I've taken my car in twice now to see if i can get the rough idle fixed, and both times I was told that nothing is wrong with the car. The dealership even threatened to hit me with a service charge if I bring it in again for the same problem. Anyways, I told them about the liquid motor mount problem with certain 2k1s and 2k2s and they upon their all-to-brief visual inspection, informed me that the mounts were fine and would be leaking fluid if they were bad. They also said they've never heard of bad mounts occuring on these cars.
Is there any way I can check the mounts to see if thats what is causing the problem? The car has been rough since i bought it, but has been getting slightly worse with harder jerks occuring irregularly between the smaller ones. I won't accept that my friend's old Integra with tons of mods idles much more smoothly than a relatively new, stock Maxima. The mechanic says my car is fine. He is wrong. I need to get this fixed before my frankencar gets here in a week or so (assuming they still take about a month to arrive) Any suggestions?

 

1st question:

Is your Maxima a 2001 or 2002 and is it a auto or 5spd?

2nd:

What model, SE, GXE, GLE?



Okay after this let me tell you my info that I know. My 2001 Maxima broke a motor mount at the track upon a hard launch I did. I felt it and heard the exhaust hit the car. I pulled back into the pits, and found fluid on the ground under my car. The rear motor mount under the firewall busted open. The car was rough when this happened and also made clunking noises.

I replaced this mount myself for $60 bucks~. It is very easy to do.

Now the reason I ask if you have a 5spd or auto is because the autos have electronically controlled motor mounts to keep them from vibrating. The 5spd does not. They are just standard rubber mounts with liquid. Now if you have a auto, its possible that one of the mounts went bad. If its a 5spd, I would do the following to test it.

Have someone get in your car, put it in R and 1st and do this a few times. Pull teh clutch out and slip the clutch with some gas but leave the parking break on. Only do it so much to make the engine ROCK in its mounts and see if it rocks alot or just a little. Look for any obnormal obstructions or noises that might occur. I suggest use ramps if you want to do this while its running under the car. But make sure the car doesn't move .

I hope this helps you some...let me know if you need any other help.

 

I have a 2002 SE automatic, so not much luck for the five speed advice. I'm not even sure if the motor mount is the culprit, but the first time I took it to the dealership they hooked the car up to their computers and found no faults. They gave it back to me saying that nothing is wrong, and even the guy who test drove my car said he didn't feel anything like a bad mount. There are no clunking noises from the engine. What happens is that when sitting at idle, I can feel an irregular pulse coursing through the car. These pulses are punctuated by slightly more forceful jerks, again occuring irregularly every few seconds or so. I must say that it is not a very forceful pulse, but still noticable and annoying. It is significantly more noticable in drive or reverse than in park or neutral. I've gotten a few comments from passengers about it.
When the hood is up, I can see the engine jerking ever so slightly in a manner consistent with what is felt in the car. The jerking remains even at higher engine speeds, but becomes unnoticable inside the car once I am moving.
I used to have a Camry with a bad engine mount, and it felt much worse than what I am feeling now in the Maxima. But I am at a loss as to what else it could be. I've tried a fuel system cleaner twice. Its been to the dealership twice. The idle speed is at 800 rpm, so no problem there, and the engine sounds like other any other Maxima. I'm very displeased with Nissan's lack of concern for my problem, especially since this car is supposed to have such a smooth engine.

 

If the car is idleing causing this to happen I doubt its a engine mount. Sounds like the engine is misfiring or something similar. I would try another dealer.

 

I will try the other dealership in my area. The one that I've been taking it to said that if the engine was misfiring or losing compression, their computer diagnostic would have detected it. Does anyone else have this problem out there, or is it just me?

 

I tried cleaning my throttle body today with a throttle body cleaner. I wiped the area off around the butterfly valve and had someone rev the car while i sprayed several bursts into the manifold. After this cleaning, the car seems to idle somewhat more smoothly, but still not as smooth as one would expect. Downsides? I have an SES light now and it idles 100 rpm higher than before.

 

Take a look at the plugs....plugs are your friend and can let you know if something internal is on the fritz. Also testing compression is simple enough and a trip to Pep Boys for a tester can rule that out also.

Good luck