Hey all. So every now and then my car (96 se) will randomly begin to have the RPMs flutter then drop out completely. So I've taken the car to a mechanic this past Friday (3rd one I've tried) and naturally he hasn't had it die on him--he's been driving it around all weekend. Well after describing the symptoms (RPMs flutter, low idle, usually at stops or low speed, difficult start after dying) and he said he thought it might be the "Crankshaft sensor". Now he has been dealing with my father while I've been at school, so i haven't heard his exact words, but i'm assuming he's talking about the crankshaft position sensor. He offered to fix it for $75. This seems like a decent price to me, but he also said the engine was throwing 4 codes--all related to a bad water pump (already knew about this) and cooling system issues--which after a bit of searching made me think it might be the ECTS that is faulty? I've searched around the forums a good bit and found a number of possible culprits:

Vacuum leak
Alternator
Fuel injectors
Spark plugs
Coil packs
Engine Coolant Temp Sensor
MAF sensor
IACV
Low octane gas/gas with ethanol additive
Torque converter

Also have had a code for knock sensor in the past and as the car has 140xxx on the stock KS i figured i'd replace that now--as well as perhaps new spark plugs too, as i am sure these are also stock and they would be cheap enough to replace. Maybe drive around a bit on Premium (yeah i usually run the cheap stuff)--not sure if this would make any noticeable/immediate difference though.
Anyways--my question--Is the CPS a viable option? The car's old enough where i don't want to just keep throwing new parts at it. So should i go ahead and have him do that or try some of these other things?

 

Also worth noting---just read that cranking the car a lot without it turning over can lead to a CPS code (someone else on maxima.org's words, not mine). Truth to this?

Cliffs notes:

Car dies when i drive it. Doesn't when mechanics do. Help

 

No such codes exist.

Is the car overheating?
Has he checked the ECTS to see if it's in spec?

Find another mechanic.

 

my 5 speed does the same thing. it will start fine and idle for awhile then after a few minutes of driving it dies when i get to lower rpms. then after i restart it it immediatly dies so i constantly have to give it gas. other times though it runs just fine..very aggrevating

 

TPS? You said it dies when it idles?

 

My guess would be a MAF sensor issue. I had a similar situation on my old 95 maxima. And I actually replaced the crankshaft sensor, vehicle speed sensor, and knock sensor (as suggested from some guy) and none of those fixed my problem until..

When I replaced the MAF it was like night and day.


I haven't tried but I heard that if you remove the MAF the car will run better if its a faulty MAF.

 

you can also clean the maf with electrial parts cleaner worth a shot before you fork out the money for a maf

 

Best advice in this thread so far.

I'd be willing to be it's your ECTS. I recently had a bad ECTS cause my car to stall, and not start until 5 minutes later when things cooled down.