92 Max with Engine Stalling at StopNGo Traffic

My wife has been spooked by her 92 Maxima wanting to stall out and die out on the busy very dangerous I-35 freeway in DFW during heavy rush hour traffic. This has happen 3 times and all 3 times, I cannot get a code on it. I was not with her when these 3 times it occured. This happens when my wife gets stuck in traffic. Gridlock just about. stop and go over and over in 90 degree heat. After about 30 minutes by my wife's estimates, Engine will go crazy, stalls, no power, just want to die. Put it in neutral to try to keep it going. Giving it gas does not help. On this forth stall, she finally was able to drive it crippled home. She left the Max running so I can finally see what it is doing. Engine idling very rough, check engine light on, and noticed the RPM's only goes to 2 settings. idle speed and 4000 RPM's. Those are the only 2 ares the needle goes to. She says, when the car dies out, let it sit for about 5-10 minutes to cool off. Then she can start the Max, and it runs normal again????

Can someone give me some insight on this? I did a little searching on this forums for something similar to this and nothing positive came out so far. I will have to check to make sure my MAF is working fine I guess. This problem only happens when the Max gets stuck in heavy stop and go traffic for long periods of time. Also, wifey does not run or turn off the A/C when this symptoms starts to occur. She knows the A/C will surely kill the engine when it starts to spit and sputter.

This 92 Max GXE is the 2valve 3.0 engine with 4 spd auto with 133k miles on it. This car has been mechanically taken care of very well. All fluids changes on or earlier than scheduled. Tune-ups, belt change,etc.. Everything is done according to the owners manual.

Thanks,

Tommy

For all the times I've read about people having this problem in the past couple of weeks, my local Nissan dealer doesn't know what's going on either.

I have a similar problem - (usually) when I'm driving semi-aggressively up a steep hill on the way to home, I lose power. The engine will idle or will run OK _if_ I can get it above 3500 rpm. If I stop the car and wait 5 minutes, idling (roughly) at teh side of the road, the problem goes away and I can drive all day. The dealer says there are no codes stored in the computer.

I've read that the EGR system kicks in between 1500 and 3500 rpm. I've also seen suggested that the O2 sensor is bad, the knock sensor is bad, the MAF is bad, the computer is bad, the injectors are bad, ...

Today (after I got the dealer to run the car up the hill to experience the failure - he ran it up and down the freeway and said there are no problems), the dealer disconnected the EGR and says that the problem seems to have gone away. I will drive it this weekend and see if it really has - if so, then I guess I need an EGR valve to fix. I sure hope so becauase MAFs are > $600.

Long story short - check your EGR.

BTW, 1991 SE, 5 speed, 230K km.

Michael

I had the same problem with my 1993 Maxima SE it was the Mass Airflow Sensor. The check engine light never came on. Get the MAF checked.

[sigh]

Not the EGR. Still the same problem.

Today, I cleaned all the MAF sensor connections, cleaned the ground wire connection - engine to battery - and reconnected EGR. Although she seems to start more quickly, I still have the drivability problem.

BUT, I have a code 33 - O2 sensor - on my computer. The book says to disconnect it and see if drivability improves.

Off to the road again...

M

(and why didn't the Nissan dealer see this code????)

I also have a 1992 Maxima SE DOHC Manual Shift. It only has 95k and a perfect service record.

When I drive down I-75 from Plano and hit traffic, I sometimes get engine sputtering. The RPMs drop below 500, then it recovers.

Sometimes, the engine dies at stop lights or in heavy traffic.

Sometimes when I take a hard left or right in the Plano Streets, the engine will act like it is turning on and off, almost frogging down the street. I temporarily solve this by pressing the clutch letting the engine return to idle and re-engage the clutch.

I especially notice the engine hesitations during high humidity days. We have had a lot of rain in the Dallas area, so conditions have been ripe for hesitations. During the last part of July it was hot and dry. I did not get a hesitation for a month. Then, in August the rains return and the air was humid. I have had several hesitations.

I also notice the hesitations occur mostly in the morning on the way to work. They are less frequent in the afternoon. Another clue to the humidity theory.

2 Nissan dealerships, in the Dallas area, are stumped of the problem because they have no computer read-outs. I conclude, these are not real mechanics, just someone trained on the codes.

When the engine dies the computer at the Nissan dealership could not capture the code. The mechanic said it looks like the engine computer just looses power, thus loosing the code.

I have had the computer replaced once on this vehicule because it simply would not start. After about a year, the hesitations started again. I fear it will not start some morning in the future.

I have not checked the massive Air-slow sensor, the engine knock sensor or the Fuel Pressure sensor. Something I might look into.

My problem seems to have been resolved. In the end, it was the O2 sensor.

M

RyderMax,

What did you use to capture the codes? Did the code 33 come after the engine died or during driving?

My symptoms are very similar to yours. Except, Texas has no hills. My hesitations also occur when driving steady in a low rev and then step on the gas for acceleration.

RyderMax,

What did you use to capture the codes? Did the code 33 come after the engine died or during driving?

My symptoms are very similar to yours. Except, Texas has no hills. My hesitations also occur when driving steady in a low rev and then step on the gas for acceleration.

