Given that I am mechanically-challenged I know what I would do. I would bit the bullet and take it to a factory-trained Nissan mechanic and get the damn thing fixed. I don't know what would possess you to go to a Midas Muffler shop in the first place.

Find someone who knows the car and type up in chronological order all you have done to date to the car. I am sure this is no big deal and any mechanic worth a pinch of coon sh@t should be able to diagnose the problem before you do everything but buy a new radio for it.

 

It was taken to the MIDAS shop before it was mine. When I stated "I" had taken it there, I was simply trying to shorten the background info. In fact, thats the reason I got the vehicle. My co-worker took it to midas .. started having the problems, and didn't want to invest any more money into it.

I bought it for $1500 knowing this problem exsisted. There are $1500 worth of parts even if I can't get it running right.

 

coil packs coil packs coil packs....

 

I'm gonna replace the 3 right bank coil packs this week. I figure .. considering its the right side o2 sensor that went bad .. there's a pretty good chance its one or mor of the coils on that side too.

I'll report the results when I have them.

Thanks everyone for the help so far.

 

Coil packs won't cause stalling. The car will run fine with a coil unplugged and firing on 5 cylinders. Believe me, I've accidently done this and the only thing that caught my attention was that the engine sounded a little funny, but it idled fine.

You really should check the vacuum and verify that there are no vacuum leaks after the MAF sensor. I suggest taking the entire intake set up a part, inspect all the elbows, piping, etc for tears.

 

DaveB is right. A bad coil pack wouldn't cause it too stall, just run rough.

I would stop randomly replacing parts, and start doing a very detail diagnosis of the problem first. Like DaveB said, check for any vacuum leaks.

The KS should not cause stalls either. My KS was bad and all the car had was slightly less power since the ECU went into safe mode to protect the engine. Use the highest octane gas and then you wont have knock if everything else is fine.

Can you drive the car at highway speeds all day long just fine? If so, then I would think that the engine is getting enough fuel which means the fuel filter is not clogged to the point where the engine doesn't have enough fuel when idling.

Look at the exhaust. Is there excessive white smoke, brown smoke, etc. You commented that you smelled gas. This might be an indicator of the problem.

Check the spark plugs. They should be a light brown to brown in color on the electrodes. Are all the spark plugs the same color?

Check that you are not loosing coolant, that is, burning any coolant. Look at the coolant level in the radiator when it is cool.

When you start the car cold, listen to the car when you blip the throttle several times. Does it rev smoothly? Does it sputter and shake? Try holding a constant rev like 3000 and note anything unusual. Try doing all this when the car is warmed up and note the differences. Check the exhause again for the smell of gas.

Try what happens when you try turning on the accessories when the car is cold versus warm since the engine tries to compensate for the extra load.

Clean the throttle body, idle air components, air filter, battery terminals, pvc valve, etc.

You may have already done all this stuff, but from your posts I could not tell. Sometimes it is hard to suggest a fix if one doesn't know what all the symtoms are.

Collectively the members of this forum have experienced every problem that could happen to a Max and have probably fixed or know the fix to the problem. So, the problem really is describing the problem in as much detail as possible so that we can help you with your problem.

 

Yes


No


I'll have to check that.


Coolant is fine.


Yes, it sounds great until it stalls


Only in the immediate moments before it stalls


I have seen no difference in any of the accesories cold or hot.


Working on this right now. I'm looking for how to's on these now.

Thanks for the pointers. I will check these things.

 

Hmmm,

There are different mechanisms for controlling idle when the car is cold versus when it is warm. The fast idle is for when the car is cold.

Can you keep the car from stalling by applying extra pressure on the gas pedal?

Does it sputter when you try to hold at 1000 rpms with your foot on the gas, or does it run smooth and only stalls when you lift your foot?

 

lets talk about the gas smell. thats what my borthers car is doing .. what would cause the gas smell? the o2 sensor bad = ecu dumping tons of gas ?

 

When its obvious its about to stall, I am able to hold revs at 1000+if I put it in neutral. Sometimes after it stalls and I restarts it, it refuses to rev at all .. it will sit at 200-300 RPM reguardless of how much pedel I give it. It always revs up to 2-3k though after a few seconds.

 

this is not accurate

 

Coils could cause stalling?

I cleaned the Throttle Body today .. no change.

 

After reading your whole post i have come up with a few things that i think you should check. This is based on what you have already checked.

1. Intake Air Temperature Sensor

2. Engine Coolant Temp Sensor Harness, I know you have replaced the ECTS but try disconnecting the harness and see if it idles any better. {maybe a bad harness] Thus the smell of gas when the car stalls because the senor is telling the car to run rich because it thinks the engine is still cold when it is actually warmed up.

3.IACV [Idle Air Control Valve] This valve controls the amount of air that bypasses the throttle valve, which controls the engine IDLE speed, try cleaning this out .

4. EGR valve.

5. MAF - this is most likely your problem, try dissconecting the maf sensor and see what happens, if nothing happens then it is probably bad,go to a local junkyard, you can probably get 1 for about $40.

