Ok, I'm not a grease monkey, I've never even changed my own oil. But I need help figuring out what's going on, and what it's going to run me to fix it.

I have a 96 Maxima, 100 miles away from 200k, manual transmission.

Last night, I was going home from working really late, 2:30 AM. I was going at about 75mph when I felt my car lose power. I would be pushing down the accelerator and I would get nothing. The engine wouldn't even rev up. So I started to pull over, when the power kicked in again.

I was about 4 miles from home, so I figured I'd try to get it back. But the power kept on cutting in and out. When it cuts out, it seems like it's still in gear, keeping the engine at 2k rpm, like you're trying to slowdown by downshifting. Sometimes, when I press on the gas hard when it's in this condition, it will stutter between accelerating and not. And there was a slight hollow knocking sound, kind of like when you're trying to start your car from a standstill in 4th or 5th gear.

Also, by the time I got home, the oil temperature guage was at the highest reading.

Please Help!!

 

CELs?

 

Like I said, I don't know much about cars. What are CELs?

 

CEL == Check Engine Light.

See the stickies, or my howto videos.

 

Go by your local auto parts store and have them check for check engine light codes. Much easier to fix when the engine gives you a code. Could be ignition coils.

 

Do they usually charge to check the engine codes? If so, how much does it usually run? Are there any stores that are better than others?

 

Auto parts stores generally do it for free.

If you happen to read my previous post, you can check them yourself, for free, quite quickly...

 

take my point,from a previous car I had....it's your fuel pump.....the fact you were driving fast , your fuel pump get very hot and shot dead....

 

pmohr, Thanks for the video instructions.

I got the following codes:
1308 Cooling Fan Circuit
0304 Knock Sensor

So from here, what do you think the problem is?

 

For the knock sensor, I think it just simply needs to be replaced. Pmohr has a video on that as well!

And for the first code I think it might be a fuse or your radiator fan not being turned on by some faulty wiring or being unhooked? But I have no idea on this one.

 

Do you think the radiator fan not turning on would cause the loss of acceleration I was experiencing?

 

Is the loss of power only when the car is hot? If so, I would suspect maybe the coolant temp sender or that coolant fan sensor(signals electric fans). Sounds like the car goes into limp mode when it heats up??? Have the coils been replaced?

Also check when the car gets hot that the cooling fans are turning on! Sometimes it's the most obvious!!

 

Without the manual, you might need to take this to a mechanic. Could be fans, coolant temp sensor or relays that turn on the fans. Also the fan fuses need to be checked. There is a checkout procedure in the haynes manual. But without it, and a voltmeter this one could be hard to figure out. Could be throwing lots of parts at this one$$$


You need to fix this ASAP! Running the car in this condition can cause head gasket failure. Thats a new engine or major dollars!!

 

I'm definitely not driving this... way too dangerous. I just want to point my mechanic in the right direction.... or if there was something easy I could try first, I wanted to try that.

 

With the right tools either shouldn't be that hard. The only problem you'll run into is if you have fat sausage fingers like I do you can't really do much good w/ reaching the KS.

 

FYI, it turned out my radiator... quote from my mechanic "blew up". Thankfully, the motor was unharmed. $175 later, I'm back on the road. Thanks everyone.

 

Great news!! Maxima's rule!!

 

However, i was hoping for something more. My 95 hasa perfectly good radiator and it does the same thing. With the same knock sensor code. I plan to replace it 2night. It also has a new fuel pump, alternator, starter, ignition switch and spark plugs(not related). I've never messed with Nissan until i got this car about 2 months ago. The problem is very intermittent and while occuring you can press the gas and sometimes power out of it. I hear a clicking like the in cabin relays are going nuts. I also noticed headlights, dash lights and radio cut in and out. I'm stumped.