Hey everyone,

2001 maxima automatic transmision. I let my car sit for the winter, barely used it. About two months ago I took it out and she started up fine, took her for a trip around the block, put some gas in it, took it back and parked it.

I left it for another month or so and then recently when I went out to try it it seems to stall at higher RPM when in park, and a low RPM when in gear. It's not an immediate cut off it putters and dies and if I ease up on the throttle it will not stall. For instance if I rev it up to 3200rpm it starts puttering, if I let it go back down it won't stall but if I push it further it will stall. Put it in gear and I can't get much higher than 1200rpm before it stalls. It really seems like it's starved of either air or fuel.

As soon as it stalled at ~3500rpm the first time I unplugged the MAF to see if that would make any difference, and it didn't. That's the only thing I've tried so far. My best guess beyond that is clogged fuel filter but I'm on a bit of a limited budget so I don't want to start throwing parts at it until I at least have a little confidence in the answer, which is why I decided to post here.

 

How much fuel was in the car when you parked it for winter?

I know you put some gas in it when you returned but if there was still old gas in the there from earlier it might be bad gas.

You can try some stabil since its pretty cheap and will also remove any water that might have collected in the tank from cold winter due to condenstation.

When my 300zx sits during the winter i make sure i'm on E and put some stabil in it.

Only other thing i can think of is the injectors are gummed up from sitting.

If your able to get it start just let it idle some with stabil and try to slowly get the rpm up.

 

It was low when it was parked for the winter, I only put enough gas in it to make the trip to where I was storing it, so it was on E when I got there. That's why I drove it to the gas station a month or two ago and put more gas in it. I was planning on moving it somewhere else but never made the trip that day. Then it sat for a month or so and now I can't move it.

If it were stale fuel or clogged injectors would it still start up and idle with no issues? It fires right up and doesn't putter or anything until I either put it in gear or rev it past 3000.

 

symptoms match with possible bad gas, is it drive-able at all?

 

It can be moved if I baby the throttle but I highly doubt it would make it up a hill or any kind of incline. I was driving it back and forth about 10 feet and once it gets much above 1300rpm or so in either drive or reverse it starts to putter and stall.

It's only $9 for a bottle of Sta-Bil Ethanol Treatment. I could try it but I thought bad gas would prevent the car from starting? Or make it putter at idle at least.

What I'm experiencing seems to me like as I open the throttle and let more air in after a certain point it's not being matched with fuel and so it starts to sputter and die. My daily driver is the same year and runs fine, I've been thinking about popping the back seat off and tanking the fuel pump/filter combo out and putting it into the stalling one to see it it works, but I'd sooner try the Sta-Bil treatment if everyone really thinks its bad gas.

 

well, there could without a doubt be something else at work than bad fuel. That said, bad fuel can cause stuttering under load, ive seen it do that MANY time in recreation engines (ATV, jet-ski, etc.) while running just fine at idle. It could also be something like fouled plugs, sticky injectors, low fuel pressure, etc

 

It sounds like a good place to start would be with the $9 ethanol treatment. I'll give that a try, it says it cleans injectors at the same time so that can cross 2 things off the list at once.

If that doesn't work I'll probably try the fuel pump swap. It's only a fuse and a few bolts away so it seems like it could cross two more possibilities off the list. Is there a reason why I can't seem to find a fuel filter for an 01 maxima anywhere? Are they made to not need replacing or something?

 

exactly.

 

I found it on rockauto. Looks just like the 5.5gen filter which is a "lifetime filter" which apparently for Nissan means if you total the car in 80k miles or less it doesnt need to be replaced. For the rest of us the filter should be replaced

 

Update: I bought the ethanol treatment, added the correct amount proportional to the amount of gas I estimated was in the tank. At first it revved up high and then died. 3 times in a row. Then it finally held a high idle. It no longer stalls, but it sounds almost like its misfiring when I rev it up around 2500rpm. At one point I had a bad coil and the engine would shake and sound bad. It acts the same way above 2500rpm, but no longer putters and dies. I pushed it a little higher and it just shakes more and more, but its stable in lower rpms. It also now threw a P0100 code.

So the only thing I want to do with this car is get it from A to B where I can work on it. I have a perfectly functional maxima of the same year, can I just take the MAF out of that one and pop it into my other one? Then do the clear self learn procedure? Would a malfunctioning MAF produce these symptoms? I did notice a small amount of water pooled around where the plug goes into the MAF, maybe it got deep in there and ruined the MAF. I cleaned up the water, but no change.

 

similar issue here.


2000 maxima (over complicated money pit.) Engine cranks, starts, immediately dies... Changed: maf,coils, plugs, crank sencor,cam sencor, iav, cleaned throttle body, new o2 sensors, new upper intake manifold gaskets...thinking fuel filter next??