JoshG

So progressively I have been putting 93 octane in my car and it has changed the car in my experience.. especially for 87 octane it ran like crap and had no performance...
I even tried flooring the pedal and it just wont go past 2k-2.5k and was very slow in accelerating..I had it like this for a year so I know how it was like... I am now never going back below 93 octane.

2 months later, i can be able to rev from 700 to 4k from a complete stop in a good amount of time but not great.

wait 1-2 more months...

The past month I have been having a blast going in front of a stop light, STEPPING on the gas pedal, Hearing my tires screech, takes off like a rocket and gets to 6.5k in a few amount of seconds, its so fun when I do it cause it is my first experience to be able to rev it that high! and the VQ power in this car is very fun when I had been missing all the fun in it the first year i owned it..

But the real question Is I have a EGR Code and a knock sensor code

Sometimes my RPM will stay at 1.5k RPM while driving even stepping on the gas pedal, I feel that the EGR is clogged and is not allowing air to pass it freely correct?

While driving, lets say im at 1.7k rpm going 40 MPH, I step on the gas, I can feel the computer trying to adjust how much fuel and power to let the car to let it take off, but it goes to 3k and drops.. What is this and how can i fix it? on a complete stop I Can FLOOR this thing to 6.5k RPM like a blast! but while driving going a certain amount of miles per hr and RPM the computer gets confused how much fuel to go..

what im saying is I want to floor the car while driving going
30 MPH at 1.5k RPM then I want to be able to REV it to 6.5k RPM


ok so a bad knock sensor from what I heard makes sluggish performance, such as maybe I was describing or the EGR that clogs it up?

What is the knock sensors job? A bad one would make me not rev to 6.5k?

What does the EGR do when its bad? my experience I am seeing that my RPM staying at 1.5k RPM even stepping on the gas pedal as it is clogged for 15-20 secs, unless i press the brakes, then gas it will rev to 2k+


I want to continue the joy of this car, and I am restoring the exterior recently and giving it a new touch, check out my expensive Wax job I did the other day on my own! and yes this is original paint I believe. its at 134k miles currently, still a baby with needs a little love under the hood, and little touch on the exterior, not too much to make it brand new again!

Cotozic

Glad you're enjoying your Maxima. I kinda had the same start to the performance world just by changing to the high octane.

Is your Max and automatic or manual transmission? Before I got a valve body upgrade for my transmission in my 3.5, I used to get a similar sluggish reaction when at certain RPMs after I decided to really give it some gas. Now I just get some confusion every once in a while which is quickly, and rather violently, shook off.

Perhaps it's just an auto thing The stock auto transmissions aren't really made with speed/quick shifting, and aggression in mind, but rather luxury and softness, so that might be why there's more delay.

JoshG

ah yes, mine is an automatic..The GLE version fully loaded, even though I made it look like a Sport-Luxury edition model.

so your saying that its just an automatic thing? whys that.

I have experienced in another car that was automatic, If I was at 30mph at 1.6k rpm, Then step on the gas the computer starts to send the computer how much fuel and power to give, then it takes off, On mine, it kinda gets confused while driving. So I know what I am looking for, but what is it that causes that?

CS_AR

Josh - How many miles do you have on your Maxima?

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

If you like your 93 octane, fixing that knock sensor is an ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT.
The car's engine computer uses the knock sensor to listen for knock. If it hears it, the ecu dials back ignition timing. What this means for you is less power.

Since you have a knock sensor code, it means that the computer has detected a fault in the knock sensor. The ECU will dial back ignition constantly now because of the KS code. It's to keep the car in safe mode, so to speak. You are not experiencing the full power of your car until the knock sensor issue is fixed.

That thing you describe about the engine being a bit confused about whether to downshift or not,I've seen in in my friend's I30. I recall after dropping and replacing (NOT FLUSHING) the tranny fluid, (Dexron III for 4th gen autos) and replacing the primary O2s, the car came back to life.

If you think your car is fast now, if you do your primary O2s, tranny fluid replacement and KS, watch

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Nope it's just maintenance. The tranny fluid is tired. Refreshing it wakes it up, like a blood transfusion.

JoshG

CS AR its at 134k at the moment.

So the tranny fluid is tired and I should drain and fill it? flushing is a big no no.

And yes, I am looking to see what I need to do in order to get this thing back to its beast VQ power..the computer thing I was describing is The oxygen sensors and tranny fluid being tired, worn out? And the Knock sensor gives its true power?

By the way, I heard o2 sensors are not cheap, where should I get them and how much should they be? even though I dont have a code for 02 sensors. where can trans fluid drain and fill be done at?

JoshG

CS AR I remember you have a list of what restores the true power of the car to rise it from the dead. at 120k-150k miles as a refresh maintenance as the parts are probably tired after all those miles

it was something like

EGR cleaning
Knock sensor
02 sensors
Valve cover gaskets?
and there was 2 more i think..

it was $800-1000 in parts for all of it, but there was 12 in that list. I would want to do that job to this car, how much am I looking at Parts and labor? even though I have no idea how old and tired the items are, I would rather put in new ones knowing I put new ones in and that they are working.

CS_AR

Let me find it when I get home tonight. Since I do my own work I won't have a clue about labor. Would you like to start doing some repairs yourself?

Sent from my Z998 using Maxima

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Joshg, goto YouTube. Look for videos by boredmder. He has lots of self help maintenance videos for the 4th gen maxima. You can easily do O2, valve cover gaskets, and KS, by yourself, save a ton of money.

CS_AR

The good news about working on Nissans is with some 8, 10,12, 14, 16 plug, and (22 mm or 7/8 for KS ) tools you can do a lot of your own repairs. With the money I saved from the first job I bought more tools to perform more jobs myself. It snowballs in a good way.
..

Sent from my Z998 using Maxima

JoshG

hmm I have no mechanic skills so with my luck I would mess something else and would prefer a mechanic who knows his stuff to do the job, the money isn't really an issue, I mean if i save a couple hundred bucks off labor that doesn't bother me cause I can make it back.. All I care about is that the job is done and what I want is done.

How hard are these jobs? Would a normal mechanic be likely to mess up or likely to do the job without screwing something else?

CS_AR

How would you feel about performing a maintenance operation like the one in the video? I certainly don't want to encourage you to work on a car when you don't feel comfortable doing it. Its not for everybody and there are varying degrees of depth and technique used by people who are comfortable with performing their own maintenance. As far as getting a mechanic to perform maintenance, I can't begin to predict how that would turn out.


I think this is the list below from an earlier post.

https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...-sluggish.html

JoshG

hah yeah by just getting half way there It makes me cringe, doesn't make me comfy lol

the only thing I like doing is keeping the car clean, maintaining the paint/black leather seats to have it in top notch shape.

but anything mechanical, I rather leave that to someone who knows how to do it.