Hey everyone,

I'm a long-time lurker, and a first-time poster. I haven't had anything to post about until recently. This website has been a great resource for me to learn about my car, so thanks!

I own a '99 GLE auto, and I believe it's Cali-spec since I bought it in California. Yay for the slowest 4th gen on the road!

I recently have had a few problems crop up (I'm at a little more than 75k now, regularly maintained):

1.
I get knocking at idle. It's inconsistent, and I can't seem to find a consistent trigger for it. I took it to the mechanic and he said it might be the camshaft gears getting wacky on me. He said that he had a few Maximas come in with that. I couldn't reproduce it with him in the car though, so he said to get it reproduced, then go back before he could be sure of it. He pulled the codes and found nothing BTW, so probably not the knock sensor.

Does that sound right to anyone? I was thinking perhaps it might be coilpacks, which from what I read on here is a common problem.

2.
I park my car outside. The temperature gets down into the 30s sometimes, but we never have any ice or snow. One day, I went out and tried to start my car, but it wouldn't. The engine turned over, and it sounded like the car was trying to start, but it just weakly died. I went back in and Googled that perhaps I should try standing on the gas for a few seconds after turning the key to the "ON" position, before starting, to give the fuel pump a chance to get more gas in. That seemed to work, complete with a gassy-smelling fume out of my exhaust. I haven't had any problems since with starting.

Is this something I should be worried about? Perhaps my fuel filter was clogged, and I blew out the clog when I finally started my car? If so, does that mean I have to replace my fuel filter?

3.
Sometimes when I start the car, I hear this screeching sound from the engine compartment. Does that mean I need to re-lube my starter? I thought it was a slipping belt, but the mechanic replaced the belts, and I still have the problem sometimes.

Thanks in advance for any answers/opinions,

- nethack4ever

 

Welcome
1. Knocking at idle could be bad coils since you have a 99...
2. On fuel injected cars, pressing the gas does absolutely nothing other than drain gas OUT of the engine. It actually sounds like you need to clean your throttle body or check your cam and crank sensors.
3. That screeching sound is your belts, check the tension on them, what happens with new belts is, they have to be re tightened after a few thousand miles because the belt stretches.

 

thats funny "the tempurature sometimes gets down in the 30's" here in rochester we probally wont see any of the 30's until april and then it will be a heat wave, we will have the ac on and be wearing shorts and t shirts

 

1. it could also be the spark plugs missfiring, take them out see if they are still good or if oil leaked into it check the wire boots also
2. same as ant
3. same also

 

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll take a look at the car this weekend.