Cleaned throttle body, now PROBLEMS!

Guys im worried, here's the deal:

A while ago i was running fine, and also on empty, so i stopped by a crappy gas station and filled her up with 87 octane; since then, my car has been shuddering when i accelerate. It shudders sometimes, others it doesnt, and it really affects my acceleration.

Recently, i ran empty again so THIS time i filled with 89 octane gas as well as octane booster. Before i filled her up though, i took of my air intake and cleaned out the throttle body valve (i guess that's what you call it) with carb cleaner. I was careful not to have any get into the engine. After i cleaned that out and put everything back together, problems emerged. The car idles VERY badly and i get no response from the idle adjust screw. It idles KINDA ok once i'm warm. The shuddering has definitely reduced, but there's still some traces of it. But here's what REALLY worried me:

I was accelerating (or trying to) to get onto the highway, and i was CRAWLING.. I was experiencing like NO acceleration, and a VERY strange sound occured while trying to accelerate; it sounded like a brushing noise; i couldnt pinpoint it because i was driving, but now that im saying this, do you think it could be the distributor??? I was also deciding on replacing the TPS.. think this will affect my problem?

Ok so to sum it up:

could it be my
-distributor
-TPS (did i break it?)
-why wont my idle adjust screw make a difference when i turn it (never used to make a difference)

OK, the bad idling was solved; i didnt put the intake back on properly :banghead:

However, it still accelerates horribly; if you had a choice between replacing the TPS or the distributor, which would you go for? WHich one would possibly remedy my acceleration problems?

1) When you ran the tank out the first time, the gas you put in was CRAP! Any gas is not quality gas. Some brands are dirty and some are clean. They are not all the same. Sounds to me like that first tank had impurities in it and probably some water added by the owner to make more $$$.
2) 89 Octane in the Altima is fine occasionally. With octane booster you probably ran WAY too hot inside the cylanders! Check for burned out spark plugs. You probably have to switch them and your ignition wires with new ones. Lesson: Never run octane boost unless you have a car running high compression (see Corvette, Viper, Porsche, Ferrari) and all you can get is 87 octane.
3) Be picky on the brands you fill up with. Some may be cheaper, but they rob you of power and gas mileage. In the end you fill up more frequently, spend more and are more likely to increase the problems with your ride.

Consumer Reports have rated the gas suppliers from cleanest to dirtiest.

1) Amacco. Cleanest and in their test, was the cheapest over 5 gas tanks since it gave the best gas mileage because it is cleaner and a very true octane rating.
2)Exxon. Second cleanest. Gas mileage was 2nd plan. It gave the most HP because the octane generally runs 1-2 octanes higher than what is stated at the pump.
3) Texaco.
4) Shell.

The other I don't remember the rankings but the comments were not good. They stated that the avg octane is really between 85-87 for pump gas and than. All states require that only a portion of the gas tested rates at the specified octane and not the entire amt at the pump. In conclusion, if you put in Hess, Citco or Wal-Mart crap, you're going to get the problems you've experienced at some points.

I ONLY put in Amacco gas and maybe once a year put in Exxon or Texaco if no Amacco/BP's are around.

i replaced the TPS sensor AND the cap, but to no avail. i sincerely doubt its my wires and plugs because i would be misfiring, and i'm not.. My last 'thing' to check is my 02 sensor; would a bad 02 sensor cause these things? ALso, i was driving on the highway the other night and my SES light came on, then aftera few minutes while still on the highway it went off; what could that have been?

Sounds like the fuel filter may be clogged. It would be good to check the fuel pressure regulator to make sure it's not sticking from any trash that got sucked up when you ran the tank dry. I'd pull the plugs also just to be sure.

If your plugs are bad, you won't always be misfiring. You're spark could be 1/2 of what it needs to be. That would give you some serious spark nock and drain of power. But RobShelton's suggestion is probably right. Have you checked your fuel filter?

i replaced my fuel filter only months ago... my plugs, ill have to remove and inspect when it isnt raining.. now that you mention it, i think i do hear a knock, but i dont know where it is coming from, it is apparent when i am accelerating only..

i replaced my fuel filter only months ago... my plugs, ill have to remove and inspect when it isnt raining.. now that you mention it, i think i do hear a knock, but i dont know where it is coming from, it is apparent when i am accelerating only..
May be a spark knock from bad plugs, wires, carbon build-up or a combination.

well following procedure in the Hayne's manual, i probed the o2 sensor while my car was wrong and i was supposed to observe a fluctuation of 0.1-0.9 volts... mine stayed in the 'open loop' fluctuation 0.1-0.2 volts, so i'm thinking this must be replaced. if THAT doesn't do the trick, then plugs and wires will be inspected.

