It all started about a month ago. I took the Maxima out for a 20 minute drive to pick up some lunch. The summer here in Northern California has been quite warm already. I'd say about 85-90 degress farenheit. So I was using my air conditioning which works like a charm. I haven't had any problems with the car for about 4 months and that was just my manifold studs. Anyway, I returned home (after the drive to get lunch) I parked for about 15 minutes to get ready for work and then proceeded to start the car, pull out and head down the street. About 50 yards down the street, I notice my CEL is on, then a rough idle, plus acceleration is horrible. My first thought was it was missing, but I felt like it had all 6 cylinders, just getting the wrong air/fuel ratio (sounds like it is getting more air than gas). First step I took was pulling the plugs out (god knows how old they were because I never replaced them after owning the car 3 years, and who knows if the previous owner(s) ever did.) The plugs were gapped a little bigger than they should have been, so I regapped them. This didn't solve the problem. So I replaced the rotor, distributor cap (three cracks), new Bosch wires, OEM NGK plugs gapped at .040. To no prevail, the problem still persists. I took it to Nissan and had them pull the code which was either a 51 or 55 (can't remember) I was told it was an injector sensor. I had the injector wiring redone last year due to the car bucking horrendously. I tried some fuel injector cleaner with Techroline and that didn't work. Very intermittant. Doesn't act up long enough to determine the problem. Any ideas are appreciated. This is just one of those things that drives you up the wall.
-Sean
'91 Maxima: CEL, intermittent rough idle/accel
code 51 open injector circuit. you need to replace a bad injector. if you know how to perform a balance test by pulling plug wires. do so. once you find the dead cyl. see if you can get to the injector for that cyl. and one other one you can get to fairly easily and compare the resistance on them it should be somewhere between 10 to 20 ohms..basically the bad one will be way out of that range. that injector will need replacement
Back on the issue. The engine will not act up for me long enough to pop the hood and pull the plug wires. I meant to tell you that the first time I experienced this problem, it lasted for 3-4 days. Over the last month it has decreased more and more. I did run that Techroline through it and I am curious if maybe another bottle of that would clear things up. Let me know what you think.
the code you had was set electrically. the cleaner is not resolving the incedent. it may just be working intermittenly probably depends on heat. i bet the temp dropped a bit from what it was when this first started. ambient temp that is. you could run the cleaner through though that never hurts and it does a great job breaking down the carbon build up on the back of the valves:)
Yes, the ambient temperatures have been cooler the last couple of days. It is supposed to get warm again though. I think it was around 100 degrees day before yesterday. Dry heat, the kind that burns your skin when you hang your arm out the window. I need to go snowboarding now.
I don't think it will be necessary to run another tank of fuel system cleaner for a few months. The car runs so clean. I am going to attempt to determine the faulty injector tomorrow after work. Yeah, I had the day off but I took someone else's shift to cover for the day I was called off. I appreciate all your help. I hope I can resolve this soon because it's driving me nuts.
-Sean
I don't think it will be necessary to run another tank of fuel system cleaner for a few months. The car runs so clean. I am going to attempt to determine the faulty injector tomorrow after work. Yeah, I had the day off but I took someone else's shift to cover for the day I was called off. I appreciate all your help. I hope I can resolve this soon because it's driving me nuts.
-Sean
Patience IS a virtue. Finally, after 2 months of injector issues the car finally gave me a 10 minute window to inspect the wires. As soon as the engine started to idle roughly I popped the hood and started pulling each cylinder one by one. Cylinder #5 was the only one that didn't change the idle. The other 5 cylinders would idle rough even more so than it was. So now that I have determined which injector was giving me trouble, I can get a new one and fix the problem. Yay.
-Sean
-Sean