punabuds

Okay, here's the deal. I have a 97 SE, 47k miles, automatic, just purchased it, it's from Texas.

Friday: I tried starting it around 4 PM, here in Utah the temp was about 92 degrees. It started up, the rpms ran up to about 1500 and then dropped down to about 1000 and then the car sputtered and then died. Tried again, same thing. Tried one more time and same thing. So this time I started it and then gave it some gas, held it for about 2 seconds (around 2k rpms) and then let off and the car stayed running.

Saturday: Started it at 7:30 AM, temp was about 73 degrees, started fine, no problems.

Sunday: Started it at 1 PM, temp was about 90 degrees, started fine, no problems.

Monday(today): Started it at 6:30 AM, temp was between 65-70 degrees, same scenario as Friday, started up but then died, tried again, it died. Third time I started and gave it gas for about a second, let off and it started to die so gave it more gas and held it for about 4 seconds and then let off and it stayed running.

I installed a JWT Pop Charger Friday evening around 6:30, haven't done any other mods. The car drives fine. No strange noises from the engine. It (the SE) does idle higher than my 96 GLE (when it's in park). I'll have to check them to verify that I'm correct. Not sure if that makes a difference. Any help would be great, if I need to give anymore info, let me know. Thanks!

ereet

Could be the MAF sensor, though that usually happens when someone buggers it up when changing the intake. When you installed the intake, you could have popped whatever was shaking around/loose into place. If Dan B. or someone can't come up with anything else, check that.

There's a little square on the MAF sensor where the wires connect held on by 4 bolts. Inside are 3 metal prongs that connect into the main MAF sensor body. If they don't maintain proper contact, you end up with exactly the same problem you seem to be having. I don't like taking it apart much since I botched it the first try and had to do it 2 extra times to get it to work normally again. If I were you, and it happens again, the gas seems to like it to stall. So stay off the gas when you hear it sputtering and whatnot, go under the hood, and see if moving the connection to the MAF sensor does anything. If it does, then you found the problem. But again, I'm nowhere near Dan B's or a lot of other peoples status, fixing it like this might be a bandaid instead of a solution

Daniel B. Martin

You may want to test your Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor. This is easy enough, requiring only an ohmmeter.

On the 4th Generation Maxima engine the Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor is located in the water outlet tube close to the engine end of the upper radiator hose. There are two sensors in that area. The one nearest the hose is for the dashboard temperature gauge. The ECTS, the one you're interested in, is right next to the the gauge sending unit. There is a good picture of these sensors in the Haynes repair manual on page 3-7.

With the engine cold, disconnect the ECTS and measure its resistance. Reconnect the ECTS, start the engine, run it until fully warmed up. Stop the engine, and repeat the resistance measurement. The "warm" reading should be a much lower value than the "cold" reading.

The manual gives these specs:
Engine coolant temperature 68F, ECTS resistance 2.1 - 2.9 Kohms
Engine coolant temperature 194F, ECTS resistance 0.24 - 0.26 Kohms
(Roughly a factor of ten difference.)

punabuds

Thanks for the replies. I'll go home tonight and see how it goes.

Daniel B. Martin

I wish I had a dollar for every post on this forum reporting a problem which arose soon after installing a mod. In some cases it is a bad mod; in others it is a botched installation.