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misfiring/hesitation/bucking. UPDATE

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Old 12-12-2009, 07:18 PM
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misfiring/hesitation/bucking. UPDATE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyujwZ9ywXI

all injectors check out fine.. 11.2ohms.. timing cannot be checked because of misfiring. We've checked the compression of all 6 cylinders and they are 1 - 169psi, 2 - 168psi, 3 - 161psi, 4 - 170psi, 5 - 163psi, 6 - 165psi

coilpacks have been interchanged from my working maxima to this one and no change in misfiring. I have changed the MAF, cleaned the IACV,

I've noticed that every time the car comes close to stalling, the relays click or might be the fan motors.

ONE big question tho. HOW important is that ground wire on the the exhaust that is bolted down to hanger on the cat? that is totally hanging loose because the mechanic that put on the exhaust did a half *** job and left it hanging.
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Old 12-12-2009, 07:23 PM
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We forgot to mention that the car has been sitting for a few months in your driveway...8 to be exact. But this problem arose before that and pretty much why the car has been stored since then. And the other question to boot is the O2 sensor and whether or not it would be a factor.
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Old 12-12-2009, 07:26 PM
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what's the history of the car? this is the 'update' but what was the original thread? is this a new2u car that has been f00king up ever since you got it or it was fine then problems showed up?

the way crap is acting up maybe there are just bad connections on some plugs or perhaps bad wiring in the harness somewhere.. the temp obviously did not rise that fast but the gauge decided to shoot up anyways.
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Old 12-12-2009, 08:45 PM
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Sorry I told the op to post the link to the original thread but he forgot to.

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

That's the original thread. I'm not sure but the major change before the problems started showing up include timing chain tensioner replacement, installation of intake plenum spacer / EGR delete, a different Y pipe and aftermarket exhaust system. The car was running fine before then. Had a few issues needing new injectors and the timing chain noise but those were resolved and it didnt have any acceleration issues til after the major changes listed above. The car sat for 2 years prior to the time I bought it and the op was the original owner. The reason it was in the driveway was because of an issue with the input shaft bearing. That still hasn't been resolved yet.
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Old 12-12-2009, 08:47 PM
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Originally Posted by CapedCadaver
what's the history of the car? this is the 'update' but what was the original thread? is this a new2u car that has been f00king up ever since you got it or it was fine then problems showed up?

the way crap is acting up maybe there are just bad connections on some plugs or perhaps bad wiring in the harness somewhere.. the temp obviously did not rise that fast but the gauge decided to shoot up anyways.
The temp gauge has been acting up for a while as well. Forgot to address that part.

Another part that was replaced before being stored was the water pump. That was faulty at some point and it kept leaking.

Last edited by tv4184; 12-12-2009 at 09:19 PM.
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Old 12-14-2009, 10:51 PM
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Okay so I'm going to make a post to hopefully clear things up with the car.

The history to the car before my ownership was that it was sitting in my friend's driveway for 2 years because he didn't want to deal with the input shaft bearing. Otherwise the car worked fine and I needed something to practice driving std on. So this was April 2008 and that was when I started using it daily after changing all the fluids which included radiator, oil, and transmission fluids.

At the same time however, there was a noise that was noticed when the engine reved past 3.5k and later we found out from mikekantor that it was a problem due to the timing chain tensioner. I drove the car intermittently until July 2008 and that was when I ordered the parts for the timing chain tensioner job amongst other aftermarket parts. These included a used aftermarket Y pipe, full exhaust setup with magnaflow cat and an unknown muffler, and a NWP intake spacer / EGR delete kit. At this point I installed the Y pipe and my friend with Mike installed the new tensioner and spacer kit. After all this mess everything worked great except there was an air leak coming from the spacer job. This is not where the problems with the hesitation / jerky acceleration started happening.

Later that week in mid July 2008, I brought the car to my friend's ship to install the rest of the exhaust setup. The air plenum was still exhibiting a hissing / leaky air sound when the car was on and then after I left the shop I did remember noticing some hesitation in the throttle. I thought nothing of it.

