usually work with and they explained it to me (although MrGone and I had discussed it at length before).

 

I think it was called the sub harness actually. I'm pretty sure it was. I am going to try and look for the TSB.

 

new knock sensor stopped your bucking/stalling issues?

 

b) It's as if someone reached out and turned of the ign key. on/off/on/off. Nothing happens when you hit the gas, then "umph", then dead "umph" dead. Scary, as it happens in the middle of a busy intersection that you have to scoot though. Also makes me look like an idiot that can't drive a stick!

Then it goes away. I can't reproduce it even if I try. Funny thing is it was happening once a day. At the exact same place. Like clockwork. I'd ease off on the clutch, almost bogging it, hit the gas to get though the intersection, then *shat!* bucky, bucky time.

 

Same thing happened to my car, but it would happen in many situations, like when I took off from first gear it would happen but not always, it happened a lot when I use to WOT on the highway. I also noticed that when it was in its phase of messing up, when I use to warm up the car in the morning, the idle would surge and sometimes the car would turn off and also while waiting at a light it would just turn off after being fully warmed up.

I don't know if the Knock sensor, knock sensor harness and sub harness fixed it because when I picked it up it did it once but never again. I just hope it doesn't happen again, I mean its stressful when it happens and stuff, so now that it doesn't do it I'm a much happier person, I get really bitter when stuff isn't working and especially when you can't find a solution to a problem. I can't really tell this fixed my problem I wish I could what I do know I did all those things and probably for the last two months its been running really well. Well I'm sure I will post if it ever happens again.

 

Have noticed similar thing with an injected 86 Sentra - although it happens at 2800 rpm & it doesn't stall, just a slight hesitation.
Could very well be a knock sensor or harness related condition causing the ECU to retard the timing BIG time - possibly the TPS harness is picking up too much harmonic noise which is interfering with the signal. Has anyone experienced the same problem with a proper earthing kit? Maybe the factory standard engine earthing isn't good enough, thereby letting in noise that the ecu sees as detonation, especially with a component just about to go bad? It could be that Nissan's ECCS ecu is susceptible to signal noise - do 4th gen an new max's have same problems? (they use ECCS2 - a newer version of the priginal, based on the Bosche Motronic system)
Interesting problem, though.

 

It's funny you mentioned that, Chris.... I have the SAME problem when I talk to my local STEALership. Ahh... they're a bunch of

 

The funny thing is, prior to that (maybe 6-7 months) I went in there to get a part and I talked with the service manager. He told me he hadn't seen a VE in probably 5-6 years, but they "knew about" the VTC problems. Honestly, I know more about my car then they do, which is sad. I live in a town of about 10-12k people and I have the only VE that I have seen in town. This dealership is also the local Ford dealership too and as I live in the country, they sell about 25 Ford trucks to every other car on the lot.

There is a good dealership in Portland (Thomason Nissan) that is a very high volume dealer and has a very good service department. I think because they deal only with Nissans, they are more in tune to the older ones.

 

Wow I can't believe that so many other people are having the same concern that I am (and finding it just as annoying). Just to add some more confusion to the solution of the problem I have a plethora of extra parts at my disposal and have switched most of them (without it solving the problem).

MAF
Cam Sensor
The Module that controls ignition of each coil
ECU
Throttle Position Sensor

The only time that I seemed to have got the problem fixed is when I switched the front 3 coil packs out of a friends VE (figures as that's the only part I don't have a spare of!).

 

My bet is on the TPS, like all you guys I had the same problem. All those who installed a different TPS and the problem was still there, did you installed a new or used TPS. I installed a used TPS but before I did that I check and double check that TPS before I installed it. Properly adjusting the TPS after the install is also a good idea. Don't just go by the position of the old TPS, break out the ohm meter and check the ohms at closed and WOT.

