Hi I'm new to this forum and I am new as a Maxima owner (1 day)...

I've just bought a 92 Maxima SE auto, with ~150K miles

My car seems to really be lacking in low end torque, though the upper end power seems ok (I'm not sure what 'normal' should really feel like, but it's smooth and descent power).

From reading up on here, it seems my problem MAY be knock sensor.

How specifically can you diagnose the sensor with a multimeter, what to look for ?

Also, what is a good repair manual for this car ? I just bought the Haynes manual for 88-92 Maximas and it is completely useless, the engine they use (I'm assuming it is the VG ??) is not the DOHC.

One more thing, where is distributor on VE engine located ?? I looked all over and couldn't find it ? Is it electronic ??

Thanks guys.


Dave

 

Get the nissan factory service manual (FSM). You can find them on ebay pretty often.

VE doesn't have a distributor. It has a coil pack right on top of each plug that produces the spark instead of one big coil and dist.

 

Ahhh... that's what I suspected, I was wondering about that piece at the top of the plug.

So how is timing adjusted then ?? Or can it not be manually adjusted ?

 

Timing can be adjusted by turing the crank angle sensor (on the end of the camshaft)
Check out my page and it shows how to advance timing. I didn't use a timing gun because I'm lazy but it still shows where you can adjust it.

 

Ok simple enough, thanks.

 

to check the knock sensor, there's a harness right beside the crank angle sensor.. it's got two wires in it..
check the resistance of each wire against ground.
one is just a shield wire around the actuale signal wire- it's not connected to anything.
the other one is connected to the knock sensor and should read roughly 500k ohms when checked against ground.

If you have open circuit on both wires, then it's very likely the knock sensor is bad.
you can also run an ECU diagnostic and it should show up in the codes when it's bad.

for a service manual, set up a new account on www.phatg20.net and go to their service manual section.. you can download a FSM for a '94 model, as it's identical to the '92... but the '94 has a searchable index added in the back.

 

Awesome the info is much appreciated !

 

ECU controls just about everything, be it VGE or VE.

check out:
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/748507/14
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/748507/15 etcetc

Knock sensor may be bypassed altogether or for just test purposes with the mentioned .5MOhm resistor. For long run engine needs high octane fuel; it will break apart if that is not observed.

.

 

Would you believe a tech at nissan told me i have no knock sensor? I wasn't trying to be rude but i couldnt help laughing in his face, i had to walk away.

 

...err has your car been serviced there? Maybe he had 'insider info' of your vehicle former maintenances there: take a look if its still there... what else is mis sing?

Luckily I have no airbags: at this stage there would be none anyway. That maxima has gone through so many chances at stealerships. That particular free ride for them has ended.

Well, to balance this, have to admit that in the next city there is one good Nissan tech.

 

I am sorry, but am I missing something here? Who was talking about airbags on this thread? Not trying to be a harda$$, but.....

 

I am sorry, but am I missing something here? Who was talking about harda$$ on this thread? Not trying to be a airbag, but.....

 

Hahahahaha . . .

 

Each post of yours is more confusing than the last! But it is funny! I like that.

 

Ok I just did the check, and came up with ~ 550 K ohms. So it looks like the sensor is alright then. Right now I've got 89 octance, so I'll bump that up to 92 and see if the motor picks up the timing and a bit more power with it.

Hoever I do also have the VTC tick, so I ran the ground fix, and it seems to have mostly gone away (very slight ticking, may not be related to VTC is still there). Before I did the ground it was intermittent at times, so I'll have to wait and see if it is actually gone for good.

It seems that the power up to about 3500 rpm has increased after having grounded the VTC, while after 4000 it drops quite sharply from what it used to be, basically what I expected. I'm ok with that for now, I'd rather have the low end than the high end for regular driving, but of course I plan to fix it eventually.

Do you know, is it bad for the car to ground the VTC solenoids ?? Can this be used as a long-term solution if you are ok with the drop in high end power ??

 

I know this thread is old, but I cannot find anything on how to actually replace the knock sensor on the VG. I have the FSM and I know where the knock sensor is and I have checked the self-diagnostics, which do say the detonation sensor is bad. I need advice on either how to get it out of there (get the engine mount out of the way) or what resistance I should put in place of it. Thanks in advance for any help.