6. Also start checking all your vaccum lines, be sure to take a look at the PCV hose and the brake booster hose closely. also check the accordian tube for splits going from the air cleaner to the throttle body

These are just a few suggestions, good luck and keep us updated!

 

I'll try that stuff today. I have to find most of it. No idea where the EGR, IATS, or IACV are.

I just unplugged the ECTS and no change. It stalled before I left the driveway. I just got home from work so the engine is warm now. Its starting to occur more frequently now and sooner (in the engine temp range).

I started it and unplugged each coil and saw an immediate drop in RPM for 5 of the 6 coils. When I plugged it back in I got a noticable difference as well. On that sixth coil I saw almost no change when I unplugged it so I think I may have a bad coil. Or maybe a plug?

The only reason I haven't started changing out coils yet is because I am getting conflicting reports on wether a coil could cause the engine to stall or not.I can't find my damn multimeter so I can test it.


---EDIT---
Actually, isn't the AITS right next to the MAF? What should I be looking for with that? I have tried unplugging the MAF and it stalled immediately. I then unplugged it again and started the engine with it unplugged. The engine ran until I plugged it back in (which it then stalled).

 

Ok if it stalled immediately then your Maf is good. It will stall when you plug it back in as well, you will probably get a code as well, just ignore it and reset the ECU.

Now the IATS [Intake Air Temp Sensor] is a themistor that changes the resistance as temp changes. The sensor is installed in the intake air duct to sense air temp.

Before checking the IATS check the voltage supply and ground circuits from the PCM. Dissconnect the electrical connector from the intake air temp sensor and connect a voltmeter to the two terminals of the harness connector. Turn the ignition key key On, the voltage should read 5.0 volts, if the voltage is incorret , check the wiring from the IATS to the PCM.

You can also try measuring the resistance [with a ohmmeter] of the IATS by removing it and suspending the tip in a container of water,heat the water on the stove while you monitor the resistance, as the temp goes up the resisitance should go down. If you notice no difference in the resistance then the sensor is bad.

good luck, anyhting else i can help with just let me know. Thanx to the Haynes manual as well for the info.

 

1.The IATS as i described is installed in the intake air duct [on the side closest to the firewall]

2. the IACV which you should take off and clean is located directly past the throttle body assy.it is where you see the large black rubber hose that is connected to the air intake runs to, close to the firewall [hope that descrition helps]

3. The EGR is located directly in front of your "accordian" section of the throttle body assy. It is almost directly underneath your throttle linkage. Kinda looks like a mushroom with vacuum hoses attch to it. Check all hoses to make sure the are attched properly. Also try locating the EGR Temp Sensor as well, it is loctaed in the pipe leading from the EGR valve to the intake manifold, if you can find this you can try suspending the tip in water and seeing if the resistance drops as temp increases just like the IATS.

 

as far as the conflicting stories go about the if a bad coil back can cause stalling, i can only tell you that i had a coil pack go bad on my car, and it did cause my car to stall from time to time. if i was driving, and say taking off from a red light, the car would studder bad, real bad. it go to the point sometimes that the engine would barley remain running. if i was on the highway, i could be doing 60mph, and still feel the misfire from the bad coil.. the best way for me to explain it, is i could feel bumps or thuds. when i was trying to figure out what it was, i did the same thing you just did, unplugged each coil one at a time. everyone i unplugged yieled a big difference in the way the motor ran.. even the bad one.. but this is because now, instead of having the bad coil create a misfire, its not firing at all.. it will also trip the check engine light. the reason the check engine light doesnt come on with a bad coil, is because like i said.. its still firing, but misfiring. the spark can arc, misfire, and the computer will not detect it because as far as the ecu knows, its still firing.

 

just to add.. i think the biggest thing in here that points to a bad coil pack, is the fact that it only does it when the engine is warm.. mine did the same thing.. i changed the front 3 coils, and thought i had cured the problem.. i drove the car a few blocks away, ran fine.. stoped in gas station and it started again... the motor had be running for a while prior to me changing them out. and it was still warm, but im going to assume that it not so much that the motor has to warm up for the problem to show itself, but the coil packs have to warm up. my probelm was 100% the coil pack.. as soon as i located the bad one and switched it, everthing was fine

 

oh and one more thing.. i had just had my plugs changed when this started... started the day i changed em.. started off slow, and got worse over time. and of course the pack that was bad, was the driver's side rear.. the hardest one to get to

 

Dangit. I bought 1 new coil Right (rear) side and swapped out the passenger side coil.

Still stalled so then I took that coil (not the new one but the old one) and swapped out the center coil.

It stalled again so I swapped out the third coil on the rear bank.

Still stalled but upon further inspection I found a connector I had not seated properly so I redid the last 2 coil swapps.

The first stalled immediately and then finaly when I swapped the last one again it seemed to work. Darn if it didn't idle beautifully. I drove it highway & city for 45 minutes.

Initially it was awsome. After the first 30 minutes I noticed the slightest little sputter in the idle (at stopsigns/stoplights) but it didn't stall once. Finally I pull into my driveway, happy to have resolved the problem. I pull up into my spot .. and one last time I decide to hold the break and leave the tranny in drive (as if I were at a stoplight/stopsign). Damn it ... IT STALLED!

