Well I wanted to thank everyone who offered help with my problems. This is actually a follow up to a thread I posted about a month ago. In this post I will say a few things that may be obvious. Please don't critisize them. I am doing it deliberately because when I first came here I didn't know squat and I want to be helpfull and thankfull at the same time here.

That thread can be read here:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=369441

I didn't want to post this there simply because I wanted folks to have a concise account of what happened and what I did to fix it.



It started when my friend took his (At the time) 95 GLE to Midas for a tune up. From that moment on it would stall at stop lights and stop signs. At first it was intermittent but got progressively worse. Not being mechanicly inclined at all he called around and was quoted everything from several hundred to thousands of dollars in speculative repair estimates. Not wanting to poor a bunch of money into a 10 year old car with 218 on the clock he decided he was going to sell it or trade it in. I jumped on the chance to buy it assuming I could fix the problem easily. that very model/color/year car had been on my want list since 95 when I was a saleman at John Elway Nissan.

I started google searching for repair/troubleshooting info and found maxima.org.

I started reading threads and became immediately dissapointed the search function was disabled. However I searched thru some 48 or so pages of threads and came to the conclusion that there were many folks experiencing similar (if not the same) problem I was having. I knew immediately I would find the answer to my problem.

I registered and then started forumlating a post. Immediately I got several helpfull tips and I went to work on my new Max.

It wasn't as easy as I thought. I ended up spending nearly $800 before I fixed the problem. BUT... the key here is I fixed the problem. I drove the car just now for 90 minutes without a single stall, sputter, or even a slight hesitation or rough shift.

Here is a list of everything that I went thru to get here:

In the beginning it would only stall intermittently. Only when the engine was warm, and only when comming to a stop. It didnt sputter or lurch durring normal highway or city driving at first but eventually would do all of those things all of the time..

I started by replacing the Engine Coolant Temp Sensor
($25 Autozone)
..........No Change

I then Replaced the Knock Sensor. After reading the FAQs and such I learned how to check the codes and such and it did indeed have the KS code.
($45 Autozone)
..........No Change


I then Replaced the fuel filter.
($10 Autozone)
..........No Change

I started getting an O2 sensor CEL from the right bank and someone mentioned a coil could be the problem. I thought to myself if a coil it going bad it could be pouring fuel into the cylinder and that might make the O2 sensor freak out. So I bought a coil.
($109 Nissan Stealership - Only place locally I could find one in stock)
..........No Change

Durring the process of swapping out the coil I came to the conclusion I might just have more than one coil bad. As fate would have it I found someone on ebay selling 6 coils for a 95-96 maxima. 3 left and 3 right. He wanted I think it was $6 or $7 each. I bought all 6.
($54 Ebay - Coils + Shipping)
..........No Change

Almost completely frustrated by this point I broke down and took it to the Stealership.
($109 Nissan Stealership - Diagnostics fee)

They diagnosed a bad AICV (Air Idle Control Valve). so I bought one content that my problems were about to be over (so I thought).
($184 Nissan Stealership - Dealer only part appearently)
..........No Change

Furious ... I took the car back and had them check again. This time they came back with MAF (Mass Airflow Sensor) So ... I bought one.
($181 Autozone)
..........PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

While I had the MAF and air box dissasembled I went ahead and did the "Stock Airbox Hack). It sounds great. I also counted $80 I spent on an o2 sensor in the total cost of resolving this problem because I would never have bought one if this problem had not occured.

I wan to appologize for spelling and gramar errors. I am tired and english is my second language. Pizza is my first. Or maybe its bass. Anyway ... I want to thank everyone who posted tips on my other thread and those who didn't post flames or uselless crap.

If not for maxima.org I would still have a broken max. Now turn on the search function.


---EDIT---

I bought the MAF from Autozone not the Dealer.

 

Good job on solving your problem..

I've always used the poor mans search

Originally Posted by imlikewoe
I have always been a fan of the Poor man's search...until today. Today i found a feature that lets you perform the poor man's search on Google. Yes that google. Basically it goes like this.

