d40sithui

Greetings all,
It's been awhile since I posted. Doubt anyone would remember me, but whatever. Itz all good. But hopefully someone can help.

Ok so, my car: 2000 Maxima 5spd with 86k. No major mods except for the berk intake and Warpspeed downpipes. Stock Cat and resonator all the way to the muffler. I loved it to death.

I've pretty much lost all faith in my car now that its suddenly died on me 40 miles away from home. The car would stall out when i let go off the gas. This forces me to drive home (all 40 miles of it in extra-high traffic cuz some punk *** decided to have an accident that day) using all my limbs constantly shifting and stepping on every pedal so I won't stall. Even so, it stalled at least a dozen times on the highway. This experience pretty much traumatized me. Since then, I'm always afraid that the car will stall again when i turn it on or when i shift to neutral. anyways, thats a topic for a different website.

I got the idle air control valve replaced. That didnt work. So I got the ECU replaced, keys reprogrammed, idle air relearned at the dealer for about $1800 total(with towing). Got it back last saturday.
It idles around 850-1000 when already warm. I think normal idle for me before was about 700. Other than that it drives fine. no loss in power. 3 days later, the engine light came on. I got code p0505 on both banks with my scanner. I cleared the code, drove for 5 miles, came back on. Cleaned the throttle body, cleared the code, came back on again. car still drives fine.
Anyone know whats up with this car?

merlin2375

iTrader: (3)

MAF?

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

I would definitely check MAF especially since you made an attempt to clean throttle

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

Any codes/MIL's? Seems like a pretty extreme case of a dead MAF since MAF's tend not to be THAT bad when they do fail.

d40sithui

thanks for the replies. can it be the MAF? the 505 code suggest the idle air system. the iac is new. and ecu is rebuilt, so new too, but in a different sense. wouldn't maf throw a different code?

TheGlove

I only came to this site today to ask about a problem with my car... and it appears we have a similar problem. My 2001 has a code saying P0505 coming on as well. The only other details the place that looked over my car told me was this detail : "IPU Air Fault RE RE ECM Damage reset. Vehicle runs fine."

Not sure if that helps you at all, but this is the 2nd time I have had my service engine light come on for this same code. It came on over a year ago and was gone away for about a year. Dealership fixed it for me (not sure if they replaced a part last year or just reset some kind of setting), so I should still be covered by mine.

I was told by the place that found this code for me that it is a simple setting or part that needs to be updated every few years in 5th Gen Maxima's if it comes back on. They also said it can run fine for a while with this, but if never fixed can slowly develop into a large problem. Not sure if this helps, sorry, I'm not a car guy to be honest... and maybe someone can further help us on this as I came her for help too...

d40sithui

i'm not a car person either. i know only the basics. i was reading on another forum, not sure if i can post links on here, but it seems that this is a fairly common problem for us 5th gen maximas. apparently, a lot of these cars get the idle control problem, most of which relates to a burnt ECU board and/or IAC. Most can be resurrected with a new ECU and IAC, but for some, like myself, are stilled ****ed somehow. Dont know about your car, but good luck with it theGlove. hey post here if you get that issue resolved. ill do the same, if it ever does get fixed.

michaelnyden

iTrader: (15)

that's impossible, once the iacv and ecu and maf are replaced there is nothing else that could account for this problem...

Scottwax

iTrader: (8)

Have you taken it back to the dealer? If I dropped $1800 on my car and it popped a code for something related to the work I had just paid them for, they'd be the diagnosing and fixing it for free.

wyche89

the default culprit for all performance issues = MAF

paulpearl

Replaced my maf at 100,000miles this past fall with help from 00maxse and now works fine...I also had the p0505 code and another "phantom" code that I can't remember....Car was running poor before and bad gas mileage..Left negative cable off overnight and now I am back to normal gas mileage and a "new" car....Did not have to get the ecu reprogrammed as of yet.. Got from Dave B. (18882546060)for $92 shipped...

dineth00i30

i changed my MAF recently too but i didn leave the negative line disconnected. whats up with that/ is dat to reset the the computer because, my mechanic said the car reset by itself if you leave the car off overnnight. can you PM me the answer pls? thanx

Lontar1

iTrader: (5)

after you replace the MAF you should disconnect the battery overnight or few hrs so the ECU rest itself......

TheGlove

well Mine is just going back to the dealer for repair (probably free repair) and I will be asking them a few questions about this code... I'm not attempting anything myself this time however, but I will post up my results on any information I find out here...

wyche89

will this process serve the same purpose as an " ECU reflash" that nissan says is necessary after a MAF replacement? the one that they charge you $100 for...

d40sithui

yea i think theres some kind of warranty on the service so i'll bring it back. for now it runs fine and idles at 1k at the stop light. as i do recall, they did suggest to replace my MAF when they were doing the other stuff, but i declined it. i mean whats the chance of 3 parts failing at once? however, they mentioned something about the readings being too low or too high, cant remember which, but that shouldn't relate to the car not being able to idle. i wonder if its cheaper to change it myself or have the dealer do it. then again, i'm not 100% sure that it is the MAF =/

TheGlove

well the dealership I had my work done at told me they would have this fixed for free because I got this p0505 code before and they fixed it... but after they finished the work, they had a $574 bill waiting for me. They replaced my IAC for me and the engine light is out... I am upset and haven't paid yet and still asking questions... because I wouldnt even have had a dealership work on my car if I knew I was going to be paying for it lol... but mine did fix after replacing the IAC... Let's just hope the light stays out this time...

burtond06

iTrader: (1)

WOW...I have an 01 20th AE Maxima and have been all over this site researching the P0505 code. My car has been sitting for a year since I was deployed and I get home to find I have a funny idle without the CEL. Took it to Auto zone to have it read on the scanner and popped up with this P0505 code. I would like to replace this myself but have a couple questions.

1) Will any 5th gen IACV work on the 20th AE?
2) Do I have to take it to the dealership to have a "relearn" test done? (don't know if this is mandatory for an 01?)
3) I would like to clean the TB also, but read horror stories with check engine lights coming on after cleaning them for 02-03's?
4) How hard of a job is it to replace one and do I need to do anything additional after the new IACV has been installed?

Thank you in advance for your help.