Yeah, in Dallas/Fort Worth, there aren't much hills. My wife's 92 max has the hestitation and engine stalling on cold start up in the cold mornings sometimes. And sometimes it has stalling issues when starting the engine after the engine is just starting to cool off after a long drive. This was just one of those random in's/out's. Does not do this all the time. But just the past couple of months, the Max will not spit and sputter and want to die when it is stuck in gridlock traffic! Almost feels like the engine is completely out of timing. No power at all. If you watch the engine RPM gauge, you only get idle speed around 600-700 rpm's and 4000 rpms even if the engine is not spinning 4000 rpms. The check engine light will even come on at that point. However I do not know how to pull the engine codes? How do you do this so if this happens again and check engine light is on, hopefully I can get a useful code to check into? When you pull over or able to make the trip home, and then turn off the max for about 15 minutes to let it cool off. Everything is normal again. No apparent problems. Other than that, if you are just driving steadily down the highway, the max runs fine.

I hope the codes are still stored on the computer and hopefully someone can tell me how to retrieve the codes on this 92 max. I have been thinking of changing the O2 sensor as this car is reaching 140k miles. Good thing is that my wife really takes car of the car mechanically. Engine still runs very strong like new!

Thank you for all your input!

I'm not sure if I used an 'approved' method to get the codes...

First I had to find the computer - in the 91 SE, it's in the middle of the car, just to the left of the passengers footwell. There are 2 plastic trim screws to remove, then you remove a plastic trim piece. You can see the computer then, bolted to the floor. If you look at the side, you can see the LEDs in a little window, and back of that is a screw head. That's what you turn to change computer modes...

Then, I took the car for a ride and waited until I had problems. I'd then rush to the side of the computer to see what the LEDs were doing. As it happens, nothing much. BUT, that was a clue - in default mode, mode 1, the flashing green LED is telling you whether the computer thinks the mixture is lean or rich. The LED sould flash on or off about every 2 seconds. Mine wasn't (not that I realized what it meant then).

Later, once I was back in the driveway, I turned off the engine, kept the ignition in 'ON' position, and checked the computer. All lights were off.

Then, you turn the screw counter clockwise as far as you can - the green LED begins to flash - it will flash 1x pause, 2x, pause, 3x pause, 4x, pause, and 5x and pause. The computer is asking what mode you want to get into - the diagnostic mode is '3'. So, you turn the screw clockwise all the way once the computer flashes 3x.

The computer will then display the stored codes again using flashes - the red LED will flash for the 10's digit, followed by the green LED for the units digit. Together, they make up the code. eg: 3 red + 3 green = code 33. My computer seemed to pause then repeat the code. I can only assume that I had only 1 code stored.


Once I had the codes, I turned off the ignition. This resets the computer and you're back to square 1.

I don't know when the code popped up - I just saw it when I changed the mode as described above. The Haynes manual then suggested unplugging the O2 sensor to determine if that's the culprit - if your drivability problems go away, then you need to replace the O2 sensor. If not, you need to look elsewhere.

Hope this helps...

M

I've had the same problem, 3 or 4 times over the past 12 years with my 91 Maxima. Never have found cause or solution.

Symptoms:

1) Problem has arisen each time after high temperature days (85-90 degrees or more) and (usually combined with) high humidity (or extended rainy conditions) here in lovely Minnesota. Use of air conditioner during these periods may have triggered problem (or so it seems).

2) Engine bucks then stalls when putting car in Drive in the morning. Or it loses power, then stalls in traffic (usually in high humidity). Right now, it is stalling when being put in gear after sitting overnight.

3) After getting past the initial morning stalling, the car may idle very rough at next few stops--before it has been running for too long. It may even drop idle speed and stall again at the stop.

4) However, after running a few miles, it will (usually) not happen the rest of the day.

5) Mechanics at dealership could not resolve problem. They could only reproduce problem after letting car sit cold overnight. They could not find any computer codes.

These symptoms (i.e. it acts up when starting cold or when humid; then problem goes away) tell me that it's probably a sensor problem or some device that meters
a) air
b) gas
c) exhaust.

After talking to my experienced mechanic, he thought it might be the air flow meter but was reluctant to replace it without knowing a definite cause because the air flow meter is expensive to replace.

I might have him replace the O2 sensor as RyderMax found success there.

Someone else (my sister) suggested the catalytic converter as the problem. This sort of makes sense as the CC takes a while to warm up before it can successfully scrub bad exhaust gasses from the exhaust. If it is going bad (?) it might have the effect of putting a potato in the exhaust pipe. In other words, something in the exhaust pipes is not allowing the gasses to get out fast enough, thus causing the stalling conditions.

Hope my commentary helps to isolate the problem. I am going to replace the O2 sensor though.

My wifes 1995 maxima is having the smae problems. I cleaned the throttle body and it did not work, my next step is to clean the MAF. ANyone know how to do this properly?

I was able to stop the stalling problem by replacing the O2 sensor.
Apparantly, the computer cannot detect a faulty O2 sensor. This is not a known problem but a theory of mine.