Ok, heres the story, was drivin my fathers 97 5speed SE the other night, was pulling out of the neighborhood and got to about 4000 RPM in first and the Engine Maintenance Required light came on. Sh*t! Drove a few minutes to Blockbuster and came out and it still came on. Come home and open up the $50 manual bought @ Nissan but seemed like giberish(sp?). Well anyway, my father was driving it today and it died on him twice. Anyone know what the hell is happening? Wasn't driving the car very hard at all. I wouldn't consider it rough. What the hell is going on? Taking it in to get looked at but just wanted to see youz guyz opinions. TIA.

 

that the "engine coolant temperature sensor" is going bad. Has the car ever had problems starting or a strong gas smell when starting? Hopefully Dan will either give you the site to pull engine mil codes or try doing a search such as "check engine light" and you might be able find out how to do so from their.

 

AS i can recall, no problems at all. Its at about 56,5XX miles. All that I could collect from my manual is its misfiring, something with O2 sensors i believe (quite possibly what you said) or something about Fail-Safe mode.

 

http://vbxmaxima.8m.com/ecu.html

This site has the procedure to get the code from the computer when the "Check Engine Light" comes on. It also has a link to the "ECU Decoder" in order to interpret what the code means.

 

O2 sensors should not cause the car to stall for no reason and I beleive the fail-safe mode applies to automatic transmissions and staying in third gear. Reason I said the ECTS is because every so often my car would stall for no reason and a few times later it would be a beotch to start and when it did it really reeked of gas. Follow the above procedure given by VQmaxse and see what code you get and post it later for further diagnosis. Good luck.

 

The Check Engine Light is evidence that something is wrong. That
"something" may be any number of things, some major and some minor. It
might be nothing more than a loose fuel filler cap. The Engine Control
Module (the computer) detected a problem and turned on the Check Engine
Light. At the same time it stored one or more Diagnostic Trouble Codes.
Get someone to do a DTC readout for you. This is not a big deal, does not
require specialized "dealer only" test equipment, and should take less than
an hour. When you know the stored DTCs, you will have a fair idea of what
repairs are needed.

If you like to do your own "wrenching" you can do the DTC readout for
yourself. Go to your public library and borrow a Chilton's or Haynes
manual for your vehicle. It contains detailed instructions and a table
which "translates" the numerical codes into words. No special tools are
required.

You will also find instructions to do a DTC readout and reset
the Check Engine light at:
http://vbxmaxima.8m.com/ecu.html

The DTC "translations" are found at:
http://vbxmaxima.8m.com/ecudecoder.html

 

Regards to your problem

Sounds like you like to drive hard and fast.
If the mil light is going off and on especially when
accelerating hard,suggest checking your EGR circuit.
Possible bpt.hose collapsing,or plugged tube.

Good Luck!!

 

This is a public welcome to Marc Sanford.

Perhaps few Maxima.Org members know his name, but I do. Marc ran his own one-man show as the Nissan On-Line Technician until November 1998 when his short-sighted employer pulled the plug. Marc has years of experience as a Nissan Master Technician and his diagnostic instincts are superb. Ladies and gentlemen, let's give a round of electronic applause for this new member. He will be a major asset to this forum.

 

Welcome Marc! Nice to have someone with your expertise on the forum. Maybe Daniel Martin can even take a break now and then He has helped many of us with our car trouble. Great to have the both of you and all of the other helpful members!

 

Took it to the dealership and learned some addition info. When my father was driving it, he had the cruise control on and that was when it died so the dealership says that something with the cruise control went bad and they ordered the parts. Also, they said that something with the spark plugs went bad, but I was not in on the conversation but wouldn't that be misfiring? We'll find out come Monday what was wrong for sure after they fix it. Thanks for replys as to possible solutions. Just glad nothing serious happened.