Just went out to pick-up dinner and engine died at the stop light.
Started right up, but had to hold the RPM's up to keep it running.
Put it in gear and it would hesitate like it was starving for gas.
After getting out of traffic and on a side road, it could idle fine.
Drove back home by putting it in neutral and drive to keep going.
Back home in the garage it idled fine in and out of gear.
Hungry so I used my other car to go get dinner.
It was raining.

I haven't checked it yet.
Probably do it tomorrow.
What I'm thinking is the air flow meter maybe going bad. It's original.
Any suggestions????

1990 Maxima
Auto
Injectors cleaned 6 mo ago.
Fuel pump changed 5 ys ago
110,000mi

 

Checked it today.
Everything normal.
I was hoping to find something bad.
Code 55, which is normal.
Plugs, cap ,rotor, wires, all good.
No spark leak anyware.
Checked all connections.
Cleaned a slight corrosion off the water temp sensor connector.
Rest were clean and tight.
Started right up.
Idle smooth.
Fans came on, went into close loop.
I know the O2 is lazy, so need to change soon.
Air flow working fine.
Timing advance good.
Everything normal.
Now I'm worried.
Suggestions????

 

Starving for gas might be fuel pump. Changed the fuel filter recently?

Other suggestions might be to clean IACV and throttle body, check for vacuum leaks. You might be on the right track with the o2 sensor. A lot of different things cause the same style problems.

Codes don't pop up on these cars very often. OBDI is pretty lame as far as engine diagnostics.

 

I test drove for not even a minute and it stalled.
Started right up, but sputtered when I pressed the gas.
Got it back home and put a fuel pressure gauge on it.
In the garage everythings fine.
Took it out again expecting the fuel pressure to fail.
Stalled again, but fuel pressure was good.
Uggggg!!!!!
Got it back to the garage.
Still no codes.
I figured it had something to do with the throttle position sensor(TPS).
Took the plug off and found slight corrosion.
Cleaned it out.
Road test again.
All good, no problem.
Problem fixed?????
Left it to get cold and took it for another test run.
Stalled after a minute.
Started right up and had no problems for the rest of a half hour test drive.
I'll try it again tomorrow when the engine is dead cold.
Hoping the stall was a fluke.
If not I'll have to start testing each sensor.
Suggestions??????

 

These things when they run bad are such a PITA to diagnose. Mine isn't stalling but is hesitating real bad. Comes and goes. Tried looking for loose wires etc. Found some corrosion and loose wires but none of them solved it.

I hate it when you are on the test drive and just when you think you fixed it, bam. LOL

 

clean maf sensor and IACV.

 

I'm still thinking it's the MAF.
But I'd hate to change it and have the same problem.
Not sure how the IACV would cause it to stall under part throttle.
Especially when it happends only once.
I'll test drive tomorrow and hope something goes bad.
I'd rather something go bad and have to change it, than drive around not knowing if it's going to die.

 

I feel you on that, it only stalls when its cold??

 

Check the timing while your at it.

 

I took it on a second test drive.
This time the emgine was cold.
Everything was normal.
Started right up. Engine smooth.
Went stop and go, them a long run.
Nothing.
I thought maybe the stall yesterday was due to an air bubble in the fuel line.
I thought cleaning the termanals for the TPS might have done it.
Decided to take a chance a make a Costco run.
A round trip of 30 milles.
All was fine until I was almost home.
Engine died. No stuttering. No hesitation. Just died.
I was going about 30mph. Driving for about 20 minutes. Going in a stright line.
Lightly on the gas.
Put it in neutral and the engine started right up.
No problem the rest of the way home.
About a 5 minute drive.

Any suggestions where I should start????
If it was something electrical, it would seem to me it wouldn't start untill it cooled off.
The O2 is old and should be changed, but I've never heard of a bad O2 stalling the engine.
Did the tap, tap, tap on the air flow. Nothing. No even a burp.
Timing advances when engine reved.
No codes stored.

 

OK, this is not my area of knowledge (I haven't owned a car with a distributor for several years) but maybe it's your distributor.

I had an old Ford Escort back in the day and it would die when the car got warm, after about 30 minutes of driving. There was something wrong in the distributor. I can't remember what it was, but a mechanic told me to swap in a different one (cheap at a boneyard) and it fixed the problem.

Just something to add to the mix. Diagnosing cars like these can be frustrating, but you just have to start eliminating things.

 

I was also thinking it might be the distributor.
It's normally a heat problem.
As the dist get hot it turns off signal.
Cools off and starts and runs fine, untill hot again.
Thing is mine's starts right up and runs fine.
Good thought though.

