Car runs rough only at night.
#1
Car runs rough only at night.
Hello all. At 4xx,xxx miles (don't remember off the top of my head) my 89 maxima is having an issue that seems to be eluding me. During the day, it runs great. At night, however. It runs quite rough and is down on power. It almost feels like a misfire but it doesn't feel quite that rough. I suppose it could be though. When I apply power I can hear each spurt of fuel very loudly and not as rapidly as before. So far it has a new air filter and all new plugs and had one injector replaced on the cylinder that my trusted mechanic said was a problem. But it's really weird that it only happens at night and also, it only happens once the engine starts to warm up. On a cold start, it's perfectly fine, except that it also takes a couple of seconds longer than before to start. Any help would be appreciated.
#2
are you sure another injector isnt bad? VG injectors are known to go bad, that and 80s and 90s Nissan injector O-rings get eaten away by ethanol in gas.
i cant see see how night is affecting it any unless you live in a place where its warm in the day and cold at night, then the cold air at night might be affecting fuel density.
i cant see see how night is affecting it any unless you live in a place where its warm in the day and cold at night, then the cold air at night might be affecting fuel density.
#4
random guess....alternator?
you usually drive with the lights on at night (i hope)...with the lights on it's dropping the voltage and the car is acting all kinds of funny?...maybe?
cold start you have high idle so the engine/alternator is spinning faster. once warmed up the engine speed dips and you have your issues.
you usually drive with the lights on at night (i hope)...with the lights on it's dropping the voltage and the car is acting all kinds of funny?...maybe?
cold start you have high idle so the engine/alternator is spinning faster. once warmed up the engine speed dips and you have your issues.
#5
random guess....alternator?
you usually drive with the lights on at night (i hope)...with the lights on it's dropping the voltage and the car is acting all kinds of funny?...maybe?
cold start you have high idle so the engine/alternator is spinning faster. once warmed up the engine speed dips and you have your issues.
you usually drive with the lights on at night (i hope)...with the lights on it's dropping the voltage and the car is acting all kinds of funny?...maybe?
cold start you have high idle so the engine/alternator is spinning faster. once warmed up the engine speed dips and you have your issues.
#6
alternators easy to do a quick test on. get a cheap voltmeter, with the car idling put voltmeter positive and negative to battery positive to negative respectively. should read 13.9-14.8V, something low like 12.5 means the alternators not charging
#9
random guess....alternator?
you usually drive with the lights on at night (i hope)...with the lights on it's dropping the voltage and the car is acting all kinds of funny?...maybe?
cold start you have high idle so the engine/alternator is spinning faster. once warmed up the engine speed dips and you have your issues.
you usually drive with the lights on at night (i hope)...with the lights on it's dropping the voltage and the car is acting all kinds of funny?...maybe?
cold start you have high idle so the engine/alternator is spinning faster. once warmed up the engine speed dips and you have your issues.
Why Danny?
#11
over kill for a simple yes/no test.
most shops will just clamp on a tester.
at home you can just use a simple volt meter.
http://www.wikihow.com/Check-an-Alternator
most shops will just clamp on a tester.
at home you can just use a simple volt meter.
http://www.wikihow.com/Check-an-Alternator
#15
over kill for a simple yes/no test.
most shops will just clamp on a tester.
at home you can just use a simple volt meter.
http://www.wikihow.com/Check-an-Alternator
#16
you can load the alternator with a test machine, etc but that takes time. i work with "pro's", everybody uses a DVOM to quickly see if a alternator is bad or not. pros want to take as little time to fix something as possible, especially if youre working on flat rate. takes 5 seconds to start a car and hook up a voltmeter
and at calling Danny below your skills
and at calling Danny below your skills
#18
you can load the alternator with a test machine, etc but that takes time. i work with "pro's", everybody uses a DVOM to quickly see if a alternator is bad or not. pros want to take as little time to fix something as possible, especially if youre working on flat rate. takes 5 seconds to start a car and hook up a voltmeter
and at calling Danny below your skills
and at calling Danny below your skills
#19
#22
No bro but you dont see that that will only check for output but wont check the ac ripple effect you also need to check Accessorie ground check to see if the battery will keep above 9.6 v while cranking engine for 15 seconds and voltage drop across. The system your teacher i mean parts changer must have sucked all that only takes 8min at the most and that tells you alot more than a load test.