 

i would suspect you have more than one bad coil pack. in the very begining, when mine first started to go, it didnt do it ALL the time.. i could only notice it when i was stopped at a light or stop sign. im sure it was doing it as i was driving, but the thuds and little studders i just felt like hitting a peice of uneven pavement or a slight bump. if i changed the plugs, it wouldnt do it for like 30 min.. (have no idea why, but thats what it did). you might wanna try getting another one, ir just replacing all 6. they are a common problem with these cars, and nissan has redesigned them. i went to a junkyard, and found the same motor with similar milage, and just bought all 6 for $100. i figured in the worst case i only needed 2, so 2 outta the 6 had to work ya know...

 

Good idea.

 

My car had the exact same problem. It started as a rough idle when the motor was warmed up and quickly progressed to stalling at lights. I cleaned the throttle body and it completely solved the stalling problem, but now it is idling rough still, in fact it's getting worse. ECU threw a code for the idle air control valve. I need to check that out. It also only does it when warm, the idle smooth enough to not be noticeable when it's cold. Also it runs very smoothly once it revs to 1k and over. Good luck, I'll be interested to see what you come up with.
-R

 

I'll look at the TB. I cleaned it a few days ago and didn't seem to make much difference. I think I could prolly clean it better if I pulled it. I think the intake (behind the TB) was really dirty too. So maybe if I pull the TB I can clean in there a little too.

I pulled the PCV today and checked it. It looked ok. I shook it and it rattled like its supposed to. I sprayed it with some carb cleaner and put it back in. That didn't make much change either.

I'm so bummed right now. I drove it for like 45 minutes yesterday .. no stalling. I thought I had it. Since then its stalling just as often.

 

I changed all 6 coils now. Still stalling. Any chance bad O2 sensors would cause it to stall?

I know I have at least one O2 thats no good. I'll replace that tomorrow and see what it does for me.

 

It's probly been said before, but try raising the idle... And seems like you have a vacuum leak somewhere..

 

I already tried that. I have the idle at 1500 right now (which is kinda high) and it still stalls. I don't have the slightest idea where to look for a vacuum leak so thats gonna be a tough one.

 

Just took it to Nissan and they think its the IACV. They want $171.67 and they say the bracket on the new ones is a little different so I have to have that too. The bracket is $39.60 and the gasket is $3.34.

Does any else think the IACV could be causing this problem? Also .. where can I get one of these without shelling $300+

 

Well ... replaced the IACV. Still stalling. I took it back to nissan and now they say its the MAF.

I asked him what recourse I had if they replaced the MAF and it didn't resolve the problem. The only thing he would say is the IACV was masking the MAF problem.

Friggin stealership .. thats the reason I didnt wanna take it to them. Here I am $700 in the hole since yesterday and still no idea if its gonna fix the problem. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

I decided Nissan can **** in a lake. Autozone can have one for me in a few days and its $225 cheaper. I also picked up an O2 sensor. I'll replace it when I replace the MAF.


---------------------------

On a side note ... I installed my tokico struts and my tien s-techs today.

 

Replaced the MAF sensor. Problem solved.

Thanks maxima.org. You guys are great!

Read a condenced version of this post here:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....95#post3702395

 

glad to hear you got it fixed.. did you have the gas smell on the inside of your car too? if so did it go away.

 

thanks goes out to simreal from me and my brother. we had the same problems with his max. i followed your final step replaced the maf. she is running better than ever now. thanks again.

 

Yes .. I had a really bad gas smell. I guess the ECU was just dumping fuel in it. I noticed a huge increase in gas milage since I fixed it.

Glad to hear you got your fixed too.

 

I have been having the same problem with my car, I guess ill have to try changing that out, I thought I was the only one. I hope it works for me. Thanks!

 

U took it to MIdas for a tune up!!!? HAHAHA They dont even know how to do an oil change!

 

so does this mean youll be going to the colorado meet?

also what size tires are those?

 

Sorry for the delay in the reply. Its been a little crazy here lately. Internet time is slim.

The tires are 225/40/18's (I think) I'll double check and update (if they aren't) when the wife gets home.

As far as the colorado meet goes I'll be there (if I'm still here when it happens). I'm moving to Omaha in a few weeks. I just accepted a position there (which explains the busy part).

 

This was a great thread. bravo. Good luck Simreal

 

I knew it was the MAF......

 

Glad I read this whole thread. I'm in the same boat. Changed coolant temp sensor, cleaned IACV, checked TPS, checked crank shaft sensors, I used a multimeter to check the MAF connector resistance, cleaned throttle body - keeps stalling. Wifes still driving it - (only 3 mile commute) - but she started it up this morning - said it didn't just start - she had to step on the gas to get it to turnover. It ran, but finally the CEL is on. Funny to say that. Atleast now I can check for a code. Not gonna do it tonight - maybe tomorrow. Maybe its the MAF - I don't give a sh_t what it is as long as its fixed. Hopefully I can post my happiness too.