I guess the same could be said for all the sensors.
Get hot and cut off.
Cool down and start/run fine.
I'm thinking eather the TPS or MAF.
I would think the TPS would act up all the time because it's machanial.
The MAF is Electrical.
That's why I'm leaning towards the MAF.
I whish it would just die and not start. Would be so much easier to fix the problem.
Missed the old days of points and carbs.

 

I think the porblem with hesitation has been fixed.
The TPS termanals were corroded.
Cleaned them off and hesitation gone.

But now is stalls for no reason and at different times.
I'll start another thread for this problem.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

Bloody maximas. It's funny, you fix it, then BOOM it's doing something else? It's so typical.

I have fun with this car it makes me laugh, but it's getting to the point where it's annoying. Mine runs fine right now, but, as you all know, it's only running fine UNTIL the next time.

Actually, technically it may not be fine, as I hear a slight sound coming from the rear right wheel, it may be those wheel bearings the guy is talking about in the other thread, but that's something i'll deal with later.

 

Yesterday it ran fine. Did a 40 mi drive with two stops.
Not even a burp.
Today after about 15mi and 15 minutes, it stalled.
Started, but sputtered like it was flooding.
cleared up after about a minute, and was fine after that.
I'm thinking now it might be the AF meter.
I have one I won on ebay coming.

 

I cleaned the MAF with MAF cleaner.
Engine runs worse now than it did before.
Since the O2 and temp sensor are original, I think I'll replace them.
I think after 19 years they lived a good life.
Except for a slight loss of power and millage, everything was fine untill it stalled.

 

And you did confirm the timing by using the timing light? When you were fiddling with the distributor you may have moved it if the bolt wasn't tight enough. But then again you would probably feel the difference when you start it up. What about a dying alternator? The only parts I can think of at this point that I don't know if they cause stalling if going bad, maybe someone can comment is:

FAULTY EGR
EGRC SOLENOID VALVE
IGNITION COIL
POWER TRANSISTOR
POWER VALVE CONTROL SOLENOID VALVE

I have no idea at this point, but check the service manual in the Diagnostic flow charts section. You may have overlooked something.

Several guys on here have said DO NOT TOUCH the MAF, by cleaning it, does this confirm that your chemical ruined that tiny sensor?

 

Didn't touch the dist.
Did check the cap, rotor, and wires. All good.
I started it this morning.
Ran a little rough.
Idle was high, then when it warmed up, it came down.
Still a little rough.
I reset the idle a little higher and everything smoothed out.
Had it set to 750 as the manual spec.
Got it at 900, and it's smooth.
Drove it for about 10 minutes with not problems.
Strange car seems to have a mind of it's own.
I'm not sure if the MAF spray did any harm to the MAF. It did seem to do something.
Maybe by cleaning it, it changed the signal to the comp.
Maybe that's why I had to reset the idle.
Temp sensor seems to be working.
I get high cold idle.

 

Drove it again today.
First for 6 miles with two stops.
Second for 15 miles with one stop.
Started fine.
Idle was fine.
Ran fine.
No hesitation or stalling.
Hope problem is fixed.
I still want to change the temp sensor and O2 as soon as I can find some money.

 

By the way, did you try what Calvin said, and change the fuel filter? I forgot to mention, 2 yrs ago when my GXE was stalling a bit and 'coughing' at the stop lights, after I did the seafoam in the gas tank, I changed the fuel filter and those symptoms went away. Now it's possible, although I have no proof, that the seafoam cleaned a bit of the inside of the gas tank and maybe deposits went into the fuel filter and clogged it intermittently...or that it dislodged corrosion in the tank.

I read a simple test you can do is (wipe it off) blow on the input end of the fuel filter and it should blow through. Hard to blow - replace it. [I don't know how accurate this test is though. If it's old, or over your replacement interval, it could be due. I have a figure of 24,000 KM city driving. It seems rather low, I don't know where I got it.]

 

wouldn't wanna do that blowing test myself, might introduce moisture into the fuel system?

 

I checked the fuel filter when I checked the pump pressure. It's still good.
I drove it with the fuel pressure gauge attached so I could see if it was a fuel problem.
When it stalled, pressure was still good.
Good suggestion though.

If the fuel filter is dirty and clogged, I'd suggest you check/change the fuel strainer on the fuel pump. Easy to get to.

 

I got a MAF from ebay for $30.
Came on Wed and I installed it.
Engine seemed to idle the same.
Driving it seemed to have more power and better acceleration.
Been driving it around with no problems so far.
Still haven't had a chance to change the temp sensor or O2 sensor.