However progressively as I worked on the car to figure the issue with the air hissing during the end of July, it started worsening and the car became undrivable due to the inaccurate acceleration issues. Some of the coil packs had to be replaced and then I worked on it at night and the rear injector harness was crushed during the reinstallation of the intake plenum. During this whole time the radiator system was undergoing a flush process that took 8 hours of running the car and after flushing it repeatedly with water, the system kept on spewing out "ice tea" colored radiator fluid and at the same time I ran an Auto-Rx treatment on the engine. My friend ended up fixing the injector harness thereafter via solder and heat shrink.

Eventually I just got a shop to finish the radiator flush for me and a few months later in October we realized the water pump was faulty / leaky so we replaced it in November. The car hadn't been driven regularly since June 2008 though so it had been sitting for a while. Oil was checked and nothing significant was noted. The car was moved from my condo for extended storage at its original home in late Dec 2008. The engine cut out midway there but it turned out to be a loose harness and soon we got the car there in one piece.

Fast forward to this past summer of 2009. My friend bought another Maxima for himself since he sold the one that became problematic to me. We were able to swap working parts for a while and then his started to have its own issues. Anyway back to the current thread. My friend ended up changing the harness with a new one and a few of the older fuel injectors that were giving faulty readings on the volt meter. The car still had the hesitation issues and we gave up on it again.

Fast forward to now. He tried a few parts here and there but nothing turned up any results. Cleaning IACV, throttle body, and changing all the coil packs did nothing. All the spark plugs were replaced back in April 2008 and barely have about 1000 miles on them. They're NGKs from Nissan. We refilled the radiator the other day and changed the oil on Sunday. The oil came out pretty dark but there was no foam or separation. It was dark due to the AutoRX treatment running in the engine for about 500 miles. The car has a total of 138k on the clock. I will repost in another thread the timeline and issues that may need to be addressed.
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Old 12-14-2009, 11:04 PM
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Okay recap

April 2008 - recommissioned the car after 2 years storage; replacement of all fluids and NGK sparkplugs
Early July 2008 - replacement of timing chain tensioner & install of aftermarket Y-pipe / NWP spacer
- issue with leaky air in engine
Mid July 2008 - replacement of factory exhaust with aftermarket system
- issue with hesitation begins
- issue with leaky air still there
August 2008 - all vacuum lines replaced, rear injector harness crushed in night time installation incident
- issue with leaky air resolved - lower intake plenum needed to be tightened due to increased weight of upper intake plenum without rear brackets due to NWP spacer install
- rear injector repaired
September 2008 - radiator flush completed by shop; noted more radiator fluid needed than normal
October 2008 - Air MAF replaced
November 2008 - leaky water pump replaced
December 2009 - all fluids replaced again starting repairs again

So now the issues to address are...
- the original exhaust had grounding wires going to the body of the car...the aftermarket one doesn't, should I either acquire a factory one and reground the exhaust or is this unimportant
- the O2 sensor wire seems to be continuous, I just tested it for resistance with an ohm meter. Does anyone know of a more definitive test aside from being under the car while its running? The O2 sensor is also original (all 138k miles of it) so that might be the last thing we haven't replaced yet.
- the fuel filter is also original and we have a replacement
- there is an aftermarket intake that we removed and we are in process of reinstalling the stock intake...that may or may not matter
- new grounding wires?
- anything else to be covered?
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Old 12-15-2009, 01:35 AM
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Is your O2 connector still "just hanging there"? That's where I would look after seeing your video. Your ECU is mad at you.
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Old 12-15-2009, 05:09 AM
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Originally Posted by tv4184
issue with leaky air resolved - lower intake plenum needed to be tightened due to increased weight of upper intake
That's why I welded extensions to my plenum brackets and used them. I didn't like all the weight of the manifold hanging off-center towards the rear on the aluminum lower plenum. I'm surprised more people haven't had problems like you
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Old 12-15-2009, 05:52 AM
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Originally Posted by Hectic
Is your O2 connector still "just hanging there"? That's where I would look after seeing your video. Your ECU is mad at you.
The O2 sensor connector has always been connected. The wire my friend is referring to is the ground wire between the exhaust system and the chassis of the car. Its like this braided wire with two O rings that was part of the stock system that doesn't have a place to connect to on the aftermarket system. Its just "loosely" hanging there.
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Old 12-15-2009, 08:47 AM
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I just finished reading a thread that wasn't on maxima.org and I saw them mentioning that the TPS or CPS may need to be replaced. Any opinions on this if O2 sensor replacement doesn't help?
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Old 12-15-2009, 02:18 PM
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I just watched your video. All the cars I've ever had that do things like that (the being steady on the gas but the engine revving up and down like that) it's usually always been a vacuum leak or an unplugged/criss-crossed IACV type of sensor or something.

