i swear to god its not the maf....

 

im taking it to another mechanic, apparently the vq IS AN INTERFERENCE engine and could have bent up some valves if the timing were off. i was talking to the Nissan Tech and he said from point one if you run the car with no oil that could very well happen.

 

What do you have for backing that it is not the MAF? Not doubting you, just asking for definitive data.

We could have told you that it was an interfaced engine.

 

Slightly bent valves would probably allow the engine to run...badly.

I got hold of that other mechanic in Austin, sent him the link to this thread but haven't heard back from him. Sorry I wasn't able to hook you up with him, he is an excellent mechanic. I know another one in Richardson but I doubt you want to transport your car 200 miles one way. If anyone could figure it out, he could though. Took him about 2 hours to find an on and off miss my Accord had for 2 years that no one else could find. Turned out one of the wires on the O2 sensor had worn and was randomly contacting the front engine mount on acceleration and over bumps.

 

Keep in mind how the timing belt tensioners work, the oil keeps the tensioner tight if the tensioner does loosen due to low oil pressure it normally rattles it's A$$ off and if it moves a tooth it would normally jump more than one, this isn't a rubber belt like previous cars known for jumping it's metal on metal not alot of friction to stop it. However most other engines I've seen even when there's an oiling problem and the tensioner is making alot of noise still don't jump. Jumping a tooth on most cars won't kill the engine but will make it run so bad and usually idle bad that it's noticeable.

Also cars with bent valves typically won't start not enough compression at low RPM's if they do it takes alot. Once again I think you are going down the wrong path.

 

That would be cool of we had timing belts.

 

what makes you think that a 2 week old MAF would fail? im curious

 

ALSO it was brand new

 

could it be bc it was raining that day? would it have fixed itself when the weather dried up?

 

If that was the problem, you might have a poorly grounded electrical system.

 

Have you checked the MAF voltage specs?

 

i got the two p139 and p138 codes pulled from mine yesterday...oxygen sensor

 

don't you know that MAF is the default solution for all maxima performance problems?

 

ok guys i feel kinda like a noob for this but i did just find out that you can monitor all of the engines sensors with Consult-II and i just found out that my mechanic had a snap-on reader, now i asked the mechanic to check the MAF but with a snap on is that even possible? with the maf im going to have to go up there and check it or give him directions on how to check it if its possible with a voltmeter. does anyone know how to diagnose the MAF with a voltmeter, i will start searching threads now, does the car have to be running and have someone to tap the gas?

 

sorry about all the previous denial, i may eat my words however i will be grateful for both your advice and the cheaper repair for the MAF. Lol, go ahead

also another question: with the snap on tool is it possible to monitor any of the sensors? or just a limited few. he just got the gauges in so hopefully the engine will throw a code for whatever is causing this, but if hes driving it around with the snap on hooked up does it (the Snap-On tool) give you alot of data? thanks all, i seriously miss my car, i took it in before thanksgiving... i forget what its like to drive it haha but i really appreciate your help, and ill keep yall updated i should have some info tomorrow.

 

Using the consult interface, you can monitor a whole boat load of sensors, so yes, it's a viable tool.

The procedure for checking the MAF is in the FSM. It is in the stickys.
Keep in mind, you may need to substitute the word OLD for the word SHOW in those links.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....light=MAF+test

 

do you know if the snap-on will give the readings for things like g/sec for the maf and ignition timing and o2 readings like the consult-II will?

 

It should.

 

ok guys well i pulled my max outta the shop where the guy had IMO no chance of finding and helping me with my problem. So, i took it to Ancira nissan and they had it for a day and said it was a maf. 790 bucks , so i said ok do it. and they did then called me and said that didnt fix it and they dont know what it is. They said wait till tomorrow when this other tech can come in and look at it and call some nissanfix number and try to get why my car is acting up. this is really mind boggling how hard it is to diagnose this problem. the guy at ancira says the chain would break before it skipped teeth. is it really that difficult for these engines to skip timing teeth. 3 MONTHS and im really startin to miss my car. anyone have any ideas???

thanks all

 

They should refund you the $790 if the MAF didn't fix the problem.

 

I thought that bad ignition coils could cause the same symptoms.

 

ya theyre gonna give me the 790 back but i told them to leave the am600 on while diagnosing it just to eliminate any speculation of a mal-performing maf. i thought about the ignition coils but its not misfiring and revs/idles smoothly.

 

I hope they get your car sorted out, you've been dealing with this for a couple months now, haven't you?

 

yes sir, put it in the shop the day before thanksgiving!

 

they say anything about your cat. convertor? it MAY be like mine and a possibility that its clogged..but mine worked itself out

 

Haha, funny you say that, it is my cats, they determined this by unbolting the exhaust and all he could say was said "oh it's fast", assuming it was back to normal i told them just to go ahead and replace what was needed. im just glad to have it coming back with no motor problems. IT WAS A CATALYTIC CONVERTER !?!?!?!

 

Yeah, a clogged cat will kill power. When my 626 got rearended, the exhaust tips got bent under the muffler and my acceleration was pretty bad until I was able to get home and bend them down.

Glad to hear it appears your car is fixed.

 

Woot, back in action! I read the whole thread, glad you finally figured it out.

 

You know, all anyone had to do was put a vacuum gauge on the engine and rev it to see if the exhaust was restricted....that is one of the first things the other garage and the Nissan dealer should have done.

 

wow 3 months w/o ur car just for a clogged cat.... glad you got it back tho
just curious, why did u ship it all the way down to san antonio?

 

lol...its funny how my maxima felt like chit when i first bought it...now after the cat 'blew out' whatever was restricting it..it feels like a 3.0 beast..not a 3.5 beast lol.

eventually i plan on redoing my whole catback + y-pipe.

 

The funniest things is that i do not have any codes flash, but my car runs sluggish sometime.

 

ya mine had no codes at all, still doesnt just ran like crap. and HuffDaddy: no im in sa now going to utsa, bought it down here only 6 speed within 300 miles for sale.

a quick RANDOM question: anyone have any experience with NWP Engineerings' intake spacer kit? supposedly gives good results

 

Oh ok cool. I got a few friends that go there. Regarding the spacers, everyone seems to like em, they're good for some mid-range power. Read the thread on em.

 

I wish I would've saw this thread before. My cat was clogged and had the exact same issue except that it was burning oil like nuts and I think all of the back pressure blew out more oil and then it seized. It's those POS precats. They just fall apart and then guess where they go. It's freakin BS. I say nissan still owes me an engine.

 

Im gonna be honest, i wanna understand what the bloody hell is going on but i don't get all the abbriviations...

is there any sort of index on the forums for things like:

MAF................
IAT................
CEL...............

i've had my o2 sensor go out but that's it. it would be nice to know what all the other crap is/does in case i need a repair

 

Most of what you seek is in the stickies, the FAQ and noob thread really helped me out when I first regiatered.

 

what do you get for MPG

 

Are you consuming oil at all? Generally catalytic converters don't fail under normal conditions. I'm not saying it can't happen, but you see the vast majority of them fail as the result of another problem (misfiring, running rich, oil burning etc).

Best of luck!

 

For future reference the Snap-on tools can read every sensor the engine has as long as the mechanic has the up-to-date cartridges for you vehicle. The new Snap-On tool is the SOLUS and it is awsome but it cost $4000.