Just a few days ago my RPM needle started bouncing so I looked around on here and spent $200 on parts that did nothing...
PARTS-...

-disturber cap
-rotor
-PCV valve
-Spark plug
-Wires
-fuel fliter

I thought it was bad gas so i used a gas treatment and it still hasnt done anything... I drop it came back home and the car was just smoking like oil or some type fluid was dripping on the exhaust pipe...

I haven't change the oil yet and tranny fluid is not a deep red...
I need help ASAP i also have video im trying to upload right now

this is vid of idle
http://s10.photobucket.com/user/Gudd...14415.mp4.html

This is video of me driving it
http://s10.photobucket.com/user/Gudd...93C87.mp4.html

 

That looks like the cluster is going bad cause I don't hear the engine following the tach's behavior. Had this issue before and it was much worse than what you have right now.

 

Since the speedo works, it's not the VSS (vehicle speed sensor). The tach just works from a direct signal from the VSS. Check the wiring.

 

Turn up your speakers.

IM: I'd check the fuel pressure and vacuum lines. Looks like it's really struggling to idle, have you at least messed with the idle speed adjustment to see what happens?

Are those 20's?

 

I recorded it with my phone sorry you really cant hear it Iphone with life proof case muffs the sound ill do another one with my video cam...

I have no idea how red this diagram but it will be put to use thanks

Yeah if your speakers are up you should hear it...
I did check the vac lines and saw nothing all were connected...
where is the ISA located?
and ill have to get the fuel pressure checked...
no they are not 20" they are 18x8 that I no longer have I sold them a few days ago for $400 the picture is Photoshopped

 

if it were the idle adjustment, then it wouldn't keep doing it at higher RPM. The amount of air flowing at idle is tiny compared to the amount of air required to run at 65mph... it has to be something else.

 

Whats up CapedCadaver long time no see... I haven't been on here in a while but this one had me stumped... The car will get up to 65 but nothing after that but for me to even get out of first gear it seems to be confused about what it wants/should do...

is it possible for the torque converter to be going bad?

 

Im uploading video now that I recorded today but the engine does respond to the needle bouncing...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgI9N...ature=youtu.be I dont know how to add the video so here is the link to it...

 

it's interesting that your temp needle flutters as well. I had a loose spade connector on my first car's temp sender.. see if yours is wiggly, like this:

 

i'm not suggesting that's your problem.... just trying to see if it's a separate issue, or if it could be that both gauges are affected by the same thing. Do other lights and things on the car (especially the headlights) dim with the fluctuations of the needles when you are moving at speed? IE, at a high enough RPM, such that a dip in RPM would not also cause the alternator to dip its output voltage thus taking that partially out of the equation.

 

do you have a link to the video?

 

click the image, it takes you to the video.

 

doesn't work I click it and it just makes the images pop out into new window...
I just recorded new vid I did get the temp needle to stop that was loose...

*-however I just seen that I have a nasty oil leak near the fire wall on the passenger side of the car and oil is caked up on that side pretty good...
*-I put the meter on the battery and it was reading 14.30 strong until that bouncing stated and it dropped from 14.29 to 13.95... the light to flicker a little...

Also last time i changed my oil the guy put in 5w30 and not 10w30 like i do when changing my own oil... and its about time for another one

 

NEW NIGHT VIDEO... JUST UPLOADED...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQSH-...ature=youtu.be

 

how bout this?

 

perfect but nope it doesn't do that I have a wire going threw the little hole and it was loose so when the RPM dropped it caused the wire to bounce I need to hit up the JY for a new connector

 

Were those voltage readings at idle, or at higher RPM (even if the car was sitting still)?

Also... have you tried looking at, or doing anything with, the MAF? Even unplugging it to see how the car behaves and drives (albeit kinda slowly since the ECU sets a 2500rpm rev limit with no MAF plugged in)

 

I rigged one of those wire-thru-the-hole deals on the fuel temp sensor on my first Z good times.

