97 Stalling

[licensed]

I have a 97 Sentra and sometimes it will act up and stall. it will be doing fine and i will turn it off then come back and the engine will shut down after turning it on. i have to feed it gas to keep it from stalling. it will work it self out after a while of driving and sometimes it will continue for the rest of the driving. i have an idea that it is either the carborator or something in the fuel lines that is cuasing the problem. also when it idles the times that it doesn't quit the car will vibrate mainly the stick. but it does it in the way that makes it seem like it could cut out at any moment. help.

[tsj]

I have a 97 Sentra (automatic) and am having the same problem too. I have notify the technician each time I sent it for my every 5000km service(twice now) and they changed/repaired things that they thought are the causes but the problem reappears.

First, my car was stalling when I turned full steering to make U turns and turned sharp corners. For this they cleaned my ACC valve and that solves the problem for a short while. After about 3000km, my car started to stall during idle, especially when the A/C is on. When I took it next to the technician, they changed my A/C belt, power steering belt (not sure why!!) and one of my bearings (not sure which,but i can check).They did the diagnostic test (where they plug in the equipment at the fuses) and found nothing wrong.

But despite all those changes, the car stalled even when I was on my way home from the garage. But I didnt have time to send my car to the garage again so I kept on using it. Then, I was driving to a place shich was half an hour away from me. I was driving rather fast(more than 100km/h) and did full accelaration etc and when I was entering the residential area, I felt that my car was not pumping oil properly into the engine.I pressed the accalerator but it was slow to respond.But I managed to arrive safely and parked.After 2 hours,when I was leaving the place, the car stalled just after starting.I could restart but it would stall again.But after playing with the accelerator during idling, the car seems to run again. So I drove in the highway again and as I was speeding up to 100km/h,the car engine died.Due to my speed, I could stil thrust forward and brake slowly to avoid the car behind from hitting me. The car refused to start again. While waiting for help,I tried restarting after several minutes and the car started and budged several meters away before failing again. I finally stopped and get the car towed to the garage

The technician changed my petrol filter (found it clogged up). Also changed the air filter,spark plugs and the engine sensor.He tested the car for several days and found it OK. When I got the car back it was ok initially but after a week, the car starts stalling again. The technician seems not sure what is wrong.I have been talking to my friends and they suggest possible reasons ranging from fuel pump to distributor.

I have yet to send it to the garage again. I test the car by driving it and then let it idle. I noticed that the car stalls more when the engine is hot and on hot days, and also when the A/C is on.The rev wavers less when the A/C is off. How I drive it is by pulling my handbrakes at traffic lights and press the accelerator to keep the revs up and prevent it from stalling. But I think I should send it to the garage again soon because I am afraid that the car will fail again like on the highway.

Please advise me: what could be the problem?How do I test for the faults?
To 97 stalling, please let me know what solves your problem.Hope my experince can offer some ideas.TQ

Thank you

[licensed]

Ya basically the same thing that is heppening with mine. i have brought it in and the tech says everything is fine and he couldn't find anything wrong. it also is starting to be sluggish when pushing the acceleration. its is almost the same problem as the one you have. dieing all the time and then it wont do it after for a few weeks. it also never does it when i take it to the tech. its like having a cold and going to the doctor, you cant cough or be sick. iu think it has something to do with the carb not feeding rite or the fuel pump or something. i am just as lost as you.

[sr20de4evr]

Have you had the idle control module checked?

That went out on my friend's maxima and his idle was pretty haywire. When the A/C was on it was pretty sparratic, and it would die right when he started it many mornings. Replaced that, and it works great.

And your car doesn't have a carb, I don't know of any car made since the 80's that has a carb.

[tsj]

if it is the idle control, how does that make my car stops while I was on the highway?

[sr20de4evr]

it wouldn't, I didn't see that it died while you were driving on the freeway. It sounds like a fuel problem to me, have you changed out the fuel filter or had the fuel pump inspected yet?

[licensed]

but if it was the idle it would happen more often right. it wouldn't be like every so often. also it wouldn't really work itself out after a while would it?

[sr20de4evr]

My friend's was pretty sparratic, sometimes it would act up, sometimes it would act fine. It was always the worst early in the morning when the engine was cold, then it would start to behave after everything got up to operating temperature (sometimes it would still screw up after everything had heated up though).

[tsj]

I went to the garage on wednesday.
my technician tested my car electronic system and tried and out in a crank angle sensor from another car into mine.
we then test drive the car and found that the performance was back to normal: no sluggish acceleration, no stalling etc
so we think that the component needs changing.
it is now an order from sort of a junkyard somewhere and he will install it in my car for a few days
i will then drive using it for several days and only pay if that solves the problem
otherwise i will get my old component back and no charge on the component is required, and we will start trouble shooting again..
i am happy with that arrangement

i read the article at : http://www.niehoff.com/techtips/18nissan.html
and they seem to say the the crank angle sensor will give me the problem i have

let's just hope that we have found the fault
wish me all the best!!

[mattsan]

I was wondering if your car is running better since you changed the crank angle sensor?

[tsj]

Originally Posted by mattsan

I was wondering if your car is running better since you changed the crank angle sensor?

i have got my crank angle sensor changed and all my car problems seem to have gone now
TQ