1998 Maxima SE, 5 speed. I have several symptoms that may or not may not be related. My mechanic has not
been able to solve the problems.

Needed a new clutch, replaced it and now I have a significant vibration if I slip the clutch a bit and
the engine RPMs decrease. Next problem is a rough engine idle and hesitation between 2k-3k RPM.
The throttle position sensor was replaced, no change. My mechanic found a situation where he thinks an
ignition coil might be bad. He purchased one and tried it on two of three cylinders on one back, no change.
Will move to last cylinder of back tomorrow.

I'm writing the short version of problems I've had for quite a while and it dawned on me today to try to get
help from Maxima.org. I can provide more details as needed.

Thanks in advance.

Tom

 

There is no thinking or guess work to be done on your engine. When a sensor is bad the check engine light comes on and the codes point you to what has failed. Did you get a check engine light indicating the TPS was defective?

Why is he guessing at coils? If a coil pack goes bad you get a misfire and a check engine light indicating such. Usually it's followed by the cylinder that caused it which take the guess work out of finding the bad coil.

I'm thinking your mechanic should stop doing the guess work right about now and look for the obvious reasons your car is suddenly not running correctly.

Vibrations while your slipping the clutch most likely is clutch chatter. That indicates the install wasn't done correctly or you have defective parts or your flywheel wasn't cleaned properly prior to installing the new clutch disk.

Hesitation and rough idle can be caused by spark plugs, dirty throttle body, clogged fuel filter, defective PCV valve, MAF sensor or your mechanic didn't tie up and clean some much needed grounding points on the tranny & engine block after the clutch was installed.