So for the past few days I've been driving, my Maxima has been pretty rough at idle about 5-10% of the time. It was the same rough idle I remember from when one of my ignition coils went bad. I replaced all six with the updated ones, so I figure it's possibly the spark plugs, and I'll probably get those replaced soon. What's odd is that earlier today about five miles after my low-fuel indicator turned on, my car began to feel a bit shaky while I was going about 75-80 MPH. I get the the right lane and then my CEL kept flashing for about a minute, and then it stopped. I was just glad that my car didn't die of something like MAF failure on the freeway, so about ten miles later I pull off into a gas station and fill up. From the gas station I haven't had any problems so far (20 miles or so), but I am concerned about that flashing CEL. Does anyone have any idea what might have triggerred that? Should I be able to check the code that threw the CEL even if the CEL turned off? TIA.

 

I wonder if it was moisture in the gas. Maybe you should try dry gas and change the plugs too if it's time. You could also clean your TB but read how to do this and don't do it with the car running or touch the butterfly.

 

I'll have to check that. Does anyone know if the CEL code is stored even though the light is no longer on? I don't want to run all the way to autozone to get the OBD-II scanner if I can't pull the code.

 

I am not 100% sure, but I don't think that Maxima ECU tracks history...

 

sounds like you had some bad gas at the bottom of your tank---you should get some fuel cleaner and put it in the tank---when the mil light flashes it means that there is a condition that is ruining the cat, and you need to take it in to get checked out---but if you put gas in it and it turned off and there are no problems--more than likely it was bad gas that would not combust very well--you got to be careful which kind of gas you use---I use only cheveron premium--I used one of those off name brand stations one time and it was in the summer--they still were using gas from the winter--some gas stations have different mixes for winter and summer depending how cold it gets or how hot it gets--oh also never fill up when the truck is there putting in fuel too--it gets all the dirt and crap that is on the bottom and mixes it--and you could pump that crap into your car--that shi$t will make your car runlike **** too.---Oh even though tthe light is off you should still be able to get a code--with consult youll get a # in the time column if it 0 it means it is happing right now--1t means its a 2 trip logic code and it only saw a problem once--any thing else 2-like 24 depending on the code--means that it happend that many key cycles ago(for instance 2 is 2 key cycles).

 

I noticed today that when my fuel gauge was below the line above the "E" I had a rough idle. I filled up and the symptom was no more.

GL

 

have the same problem rn my car in stealership. Tech said that it's probably air idle control or whatever possibly fuel injectors. If it's fuel injectors it's my fault cuz i never fill up the tank until the light comes on. Don't realy care i got a warranty