When following the FSM procedure for setting the VE timing, I believe it has you disconnect the throttle sensor and the AAC valve harness. IIRC, with these sensors on my VE's unplugged, they've acted similarly to yours in the video.

I've had Civics that did a sort of "hard" hunting in the 2-3k range like that, and giving it steady gas seemed to have no effect, and it's always been the TPS on those situations.

So, I would check for a vacuum leak and check all your sensors. I don't remember if any of the VE sensors can be mistakenly criss-crossed (like those ones down around under the TB kind of toward the firewall maybe?), but that could be a culprit.

If you are CERTAIN there's not a vacuum leak I'd lean to a TPS type of issue.

Other than that, the FSM does mention the 02 sensor as a culprit in a hunting idle. The FSM says to unplug the harness and if the hunting goes away, you know the 02 sensor is the problem.

*edit* That stock cat grounding strap shouldn't make a difference. I know one of my VE's doesn't have it at all after the WSP y-pipe and cat combo.

Last edited by James92SE; 12-15-2009 at 02:22 PM.
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Old 12-15-2009, 11:02 PM
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Originally Posted by James92SE
I just watched your video. All the cars I've ever had that do things like that (the being steady on the gas but the engine revving up and down like that) it's usually always been a vacuum leak or an unplugged/criss-crossed IACV type of sensor or something.

When following the FSM procedure for setting the VE timing, I believe it has you disconnect the throttle sensor and the AAC valve harness. IIRC, with these sensors on my VE's unplugged, they've acted similarly to yours in the video.

I've had Civics that did a sort of "hard" hunting in the 2-3k range like that, and giving it steady gas seemed to have no effect, and it's always been the TPS on those situations.

So, I would check for a vacuum leak and check all your sensors. I don't remember if any of the VE sensors can be mistakenly criss-crossed (like those ones down around under the TB kind of toward the firewall maybe?), but that could be a culprit.

If you are CERTAIN there's not a vacuum leak I'd lean to a TPS type of issue.

Other than that, the FSM does mention the 02 sensor as a culprit in a hunting idle. The FSM says to unplug the harness and if the hunting goes away, you know the 02 sensor is the problem.

