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View Poll Results: What rpm does your nissan idle at?
500
13.33%
600
46.67%
700
26.67%
800
6.67%
900
6.67%
1000
6.67%
1100
0
0%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 15. You may not vote on this poll

Engine not idling at steady rpm

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Old 02-18-2009, 04:38 PM
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Engine not idling at steady rpm

My Nissan is a 1999 SE with manual transmission. No ABS.

The problem is that when it idles, it jumps a little around 600 rpm. It never did this before, and I am getting worried that something major may be going wrong with the engine. What's really dangerous about it is that sometimes while I am driving, the engine will go to such a low rpm that it will actually shut off. Turning it on is not a problem. Either re-engage the clutch or keep it in neutral and re-crank the engine. But if it does shut off, say, in a turn, I loose power steering and get very close to the side of the road. It's unexpected, so I could get into an accident one day.

In my attempt to fix it, I put a fuel injector cleaner into my gas tank once, and I changed the oil and oil filter, and I changed the spark plugs. I don't know what else to do. Any tips would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.

One more thing, when it first started happening, it wasn't low rev's. It was high revs. The rpm would jump from 700 to say 3000 and then 2000 and then 4000. Basically, it would go all over the place. But later, that stopped and now this happens. It doesn't make any sense.

Youtube video of the rpm's
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Old 02-18-2009, 04:49 PM
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1400 cold 600 warm in my '96 SE 5 MT.

BTW that was me who replied to your Youtube video
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Old 02-18-2009, 05:29 PM
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your rpm needle looks like it's dancing
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Old 02-18-2009, 08:09 PM
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Automatic; 1300-1400 cold start in P; 600-500 warm in D; 800 warm in N
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Old 02-18-2009, 08:10 PM
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Wouldn't the only things making it dance be
-MAF
-TPS
-Ign Coils
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Old 02-18-2009, 09:29 PM
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Originally Posted by EEMaxima
1400 cold 600 warm in my '96 SE 5 MT.

BTW that was me who replied to your Youtube video
lol. nice


and thanks for all the tips guys. i will check those things out. what's tps btw?
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Old 02-19-2009, 06:16 AM
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Clean the throttle body and the IACV.
Report back after that is done first.
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Old 02-19-2009, 09:14 AM
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I've always heard that it's good chance that you have a vacuum leak if your idle "lopes"
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Old 02-19-2009, 09:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Coolsaber57
I've always heard that it's good chance that you have a vacuum leak if your idle "lopes"
As per the FSM a faulty TPS will cause a hunting idle speed condition.
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Old 02-19-2009, 09:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Coolsaber57
I've always heard that it's good chance that you have a vacuum leak if your idle "lopes"
yes this is also what i thought
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Old 02-19-2009, 07:06 PM
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Originally Posted by njmaxseltd
Clean the throttle body and the IACV.
Report back after that is done first.
Yeah i totally forgot to mention that. You should give everything a proper cleaning before going to those things i mentioned. If it's never been done... then it will be very very dirty.

1) clean IACV and pieces
2) clean MAF
3) double check hoses for Vaccum leaks


** only use MAF cleaner on the maf and throttle body cleaner for your IACV and all of it's nooks and crannies. Using the wrong type of cleaners can cause more problems.



In retro-spect... the ign. coils are probably not the issue neither is the tps. I thought that you had done a proper cleaning already. My B!
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