So a few times that Ive been under the hood before I have hit the throttle to see if everything was running okay. On the left hand side of the enigne (if your staring at the car from the front) their is a linkage system that appears to control something related to the fuel injection. I noticed that before if the car would rev high enough the linkage would engage and move. However today when I was under the hood it would not do this. Is there any way that something shorted out or something? The linkage runs to underneath where the three front fuel injectors are. Sorry no pics. Anyone have this issue before or know what could cause it? Thanks for any help, I'll work on getting pics but they never work for me.

 

Also the O/D light flashed, but this only happened once and then stopped almost immediately and hasnt since

 

the linkage is the variable intake, check for vacumm leak and the control unit. it opens when the throttle opens at a big degrees, like WOT.
O/D flash means something wrong with the tranny

 

VIAS?

Same thing you were talking about before: http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...-vais-fix.html

 

The linkage on the left (passenger side) is the variable active intake system (VAIS). It is vacuum controlled and kicks in at high rpm.

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...what-part.html

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...ias-stuff.html

 

I always thought it was "Variable Induction Air (Control) System"

 

if the O/D only flashed once is it still a tranny problem?.....so i prolly have an f'ed up tranny and an f'ed up VIAS?

 

also what would i be looking for in the control unit? (the control unit is mounted to the right hand side {driver side} of the intake manifold correct?)

 

I think theres a leak in one of the VIAS vaccum lines...I put my ear up to all the lines and one of them was making a weird sound as of air was escaping. I put my ear up to other vaccum lines such as the brake booster line and it did not make the same sound. As for the tranny, isn't 100k a little soon for that to be going? And it's not like it's making hard shifts or anything, it just seems as though it's shifting at strange points and idling lower than before.

 

To track down a vacuum leak you can take a lenght of hose and listen through it like a stethescope. Once you have an idea of where it's coming from you can spray it with carb cleaner to confirm it's a leak and not just normal rushing sound. When you hit a vacuum leak with carb cleaner it will change the idle speed of the car. Usually lowering it.

 

if it's already idling lower than normal does this indicate a vaccum leak? Cause it's idling lower than it used to and I haven't even hit it with carb spray yet

 

So I reset the ECU for shuzzits and giggles and the VIAS linkage is now operational. (Just a coincidence cause I read the ECU doesnt control the VIAS). Tranny is acting better also but may have it checked out just to be safe

 

Most vacuum leaks cause the idle rpm to rise if it's small...

 

The ECU does indeed control the VIAS solenoid.

It is, VIAS == Variable Induction Air System. The control is just kind of a given, when talking about any of the controlling components.

 

Oh lol I keep reading false info lol, oh well just glad it's working. As for the tranny...yodays Easter drive should shed some light on it's status.

 

tranny fluid was low, added some and seemed to fix problem. As for the VIAS I was wrong and think its still messed up. Here's how it happens: I go to sleep. I wake up, pop the hood and turn on the car. Give the trottle some gas and the linkage engages. However if I do the same thing, say after going on a 20 minute drive, the VIAS will not engage. WTF is going on?

 

So after you drive for a while and you rev it from under the hood, it doesn't work?

Does it work while you're driving? If you turn the car off then back on after it won't work, will it then?

 

[quote=pmohr;6978813]So after you drive for a while and you rev it from under the hood, it doesn't work? [/qoute]

Exactly, once its been driven and I rev it from under the hood, it doesnt work

[quote=pmohr;6978813] Does it work while you're driving? [/qoute]

Not quite sure since I cant really see it, does feel a lil different than before (slightly less top end power maybe but i just filled the gas tank so hard to distinguish between power loss and added weight)

Still doesnt work, tried it multiple times

 

it seems to be a problem once the car is warm, but have no clue why that would matter seeing as the VIAS is vaccum controled....if im right i think that the VIAS engages once the throttle body is depressed a certain amount. there is a small metal piece right above the throttle that pops out if the throttle is depressed quickly/past a certain point. Its hooked up to a vaccum hose that I imagine must have something to do with VIAS...that "metal piece" still pops out when reved hard but the linkage doesnt work.....

 

So today i woke up and went to the car. Popped the hood and turned it on. Hit the throttle and the VIAS linkage engages. I havent had a chance to test it once the car gets warm again, but it appears to be doing the same thing its been doing the past three days.

 

Same thing, engages when cold but I tried it after I went for a 20 min drive and the car was warm...didnt work

 

Noone has any ideas?

 

Since noone has any ideas this is what I think. The VIAS is supposed to engage in WOT situations. However when then car is cold it's not functioning at it's best (warm engines=best performance). Therefore the VIAS needs to engage in order to make the engine perform well. However once the car is warm and the engine is runnig at it's best, the VIAS only needs to engage at WOT. I would appreciate it if someone with a 00-01 could test my theroy for me.

 

.....noone wants to test this theroy for me?

 

No, it shouldn't engage only under WOT. It should engage any time over ~5k RPM.

So when you tested, it would only work when warm at WOT? You didn't mention that.

 

good thread title.........it doesnt really help you in any way if you would have labled it correctly about the problem you would get more help and less crappy threads started about the same thing casue no one could find one on it.

Jake

 

Oh no, that was just a thought , not sure if it actually works while warm during WOT. As far as I can tell it doesn't work at all once it's warm.

 

So have you not tested anything yet? Tried to find exactly what is failing when it's warm?

Did you ever do the VIAS fix?

 

Ive been searching and noone has been talking about the same issue, but thanks for all your help....

 

I never did the vias fix, do you think I should try? And I have tried to find the problem but it's tough to locate. I can't think of what would be causing it. I checked some vac lines but there are a lot of them. And I have no idea how to check it while I'm driving....

 

It's worth a check, if nothing else to see if it's even working properly.

So you haven't checked if the solenoid works when warm, or if the ECU is even triggering the solenoid?

First two things I'd be checking.

 

How would I go about doing that?

 

Put a multimeter on pin 2 of the connector to the solenoid valve and a ground, set it to continuity (preferably for it to beep if it has that option), and rev it up past the switchover point. It should indicate continuity to ground if the ECU is properly activating it.

If that checks out, I'd ground out pin 2 and see if I could feel the solenoid click, or the VIAS engage.

But take the 15 minutes to make sure it's even operational in the first place, that the cup is still in place.

Also the FSM will walk you through diagnostics, starting EC-702.

 

Thanks...to make matters more enjoyable my SES light came on. The guy who ran the code says bank 1 o2....yippe (had a cat replaced two weeks ago)