Hi folks, been reading the forums for a bit and would like to throw this problem at ya. It's a bit long, so Cliff Notes are at the bottom.

96 GXE Maxima. Right before Thanksgiving, was going uphill on a highway onramp. Car usually pings a little, but on this ramp it starting pinging louder. Got onto the level highway going about 65mph and the car starts 'bucking'. Revs are bouncing, car starts to lose speed. I try giving it a little more gas to no good effect. It felt like something was seriously misfiring, but it wasn't just skipping. I pull over to the side of the road, come to a full stop, and the car dies. Lights are still on, but engine just quits. I give it a minute or two, restart, CEL light pops up. I try to get back on the highway, get to about 40mph, bucking starts again, pull back over. Eventually, get it running again. Long story short, I figure it's bad gas and get some fuel additive and figure that'll do it. Haha.

This has happened every now and again since Thanksgiving, increasing in frequency. I've had it happen at 70mph more often than not. One cold evening, it took me 10 starts to finally keep the car from dying when it dropped to idle. I can't reproduce it all the time, however.

I've been reading the forums and asking around, and I've gotten a variety of 'fixits'...

• O2 sensor
• Injectors
• Fuel Filter
• spark plugs (the dealership)
• MAF
• Control Unit
• Wiring Harness

Needless to say, I'm stumped. The CEL light was on when it went to the body shop for some dent work, and was off when it came back. I had the car in at the dealership immediately afterwards for a 90K service, and he said 'Platinum spark plugs will fix this'. It died twice on the highway, and 3 times at a dead stop, not an hour after I left the dealership. CEL light is now back on. The fuel filter was supposedly replaced as well.

So. I'm hitting AutoZone at lunch so they can read the codes, but what do you guys think is the issue here?



Cliff Notes
----------

• Car will drive perfectly for days at highway speeds, then start bucking for no reason. Sometimes it'll recover, most times it cannot and I have to pull over.
• Car will die after coming to a stop, randomly. It starts to idle down and quits.
• Spark plugs, fuel filter replaced, issue still exists.
• CEL light is on.
• Help! Thanks.

 

id go with sparkplugs, i had similar symptoms untill yesterday. I changed my plugs, feels like a new car again.

Has anyone else noticed that many people on the board have the same problems at the same times. I changed my plugs yesterday, and i wake up today and there is a thread about it, and now this. Probably just weird coincidences(SP.) though.

 

My guess's are Coolant Temp Sensor, KS or clogged fuelinjectors. Once you pull the code it might explain things more but that's MO.

 

sounds like the ECTS.. engine coolant temp sensor

 

my brothers max had the same symptoms.. i pulled the code and got coolant temp sensor. how do you go about fixing it?

 

AutoZone couldn't get the OBD reader to work, which worries me but we'll ignore that for now. Performing the turn-screw method resulted in four codes:

0102 (MAF Sensor)
0503 (Front Right Heated O2 Sensor)
0901 (Front Right Htd O2 Sensor Heater)
1001 (Front Left Htd O2 Sensor Heater)

I'm going to see if I can rustle up a multimeter and do some terminal checks, but that may have to wait until the weekend.

My next question is: If the CEL is off, would the dealership have been able to read these codes?

 

A little bump in case other folks might have some info to add. Anybody else had this situation/codes come up before?