#24
No bro but you dont see that that will only check for output but wont check the ac ripple effect you also need to check Accessorie ground check to see if the battery will keep above 9.6 v while cranking engine for 15 seconds and voltage drop across. The system your teacher i mean parts changer must have sucked all that only takes 8min at the most and that tells you alot more than a load test.
BTW cranking voltage and and voltage drop is more of an battery issue and not alternator related. a load test (generally the test they do when you bring your battery to autozone or the clamp on tester that are sold to professional shops and mechanics) is usually done for battery test.
while you don't know any of us...try not to assume that we don't know what we're talking about. trying to "teach" us what a text book tell you will make you a through but poor automotive technician. it also shows you how naive you are in believing that everything you think you're doing is the right thing...maybe in a text book...but it doesn't work like that in the real world.
you're going to spend 30-45 minutes to figure out that you have a busted alternator that you can make maybe 1 hour labor on when someone can stick a volt meter and figure out the problem within 5 minutes...if you have been doing this for a while you probably don't need a volt meter to tell you that your alternator output is below spec. i'm going to go with the 5 minutes test...get paid for the job and move on to the next job.
#25
if your output test failed are you going to continue to check the other items?
BTW cranking voltage and and voltage drop is more of an battery issue and not alternator related. a load test (generally the test they do when you bring your battery to autozone or the clamp on tester that are sold to professional shops and mechanics) is usually done for battery test.
while you don't know any of us...try not to assume that we don't know what we're talking about. trying to "teach" us what a text book tell you will make you a through but poor automotive technician. it also shows you how naive you are in believing that everything you think you're doing is the right thing...maybe in a text book...but it doesn't work like that in the real world.
you're going to spend 30-45 minutes to figure out that you have a busted alternator that you can make maybe 1 hour labor on when someone can stick a volt meter and figure out the problem within 5 minutes...if you have been doing this for a while you probably don't need a volt meter to tell you that your alternator output is below spec. i'm going to go with the 5 minutes test...get paid for the job and move on to the next job.
#26
You do not know anything those testers dont work for **** dont trust autozone they are a retail place to test you battery with you telling me that i know you are a low grade tech shame to you parts changer what ever i know i can test my own battery thats why my charging. System is OEM
keep making those assumptions.
i can test my own battery too...you want a medal?
you really want to call me a parts changer after i called you that when you determined that unplugging a MAF and nothing changed is the correct test for a MAF? the member still having the same issue. yeah...stay with testing batteries.
please man...stop while you're ahead.
Last edited by DanNY; 10-08-2013 at 08:51 PM.
#27
keep making those assumptions.
i can test my own battery too...you want a medal?
you really want to call me a parts changer after i called you that when you determined that unplugging a MAF and nothing changed is the correct test for a MAF? the member still having the same issue. yeah...stay with testing batteries.
please man...stop while you're ahead.
#28
he didn't respond...that usually means the problem is fixed...maybe.
where as he came back and said the MAF didn't do anything. it helped...but it didnt fix the root problem.
nice try.
at this point you're a waste of time for me and i'm going to stop responding.
#29
the text books you read through in school are full of so much useless stuff that you will never use its ridiculous. i was taught all that stuff, how to rebuild a starter, rebuild a alternator, positive/negative side voltage drop tests on starters and alternators, etc but aint nobody got time for that. even with 1 on 1 time with instructors, they tell you your boss will most likely not let you screw around for 20 minutes to do those tests. some vehicles have the alternator nearly inaccessible for tests as well. if a vehicle has a newer battery thats going dead, and a DVOM says 12.8V at idle, im gonna bet my left nut 99% of the time the alternator is bad.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Lakersallday24
6th Generation Maxima (2004-2008)
10
06-16-2019 01:35 AM
kjlouis
4th Generation Maxima (1995-1999)
11
11-24-2018 06:09 AM