Tarzan

Hi all:
I remember the good 'ol days when I could tap the gas and the car would jump and speed up in an instant. Over the years that I owned the car, over 6, there's been constant slow degradation of power. I cleaned the injectors with one bottle of Mopar injector cleaner (the one that plugs into the fuel line and empties itself into the running engine over 30 minutes) and it improved the things but not by much. It was done 3 years ago. She's very slow now, if I want to accelerate and hit the gas, there is slow response, then she goes into kickdown and still slowly gets up to speed. I know of many things to look at, but which is the most likely reason on a 13 YO car with about 210 Kkms?
My ignition is at 18-20° and I feed her 91 octane at all times, never heard any knocking other than once going up a very steep uphill at 90°F with 3 passengers and crap load of luggage. Plugs are good, air and fuel filter are replaced at their prescribed intervals, oil change every 5K Kms, cap and rotor regularly inspected and white **** scraped off. All normal maintenance for a Max.

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

there are a lot of things that can cause this. if all the grounding wires are loosening up, performance drops. i had to replace a fuel injector and when I took off the intake plentum chamber, the gaskets were leaking. when i put the car together with (of course) new gaskets and replaced all the vacuum hoses (they needed it), the performance was a lot better and my gas mileage went up by 3 mpg.

bhunter

iTrader: (3)

Try replacing your ignition coil. Just like the coil packs on SE's, coils put out less voltage as they get old.

MaximaV6

Is this problem different from a sluggish acceleration problem? My '92 Maxima runs okay when I'm going over 60. At the low speeds or from a stop, it just doesn't want to go. After hitting the gas, the response is slow. I'm hoping gears aren't slipping or anything like that. Sensors?

Tarzan

I am getting excellent gas mileage both in city and on the HW, if this helps. Just like in the spec sheet on the new car's windshield.

MaximaV6

Tarzan, I'm not sure if the problem with your car is similar to mine but my car is sluggish. At low speeds especially, it takes a while for the car to get up to speed. Check your revs. Mine goes 1000+ and then quickly down again. It also jerks but I'm soft on the gas so it's not like I'm pumping hard on the gas pedal. I'm not sure what's wrong yet but I'm trying to get to the bottom of it.

If I were you, I'd try to find out if there was a problem with the MAF sensor. Your problem sounds like it might be that. I went to a Nissan dealership and the service guy suggested mine might be faulty.

mikekantor

iTrader: (5)

Checking vaccum hoses for leaks, or just replacing them completely might be a good idea. They cost pennies by the foot. Old ones get hard and crack very easily from years of heating and cooling.

Tarzan

Mine revs fine, usually in city it goes up to 2500 RPM when accelerating up the hill or aggressively on the flat road. If I really floor her, she'll redline.

The vacuum hoses are new all around. Replaced them last year, which improved the gas mileage, but not power.

VEvolution

Maybe knock sensor? Does it come to life after 3500rpm?

Tarzan

It's hard to tell, where I live there is no space to test higher RPMs. I am going on the limb, but most likely she'll fly if I'll take off keeping her at 3500.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

Knock sensor?

jorgeg73

I having the same problem whit no luck

Tarzan

Someone else drove my car and told me that I was paranoid and she drove just fine. Well, the only thing I can think of, is going to a car dealership and test-driving something with 150-160 HP V6 engine... I am lost, as I know for sure that she's not nearly that nimble as 6 years back.

92 Max

The wierd part is the fact that gas mileage is the same. I assume you're getting gas mileage similar to everyone else? My first thought would be the transmission kickdown or power valve (although I don't think the GXE has this) or something strictly having to do with fast acceleration. If the coil or vacuum leak or plugs or whatever were involved I would think you'ld get a significant loss of gas mileage. I had a similar problem with loss of power, but also loss of mileage and hesitation and stalling. Turned out to be a tired fuel pump relay.

VEvolution

Yeah, I think these types of problems are the toughest to diagnose

autobotguy

I say check your PCV valve. Pop that little sucker off and give it a shake. If it rattles, then your good. If it doesn't rattle, get a replacement. I usually just replace it anyways every year. Its only $5. A bad PCV valve can make your car run all funky.

andy044

iTrader: (5)

how old is catylitic converter?...clogged?
i know mine has tons of miles on it and its pretty slow. but that could be operator error.

Tarzan

New PCV valve (less than 2 years old and rattles like crazy)
New cat (less than 2 years old) that I got with complete 2 1/4" stainless exhaust which by itself is a great improvement over stock.