My fiance informed me to today her max was not running right. Upon inspection she is correct. The car starts and idles smooth but when excelerated seems to have a real bad miss. At the muffler it sound like a bad miss. It does not smell rich actually maybe lean. The car drives fine however it seens down on power. Looked for the obvious vacume leak. The car has about 115k on the clock and has ran flawless in the 2 yrs we have owned it.

My thinking is O2 sensor or some other expensive type sensor as it does not sound mechanical. But want to check here before I start buying part or worse having to bring it to a mechanic.

Any info is greatly appreciated

Mike

 

If it has not had a tune up in a while,start there..

 

Was thinking the cap and rotor. It was dark cold when I got home so I did not have a chance to did to deep into. I have had Zcars for 15 years and had a similar problem caused by a corroded cap and rotor. thank for the replay

 

Check your ecu for a code. If its the O2 sensor it will throw a 33. the sensor is pretty cheap on ebay. and a 20 min DIY.

 

is the 92 a gxe or se cuz i beleave we dont have a cap or rotor in the se ve's infact its a distributorlesss ignition system from what i have seen juz glancing at my ve maxima. I am in auto tech classes right now and im learning about ignition systems and what could lead to miss fires in cars and no start senarios. might wanna look into checking the spark plugs and also spark plug wires then at the cam sensor and sensor relay if you do in fact have a ve and not the vg now if it is that you have a vg then you do have a distributor cap and rotor from my memory from when i owned my 1991 se vg maxima.

 

possibly injectors, MAF, or fuel delivery: pump/regulator/filter.

a bad O2 sensor or a spark misfire will cause you to run rich so my guess is fuel related

 

If it's a VE30DE engine, I have 3 rear coils for sale.

 

please tell us which engine it has and we can start from there. Maybe a little bit more of a description, too. Is it stalling/bucking or more of a rough running, low on power?

there are different problems related to each of the two engines available in 92.

 

Its a VG motor, I am very familar with the 87 - 89 Zcars but it seems a little more advanced. Unfortunatly I work a 9 to 5 and have no good garage space to work in so I have not even looked at it other than a test ride and glance with a flash light. The engine runs pretty smooth at idle with vibration upon acceleration, at the muffler it has a poppin sound like its missing bad and it acutally smelled lean. I dont drive the car much but it seems way down on power. This weekend I am going to start checking the ignition, computer for codes and vaccume leaks. I hope its something simple because I do not want to spend a lot of money on the car. I was thinking of selling anyway it to get my fiance in to a Gen 4 Max. Thanks for all the replys so far

 

Injectorzzzz....

How does it idle though

 

The Idle is at about 700 rpm in park and relatively smooth with but I can definetly hear that it has a miss. I am told that it idles real rough and pulses when stoped in gear. When I drove it it was way down on power but it did rev up to 4K + rpms. As I mentioned the exhaust smells kind of lean. I hope it warms up this weekend in NJ I dont really like working on cars in the cold.

Have a great day

 

If you have a lean running engine, its either a vacuum leak or a fuel issue. Do a fuel pressure test first to eliminate fuel issues. It's a DIY if you buy a fuel pressure gauge and the Haynes manual.

 

yup, sounds like injectors to me

 

Basic tune up,distr.cap,roter cap,plugs,O2 sens.air filter,gas filter.Could also be fuel injectors.Try fuel injector cleaner.Good luck

 

I agree. Teh problem also could be fuel, air or electrical in nature.

 

Here is what I found. Cleaned the cap and rotor contacts with a dremel and wire brush, it ran better. While checking the timing I got shocked by the cap and found 2 cracked terminals on the inside. The pulled a couple of plugs to fine Autolites :-( that looked very worn out. Read the computer which told me exactly what I expected *(nothing). Just picked up a Nissan cap and rotor, NGK plugs and a fuel filter. I am going to start there. my guess is its will run fine when tuned up. thanks for all the posts Mike

 

 

Have you replaced the plug wires? Could be why the shocking experience.

 

That's a good start.
though as 92max mentioned you should do wires at the same time

 

I had the exact same problem, found a broken wire going to the ECCS. Start with wires and plugs, the basics.