 

ok so I did the MAF test like he did and I
turned it on let it run
turned it off unplugged MAF
turned it back on and it did the same thing it has been doing like it didn't care it the MAF was plugged in or not but when RPM took that dip below 500 it did shut off... it never went up to 2500

I also just saw white smoke coming from tail pipe...
and that oil leak really looks bad might be a valve cover gasket

 

did you check the ECU for codes?

 

No I have no idea what to look for if I do that...

 

I went in under there and turned it how the video shows now the check engine light flashes 5 times goes off comes back and then another 5

 

instructions in the video.

0:02 Turn key "on" but don't start the engine.

0:12 Turn the screw to the right...

0:19 ...until you see both LEDs flash together 3 times.

0:21 Then turn the screw to the left again.

0:26 When the LEDs are blinking one at a time, red is the 'tens' place, and green is the 'ones' place. My code in this video is 55, aka 'normal'.

 

It's kind of similar to an experience I had with leaking o-rings on a VE. White smoke out of the tail pipe and erratic engine speed. Might also be starved for fuel or again a vacuum leak. I wouldn't worry too much about the $200 you spent on parts. Most of that stuff was probably due for replacement anyway, especially considering your odometer says 300k. Congrats on that by the way.

 

all Vac lines are connected... the car odometer says 300k but really is around 160 or less I got this motor with only 130k on it and and the tranny also most of the part were already replaced...

 

Ill do a vid on it and post it later on tonight...

 

the lights that matter are the ones on the ECU. not the CEL. Tho the CEL is tied-in to the red LED... but you need the green too. A sequence of "red red... green green green green" would be "24", etc.

look at page EC-42 to decode any codes you get. There can be more than one, so watch the lights until you see the same pattern twice.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Maxima/1994/ec.pdf

 

Before the rain started I did what you said and im getting a code 55
ill go back out in the morning to see if i get anything different...
also I noticed that the check engine like comes on when i put the gas pedal

but from the diagram... there is a lot of oil all over the knock sensor and oil pressure switch...

 

in my video there was one mistake... so, mode 3 is "code reading", mode 4 is actually something else. Technically what you're supposed to do is cycle it back to mode 1 which is "normal mode". I think mode 4 is a sensor check, and touching the gas pedal causes the CEL to light up b/c it's checking the function of the TPS idle-position circuit.

 

so is it possible for that to be the cause? the TPS idle-position circuit that is...

 

not likely, the CEL is supposed to come on when you hit the gas pedal in mode 4. What you saw there was not abnormal.

 

ok cool right now im just like completely lost... but I just sprayed the engine bay im going under it 2marrow to check the o2 sensor and knock sensor... well the connections my wires are very brittle if i bend one it will just snap not all the wires just the ones that have had oil on them

Could be be a bad knock sensor?

 

I asked that because I just pulled a 34 from the lights blanking... but that was after I disconnected it and connected it back... would thin oil have something to do with it? like I said i always use 10w30 last time i got it changed somewhere they used 5w30

 

i used both of those oil grades at some point in the past, and the owner's manual states both of those are OK. so no, not likely to be that. Knock sensor could be it tho if it's pulling the timing back unnecessariliy and severely. I'm not sure how fast-acting and aggressive the response to the KS is supposed to be, but I know the motor will run like **** if the timing is not "normal", which is what the KS could be doing to you.

 

the oil grade would never cause something like this unless it was a grade which was so far out of spec that it caused something to clog. Both of those are listed in the owner's manual, so both are "legal" to use.

Flaky KS or KS connection, maybe. KS signal causes timing to regard, so if it's sending a knock signal at weird times, then it could cause the ECU to pull back the timing out of safety.

The circuit test for that is on EC-108 and 109, and the component test is on EC-147

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Maxima/1994/ec.pdf

 

UPDATE: Well the car is still doing that but at a shop now and I have the distributor pulled and its getting replaced too bad that's yet another $200 going into this car... this may be the end of her...

 

SOHC distributor 89-94 are all the same? Or not? please reply asap...

 

They're the same