Swazey

My 96 sat for 4 years (biggest regret of my life) while I was living it up in NYC. I recently moved to MA where I am using the car as my daily driver because lets be honest, why would anyone not want a 4th gen as a daily driver?

It took a little while to get the car started, but all it needed was a new fuel pump. The car seemed underpowered, and I have headers, y-pipe, high-flow cat, and Greddy Evo SP2 catback. It never seemed to run efficiently after sitting for so long, in WOT it always seemed to lag a bit on the low and top end power. This is what I have replaced so far:

- fuel pump
- fuel pressure regulator
- fuel filter
- spark plugs
- MAF
- IACV
- oil and filter
- knock sensor
- manual tranny fluid
- ECTS

I was cleaning my MAF last week and knocked it off the table and it bounced on the floor. When I reinstalled it, the car would start but I couldn't rev the engine because dropping the MAF must have damaged it. I also immediately pulled a code for malfunctioning MAF.

I got a replacement MAF and IACV from blackmaxftw - thank you.
I went ahead and got a replacement IACV because when I started my car it would rev to about 2100rpm until it got to temp. and randomly rev when I depressed the clutch. Once the engine got to temp, it would idle fine but sometimes it would randomly jump to 1500 for a few seconds then drop down to 700. To me, it seemed like the idle control was not working properly.

While I had the MAF and IACV off I went ahead and cleaned the throttle body and EGR.

Im still having a hard start problem - probly the starter which is a remaf Nissan one that was on the car when I bought it with 65K. Now the car has 150K on it. I took the starter out and regreased it. The grease that was in there was minimal and very sticky and hard for the gears to move.

I put everything back together and started her up after sitting for a week waiting for the parts. The starter sounded great and turned easier than it did before. It sounded like it was slowing down before.

After all that:

starter - turns more easily, doesn't sound like its trying so hard to turn

MAF - sucks air in better than it did. the car sounds like its able to take a "deep breath" and the throttle response is amazing. It pulls in every gear.

IACV - when the car is cold it holds idle at 1500 rpm exactly and when warm idles at 650-700 on the nose.
no more random idle revs or spikes like before

exhaust - now since the car is breathing properly, my exhaust sounds like I remember it did when I had it installed. When I put my hand behind the exhaust pipe it is pushing out much more air than before.

How could I better tune my car? Would a safc or vafc help even though I do not YET have a de-k setup?

I have an oil gauge that is leaking - I am in the process of getting it fixed - could a leaky gauge cause enough difference in oil pressure for a hard start?

What else could I do to help with the hard start? - It cranks a few times then starts. I have also cleaned all grounds and added grounding wires.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Check the ECT sensor, make sure it's within spec when it's cold.

Swazey

my ECTS is stating to leak just a little, time to replace? They're cheap enough

95franklin

It shouldn't be leaking, maybe it's loose. It is found sometimes to cause hard start issues though (reporting wrong coolant temperature). Not a very expensive part, but check it with a multimeter first.

Swazey

i just picked one up at napa for $20 - didn't help any on the hard starting issue.