 

Well, it looks like its got a bad #4 injector. The next question is where is the best place to get injectors. The car is at a freind/mechanic who will put the injector/s in for $400 which seems reasonable. I am figuring on replacing all 6 since the labor is the same for all or 1. He would normally use OEM parts at about $120+ each I am not really willing to spent that kind of $s on this car (my 99 5sp maybe). Can any one tell me if there are any after market Injectors I should avoid found some new for $59.00. I can do the job myself but its cold here now and supposed to get colder this weekend and I am too old to be working on cars out in the cold. All have a great day

 

if they aren't brand new Bosch (AKA Nissan) don't bother getting them.

 

Since i just joined maxima.org, i cant create my own thread yet so i fgured id ask here. I had the same problem plus more. I have a 92 maxima se (VE30DE) with 218K. When i start it, it idles really rough. When i hit the gas lightly it will accelerate up to about 2000-3000 rpm, and either drops back down to idle, or drops to like 1000rpm, then go back up to 3000, and go back down and back up like someones hitting the gas, then brake over and over. If i dont let off the gas, it will keep doing this forever. If i floor it, the rpms will get up to about 5000 and 7000 rpm, and either backfire, or just drop back to idle. I checked for vaccuum leaks, throttle positions sensor, MAF sensor, air filter, fuel filter(all replaced), and spark. The next thing on my list are injectors since i did have an injector go bad for a while a little while back, but it got better, or crank angle sensor, camshaft position sensor, or maybe even a bad ECU. Im tired of throwing money into the car, but i dont wanna get rid of it. Any tips or suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
p.s. i may be forgetting some stuff i checked but this is all i remember since i havent messed with the car for like 6 months (it has been sitting in my yard but i start it everyday to keep it fresh).

 

Coolant temp sensor maybe?
They are cheap,so i would try it..

May also be a dirty/faulty idle air control valve,this is located directly under the throttle body...

 

With any kind of fluctuation like that, I'd pretty much guarantee it's a sensor somewhere. Electronics cause that type of behavior, not fuel or air problems (in general).

 

I agree with previous posters. Sounds like possibly a sensor, or what about the fuel pump? Have you monitored the fuel pressure at the manifold while this surging is occuring? Is you ECU giving any codes?

 

i forgot i did change the coolant temp sensor cuz there was a code for it but that didnt help and i havent got a chance to check the fuel pressure which is a very likely source if the problem. also i think i mentioned that sumtimes one of my fuel injectors will randomly go out on me sometimes when i start it but ill rev it up and it starts workin again but when its not workin the check engine lite is on
and thnx 4 the replies guys

 

My turned out to be a bad injector. It is now fixed and running normal. Again thanks for all the post you guys nailed the problem.

Mike

 

Does anyone think the fuel pressure regulator could be the cause? I was taking stuff apart and i took it off and i was wondering if there was any way to test it to see if it works. thnx

 

You test the fuel pressure regulator when testing the fuel pressure. You "T" in a pressure gauge after the filter and watch the pressure at idle, 43 psi. Then you put a vacuum source on the fuel pressure regulator and pull a vacuum and the fuel pressure should drop to a lower pressure 36 psi

 

I have a scanner but I can't find the data port to connect the scanner to check for codes and check sensors. Its supposed to be on the driverside of the dash near the hood release but I couldn't find any data port there or under the dash. Its a 1990 Maxima

 

what scanner do you have?

 

Snap-On scanner

 

Many different models?

Which one?

 

I use the Mt-2500

though only once on my max, just to see if it worked

 

Well???????

 

it worked, no great info. same crap I can see on an old **** cheby.

 

thnx and i tested it and its fine. me and my friend (who is a mechanic) seem to think the crank angle sensor is dropping out on it. I need an ocsilliscope to test it though and i dont have one so ill have to figure something out. but duz anyone have any input on this? does anyone else think the crank angle sensor could be the culprit.

 

wtf wrong thread that was stupid sry bout that

 

thnx and i tested it and its fine. me and my friend (who is a mechanic) seem to think the crank angle sensor is dropping out on it. I need an ocsilliscope to test it though and i dont have one so ill have to figure something out. but duz anyone have any input on this? does anyone else think the crank angle sensor could be the culprit?