*edit* That stock cat grounding strap shouldn't make a difference. I know one of my VE's doesn't have it at all after the WSP y-pipe and cat combo.
The car has been run with both the O2 sensor connected and disconnected. There was no difference in the symptoms. We'll double check the vacuum lines this weekend and swap the TPS sensors to see what comes of it. Doesn't look too expensive and I'll be kicking myself if it is the TPS sensor. The sensors on the manifold are hard to mix up. The other issue might be some of the wire harnesses may not be 100% perfect being a 16+ year old car now. Any thoughts on the camshaft position sensor? I read that might be the culprit but I'm not 100% sure. I'll post any findings I have. I hope this thread helps others. This has almost been a 2 year long issue and I'd love to be able to drive it again even though I only got to drive it for a period of 2 months before these issues came up.
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Old 12-16-2009, 02:09 AM
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i believe the egr delete is giving u the problems u r experiencing check to make certain its not leaking there and since u do have a cali model u may hve to switch out the Ecu witha fed emission on to us th egr delete
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Old 12-16-2009, 06:27 AM
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Originally Posted by 10's or bust
i believe the egr delete is giving u the problems u r experiencing check to make certain its not leaking there and since u do have a cali model u may hve to switch out the Ecu witha fed emission on to us th egr delete
Actually we're reinstalling the EGR and removing the spacer at the moment. Maybe we'll see how it runs after we put it back together. Wouldn't it throw an EGR code if that were the case though?
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Old 12-16-2009, 01:52 PM
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Originally Posted by tv4184
Actually we're reinstalling the EGR and removing the spacer at the moment. Maybe we'll see how it runs after we put it back together. Wouldn't it throw an EGR code if that were the case though?
Wait, I thought you already removed the spacers and put the EGR system back to stock?

If not, then that should have been your first thing to do, especially since it certainly seems like an intake leak..
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Old 12-16-2009, 02:16 PM
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Originally Posted by James92SE
Wait, I thought you already removed the spacers and put the EGR system back to stock?

If not, then that should have been your first thing to do, especially since it certainly seems like an intake leak..
We just did that this past sunday. The only thing is we haven't finished putting the car back together. Since we work during the week the first free time will be saturday morning. The hissing air leak was resolved not too long after the original install though. We had to push the car off the ramps since it was dark and we didn't want to make a mistake sunday evening. I will keep the thread posted as we continue our work.
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Old 12-20-2009, 08:17 PM
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UPDATE This past weekend we retorqued the lower intake collector and it still wasn't torqued to specs so we torqued it to 16 ft lbs per screw. EGR was finally reinstalled. However we removed the original coolant temperature sensor to remove corrosion and during the reinstall the top broke off and the actual copper piece that goes into the block got stuck in there. Luckily with a pair of pliers and screwdriver / hammer we were able to remove the stub. That pretty much was the progress for the day yesterday.

I ended up getting a new CTS from Autozone yesterday and that was the first thing installed today. Reminder not to use too much teflon if you use the OEM CTS. The autozone one comes with a crush washer. In any case with that reinstalled and the plenum went back on. EGR was pretty spot on too and that was reinstalled. After dealing with a few loose ends the car started up fine and then still had the issues. I did accidently remove the TPS sensor earlier and didn't position it perfectly upon removal. So I had to reposition it and then ended up getting a 1.8K idle RPM after the engine warmed up. With more tinkering I have it idling at roughly 700-900 rpm. The only problem now is that there is random misfiring but no more bucking / hesitation in the acceleration with or without the O2 sensor connected.

Unfortunately the harness for the CTS is broken so I'm removing the corrosion now and will rebuild the harness. The car may be sitting for another week but looks like something has happened since the last time we ran it. I'll post a recap after this with questions and concerns I have.
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Old 12-20-2009, 08:39 PM
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RECAP

The New
Replaced literally broken in half CTS with Duralast model.
Re-torqued lower intake collector
Replaced fuel filter & some fuel lines
Repositioned TPS

Issues to deal with
Should I pump the tank of the old gas from September 2008 and refill it with new gas? If I do this where do I dump the old gas... This may account for the really bad smelling exhaust maybe?

I'll reinstall the fixed CTS harness this week. It was throwing code 13 - CTS so the fans were running on full when the car started.

There is actually some air in the coolant lines due to the fact the CTS was left open overnight so I'll have to rebleed the system.

I'm wondering if I could pass inspection in Texas with this. Is there any other suggestions I should do on the car. O2 sensor is still old...I couldn't put the stock intake back on because we're missing the lower part to the box so a cone filter had to be used with the stock tubing.

Is there any other issues or concerns I should think about before trying to re-register and get the car inspected?

Here is a picture from today. Mine is on the left. MofoAKA is on the right.

