Just bought a low mileage 99 from my son. Driven a bunch of times until he bought a 15 Murano. Bought as second vehicle but here is the issue. Sometimes when you stand on brakes and motors goes below 500 rpm it shuts off. Plugged in my Autel code scanner...no codes. Thought maybe it was brake booster,,,clamped off line, no change. Only 125k miles and like I said I have driven it several times with no problems. Need help please

 

Your Idle Air Control Valve (iacv) probably needs to be cleaned.

It's job is to provide enough air to run at idle.

Good detective work regarding the brake booster line.

 

Where is it and how to clean

 

Use the Search feature on this forum, or the frequently asked questions.

Also check you tube.

It's next to the throttle body towards the firewall.
It has half inch or so hoses connected to it to supply air. Also 3 or 4 electrical plugs.

You will need to remove it, disassemble the parts, then clean with carb spray and paper towels or a rag.

Its,also a good idea to clean your throttle body at this time. That could also cause your issue.

Do youtube searches with words like
Nissan VQ 3.0 idle and stalling

Or VQ throttle body cleaning.

Watch the videos long enough to familiarize yourself before you attempt this.

This will take some time to do. Be glad that you are not paying a mechanic for this.

 

sounds like fun. Thanks a bunch

 

This is about cleaning off some crud deposits inside the throttle body and iacv.

You might want to start with the throttle body.
Perhaps that alone might solve your problems.

This is not costly. You will need some carb spray and some throttle body spray.

While you are in there anyway, you might as well spray the maf wire with maf spray.

This project does take some time and hassle.

Not too bad though

 

Your problem may have nothing to do with the brakes, it just occurs when the car is in gear and stopped, which is when the idle is lowest. If it's idling poorly anyway, that might be enough to kill it. Hence the advice about the IACV and throttle body. I had a similar idle drop years ago, and it went away when I switched my plugs to NGKs. If you haven't already figured it out, you should only run NGK plugs in these cars.

 

Actually when you get the results, THAT's FUN!

And the satisfaction of doing it yourself and saving hundreds of dollars are even more great perks!

Winning where the rubber meets the road...... LITERALLY!

 

Actually hate jap cars, but it was cheap. And I haven’t seen a video yet that shows this cars set up

 

Thanks for your comment. Your explanation was better than mine.

Yes, an engine is supposed to idle at a certain rpm.
That allows the engine to idle smoothly, and not die as soon as one presses the gas.

Eventually crud deposit's restrict air flow till the engine can't breath.

One can fix this by spending less than 50 bucks of chemicals and gaskets, perhaps less than 20 dollars.

Or one can pay a lot more at a shop.

Also: attn KP. Seems that we both enjoy thinking abut what a shop would charge for the same repair.
The cost difference could be enough to buy a
mid sized HDTV or a nice weekend trip with ones partner.

 

found it within literally 10 seconds of YouTube searching 5th gen but VQ30

 

It's nothing like the 5th gen . It's not on the TB.

 

Cleaned throttle body and iacv. Ran great when I test drove it, wife says it’s acting up again. Someone posted about ngk plugs. Could spark plugs cause this problem too?

 

Glad that cleaning the tb and iacv helped.

You might want to raise the idle speed a bit.

Yes, our cars like NGK plugs. You might be experiencing missing due to old plugs, or incorrect plugs.
It's all part of catching up on deferred maintence.

Your preferred make of car might also act the same way if it's been neglected.

 

Bought from my son...probably has dollar store spark plugs

 

If these cars are maintained, they will run to 400,000 miles. Keep up the maintenance. This was one of the best engines Nissan ever built.

 

I guess not only do I have crappy plugs but my son installed new coil packs from rock auto

 

Seems that you are making progress.

I'd start with NGK plugs. Oil in the plug wells means valve cover issues. Leave the coils alone for now.

A neglected car usually has a bunch of little things wrong with it. Some steady work here and there cold make it desireable again. You might be pleasently surprised if you keep at it. These are good cars.

 

I am a heavy equipment tech by trade....been working on my own cars, motorcycles etc for over 40 years. The Maxima is very peppy, just very different than anything I’ve worked on. With the help I get on here, pretty sure it will get worked out. Thanks you guys

 

Suggest measuring the actual delivered fuel pressure against the factory spec BEFORE replacing coils & plugs. Also check for un-metered air entering the TB by spraying throttle body cleaner on top of the running engine - engine RPMs should NOT increase (TB cleaner "fuel" should not have a way to enter system). If it does increase RPMs then you're sucking in air after the MAF, that would result in you running lean...


https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...-together.html - good stuff here. I wish I'd checked the fuel pressure / replaced the fuel pump first.


