So after reading through this thread http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=554723, I decided to take it to the dealer to try and confirm that my IACV was bad. I took it to the dealer this morning, and they called back and said that it was not the IACV, but the MAF that is bad. Ever since I bought the car last April, it has had a stutter in-between 3000 and 4000RPM, but nothing drastic. I have read on here that the MAF is bad if you can't rev above 2500RPM, or so, and I have never experienced this. The guy said that the IACV will throw a code if it is bad, but the MAF will not. He wants to charge me $360 including labor to replace the MAF. I know I can get a new MAF from Dave B for much less. But my question is is this a proper diagnosis? I thought for sure that the IACV would be confirmed as the problem, based on the thread that was linked above. Is the dealer bsing me? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

Well I had a bad MAF but was able to rev the car above 2500. A rev limit of 2500 typically means the car is in limp mode. Something a bad MAF doesn't necessarily result in. So yes, if the dealership says there's nothing wrong with IACV, I would tend to agree.

 

Bump! I ended up replacing the MAF after I got the car back from the dealer. Before the MAF replacement, the rpms would drop when in neutral coasting to a stoplight, then stall, but only when warm. Purchased a new MAF from Daveb and the problem got fixed.

Flash forward to today. I went to Little Caesar's to pick up a hot-n-ready, then drove back to the apartment. Pulled into my parking spot and the rpms dropped to ~500rpm. I revved the engine up and the rpms started to drop, and it eventually stalled out. I tried starting it back up and it would not turn over, great. So I went inside, ate my pizza and let it cool off for a little bit. Came back out later and started it up, but the rpms still drop abnormally low, and it eventually stalls. Could the MAF be bad again? Should I attempt to clean the IACV? (I know this is for 4th gen, but same general procedure, amirite?)

edit: I just talked to my dad. My car was in the shop in KC a couple of weeks ago and my dad brought it back up to school last weekend. He filled it up when he got into town to check the mpg and he used a different gas than I normally use. He thinks the gas he put in it could be bad? He only put 4.5gal in, so I don't think that SHOULD be the case. What do you guys think?

 

Why would it wait 13 months before it decides to crap out? I didn't get it reprogrammed last year. I just don't think it would wait this long and then crap out on me. Maybe? I've never heard of this happening before (unless the MAF went bad again ).

 

Ok, here's an interesting twist: I went out this morning to try and fix an issue with my headlights and once the car warms up, it starts freaking out. Here's a vid of the tach while I am sitting still at a stop sign:



Here's another video. I know it's kind of hard to tell, but in this one, I am in third gear with my foot off of the accelerator. It seems like it's trying to do the same thing as in the first video, but it obviously can't do it ask frequently because of the load on the engine. The car speeds up and slows down, without me touching the gas pedal.



Does this confirm ANOTHER bad MAF? I have never seen/heard of an engine doing this before.

 

Bump. So has anyone ever seen this happen before? Any other ideas?

 

I cant see your MAF going bad Again. Are you getting any check engine codes?

 

No codes at all. Should I call up Daveb and order another MAF tomorrow? I really need to get this fixed soon, any other ideas would be great. Thanks.

 

dont order another maf thats not the issue. seems more like IACV this time. A bad maf wouldnt make your rpm bounce around like that.

 

So should I do the relearn, or clean it, or even both? I was having a hard time believing the MAF went bad this soon.

 

I would try re learn first and if that doesnt fix it then clean. cant hurt to do both though.

 

Problem:

I had the same exact problem last week. I'd be driving fine and when I went to stop at stop sign or red light (and my music was invariably blaring), I'd go to drive when green and the car had stalled. Started it up and it ran fine. I tried at some points revving the motor at stop and it stalled out also.

At one point I was pulling into Nissan to grab an airfilter and by the time I got to the drive and was going to turn right the car had stalled and necessarily the power steering had gone so I was rolling without control. I just restarted it and parked without issue. It stalled at occasions like this maybe 30%-50% of the time for about a week. So...

Solution:

I took the airbox out and cleaned the throttle body with TB and intake cleaner. I followed the instructions on the motorvate website and I've been driving without the symptoms or any issue at all since I did it.

Try that before you buy anything.

Cliffs: Clean your TB

Edit: After a more thorough reading, your symptoms differed from mine. It's still worth cleaning the TB.