More to come later.
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Old 12-21-2009, 01:09 PM
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Cool deal. Sounds like the combination of what you did fixed it for the most part. So, the TPS was the main issue? It sounds like after you adjusted that all is well aside from the occasional misfire?

You should try to get that old gas out of there. That could certainly cause it to misfire intermittently. As far as where to dump it, I'm not sure where the 'official' (legal) place to do so is. If it's only a few gallons, you could keep it around for cleaning tools and whatnot. That's what I do

Do you have to do emissions testing? Or just safety? The cone filter won't cause any issues with either.

Just do like me, go into it expecting to fail emissions (and I usually do), then you're not as mad/annoyed when it fails.
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Old 12-21-2009, 08:37 PM
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Originally Posted by James92SE
Cool deal. Sounds like the combination of what you did fixed it for the most part. So, the TPS was the main issue? It sounds like after you adjusted that all is well aside from the occasional misfire?

You should try to get that old gas out of there. That could certainly cause it to misfire intermittently. As far as where to dump it, I'm not sure where the 'official' (legal) place to do so is. If it's only a few gallons, you could keep it around for cleaning tools and whatnot. That's what I do

Do you have to do emissions testing? Or just safety? The cone filter won't cause any issues with either.

Just do like me, go into it expecting to fail emissions (and I usually do), then you're not as mad/annoyed when it fails.
Well the new stuff is the unconnected CTS, reinstalled EGR, and yes adjusted TPS which was untouched until now. Maybe it needed adjustment after the installation of the spacer on the throttle body. Or maybe it was a combination of things. We'll never know now. I still have the coolant bypass and the throttle body spacer from the NWP kit though. I'm probably gonna toss the rest of the stuff in a bin and leave it.

There is about half a tank of gas and it is from pre-Hurricane Ike. I remember driving a bucking Maxima out to the gas station to fill up in case I needed to siphon gas for my S2000. In any case initially it burned alot of white and then after a while it was okay. At that time I was seeing if it was going to shut off on its own again. I will siphon out as much as I can. Maybe I'll have to mix the gas with new gas. Should I throw in stabilizer or would it not matter?

For the inspection thing, I do have to pass emissions in Houston and its like 50 per test. If I fail I can get a free retest at the same site but I won't be able to unless I get it serviced by a state licensed shop. I'll have to get it up to speed within the week. Although it didn't pass when I first got the car either.
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Old 12-22-2009, 05:35 AM
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I'm not sure about the stabilizer. I'd think if you siphoned as much gas as possible out, then filled the rest of the tank with 93 octane or something, it'd be fine as what little old gas would be left in the tank would probably get assimilated into the new gas (I'd guess).

So if you fail emissions you have to get it fixed/serviced at a state shop? In Dallas, if you fail, you get 7 days to do a free retest, but it doesn't have to be serviced in the meantime by a licensed shop. So I usually fail, then take it home and screw around with it a bunch, then go back and retest.
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Old 12-22-2009, 06:39 AM
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toss a bottle of rubbing alchohol in the tank before going in for the test.
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Old 12-22-2009, 07:58 AM
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Originally Posted by James92SE
I'm not sure about the stabilizer. I'd think if you siphoned as much gas as possible out, then filled the rest of the tank with 93 octane or something, it'd be fine as what little old gas would be left in the tank would probably get assimilated into the new gas (I'd guess).

So if you fail emissions you have to get it fixed/serviced at a state shop? In Dallas, if you fail, you get 7 days to do a free retest, but it doesn't have to be serviced in the meantime by a licensed shop. So I usually fail, then take it home and screw around with it a bunch, then go back and retest.
I'm not 100% sure on that. But I don't want to chance the 100 bux yet. I'll put the highest octane fuel in there and burn off whatever excess there is. I'm not sure if I should reinstall the factory Y-pipe or not though. That'll be more work that maybe unnecessary. There is a slightly newer "higher" flow cat on there which I'm not sure would pass or not.