1. www.google.com
2. type in your search criteria
3. at the end of your criteria type site:forums.maxima.org
4. if you want to search for a certain phrase then quote the search criteria
5. Search


Example of the syntax.
"touch up paint" site:forums.maxima.org

 

thats pretty cool. I actually had no idea you could do that.


Thanks.

 

thats good to hear man, its kindof a shame you went through so much trouble just to find that it was the MAF, it didnt come up with a code? i dunno if i should but i would think so, but dont know a ton either
atleast now you have an awsome car and know how to fix alot more than i do!

 

Unfortunately no. The only codes I ever got were Knock Sensor and eventually I got O2 sensor codes for front right and left (seperate occasions).

 

how much did you pay for the car from you're buddy?

 

dang, i had the same problem where the car would just shut down when warm. It wouldn't throw codes... or if it did, when I tried to read it, it would freeze my code reader. Finally after 2wks of tinkering, it finally threw a perfect code; I went with it and turned out right. So I dunno wassup w/our ecu's.

In fact, in your case, according the FSM, the MAF sensor is a "low possibility item". Good job dood!

Jae

 

Glad to hear you finally got it all worked out simreal, too bad it cost you so much money but i'm sure you feel it was money well spent now that you have it running good. Look at it this way, with the mileage you have on the car, the things you changed would have gone bad eventually and you would have had to replace them anyway, you just beat the car too the punch

 

I paid $1500 for the Max. Again its a 95 GLE with 218000 Miles. The guy I bought it from is a close friend. He took beautifull care of this car and the interior is like new.

During this whole process I also added a few things to the car. I installed tokico struts, tein s-tech springs. Konig wheels an alpine mp3/cd head unit, fosgate amps, fosgate T1 subs, boston coaxials in the rear deck, and boston components for the front.

I love this car! The hacked airbox mod was so easy and it sounds so good. I think next on the list is either a budget y-pipe or tinted windows. Both will happen soon either way.

 

Glad to hear your car is working properly again. But I have to ask, where did you find the knock sensor at autozone for $45? I searched autozone for one and they have it listed at $169. If they are only $45 where you are, can I send you some money to buy me 4 of them?

 

Thats awesome you must feel like you're driving a totally different car with all the mods and i'm sure you're friend is kickin himself for getting rid of it

 

You are the man!!! I have been having the same problem for quite a while and it has been getting progressively worse as described. I had checked the CEL a number of times and always gotten the same O2 & KS codes but today I figure WTF ill try again.....Sure enough MAF code tripped. I just called my local dealer and they want a whopping $390 and that is at wholesale! Where did you get yours for $181? Do you know if it brand new or remanufactured? Thanks for the help!!!!

Warbucks!

 

UPDATE... I just checked w/ Courtesy Nissan and they show a list price of $547 and he said since I was from the ORG he could do it for $449....And I thought they were one of the better(AKA cheaper) dealerships out there.

 

They just recently jacked up their prices, soo much for that..

 

ebay - $50 MAF's once in a while this one guy had like 20 of them for $50 plus 15 shipping. check ebay nextime.

 

Yeah there is one on EBAY for $20 as of now but its for a 2000 and I am pretty sure they are different. The local Auto Parts places are around 225-250 but they are all Reman's...Mine is pretty bad so Ill prob just get a cheapy one instead of waiting for an EBAY miracle.

Warbucks

 

I just rechecked and I did pay like $150 for my knock sensor.

The MAF I bought from autozone. Looks like the current price is $220

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...+SENSOR+-+MASS

 

dang it, im having the same problem as this, i guess i will have to get a new maf. the thing that sucks is that all these problems has been hitting my car for the past 4 months, now im stuck with no money.
total spent in fixing my car in the past 4 months = about 2k. SUCKS!

 

heh, am I the only that read his first problem and thought IACV?

But after IACV, a MAF? Didn't think of it. doh.

 

I recomend poppong a known good one off a friends max (if you have one with a max) first. Its an expensive part to buy hoping it fixes the problem. The nissan dealershiup I took mine to used the MAF of the service managers max to check mine sine they didnt have one in stock. Did you already check/replace your ECTS?

Good luck with your problem.