I have a 94 Maxima with 94K miles. I experience intermittent jerks when driving and the RPM fluctuates when this happens. The check engine light does not come on however. A mechanic did a diagnostic and suggested to use a fuel system cleaner for cleaning the injectors. I have used Slick 50 fuel system cleaner 4 times already and there is some improvement. Do the fuel and vapor lines need to be inspected, or a fuel system flush is needed or injector change ? All suggestions would be appreciated.

 

I've recently had a similar problem and found out that it was the air flow sensor (MAF). A costly piece if you get it from Nissan. Do your rpm's get to about 2000-2500 before the jerking starts? That MAY be the problem. Or it might be the fuel injectors, as well.

Two things I noticed before I replaced my 2 bad injectors, was a noticable lack of horsepower, as well as a 'loping' on idle. Just MY $0.02 worth!!

 

Get a girlfreind to do it for you!

 

You only intermitently jerk when driving? I jerk all the time driving around... I don't think my RPMs have ever fluctuated when it happens though... OOOOHHH, ummmmm nevermind..

 

LMAO

 

Neice Anne, you and dmontz are hilarious!! And yeah, I guess I WOULD need a girlfriend to do it for me, huh?? Either that, or develop a sudden case of Turrett's syndrome!

 

The RPM fluctuates because you have your foot on the accelerator while you are jerking off correct? Some advice would be to pull over so you can concentrate better. Bust your nuts and be off. It will cause accidents if you are beating your monkey driving down the road. That is more distracting that cell phones. Or have your passenger jerk you off so you can pay attention to the road.

 

Hey ather71. hope you find my reply more informative than the others. I recently got a similar problem and just had it fixed. It was the air flow meter thing which can be costly because it's the dealer's part or from junkyard only. I talked to two mechanics and they said they've seen that problem quite often with the max. while waiting to have my car fixed, I talked to another guy with the older generation max. he said he had that problem and it was the air flow meter for him. By the way this can be difficult to diagnose because may be only dealers have the proper tools to identify the problem. Back to my story, I had helped the mechanic to diagnose and this bad air flow meter problem did not show up on the scanner.

Good luck with your max.

 

I have only had this problem arise two times in the past 3 weeks. I accelerate nice and easy up to about 2500 rpms and it starts bucking. The RPMS fluctuates from 1500 to 2500 rpms. I let off the gas and it stops. I press the gas again and it bucks. I push the gas all the way to the floor and it still bucks, my speed does not change when I do this except for slowing down a little. It stops bucking after about 10-15 seconds. I drove around the neighborhood, trying to do it again and I could not do it.

When I first had the bucking problem, I had the stock airbox in. The next time I had the problem (2 weeks later), I had an intake and adapter in. Just trying to give as much info as possible. I will check out the MAF. Do you know exactly where it's located? If it is the fuel injectors, what is the best way to get them tested and how?

I had an idea that it might be the computer going bad. I had the same problem in my '90 Olds Regency and that fixed the problem. Thanks for any more info.

 

Anybody?

 

im having the same problem, i just did a tune up and it fixed it for awhile, i still have to change my fuel filter, but the fuel lines and stuff get carbon build up in them, maybe you lines are clogged. so dmontz, does the girlfriend add horsepower? is she dyno proven?

 

can't this item be cleaned somehow? Has anyone tried that? I think in addition to the jerking, the slow acceleration occurs from a result of this unit being bad.

 

Arron I found that when I removed the O2 sensor in the y-pipe the problem went away. I'm assuming that I have a bad O2 sensor because now it runs beautiful. As for cleaning the MAS . I did it two nights ago . Remove the MAS and get a plastic bagthat is air tight. Take 91% alcohol ( the type you would clean a cut with) and completely submerge the unit. Yes, completely submerge the $600 unit. Swish it around and make sure its washing all of the parts. Remove the MAS from the bag and dry it using a light preasure air.(air duster, air compressor). There may be fluid in the connector area which can be removed by taking out the 4 screws and gently moving the conector to the sides, but never pulling it out!. Make sure all the alcohol has evaporated and all drops are out of the tube and reconnect it. Please be careful when doing this because this is a damn expensive item. But I noticed a slight improvement in the smoothness of the acceleration and have had no problems with it.
Good luck
Germaneater92

 

Man, I'm scared to do something like that to my MAF. Was your check engine light on when your car was running poorly?

My car is not running poorly at all. The check engine light is not on. I have just experienced some bucking 2 times in the past month. Other than the bucking, the car is in perfect shape. I just want to know what's wrong. Thanks for everybody's help.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Aaron92SE
[B]My car started occasionally bucking a long time ago and progresively got worse. Now here I am with a car thats running like crap. As far as your situation is concerned I would check the o2 sensor and work from there. There was a post on this page about a way to clean the MAS , thats why I mentioned it. When I cleaned mine I was desperate for an answer to my bucking and hesitation. All in all I found a clogged PCV valve and a bad o2 sensor. I wasn't very keen on dunking my MAS in a liquid either but all worked out well. I can see your situation too being informed of this throughh the net. So best of luck to you solving your problem.


germaneater92

 

ok, thanks. If the problem is my MAF, it will be expensive to fix. $560 from dealer, I think. And about $150 from salvage, I think. That's atleast what I read somewhere on the forum. If the problem is my o2 sensor, do you think that's expensive to fix? Thanks.

 

My 1991 Max SE has been doing this intermittently for the past 3 years. I have replaced fuel pump, computer, harness, distributer/ignition wires and tried a new airflow meter - to no avail!!! It would drive for up to 5000 miles no problems bur recently, every 2-300 miles it would act up and then disappear. I am going to take a look at the airflow meter again.

The car would never act up at the dealer/mechanic except
for last saturday at Pep Boys - they now have it and trying
to diagnose the problem

 

If someone needs one, I've got two extra MAFs from my parts car. I'll let them go for $100 each, shipped. email me (blehm@utulsa.edu) if you're interested.

 

i know this is a very late reply but my 93 max has had this problem for awhile now. ive changed the coils, fixed air leaks got a new ecu recently. the ecu fixed a stalling problem i was having but nothing has fixed the jerking. thanks

 

Whoa, I was wondering why Aaron92se was afraid to touch his maf, it was 2001!

I have had the same problem, make sure all the intake plumbing is tight, any air entering after the MAF is bad. Also unplug the MAF wire harness and spray the contacts with electronics cleaner. This fixed mine. I wonder how many people buy a new MAF when it was actually just a bad connection.

 

ill for sure give it a try. i was happy to find a thread with my exact problem didnt look at the date

 

The problem was the MAF. Check and clean the connections. I bought a used MAF (~$100) off the internet and smooth sailing after that. In fact my Maxima now has 715,000 miles! That problem occurred at around 315,000 miles - many moons ago.