90 Max, Fuel odor, and noise while cold

[Gerald-NC]

Hi everyone! I've owned my 90 Maxima for around 4years now and have 170k+ on the odometer. It's really my wife's car but I do drive it quite a bit as well.

First off, I've searched and searched since finding these forums and while I've found all kinds of posts on the fuel odor smells, I haven't found one where someone actually had an answer proven lol. For me, when the car is cold she smells of a fuel odor until it warms up completely. It is coming from under the hood. I think it's either something emission wise or injectors, but I can't find any "wet" areas where fuel is actually leaking. The smell prevents me from running the heat or ac in the morning...yes the smell is in summer and winter but maybe heavier in the winter.

Also I figure I may have a slight exhaust manifold leak but wanted to run it by you guys first. Almost ever since we've owned the car, if you park it for even just a minute, with it shut off, then go to start and drive again she has a "clicking" noise and she's also a lil stuttery (sp) until she completely warms up again. I'm really leaning towards the exhaust leak possibility. I've looked but man I think it's going to be tough to put new gaskets in lol, so any tips are very welcomed.

We've only put around 30k miles on the car since purchasing. I've replaced both front axles, shocks and struts, and changed the fuel filter lol. I need to replace the steering rack now cuz it's all screwed up too now. Other than that the car does act up a lil in overdrive some times, like stuttering feeling, but mostly I can control that. Uh she's also lately developed a miss, only slightly and not too often yet but of course it's worrying me.

Thanks for your help, and I do look forward to frequenting this site often.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Welcome to NICO!

170k on a '90. Not bad at all.

I've been experiencing the gas smell for a couple years as well.I've never really investigated it too closely (as far as a solution) because it seems harmless (mine isn't nearly as strong as yours--I can still use climate control right after startup without being fumigated). I know that gas smells are common of pretty much all VG engines, Maxima, Z, or otherwise. My guesses are the same as yours: probably an under-plenum hose leak or an injector that just doesn't like the cold. Especially considering the fact that your car does this when warm as well, combined with your car's age, I would suspect an injector.

You're most likely correct about the clicking sound resulting from an exhaust leak. Our engines had bad exhaust manifold studs which crack easily, creating a leak. Usually the leak is small enough that the expansion of the manifold upon warmup re-seals things, which is why the clicking goes away once the car warms up. Mine has done this for at least the last 100,000 miles of it's life, but I've left it alone since it's never caused me any problems. New gaskets and studs should solve the problem.I've wondered if this problem also contributes to the gas smell while cold. Gas smell only while cold, exhaust leak only while cold...makes me wonder if it's fuel in the exhaust that I'm smelling. The one hole I find in that theory is I've never had a problem with exhaust fumes in the cabin, only gas smell. I plan to replace my injectors this summer, but since (for me, at least) the gas smell only happens when it's fairly cold, I won't be able to tell if that solved the gas smell until next winter.

For the miss, I'd start by making sure you've got decent spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, all the ignition stuff. If those check out I'd suspect an injector. Try running BG44K fuel system treatment with your next complete from-empty fill-up and see if that makes any difference. You should be able to get BG44K at your Nissan dealer if you can't find it elsewhere (although dealers tend to charge a lot for it).

Is the stuttering in overdrive an engine stutter, like the misfire? When does it tend to happen most?

[Gerald-NC]

Well, thanks for the reply. I reposted in the mechanic's forum as well since I wasn't getting any help here lol.

Quote »Is the stuttering in overdrive an engine stutter, like the misfire? When does it tend to happen most?[/quote]I think it's more of a transmission issue. It's like when you're right between the need for it downshift to speed up. Like if I'm running at around 45-55mph and come up on a slight incline, it may shudder a bit until I press the accelerator down a lil further and "make" it down shift. It was so bad at one point I drove around town w/o overdrive on. But now I've switched it back on and really don't have the problem as much as before but from time to time it still happens. I'm just trying to decide if it's a mechanical transmission issue or electronic transmission issue.

Also my gear selector has recently decided to not engage Drive completely until I slightly pull the handle back a hair further...sure this is an electronic issue in the shifter itself...or atleast I assume.

Quote »For the miss, I'd start by making sure you've got decent spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, all the ignition stuff. If those check out I'd suspect an injector. Try running BG44K fuel system treatment with your next complete from-empty fill-up and see if that makes any difference. You should be able to get BG44K at your Nissan dealer if you can't find it elsewhere (although dealers tend to charge a lot for it).[/quote]I've got new Bosch Platinum plugs, and new wires, already to see if it helped the stuttering and it honestly had no affect. Timing's been checked and improved as well, but still the stuttering still there.

To describe this problem a lil better maybe: When first starting off, I need to press the gas pedal a lil further down to get it to go without stuttering...forward or reverse.

Where should I get injectors from?

I can definitely tell the smell is worse now that it's cold. But I did have the same odor...just not as heavy...when it was warm as well. If I ran the heat/air right after start up lol I'd be high before leaving the driveway :P My wife is really sensitive to stuff like this so I'd really like to figure it out asap.

I think I'll leave the lil exhaust leak alone as well since it's been doing it forever and seems to not really cause a problem for me either...unless my stuttering could be from it

Thanks again.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Deatschwerks is a sponsor here and a great resource for injectors. Have a look at their website:http://www.deatschwerks.com/

I hate to tell you this, but if you're having transmission issues, you may want to prepare for the worst. Many transmission failures in our cars seem happen sometime around 170-180 thousand miles. I can think of a few other people who have had theirs go out in that time frame, and mine did, too.That may not be the case, though. It may be related to electronics, as you said. Time will tell. But you should definitely have it looked at if you're worried.

Sorry about the lack of response in the mechanic section. I'm not used to checking in there as often as here.

[Gerald-NC]

Oh np bro. I was saying I had a lack of responses here so I then posted there :P

Yeah I'm afraid of the transmission going out, but as I said other than the shifter issue which isn't big, it really hasn't been bad and I'm taking pretty good care of it.

[Gerald-NC]

Hey they only list the VG30DETT, these aren't the same as our VG30E's are they? lol I haven't even looked into what injectors are in this thing yet.