help - engine shakes at low rpm's
 

big shout out to all maxima owners - I'm nick and i have problem with my 97 se auto - whenever i come to a stop and i keep my foot on the brake pedal engine shakes and rpm's drop to 500 and than go back up to 700 - but it only takes a second - i use premium gas (93) and I just replaced fuel filter and cleaned throtle body today
check engine light it's not showing up - i'm going to replace knock sensor next and if this doesn't help - looks like i'm gonna have to spand some cash on new injectors
does anybody have any ideas what might be wrong with my max ???
btw - i'm running bosch platinium 2 instead ngk - is bosch shaking my max engine ???
all info will be appreciated
thanks nick

same thing happens to me. i dont have a solution tho =\.

First off, get rid of those Bosch plugs.

Check your default idle speed. Disconnect the throttle position sensor, start the car and see where it idles. (You can start it once like this with out the CEL light tripping.) It's probably to low, it should be at 700 - 750. I like to adjust the throttle plate stop set screw, some on here and the hanes manual say otherwise but the results I get doing it this way are always great.

Remember to reconnect the throttle position sensor after you make the adjustment or you will get a check engine light the next time you start the car.

If it's still to low after you reconnect the throttle position sensor, then the IACV will need to be adjusted.

Do any of you think it could be his MAFS?

Very possible...... Do the tap test! Hit the MAF sensor while the car is running, if it stumbles - BINGO !

WoW, jut tap the top huh? I need to do that today, because I have a stutter/hesitaion type of deal when I accelerate, and a bouncy idle.

BTW, Nick, if you find it to be the MAFS and don't have the 500+ dollars to buy the part from nissan, try thepartsbin.com, they sell it for 200, but if you want to to try a used part, try car-part.com, I found one on ther for 35 dollars:goofy:

thanks a lot to all you guys for info !!!
today i have replaced all my bosch 2 with ngk's
and I also replaced one ignition coil (75 $ ) from local dealer
and car is purring like kitten !!!
dammm !!! I'm soo glad I got rid of those bosch sparks !!!
rpm's are stable and gas pedal feels very firm
took me over 2 hours to get the boot that was stuck ( lower part of ignition coil )but finally I got it out with piece of wire
anyway - for any maxima owners out there with bosch spark plugs -
get those pieces of s..t out of there !!! and check your ignition coils
thanks a lot again !!!
nick

My car has the same symptoms. Happened right after I cleaned out the Throttle body.

I think I sprayed too much into the body.

Can this harm the plugs?

K.

Next time the boot gets stuck, save yourself some time. Get crazy glue, apply it to the shaft of the part which came our of your car. Insert it back onto the stuck boot. It slips right in, wait 5 minutes and pull that baby out. Works like a charm, and the boot will be nicely glued on so it wount happen again.
No matter how many people post problems with Bosch plugs, somebody always winds up putting them in.

my wife's 95 maxima GXE also shakes it started a week ago.
First the CEL came on and a week after started shaking
I did the Manual scan and got the codes:
0707 ( rear heated 02 sensor) and 03 04 ( knock sensor).
After code reset light CEL went away and the car ran ok for two days until CEL came back on with the same codes.
A quick lube was done like a month 1/2 ago ( there was no CEL light until 2 weeks after the oil change)
need to find out if the sparks plugs were changed

There is a sound ( like puff puff) from the back of the car( by the muffler). It shakes when idle.( badly)

what you guys think?

Thanks

My Max has the same exact codes and problem. (97 gle) tried the tap test, not that. Plugs are most certainly not bosch (ngks, forget which bought them awhile back) Though mine only seems to rattle when its not warmed up. Today it did something wierder too, put it in reverse to back out and with foot only on break it started reving up and down. same thing in drive. in neutral or park it doesn't do either. Also it blew out a pretty big cloud of smoke. oil was just changed about a month ago...thats when all this really started, although i had the CEL's for a while before that. Any help would be beyond awesome. Thanks guys (and gals)

It could be a very simple solution...I'd vote for a ditry throttle body...

If i were you I'd invest in a can or carb cleaner($7) and clean your TB. If you dont know how go to motorvate.ca for a tutorial.

If that doesnt work for you, my second guess would be a bad MAF sensor...

which model of ngk spark plugs did ya get? i went to the website and can't figure out which model to get

mounts

in my case not sure if it is the mounts because of the following reason:
When I was doing the code scan and put everything back together, the CEL went away for about 2 days.

During that time, the engine did not do its shaking, until 2 days later that the CEL came on.

the question is can a problematic coil trigger codes for Rear 02 sensor and Knock Sensor? I have not check the coils at all and that weird sound by the muffler concerns me.

does cleaning the TB can stop that annoying shake? can it cause the codes for Rear 02 sensor and Knock sensor?

Bringing back a 7 year old thread... :rotz: Newbie thread's here for a reason.

