Engine started to miss all of a sudden.
 

Hi,
I have a 1995 Nissan and up until this morning it has ran perfectly. I drove the car this morning for a few hours, put 100% fuel in it, then drove back home. A few hours later I had to run an errand and when I started the car all of a sudden I could feel the engine miss/skip. It actually felt like someone was bumping the car.

Like I said...up till this point I've never had an issue with the engine in any way. I can only feel this miss/skip/bump while at idle...when at highway or road speed the engine is responsive and runs great.

I'm hoping someone can tell me what may be going on. Fouled spark plug, bad gas or timing? Thanks in advance for any help or direction you can give.

Check engine light on or off?
When was the last time the spark plugs were changed?

Like previously asked is the CEL on? If not hopefully it'll come on soon so you can pull the code but being that sudden or intermittent if i had to guess sounds like a bad coil.

The Check Engine Light is not on and I think I changed the plugs 2 years ago.

Check to make sure your CEL bulb actually works when you start the car next time.

Take it to autozone and have them code it for free, if nothing pops up then you need to start from the source of the problem. Is the engine not pulling in enough air, not getting proper battery connecting, yada yada yada

Mine appears to be the same. Subscribe to this thread seeking advices. It starts to happen out of the blue, not always, at random frequency. No CEL light, no code on OBD reader. Mine around 60K miles/4years since last tuneup with plat. NGKs by dealer service. Alternate 89/91 octane.

Any suggestion for OP and me?

You mentioned that the car ran perfectly until you did a fill-up. Now the car runs like crap. You might have a bad batch of fuel. Run it down to half a tank. Then fill with premium gas. AT A DIFFERENT STATION. If the car starts running better, you have found your problem.

+1 I was thinking the same thing. Might be a little water in that gas.

Will try a fillup with premium gas, and report. Thx.

Fill a tank of 93 octane, the symptom has not re-occurred. That is a good sign.

I hope I know what is causing it.

Today nice day, I gave the engine a bath with pressure hose, followed with an air dry with a leaf blower. Then reward myself with a short errand 10 minutes after it. All of the sudden, the engine skipped a lot more, it ran really rough. Into 5 minute drive, CEL lighted up. Then, CEL started flashing. I immediately stopped on the first parking lot nearby, and pulled the code: p0305-misfire cylinder 5, and p1320 generic ignition control system malfunction. Yah. Limping home, 5 miles seemed so so far way.

...

At home, I started checking coil pack #5, found water stain. Clean, reset CEL. CEL tripped again: P0301 - misfire cylinder 1. Found water (I mean water) in the spark plug cavity. Then I proceeded cleanup/dry up all remaining coilpacks and the cavities. After these, the engine seems to run fine, no skipping, no hiccups.

There are 2 rubber grommits on the coilpack that act as seals. But once the water has seeped in, it is trapped, no escape. Mine is original and looks like it is losing its seal (at 222M). I found that in order to have misfire code, the engine must run like crap.

So OP, check/clean your coilpacks and the spark plug cavities. When you start cold, vapor condensed to water, your engine skips (like hiccups), when your engine is hot, water reaches boiling temp and vaporizes so your engine seems normal (like freeway cruise).


Beside, I have a hard time cleaning #5, I don't have proper tool to snake around all those egr hose system right above it. I really got a blue face! Hope I did not destroy my maxima.

makes me soooo nervous to wash my engine