You have to test the O2 sensors while they are hot. They don't work properly until they are heated(closed loop). When you cleaned the TB, did you disconnect the battery to reset the ECM? Many automakers program the ECM to take into account the TB getting cruded up as the engine ages. So if you clean it, the ECM may need resetting. I've ran into this problem on a few occasions..

I did reset, and YES, i did test while it was hot, and still no good.

Somethings wrong if the engine is warmed up and it's still in open loop.. I'm not sure if an O2 sensor can cause this or not. BTW, were you testing the upstream or downstream sensor?

Consider separating fact from the fiction. So far there must be enough mumbo-jumbo to provide script for three animated TV episodes. I offer you the next three episodes. Gosh, with re-runs we already have half a season.

Put an end to the fuel problem idea. Check the fuel pressure. You will know if the filter and regulator are good or bad. This is how fuel gets to your tank.


http://159.87.10.140/estf/distribution.pdf

A quick search leads me to believe there is only one pipe-line feeding storage tanks in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. At least accept that there are not separate pipes from separate refiners leading to separate storage tanks that go to each brand of gas station. Higher octane fuel equates to lower combustion temperatures. Fuel knock is caused by excesively high combustion temperature. Measuring cleaner burning fuel emissions is not an indication of cleaner fuel going to injectors. Todays cleaner burning formulated fuel has oxygen in it.. alcohol. Alcohol absorbs water and thereby cleans fuel systems.

Search How Stuff Works about fuel knock.

http://www.stanford.edu/~bmoses/knock.html

Higher octane is not related to how clean the fuel is. Fuel tanks of fuel injected cars stay very clean because the fuel is constantly be pushed through the fuel filter and bypassed back to the fuel tank.

Did you contaminate your fuel tank with dirty fuel cans? Did you aggravate someone or a group of people to the point that they intentionally contaminated your tank? Check your fuel pressure to prove you do not have a fuel problem.

"Raising the octane level of your fuel will primarily help prevent knock. If your engine is not currently knocking, you won't see any significant advantages of using higher octane fuel. On the other hand, if the engine is designed from the beginning for higher octane fuel, it will have considerable advantages in power and economy." Altimas are not high compression engines.

Sparkplugs, or wires will not cause fuel knock. If you really did gob anti-seize onto the threads when you installed your plugs as you wrote, the anti-seize leaks down the threads and contaminates the plugs... permanently. Carbon build up can increase compression but the carbon also quenches the flame. Fuel injected engines don't build up carbon like older engines using carburators.

A computer controlled engine cannot operate in closed loop with a bad O2 sensor. Are you aware of how many O2 sensors a 93 Altima has? Many carb sprays are not O2 sensor safe. Using the wrong type of cleaner will contaminate the sensors... Permanently.

Yes something is wrong if an engine is warmed up and it is still in open loop. The Coolant Temperature Sensor and O2 sensors will prevent closed loop operation. Check for codes in your computer to find out why it won't complete closed loop.

Make sure that every sensor is connected to your wiring harness.

OK, the bad idling was solved; i didnt put the intake back on properly :banghead:

However, it still accelerates horribly; if you had a choice between replacing the TPS or the distributor, which would you go for? WHich one would possibly remedy my acceleration problems?
the two most common failures on L31 altimas are oil leaking on the cam shaft sensor in the distributor which will cause poor acceleration and, intake gasket failure cause a vaccum leak affecting vehicle performance .. also when adjusting idle with out scan tool you must unplug tps to set idle ...

THE PLUGS! IT WAS THE PLUGS... Aaaagh.. I was fedup with all of this so i took it to a mechanic.. Told me that i was using platinum plugs and that they had a bunch of carbon on them, and he installed the right ones for $55.00, not bad at all! But yeah... IT WAS THE PLUGS. :banghead: And here i am with sensor this and valve that... GEEZ. Case closed, finally.

Plugs are usually the cheapest fix and cheif culprit.

Take your Distributor cap off. Remover Distributor Rotor.. See if you can pop Plastic cover off and see if you find OIL , if you do , you will need to replace your distributor. I would start there first. GL .. :)

FixUrNissan, I've never heard of doing that. But it actually makes a lot of sense. That could easily be the cause of many problems and not too difficult to work on.