I'm guessing it would be the same policy as Dallas. How many times would you retest though.

EDIT: I thought internetautomart was kidding about the rubbing alcohol but I saw some threads about using denatured or 91% rubbing alcohol.

Last edited by tv4184; 12-22-2009 at 08:06 AM.
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Old 12-22-2009, 01:30 PM
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nope I was serious, alcohol burns cleaner than gas.
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Old 12-24-2009, 05:28 PM
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NEW DEVELOPMENT

So the other day amongst the things that were done before the testing and the successful disappearance of the hesitation / jerky acceleration issue. After we parked the car, we reconnected the O2 sensor and removed the CTS harness for repairs.

Well today when I started her up, there was idle problems at first until I gassed it and then according to my friend he still felt hesitation in acceleration. Several things to address still.

1. Old gas is still in there. We tried to siphon it out but the kit we bought is the one with the bulb as a pump. Stuck all the hose in and all we could hear was the tubing skimming the top of the fuel. My friend said it'd be a big pain to access the fuel pump and drain it that way. Any suggestions?

2. O2 sensor. This was one of the things that was changed since the successful test. I reconnected after driving a few rounds around the block. If I remember correctly, if the car accelerates correctly with it disconnected then that means a new o2 sensor is in order?

3. CTS harness. I finished fixing the CTS harness and now I'm not throwing the CTS ecu code anymore. However the CTS was also replaced so would this be something I should take a look at too?

Thanks guys and have a merry xmas.
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Old 12-26-2009, 03:27 PM
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Originally Posted by CapedCadaver
what's the history of the car? this is the 'update' but what was the original thread? is this a new2u car that has been f00king up ever since you got it or it was fine then problems showed up?

the way crap is acting up maybe there are just bad connections on some plugs or perhaps bad wiring in the harness somewhere.. the temp obviously did not rise that fast but the gauge decided to shoot up anyways.
Its your map sensor
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Old 12-26-2009, 03:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Dave dail
Its your map sensor
Map or maf? Im not even sure if there is a map sensor??
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Old 12-28-2009, 12:37 AM
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UPDATE

Today we siphoned out the gas. Even with a new "better" siphon we ended up removing the rear seat and pumping out the gas by shifting out the fuel pump. Took out some 5+ gallons. The gas was not so good looking. It was a dark yellow almost light orange tinge to it. I'll post a pic when I find a jar to store some in. I'll leave the seat out for another project that I'm working on. That put the needle a bit below the E mark. We refilled with 2.25 gallons 93 octane gas. Also put on the stock Y pipe since the "prototype" y pipe I got last year was too rusty and rattles when idling. I also disconnected the O2 sensor when I was under there. My friend took her for a spin around the block after this and he said the hesitation was gone now. However before that while the car sat while the ramps were being removed, the engine did cut out on its own once.

Next on the agenda. I just took a hit tonight by ordering a NTK o2 sensor from internetautosupply via 2-day air. Also paid for insurance and tomorrow I'll be stopping by the registration office to re-register the max.

Also another thing that will be a concern. The factory Y pipe doesn't actually line up correctly with the magnaflow cat. I can't fix this since I can't reach the bolts when the car is on the ramp. So tomorrow I'll also be taking the car to the local muffler shop to get the cat and y pipe realigned. I may also be installing a new muffler that I got before the car was put into storage. A magnaflow 14816, a maxima.org favorite...more amonst the 5th geners than 3rd gens.

I'll keep you guys posted.
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Old 12-28-2009, 06:56 AM
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orange gas? sounds like rust in the tank to me.
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Old 12-28-2009, 07:09 AM
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Originally Posted by internetautomar
orange gas? sounds like rust in the tank to me.
Maybe I was over exaggerated in my post. It was dark yellow like it was oxidized. I found my receipt when I last filled up the car was on Sept 11, 2008 at 9:35 PM. They were price gouging too since it was the night before the hurricane was supposed to land.
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Old 12-28-2009, 08:00 AM
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Did you pull off the fuel pump and see what the tank looks like inside?