 

That is exactly what I will be doing! Just gotta find some time to do it. Thanks for all the replies.

 

cleaning your TB cant hurt but that more then likely isnt the problem. Your RPM are going nuts because somethings wacky with your IACV its common with your car.

 

I went to autozone and bought some throttle body cleaner. Took everything apart, cleaned it out, got a battle scar



Took it out for a drive, still acting up. The car also threw a code while I was out driving. Came back to my apartment, tried the idle air relearn, still acting up. So I went to autozone to get the pull the code: P0505-Idle Control Malfunction. I had them clear it and I went on my way, and it was still acting up, albeit to a lesser extent. So then I decided to do a couple of 1st gear WOT pulls to try and blow anything through there that may not have gotten cleaned out. Ever since I went WOT, no idle issues whatsoever, seems like the throttle body cleaner did the trick! Reconnecting the air box/MAF back to the throttle body is a major PITA, but well worth the effort. Cleaned out a lot of gunk, highly recommended! Thanks for everyone's help!

 

Good work. Mine had about 10 times as much as yours. The IACV feeds to the TB after the butterfly valve and maybe it was just gunked up, too.

 

Well that wasn't all of it. I just took a picture of the part with the blood on it. Trust me, the rest of the shirt was quite covered up!

 

Oh, haha, I didn't even see the blood. It's incredible how dirty the TB gets, though. My air filter was also a disaster. I change my airfilter more often than my oil filter now.

 

I had no idea it could even get that dirty. My air filter just got changed 3 weeks ago, so no problems there.

 

This afternoon I decided to take my car out to make sure I fixed what was wrong. I started the car and as soon as it turned on, it died. It took a few tries to keep it started, as I had to rev the gas pedal to keep it from stalling. I started driving around and as the engine got warm, it had less of a tendency to drop in rpms. Once the engine gets pretty warm, I experience no stalling. But, as I come to a stop and put it in neutral, the rpms drop below normal, then back up to the normal spot.



So I kept driving it around and when I got back to my apartment, I decided to perform the Idle Air Relearn again. Before I could even start it, the SES light came back on again. I did the idle air relearn and it still has issues even keeping it started after it has been turned off. Once it gets driven around, it seems fine. After having everything disconnected last night to clean the IACV, I did my absolute best to fit the MAF tube into the fitting closer to the engine, but I cannot get it ALL of the way back on (there's maybe an 1/8"-1/4" gap left to push it in, nothing directly exposed). I can hear a sort of faint vaccuum noise when I accelerate, but the car doesn't feel like it is losing any power. Could that be the issue? What's going on here?

 

You should absolutely rule out the MAF first off. There should be NO gap between fittings. If you think there is vacuum leak, take it apart and put it back together. When I did mine I actually was able to just disconnect the the accordion tube from the TB and take out the entire airbox (from the accordion all the way past the MAF to the filter element). This way you can make sure all the fittings are good. Then put the whole assembly back in and attach to the TB.

What code(s) are you getting? Did you really do a good job and make sure to get all that **** out of the TB, especially around the IACV hole?

 

Well I replaced the MAF last March, and there was a little gap when I put it back in then, but it was much less of a gap than there is now. I didn't experience anything detrimental in the last 13 months. I can go back and disconnect everything again and put it back together to see if I can get rid of the gap. Won't have time to do this till Friday though. I cleaned everything out as well as I could. When I take everything back apart, I'll spray some more cleaner in there and see if I can get anything else out.

 

Yeah, make sure you clean it good. Spray the cleaner on the rag itself and go in with two fingers (love gun anyone) and make sure to really get on all sides of the TB. Also make sure to get on the back side of the valve.

When you're done you should be able to put your fingers in there with the rag and it come out virtually clean.

 

When I go back in there, I'll make sure I get the back of the valve. That's one spot I'm not sure I got completely clean. I'll try it friday.

 

Uhhhhh, dude(aemaxima01)....did you seriously type that at 4:02 in the morning? Maybe you should take it in to someone?

 

Maybe your car just acquired the swine influenza, and it's going through a tough time? Any trips to Mexico lately?

 

No I did not type it then. I typed it at 4:02 am YOUR time. You are either in a different time zone or you haven't set your time zone correctly in your user CP. Please don't ***** up my thread.

 

My bad. Good luck to ya!

