Well yet another problem with old ladys maxima. Car starts up fine and idles soon as it is put into reverse or drive it dies. I can start in neutral and hold brake and get some rpm and put it in gear and go. Only thing I have noticed is the lights are dim on the dash. No bat light though. Going to try new battery and get the altenator tested first see if that gets me anywhere. Ive had some alt problems with this before like it overcharging once in awhile so maybe if finally went out.

 

it might be your iacv. does your car die if you turn the idle adjustment screw all the way closed?

 

start the car and let idle until the radiator fans kick on (assuming they aren't on to begin with)
if you can put the car in gear and drive it once it warms up, I would suspect a bad IAC or Coolant Temperature Sensor.

 

this happened to me before when i cleaned my MAF i forgot to plug it back in ...scared the hell out me

 

Check the bat + alt first ................ you need 13.5V+ with the engine running ................. if you don't have that, it may be as simple as electronics sulking and not knowing what to do due to too low voltages

 

well put the new batterty in. I took off for short drive but still was hard to keep it running when put in drive. When it warmed up a bit it idled in gear but low say 500rpm and idled rough. Shut the car off put back in gear and it died instantly. Was raining so hopefully better weather tomarrow will let me get closer look at it.

 

When you next start the car make sure its been sitting overnight and its cold.

Does your engine start and idle at around 1200+rpm and then slowly the revs drop to around 1000rpm as the motor idles for about 3 minutes?

 

...sounds like a bad alty

 

When its warmed up and you put it into gear, do the RPMS just up and down for a few seconds until it settles?

I had this problem a while ago, just after a service, I thought it was to do with cold starts, but turns out they'd disconnected something (cant remember what it was, soo long ago now), adjusted the timing and coincidentally a vacuum leak as well, I got all this patched up by another mechanic that didnt want to assf**k me but my transmission went on to soon die...dunno if its death had anything to do with those symptoms though.

Stable but high RPM in Park/Neutral (1500+ for atleast 45 seconds)
Stalling on cold starts when into gear,
Rough idle when warm and put into gear (jumping between 350-1300, smoothed out after a few seconds (if it didnt stall) or when the car was rolling)

 

Well had some nice weather today. Changed out the alty same prob. But it needed changed cause of the over charging once in awhile. Next I checked the IACV the screw was all the way out. So Turned it in half way and bingo fixed the problem. But noticed few other things need attention such as front end out of align horribly passenger tire worn on inside bad after 1000 miles on them. Tranny line leaking from radiator to tranny no biggy and oil leak on front main seal. Will look into that more later. And last got some new rear brake pads and a detail. Man she owes me.

 

Ok wow i have teh same exact problem , i just pulled the self diagnostic codes and got 5 green and 1 red flash......thats a 51 right? What does this mean.

when you adjusted the IACV are you talking about the idle adjustment on the side of the computer?

THanks

 

code 51 is supposed to mean a bad injector

 

adjusting the iacv involves a screw on the iacv itself. but you first disable the electric portion of it first, by turning the screw on the ECU all the way to the right {thanks darkwing}. THEN you turn the screw on the iacv to adjust it, then you turh the screw on the ecu back the other way.

but like brian said, code 51 means you have an injector problem.

well the iacv should keep the idle up all by itself. if turning the screw fixed the problem, then your iacv might have failed electronically.

see the iacv has 2 air channels. 1 for the screw, another for the electronic valve. so what you did is you opened the screw a little, which kept your engine from shutting off.... but a properly functional iacv can keep the car running even if the screw is totally shut (i've tried it before just to see if it could). there's a test procedure for the IACV (resistance test) in the EF/EC section of the fsm.

 

If thats the truth, then you are not telling the whole story ...................

and if the car was fine before till this suddenly happened you are still not telling the whole story

 

can someone post a pic of the screw adjustment?

that'd be quite helpful.

 

blue circle

 

Huh? Do you know how recursive your statement is. [paraphrase]Turn the screw on the IACV to disable the circuit, then turn the screw to adjust it... [/paraphrase]

 

OOPS!!!

i fixed it now.

but while we're at it... i must ask... what were you on when you typed this?

 

man, that's a clean engine compartment...
thanks for the pic

so you're saying simply turning the blue circle screw won't do anything w/o adjusting the ECU screw first?

 

that's not my car btw... i randomly found it on cardomain a few years ago

anyhow.. if the iacv's electrical portion is enabled, then you will not be able to accurately adjust the mechanical portion. You want to have the car able to idle all by itself with the electrical portion disabled... then re-enable it (so it will assist when you have extra load.. like rad fans, a/c, steering pressure, and t/c drag).

Now, if your electrical portion has failed entirely, then you will note a MUCH lower idle in-gear than out of gear... in which case you might want to adjust the idle screw IN-gear instead just so you aren't running too low an RPM in-gear, until you can purchase a functional IACV, and then adjust it back properly.

 

i just went out and tried the mechanical adjustment screw and it did change the idle.

so the problem i'm having isn't idle related:
she idle's fine; around 1000rpm in park now.
then when i put her in reverse or drive, it dips down to like 750rpm but shakes noticeably.
i have noticed a slight power loss but nothing to cry about.

she'll get up ok but where should i look next?
i changed trans fluid yesterday and it only made a small improvement.
the fluid that was in there looked fine, still reddish.

 

is there a vibration or putting under acceleration? you might have a dead injector. That'll cause shaking and poor acceleration. A misfire is not always terribly noticeable at neutral-idle, but much more noticeable when the engine is under load.

 

it doesn't seem to shake while accelerating, no.
just seems to be lacking in power slightly.
then i come to a stop and it idles down, then starts shaking.

 

check for a misfire and if there isn't one then you probably need new mounts.

 

would a misfire throw a CEL?

am I nuts for thinking it might be transmission related?
it idles up to 1100 in both park and neutral, and responds to throttle w/o shaking.
but in reverse or drive it rpms down at 600, and as it turns out, DOES shake while accelerating.

trans has 209k on it, but shifts pretty smoothly and the fluid looked ok the other day.

 

almost nothing sets a CEL on the 3rd gen.
it is not likely to be trans related, it does seem like a misfire that is being compensated for by a raised idle.

 

whats the quickest way to check for a bad injector?

or should i just replace the plugs? she's technically due.

 

i replaced the plugs today, no change.

they were all bad, and #6 was drenched in oil.
is that the possible bad injector?
how can i check them?

 

what was drenched in oil? the part that's outside the combustion chamber, or the electrode?

 

the electrode was dry.

threads were soaked.

 

it was a bad injector.

thanks dudes.

 

Heck, I see no difference between Windows and any other OS. A lot of people uses Windows for media stuff and word processing. Heck I develop apps for it to interface other tools. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, can cause the blue screen of death on Win XP by running it sometimes.


All that for an injector. Wow that scary.

 

i meant 'what illicit substance?'