Also, just to be clear - as of right now it runs just fine but there "seems" to still be some hesitation in the power band? That seems to be the exact problem I'm having with my JDM project one
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Old 12-28-2009, 09:13 AM
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Originally Posted by James92SE
Did you pull off the fuel pump and see what the tank looks like inside?

Also, just to be clear - as of right now it runs just fine but there "seems" to still be some hesitation in the power band? That seems to be the exact problem I'm having with my JDM project one
From what I could see inside the tank it looks fine at the time.

It actually runs fine without the o2 sensor. No hesitation in the power band. There is the occasional misfire if its just sitting there idling. There was still some old gas left in the tank but theres mostly new gas in the tank now. I need to go register it now so I can get it to the shop and get the exhaust system overhauled. I'll give an update later today.
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Old 12-28-2009, 03:26 PM
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Originally Posted by tv4184
From what I could see inside the tank it looks fine at the time.

It actually runs fine without the o2 sensor. No hesitation in the power band. There is the occasional misfire if its just sitting there idling. There was still some old gas left in the tank but theres mostly new gas in the tank now. I need to go register it now so I can get it to the shop and get the exhaust system overhauled. I'll give an update later today.
It looks like the biggest change you got happened after 'adjusting' TPS. Any way you & your friend could swap TPSs next time this thing comes back? Just my 2c. BTW, you won't pass emissions without o2 sensor and your mileage will suck.
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Old 12-28-2009, 10:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Max_5gen
It looks like the biggest change you got happened after 'adjusting' TPS. Any way you & your friend could swap TPSs next time this thing comes back? Just my 2c. BTW, you won't pass emissions without o2 sensor and your mileage will suck.
Well I just come back from the shop today. Got some pics to post in a bit. A new O2 sensor will be coming in the mail this week hopefully...of course I know I need it to pass the emissions testing. I have a spare TPS in my posession now so I'll be trying it out tomorrow.

I think it is the TPS because I had one time where it hesitated at the stop light and felt like it wouldn't register any throttle response and then just came back right away. The car also shut down on its own while cruising in the neighborhood.

On another note, the y pipe actually didn't line up correctly because the previous person that helped me install the new pipes had it turned incorrectly. The shop cleaned out the connection between the y-pipe and the cat and installed a new donut flange. Incidentally they also removed the rusty magnaflow muffler and then installed my new 14816 magnaflow. After they were done, the exhaust system had no more leaks.

I'll test the spare TPS tomorrow and report back.
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Old 12-29-2009, 07:50 AM
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Originally Posted by tv4184
Well I just come back from the shop today. Got some pics to post in a bit. A new O2 sensor will be coming in the mail this week hopefully.
it is
..of course I know I need it to pass the emissions testing. I have a spare TPS in my posession now so I'll be trying it out tomorrow.

I think it is the TPS because I had one time where it hesitated at the stop light and felt like it wouldn't register any throttle response and then just came back right away. The car also shut down on its own while cruising in the neighborhood.

On another note, the y pipe actually didn't line up correctly because the previous person that helped me install the new pipes had it turned incorrectly. The shop cleaned out the connection between the y-pipe and the cat and installed a new donut flange. Incidentally they also removed the rusty magnaflow muffler and then installed my new 14816 magnaflow. After they were done, the exhaust system had no more leaks.