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

 

I had an issue with my 99 i30 dying at traffic lights. I'd be sitting there and then all of a sudden it'd die. Sometimes I'd catch it starting to stumble and I'd give it gas and it'd be ok. I replaced my MAF and all was ok. At the time I had over 200k on my car so I went with an ebay MAF that worked until I sold it 10k miles later. These cars are all over junkyards now, so you may want to give that a shot for a cheap fix.

 

OK....Just replaced plugs with NGK Iridium IX. Helped but more of same. However, now I am getting codes. 1. PI 320 ignition signal primary 2. PO 110 intake air temp sensor 1 circuit 3. PO120 Throttle/pedal position switch A. Any ideas?

 

Coils....Intake air temp sensor......TPS sensor......money pitt sensor lol

 

Some of these parts might be 20 yeaRS OLD....you have 6 ignition coils .....maybe one was bad the whole time

 

my son replaced them all.....from rockauto.....not really sold on their electrical parts

 

Intermotor parts from Rockauto are normally repackaged OEM at a sometimes better price. That is except for coils and MAFs. For those you really should run OEM. I think one of our members knows of an aftermarket that works well. I keep a couple of spare MAFs that I collected from junkyards for when I may need one. They are like $35 each at the junk yard. Take it home, clean it, then run it. I keep a known working and clean MAF in a plastic bag in my workshop.

Our MAFs are like Cats (the animal). They don't like water. Often when someone get a used Maxima they decide to pressure wash the engine or the seller may have pressure washed it. Pressure washing around a MAF usually brings problems. They need to be opened up, the wires replaced, resoldered, and resealed. I'm learning that Toyotas from the same time frame as just as picky about MAFs and Coils as our Nissans.

 

I have been running NGK copper v-power plugs (yes the ones that are low cost) in all of my 4th gens for years. Amazingly, all are still running the original coils. I just don't have coil problems. I have spare OEM coils that I collected from junk yards to cover me if I should have a problem. But so far, I've learned that copper v-powers get along well with 21 year old coils.

 

From experience with Nissan's in general for about 20 years, Please go pick up a OEM Mass Air Flow Sensor from a local junk yard. A faulty one can cause ALL of those codes and symptoms. Start there before you do anything else.

 

show a pic?

 

 

Can it be cleaned?

 

Yes but if its bad Internally a cleaning isn't going to help. Just pick up one and try that.

 

Update time. New NGK Iridium plugs, new coil packs, cleaned MAF sensor with proper cleaner. Car runs worse. I like this car but am getting near wits end. Any other ideas? Havent ran another scan since doing this stuff because of everyday Florida rains. When I cleaned IAC, is anything supposed to move? My son had pulled upper intake to change a nox sensor but said it ran bad before but was throwing nox sensor code. Im trying to include everything I can think of that we have done. I also turned up the idle a tiny bit. Doesnt even run good at idle once it warms up

 

Please get a Mass Air flow Sensor. Nothing you are doing is going to fix it if it is bad internally. Go to a local junk yard or order one online. Cleaning it does nothing if its bad. With these cars that should always be the first thing you do. Start the car unplug the sensor and see how the car runs. If it runs better then plug the Sensor in and see if the car starts acting up. If it does.... that is the problem.

 

Update. Installed new MAF sensor and new ignition condenser. Ran at idle for about 30 minutes. Went for a test drive. Still runs like crap. Still has P1 320 code too

 

the code you are getting is related to a bad coil or coils(s) i know someone else has said this already, but you need to retest the coils and also make sure plugs are ok. maf should be oem trust me, i've been down that road to hell many times with my 294,000 mile max. she's a testy ***** and likes to **** you off any chance she gets.

 

is there a way to test maf off engine?

 

To test the maf you know it won't let you past 2500 rpms now that's a bad maf. To test it start the car and rev it it won't pass the 2500 rpm mark it's a bad maf or you can unplug it while its running and try revving it ,if it passes the 2500 rpm, it's the maf I am not sure it would cut off in the process but you can plug it back in and check for it if it cuts off after you installed it. It might cut off but the car has past the 2500 rpm without the maf plugging it back in will cut it off or limit the 2500 rpm revs. The p1320 is the ignition coils and those must be replaced the code will say it's the ignition signal leaning toward the coils they are misfiring. The car wants OEM coils.

 

It runs past 2500 rpm just badly. not showing misfire codes but still p1320 code. ohming out coil packs and checking each plug for power and ground. seems to be running worse

 

as far as the coils, just pull one at a time while car is running, if there's no difference in the idle than that coil is probably bad or failing. oem only as vq stated, the rest fail very fast and are unreliable.