my friend has a 96 with 100k miles and had a tune up recently.

he noticed the surging very faintly when he bought the car months ago..

no one really felt it and said he was

i was in the car last week and i did feel it. we were accecerating up a on ramp to the high way.

he called me over the weekend as said he took a trip to philly (2 hours each way) and it was worse now.






any suggestions.. i know there is hardly any info..

 

What is surging ?

Ant

 

the whole car it feels like it wants to accerate more but then holds back..

 

cleaning the throttle body is a start... the throttle plate might be sticking open.. and that maybe what is causing the surge

 

You said he recently had a tuneup.
Were the plugs gap checked before installation?
Also I'd check the ignition, even though maxima is coil on plug I'd check to make sure all the coils are making good contact with the plugs and that the wires going to the coils aren't damaged.

Does the car shake a little at idle or you only encoutner a problem under acceleration?

Has his miles per gallon of gas changed since it started happening?

Ant

 

I'm thinking either a coil/contact problem, or a dying/clogged fuel pump.

 

Chech the ECU for codes. Bet the KS is causing the timing to retard, there's your loss of power.

 

But there isn't any surging when the KS goes bad, the car just gets a bit slower.

 

Maybe a bad throttle position sensor or air flow meter? I have seen the TPS go bad on a lot of cars without throwing a code.

 

I bet his feul filter hasn't been changed in a looooong time.

DW

 

:cough: tune up recently :cough:

 

Still . . . . . .

DW

 

If the KS output swigs back and forth, ping/no ping condition, his timing will be constantly moving. You'll feel this as a loss in power, then a surg of power as the ECU constantly adjusts timing.

 

thanks for all the advice and possibe causes..

 

ive got the same prob but it doesn't show any codes and the surggeing get is intermittant and it has a rough idle sometimes

 

My piece of crap 99 shakes when idling, sitting at a stop light, in neutral, in gear, dies going around corners. Any ideas? Just replaced the last of the 6 expensive coil packs today, all new plugs also. No codes at all. Ready to push it off a damn cliff.

 

Guys, read the last post date.....

11-27-02

 

just trying to get enough posts so I can start a thread and find out whats wrong with this piece of crap.

 

This thread is a good example of why it would be so useful for the original posters to reply with the fix that ended up solving the problem. It is frustrating to see someone describe the symptoms you have without taking the time to post a solution!!!