Ok had to leave it by the side of the road tonight, not sure whats wrong yet. I will return tomorrow and run an ECU diagnostic but here is what happened. Its been running good but I had an intermittent problem where it felt like an injector was failing when it was at idle, it would get rough but then would clear up once the engine revved off idle. Tonight it was running great when I dropped my wife off at the store and when I went to pull away and make a u-turn it started doing it again. It felt like it was missing but then I parked it and figured it would go away. When I restarted, it was running ok but then started missing at the next light, I went to pull away and then it bogged down and then cleared up and went, the next light it bogged again but this time it didn't come back, it wouldn't rev and I coasted to a stop and then it died. I tried to restart and it would not, I tried flooring it and it would barely maintain idle, it only did this twice and then refused to start again. There has not been any recent work done to the car other than a new battery.

Relevant Info:
1993 GXE (VG Auto)
68K miles
New timing belt
Most other repairs covered in my sig
FWIW fuel mileage has been low lately but this was before the problem started.

 

Accidental electrical fire.

 

could be a bad fuel pump or bad ignition coil. turn the key on and see if you hear the fuel pump running... and also grab a spare spark plug and see if you are getting spark when grounding the threads to the intake manifold.

 

Just saying.

 

???Insurance???

 

will check pump tomorrow good idea. No Im not burning it thanks.

 

timing is off

 

 

it could be so many things....injectors, coil, spark plugs, fuel pump, FUEL FILTER, etc etc....give it a ECU run and see wat comes up...

 

the way you are describing it makes it sound like a fuel issue but you won't know untill you check. Hopefully it is still there tomorrow. Here most placesin TX it will get taken to Impound in under 3 hrs.

 

Do check the car over thoroughly. 2 of my injectors failed in the past and what you described is similar to the symptoms I had.

If you have a multi-meter, bring it with you and test the injectors for resistance. It should be 10-14 ohms.

 

Nah not in Brooklyn, besides I pushed it into a parking spot, I didn't just hop in a cab and say "laterz!" I had to call my brother-in-law since I was with my wife and 2 year old.....on the way home from a birthday party......in the snow.......at night......an hour past her bedtime and crying.......hmmm makes you want to burn it lol First breakdown I've ever had that left me stranded in 16 years of driving.

So it looks like I will be checking, in no particular order:
1. Injectors
2. Fuel pump
3. ECU diagnostics
4. Spark

I doubt its timing but I will inspect the belt, if it was off it would run terrible all the time, not intermittently. I don't think its a spark issue either but that's easy to verify as well. Fuel filter is recent too, however I want to know is this a problem on these cars? People always jump at the fuel filter but I've never had an issue with one or known someone who did either. I change mine when required but never had a problem yet. I had a Mitsu Starion and it ate thermostats for some reason, just curious. Also will this thing idle without the MAF?

 

i think u should be going this way
1.ECU Diagnostic
2.then the rest...

and ppl jump over to fuel filter cuz its a cheap fix...believe or not i had the same problem as urs last year and i changed my fuel filter and it went away but my thing was different cuz after i checked my fuel filter it was all clogged up who knows how long its been since someone didnt change fuel filter on my car before me....and then it came back again, this time it was MAF i cleaned it and and it didnt really effect anything so i had to change my MAF since then i have no probs yes it will idle without MAF but wouldnt go over 2500rpm or 4000rpm i believe i m mixing that but anyways it would run like a crap....

 

well yea it'll run like crap with a bad maf... see if wiggling the maf harness changes anything, or if it's got green crud of death in the contacts. the car will not rev past 2300 with the maf unplugged.... at all. see:



it started fine, but as you see it wouldn't rev past 2000ish and when i let go of the gas it almost stalled (400-500rpm, then recovered)

 

I second the fuel issues - but there are a number of Diagnostic procedures you can follow in the FSM - that give the symptom, then the test. You'll need a pressure gauge to check the fuel pump...although just the audible test will tell you if it's running at all. Do the pinch the hose test too.

When my fuel pump was dying it worked on and off poorly - then finally died and the car wouldn't start anymore.

 

 

could be bad cables from the alternator to the battery did u change any wires when you replaced it? fuel pump and fuel filter should be good for more than 68k

 

Well I said in no particular order but I think that is best anyway. Thats good about the MAF because if its bad I can unplug it and it should at least idle. I'm not sure if the MAF can make it not run at all so we'll see. Right now its looking like the fuel pump. Just wish the weather would cooperate since its supposed to be like 17 degrees tomorrow, guess it will have to wait.

Caped did you run out and film that just for me? If so, thanks, that was really nice of you.

 

yeah. i've never specifically seen that demonstrated on here before so i figured somewhere there ought to be one.

 

you missed mine then..



http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2095.flv

 

wow that was like right after i joined i think... back before you were a mod, right? i concede . hopefully he'll be able to get back with some results for us tomorrow.

 

You posted in the thread doofuss..

http://forums.maxima.org/3rd-generat...re-sensor.html

 

after i joined but before you were made into a mod... or maybe after, i dunno. but i'd been here less than a year and was still figuring out what was what. this was back when changing the radiator was a 'big job'

 

moderator status on 04-27-2007

 

Fixed.

 

you have gas in the car right? are you low? since the weather is so cold you might have a little condensation in the tank causing the car to run rough on and off.

if it's low then throw a few gallons of fresh gas in there and try and see if it runs better.

it really does sound like gas related at this point.
check the pump as others mentioned.
check the fuel filter

don't bother touching the MAF or the injectors. if your MAF is toast you can still get it to idle and crawl home. if it's the injectors...well you would have low power but you should still idle...chances of all the injectors going out at once is slim (unless this has been happening for a while).

if the filter and pump are ok then wiggle the injectors connectors and make sure they are ok.

lastly...battery...your alternator/battery is ok right?

 

Check for spark, fuel, air then the rest!

 

air should be ok unless there's a tennis ball in there...right?

 

im willing to bet money that this is the problem

 

he didn't say if the car cranked but didn't start. if it just clicks then battery.
if it cranks and it doesn't start/fire then it's not the battery.

 

It makes me very happy to tell everyone that they were wrong. Most were on the right track but no one hit the exact fix, I myself would not have checked if not for a guy at work that mentioned it to me. I put fuel in the tank since it was low, this was not the problem. Diagnostics came up 55 (what a shock), so no issues there. I did not hear the fuel pump and lines seemed soft, but as it turns out, it was the fuse! I have no idea how this happened but there it was. I was about to give up for the night and as my last resort I checked the fuse, like the guy at work suggested, and there it was. It was on the right side, 3 from the bottom cleverly marked anti-theft so you would never suspect it. Replaced the fuse, and she started right up and I drove it home, go figure. Thanks to all who gave input, you led me in the right direction and the Max is home where she belongs.

 

Something caused the fp fuse to blow, ibithappensagain..

 

wait....? 3rd down from the right? starter fuse?

 

 

your other right?

 

not going outside to check,too cold

 

not all turd gens had the same layout

yours:


mine:


but i thought he said 3rd from bottom.... which is the same on both.

 

Its possible it might blow again, its also possible that it failed after 16 years of use. I will keep spare fuses around and keep an eye on it. Do you have to drop the tank to change the pump?

Oh and I said 3rd from the bottom......

 

doesn't matter about the fuse location confusion...It will most likely blow again...until the source of the problem is fixed..

 

i just never knew the anti-theft fuse would do that..

edit: i pulled that fuse just now and my car started and idled fine....... dunno what's up with his car's wiring.