I'll test the spare TPS tomorrow and report back.
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Old 12-31-2009, 06:26 AM
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Originally Posted by internetautomar
it is
Thanks...I didn't expect it so soon. I just checked the mail and I just got it this morning. I didn't get to check the mail yesterday. I hopefully will be testing the new O2 sensor and TPS later today after my appt at the dentist. I'm not sure if I should install the o2 sensor first or test the TPS sensor first. I hate doing two things at a time which makes it harder to tell which fixed what...
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Old 12-31-2009, 07:10 AM
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Originally Posted by tv4184
Thanks...I didn't expect it so soon. I just checked the mail and I just got it this morning. I didn't get to check the mail yesterday. I hopefully will be testing the new O2 sensor and TPS later today after my appt at the dentist. I'm not sure if I should install the o2 sensor first or test the TPS sensor first. I hate doing two things at a time which makes it harder to tell which fixed what...
Do o2 first, pass the emissions then f*!$ with the rest until the next emission test . TPS is far from o2 and completely independent from assembly point of view. As far as I understand the car is driveable now - so enjoy it.
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Old 01-01-2010, 12:16 PM
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Good news!

First, I'd like to wish everyone a happy new year.

Now on to business. Installed the new O2 sensor and connected. The car still was misfiring...actually more than before.

Disconnected O2 sensor, returned to normal. Tested the spare TPS sensor. Still had the hunting and misfiring issue.

Reconnected O2 sensor with the spare TPS. Had intermittent misfiring. We tried to check the timing but it was hard to still check it with the intermittent misfiring. So we decided to take the car for a drive around down a quiet stretch of road (not so quiet with us driving though). The car did buckle and hesitate but it wasn't consistent like it was before. Didn't feel like the same issue.

When we got back, we d/c'd each coil pack one at a time and the engine responded like it would with a functioning coil pack. Then we reved the engine and whenever it hit the 2-3k range the CEL would come on. That was interesting because it'd go away at idle. Not sure what the case was but we had 6 spare coil packs so we swapped the spare ones on and then the car returned to normal. And the interesting thing was, the spare ones had some junk yard and some original while the ones on the car had 2-3 that were brand new from Nissan. Not sure what happened but now the car drives great. I have actually driven 78 miles and been smooth thus far.

I have no idea what fixed it and I guess it was just a combination of things? Now I just have to deal with some other stuff like replacing the CV joint, broken temp gauge, and no radio...
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Old 01-01-2010, 01:08 PM
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Originally Posted by tv4184
Good news!

First, I'd like to wish everyone a happy new year.

Now on to business. Installed the new O2 sensor and connected. The car still was misfiring...actually more than before.

Disconnected O2 sensor, returned to normal. Tested the spare TPS sensor. Still had the hunting and misfiring issue.

Reconnected O2 sensor with the spare TPS. Had intermittent misfiring. We tried to check the timing but it was hard to still check it with the intermittent misfiring. So we decided to take the car for a drive around down a quiet stretch of road (not so quiet with us driving though). The car did buckle and hesitate but it wasn't consistent like it was before. Didn't feel like the same issue.

When we got back, we d/c'd each coil pack one at a time and the engine responded like it would with a functioning coil pack. Then we reved the engine and whenever it hit the 2-3k range the CEL would come on. That was interesting because it'd go away at idle. Not sure what the case was but we had 6 spare coil packs so we swapped the spare ones on and then the car returned to normal. And the interesting thing was, the spare ones had some junk yard and some original while the ones on the car had 2-3 that were brand new from Nissan. Not sure what happened but now the car drives great. I have actually driven 78 miles and been smooth thus far.

I have no idea what fixed it and I guess it was just a combination of things? Now I just have to deal with some other stuff like replacing the CV joint, broken temp gauge, and no radio...
If I'm reading this right the reason was either one of the coil packs or you moved some other connector while swapping the packs. If you're still curious you could swap them back one at a time to see which one exactly. I know this contradicts d/c test you performed but that's life . If you swap them all in and car continues to run smooth then you can be sure the problem will come back. Next time around though you could start from coils and may be get to the root of the problem. Some of my car's electrical problems took a while to hunt down.

If you saw CEL and you cleared codes before chances are ECU stored new code(s) while it was lighting up CEL. If you read your codes again it might give you some clue. I'm not sure if 3rd gen ECU clears them automatically so I'd use this as opportunity to clear codes as well and make sure ECU doesn't have anything left.
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