Hi ,
I'm new on the block. I have a 1989 Nissan Maxima (manual transmission), V6 3.0 litre injector engine with 187,000km on it. It comes with ABS, P/S, A/C and Cruise control (which is not working but does not bother me).
Problem is that it has a serious rough idling problem. This also translates to a couple of seconds delay (hesitation) and noticeable sputtering during acceleration. Car also jerks on low gears (1 & 2) and consumes about 1/3 more fuel than it used to. There is also a slight sputtering (spitting sound) from the exhaust when on idle and the fumes though clear has a slight pungent fuel-rich odour. I've had the distributor, plugs ,plug wires and fuel filter changed but problem persists. I even changed out the fuel pump when it was discovered the pressure was low. I've had the air filter cleaned also. I'm in Nigeria and there not much places where you can hook the car to a computer to check and download codes.I recently travelled and parked the car for about 3 months and on my return it ran smoothly like a baby for about 4 hours and then problem resurfaced . My mechanic is frustrated by the fact that the fault cannot be traced and the car keeps resurfacing in the garage with the same problem. Any ideas?

 

O2 sensor or maybe the catalytic converter

 

Have the injectors tested. Don't be suprised if a few are shot. That sounds about the same problems I had with mine. And that hissing might be because of all the unburned fuel going through the exhaust system.

 

that definitly sounds like dead injectors

 

what about the power transistor? I have the same problem, I tested the injectors, coils, ran a diagnostic on the ECU ( code 55, everything ok). I was told that the power transistor might be causing the problem. I checked chilton's version on testing the transistor. According to the manual, I should get either 0 or infinity when measuring in ohms. I was getting readings of about 30-40 ohms (meter set to lowest setting). The power transistor could be the prob.

 

89 maxs dont have power transistors so thats not it

 

so what about a 1992 VE? could that be the problem?

 

let me know if you ever fix the problemand what fixed the problem. my 92 ve 5spd has the same problem. its under normal acceleration around 2000rpms when it hesitates.

 

I know this is a different animal. My 88 max had same symtoms.
Bad 02 sensor
Intake leak
Adjusted timing/advanced a little

Fixed the problem. Im not sure but the surge I got was from the intake leak.also brought back gas mileage. Thou I did seafoam it after all the repairs.

 

I'd check out the MAF

I had a problem with it being nearly impossible to accelerate into higher RPMs, but once i got there it would run beter. And my car couldnt idle worth crap, and would jerk every time i accelerated.

Eventually i figured out wiggling the MAF connector seemd to change engine performance more than it should, I got new MAF wiring and it fixed the problem, but then the same symtpsom returned when the MAF itself went bad a couple weeks later and i had to replace that to... now my car rocks again

anyway from what I've heard MAF is a common problem on VE engines so id check that out mr 1992 5spd if your problems are like the original posters, cause those sound a lot like mine

 

it's likely an o2 sensor. i had the same problem with my car a year or two ago. i tried an ecu diagnostics and it didn't bring up anything.
try unplugging the o2 sensor. drive around for a bit and if the problem goes away you've got your culprit. easy isn't it?

 

turns out the problem i had was that one of my spark plugs were shot. replaced it and runs fine now. easy way of checking in when the car is running unplug each spark plug clip and listen for a difference in engine noise. if you pull one out and it still sounds the same you got a problem there.

 

wheres the connector for the o2 sensor?i think its 3 wires, as far as having an a/f gauge, where can we plug the ecu at?i had that gas smell b4 and it was the y pipe.