No, a bad coil more than likely won't cause an O2 sensor code. Have you tested the oxygen sensor yet?

Have you done any diagnostics yet to narrow down which cylinder is misfiring? Replaced the plugs, swapped coils, tested injectors?

The 'weird sound' from the exhaust is just the sound of a misfire.

The oxygen sensor has not been tested. I guess I will need to find out how to do that and how to test the injectors.The Only thing I have done is just get the codes, I was afraid to take the car to a mechanic that could easily rip me off and change a bunch of parts I wouldn't need

Those are good suggestions and I will test those as soon as I can.
forgive me but I do not know much about cars but I will do my best to get it fixed with the help of this great site :)

I had the opportunity to do the scan again and besides 0707 and 0304 I got 0604 which according to the research I've done is is Cylinder 5 misfire. Now researching on how to test that out.
Something new is that the CEL looks like it if was to turnoff but does not get to that point.

That does not always work if it is faulty. For example. I had a bad maf one time and I unplugged it and then the car died out, but it died at 15secs or so after I unplugged it. Good tip tho, if is a bad connection causing different readings as you hit it.

Swap the #5 coil with the one from either 1 or 3, see if the misfire code jumps cylinders as well. If not (and you're already replaced the plugs) it's more than likely the injector, if so, it's the coil.

Thank you pmohr I will try that today.

Help?!
 

I can"t post a new thread and don"t know why. Can someone help me please? I have a serious prob with my maxima. Thanks in advance for your time.

Nevermind, I did some searching and I found out the reason.

I was able to replace coil#1 with coil#5 and the code stayed the same, 0604 Cylinder#5 misfire. although the CEL was off since it was reset I ran those codes again and that was the result. Should I have to wait until the CEL comes on again to scan the codes? or it is ok that I ran the codes with no CEL present?
I will now try to swap spark plugs from position 5 to position 1.
update to come shortly.

So you reset the codes, and after swapping you ran them again and got 0604?

Didn't you already change all the plugs?

I just finish swapping the plugs, car is on right now about to run the scan again

Car is shaking a lot less than it was before doing anything. After swapping plugs ran the codes and got 0604 and 0304 again. I am no longer getting the 0707 code. The issues points now to the Injector; although I have to mention that the temp gauge was not moving at all when the car was on. Now it is normal(half) and the car seems stable.

There is still little shaking I can probably upload a video or so.

searching now on how to check the injectors I heard the are hard to manage.

Try to unplug and replug the piece and if the engine doesn't fluctuate then the piece is bad. If the engine does shudder then it is good it might be a little pia as its under the manifold. Or if you can take it off run a resistance test on it.

What 'piece'?

You can ohm out the rear injectors without removing the UIM.

I cleaned out my TB and (thanks to my girlfriend's small hands) changed the KS shaking is gone :). Thanks guys! Oh, how long (miles driven) does it take for the ecu to reset with the new sensor and remap everything to good?

That is my next step. I need to figure out if I can do this as I have to remove the manifold and throttle body. by the way what does UIM stands for? sorry for my ignorance

OK so you had codes 0304 and 0604 and 0707( no longer getting that code)
Engine was shaking? specially when Iddle?
putting sound from the muffler?
Did you ever try to test Coil, injectors?

I am just trying to find out if Can probably do the same on mine.
I am still getting code 0604( misfire Cylinder#5) and 0304( knock Sensor)

Thanks

UIM == Upper Intake Manifold.

You can ohm out the rear injectors via the connector to the right side of the UIM, right above the rear head. It's the subharness for the CKPS REF and the rear bank of injectors.

You won't be looking for an absolute value (as you would for the fronts) but a difference in values. This is just to make sure that the subharness isn't altering your readings to any significant degree.

That makes sense Thanks!

i was only getting the 0304 and 0707 codes on mine. no misfiring or putting sound from exhaust. the 0304 hasnt come back yet either, but its only been a day and havent driven it much since changing the KS. Mainly the shaking would happen when it was cold. I.e. sitting all night and then started. would only happen if i put it into d or r. in P or N it was fine. Now none of that happens. I did notice though that in P or N it idles at about 1.2k before it was just below 1k. Not sure where exactly it should be idling. This is cold btw. Warm it idles a little lower. about 800. I'm gonna take it for a spin a little later and I'll post what happens.

The piece would either be the coil or injector

interesting, at first I was also getting 0304 and 0707. Then couple days after 0604. When the car was really shaking it was idle a lower than 500 and it almost went near zero angine looked like it was going to shutdown but never did. Now idles a around 800 or so.

The coil I did try; no difference. Injector still looking on how to do that since it is #5 it is kind of though to get it out.

It seems I Will have to take it to the Mechanic to have that injector tested. It seems to be a task a cannot do complete lack of tools and looks scary.

here is a video of the sound of the car, no doubt it is misfire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWf1LFK3T9Q