MIKE

 

Mike, the first thing that I had done at maximum tuning was the TPS, Jeff the mechanic there ordered a brand new unit from Nissan and the problem was still there. Then we did the knock sensor and TSB and it did it once but never again.

 

this happens to me a lot with the gxe and i've yet to find the problem but one thing i do know... my se has never done it until i was screwing around with me s-afc. i was driving around and it would do the exact same thing as the gxe did, all of the sudden lose power, bog down, and just feel like it didn't want to go then pick back up again. the next time it did this i took a look at my wideband o2 and showed that it was running extremely lean.

i richened it back up and it went away. just yesterday it did the same thing and i checked the wb02 and it was running lean yet again (s-afc absolutely blows for anything more than very fine adjustments. i highly do not recommend it for adjusting fuel for injector changes).

so... my thought basically is, maybe the cars are leaning out for some reason which is causing the cutting out. not sure what would cause the lean condition though.

one more thing that i just remembered. for some reason these cars absolutely despise very partial throttle. i mean, barely even 1-2%. the gxe really bucks when i do that and se doesn't like it much either. how much throttle are you guys giving it when this happens?

 

yeah, i tried the TPS already.... still happens

pretty much any throttle, from barely and to WOT.

Brian

 

you got the black 92 coil packs wrapped in tape too?

 

In that case you got me, all I can suggest is to make sure the TPS was adjusted correctly. It seems like everyone is having different results with replacing different items. As we all know intermittent problems are the worst to diagnose, you got me

MIKE

 

It is, I am just glad it went away I really can't say, yes the sub harness and knock sensor fixed it because it happened once when I picked it up from the mechanic but it hasn't done it again.

 

I have had a similar problem always stalling dead but restarting and running perfect for hours. I have checked everthing and I do me everything. My code was 12 which is the MAF but did not replace because it would run perfect after restart. So after many long hours of checking connections, sensors, wires and reading other post I replaced it even though it would not think it would help. IT SCREAMS NOW and no more hesitation. I wish I would have replaced weeks ago but was told by a Master Nisssan mech that they fail permatily and your engine will not go over 2500 rpms. My always ranabove that Check out this trouble shooting site!!
http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/PICS/hesi...esitation.html. Mine was a soft failure problem (what ever that means). Good luck

 

Yes, all three on the front. It only bucks or hesitates once in a while. I am going to try to get some at a recycler and check them with a magnifier for cracks first.

 

my car just did it again today (which seems odd as the se hardly does it). its been rainy and cold and when i left this morning i wasn't giving it too much throttle. it bogged hard so i quickly looked at my wb02 and this time is just said lean which is a 20:1 afr or higher. so, i think the actually bogging comes from the car leaning out but due to some crappy electronics somewhere.

i think my problem is the tps. i can give it partial throttle but the afc is showing that there i no voltage i.e. no throttle/idle. if the ecu is reading it the same way it will probably give it enough fuel for idle which is too little for the partial throttle opening that i gave it causing it to lean out and bog. the minute i give it enough throttle to where it will read on the afc it stops doing it. same goes for the gxe. when it bogs i just go wot and it quickly goes away.

anyone notice any similarities with my cars?

 

The worst things about this problem are:

1) Intermittent.
2) Inconsistent.
3) Probably electrical or sensor related, which is an automatic headache.
4) Maybe we aren't all having exactly the same problem, but different problems creating similar performance issues....

I'm not trying to be pessimistic, just objective.

I wish there was a way for the ECU to tell us (or remember) when it suddenly gets crazy or extreme readings from some sensor, but doesn't actually have a "problem" or real failure. Like it remembers and recognizes the hiccups as something abnormal...

 

I tried to use the computer to diagnose this problem as well and found it about as useful as a hooker on a gay cruise. Mine seems to be doing it more frequently now and I'm really having trouble finding some used front coil packs for a half decent price! Heaven forbid I may actually have to go to the dealer (time to cut off the old arm and leg! and I was just getting used to having four limbs! errr... five limbs)