Question regarding stuttering engine

[lordrashmi]

I have been reading these forums for a while and figured you guys might be able to help me out with a problem I am having.

I recently (April) bought a sweet ass 99 Maxima GLE with an Automatic Transmission. I love the car but I am experiencing a slight problem with it.

After I have been driving at highway speeds (> 60) and then slow down (< 30) my engine will start to stutter. I am not sure that "stutter" is the best way to describe it, but for lack of a better term that is what I will use. It is similar to how an engine sounds right before you run out of gas or on a cold morning.

The problem is most apparent when I am idling at a light. If I shift to neutral and rev the engine over 1500 it seems to go away.

Another tidbit of information, when I turn the engine off and let it sit (up to 20 minutes) and then start it up again, it sometimes (40% or so) continues to stutter.

A friend told me that it could be my oxygen sensor but I wanted to get some more opinions on this before I took the time to replace the sensor or spent the money taking it to a mechanic.

I apreciate any opinions that you might have to offer!
--Bryan

[NJMAXSELTD]

How many miles are on the car?

When was it serviced last? (Tune up time perhaps??)

Clean your throttle body, look here for instructions w/pics www.motorvate.ca

[lordrashmi]

It has aprox. 50K miles on it. I got it at 40K so I am not sure when the last tune up was.

Your walkthrough on cleaning the throttlebody looks pretty good. I will try that and see what happens.

Thanks for the help.

[97wvmax]

wouldnt have anyhting to do with the fuel pump or filter or any of that would it>?

[benj]

I have a '92 SE (DOHC, very similar to the '99 SE engine) with the same type of problem only mine occurs much more often than just during hwy driving/speeds. It's a manual and most commonly stutters in the middle gears, 2nd and 3rd. After talking to many qualified mechanics, they all have the same conclusion: it could be any of a number of issues. Only lately has the local Nissan dealer given me some hope: after doing an ECU scan and finding no stored codes on the computer (i.e. you might want to try that first) they said the voltage at the MAF (Mass Airflow Sensor) was incorrect/low and I might be able to alleviate the problem by replacing it. I say some hope b/c I'm not about to slap 600 bones down on a new MAF just b/c the guy said it MIGHT fix it, but check/have a dealer check yours for the correct juice (I'm not sure exactly what it is) and get back to me. Also, I've replaced the fuel filter/flushed the fuel system with a mechanic's grade cleaner - no improvement.

[lordrashmi]

Well, it has been a while but I finally got around to cleaning my throttle body. My car was backed into so it was in the shop for a week but I finally got it back and cleaned the throttle body. No improvement, in fact, the problem has seemed to get slightly worse. Now, the majority of the time when I first start it, it stutters/runs rough for a little while, then improves but when I slow down the same thing happens.

Should I just take it to a mechanic?

[Paonessa]

check your distibutor and you vacuum lines