 

So I went out this afternoon and took everything back apart. Re-cleaned the IACV/TB and put everything back together. This time I got rid of the small gap between the MAF and tubing heading toward the engine (and I cannot hear the faint vacuum noise anymore). (After the first time I attempted to clean the IACV/TB, the SES light came on and was p0505 (got it cleared). Once I got back to my apartment I attempted to do the idle air relaearn again and the SES light came on again, but I didn't get it checked then.) Back to today. I started it up, and what do you know, it immediately dies. I started it again and used the gas pedal to keep it running, then took it out for a spin. I drove around a while to make sure it got warm then headed back to autozone to get the code pulled. This time it was p1165 'swirl control valve control vacuum switch'. I should also note that if the car has been running a while, it has no issues stalling. But, if I turn the engine off and then back on while it is still warm, it won't stay on, I have to use the gas pedal to keep it from stalling. Once I start moving again, no problem. Where do I go from here? Please help, this is driving me nuts!

 

I have this exact same issue although it only occurred when I pulled out the MAF to clean it. Idles fine when cold, but when warm it has a tendency to die straight after starting or being put into Park or Neutral. Doesn't seem as bad as yours though but 100% only a problem after cleaning the MAF.

Tried the idle re-learn but died in Park at the part where it says to start the engine for 30s or more.

 

Yea you're kind of the opposite of me. My car was fine cold last march but died when it got warm out on the streets. Bought a new MAF and fixed the problem. I hope I don't need to replace the whole IACV, but that's kind of what it's looking like.

 

So I've been thinking. After the first time I put everything back together, I believe I forgot to reconnect this blue harness:



So I drove around the second time without this connected, then realized it wasn't connected when I got back to my apartment. Could having this disconnected while driving around cause the p1165 code? I mean, is there a chance that there's nothing wrong with the swirl control valve? I don't think this is the root of my problems, the IACV still seems to be the culprit. Should I go back to autozone and get the p1165 cleared?

 

Bump. Any input? I really need to get this taken care of soon.

 

I got the p1165 cleared this evening bc I didn't think that it was causing my problem. I installed the 5.5 hids recently, and I made an observation this evening. I noticed that the RPMs drop below normal when I have the headlights on, but when I turn them off, the RPMs go back up to normal. Is this normal? I mean, I noticed this before I swapped headlights, but nowhere near to this extent. I'm still not completely sure that the starting and immediate stalling issue is gone, but this is also bothering me. I tried the idle air relearn with and without the headlights on but it did not make a difference. Please help!

 

Well since no one else has any other ideas, I just made an appointment at the stealership for tomorrow afternoon. Hope I don't get jobbed too bad.

 

could be an altenator problem??? im out of ideas. hopefully the stealership wont get you too bad. the one by me usually is pretty fair so i hope you get the same. good luck.

 

Well here's the thing. I went to autozone earlier this afternoon and had them test the alternator and battery. The battery tested bad. Tested it two more times and it came up as 'recharge and test again'. When I bought the car just at 2 years ago, they guy said it had a new battery in it. Then they tested the alternator. It was only putting out 39.7 amps, and it's apparently supposed to be putting out 80-100. Also, the regulatory voltage (whatever that means, no idea ) was 13.9v, and should be at a MAX of 13.5. Maybe it is the alternator. I know for sure that's beyond my abilities to replace. We shall see.

 

Took the max into the dealer this afternoon. They called back and said that the IACV is in fact bad. They couldn't get it to take on the Idle Air Relearn either. Here's the price breakdown:

IACV - $310.10
Labor - $118.72
Diagnostic fee - $79.95 (i know, this blows, they won't apply it towards the service, but oh well.)
Tax - $37.14
Total - $545.91

How does this sound? I called my local mechanic and nissan dealer back home and they quoted me pretty much the same. Not worth driving 2 hours back to save a few bucks. They have to special order it and it'll take 3 business days to get there. Hopefully I'll get my car back next Monday!

 

They are over charging you for the IACV. That's dealer list. I paid around $240 for mine from daveb. Haggle with them and tell them to take 20% off that price. I think you can install the IACV yourself, I have yet to do it, but I think many here have.

 

agreed...and that diag fee should be discussed with a manager ESP if you're gonna have them do the work. Thats very understandable if you were there for diag and then go fix it yourself but thats just BS IMO