car keeps dying? even on idle..

[91nissantwo40sx]

Ok so i started up the car and drove it couple blocks down the road. All of a sudden while it was on idle i press the gas and the car dies. So i start it up again no problem. Then it does it again after about a couple blocks down the road. So i start the car again no problem, then the same problem repeated atleast 4 times and the last time it did it, the car started slowing down and my steering wheel and gas pedal started locking. It was hard to press the clutch and the gas pedal and the steering wheel was very very stiff. So i park beside the road. It got worst and worst this time it didnt even want to start.

After a couple of hours parked i start the car up again no problem but after about 2 mins on idle the car dies. The same day i have replaced my starter which costed me $230. I had a starter problem prior to this but now i have another problem? what could it be? Each time it had died on me i went to check my engine but the engine wasnt even hot or anything it was perfect and it was working fine. But the car just dies all of a sudden?

Any help is appreciated guys. I am really having a bad luck with this car. I dont even know what to do anymore.

My car is a 91 240sx HatchKA24DE 144K miles

[Dattebayo]

How can you have 100 posts and be a newb?Have you checked your spark, fuel yet?How about the search button? DO you know where that is on the page?

[91nissantwo40sx]

How can you have 100 posts and be a newb?Have you checked your spark, fuel yet?How about the search button? DO you know where that is on the page?

Spark?

Fuel?

and yes i have searched before i posted. Apparently i couldnt find anything about the problem i am having. And sorry i dont know much about cars i am only learning right now. Be nice, thanks.
Modified by 91nissantwo40sx at 12:33 AM 8/25/2007

[91nissantwo40sx]

[Tr0uble]

Sounds like bad MAF sensor. The car normally bogs when you step on the gas if the MAF sensor goes bad, unplugged, or you have a air leak between the MAF and the throttlebody.

Another thing that does this is a bad engine ground.To check to assure this is not the problem get a voltmeter, turn it to ohms and with the car off put one lead of the voltmeter on the screw at the intake manifold ground wire is and put the other lead on the negative end of the battery terminal. Not positive terminal or you will fry your ohmmeter.

If it looks really high like more than 1-2 ohms the ground is bad.Buy an aftermarket ground kit or for quick fix get 8 gauge speaker wire and attack it to that screw on the manifold and to a screw on the chassis or directly to the neg battery terminal for best performance.

You may not have even had a bad starter. This happened to me and i thought it was starter but it was actually a bad ground. With a brand spanking new starter it probably doesn't have much effect on it starting.

FYI if you have a bad ground all your electronics in the dash will look like they are going haywire. i.e. water temp gauge increases to max when you rev over 3k rpms even if temp is cold.

....Few other things came to mind.-have gas in the tank?-whats fuel pressure at? maybe bad fuel pump or clogged fuel filter.Last time you changed it?

[91nissantwo40sx]

Sounds like bad MAF sensor. The car normally bogs when you step on the gas if the MAF sensor goes bad, unplugged, or you have a air leak between the MAF and the throttlebody.

Another thing that does this is a bad engine ground.To check to assure this is not the problem get a voltmeter, turn it to ohms and with the car off put one lead of the voltmeter on the screw at the intake manifold ground wire is and put the other lead on the negative end of the battery terminal. Not positive terminal or you will fry your ohmmeter.

If it looks really high like more than 1-2 ohms the ground is bad.Buy an aftermarket ground kit or for quick fix get 8 gauge speaker wire and attack it to that screw on the manifold and to a screw on the chassis or directly to the neg battery terminal for best performance.

You may not have even had a bad starter. This happened to me and i thought it was starter but it was actually a bad ground. With a brand spanking new starter it probably doesn't have much effect on it starting.

FYI if you have a bad ground all your electronics in the dash will look like they are going haywire. i.e. water temp gauge increases to max when you rev over 3k rpms even if temp is cold.

....Few other things came to mind.-have gas in the tank?-whats fuel pressure at? maybe bad fuel pump or clogged fuel filter.Last time you changed it?

All the sensors in the dash are fine. They arnt giving me any problems. I have about 1/4 of gas in my fuel tank. I dont think thats the problem because even before i had a very very low fuel tank and the car was running fine.

I dont know where the fuel pressure is at but the mechanic that helped me build the engine told me that it could be my fuel filter. And no we did not change the fuel filter after the engine was rebuilt.

Oh and by the way thanks for responding and helping me out here. Really appreciate it. I wish there was more people like you around here. Thanks

[Tr0uble]

Np, I see these kinds of problems as interesting puzzles. My favorite class was Fuel Systems and Engine Diagnostics class.

Mass Airflow sensor is not located in the dash. Its actually the silver tube thing with a wire coming out of it located on the end of the intake filter or air box if you haven't replaced that with cone filter yet.

If you replace the fuel filter and nothing improves I'd check the Mass Airflow sensor and the piping from there all the way to the throttlebody for leaks.

[deuceforty]

honest to god it sounds like you ran out of gas

[smoakie976]

The most common cause of drivability problems is the MAF! I learned that in Fuel and emissions class! I would check that and also change the fuel filter!

[Turkishs14]

check your maf sensor...unplug it and see what it does

[91nissantwo40sx]

Ok cool i will go ahead and try all this and see what happens.

I will change my fuel filter also its only like $15 or something anyways.

[Tr0uble]

The most common cause of drivability problems is the MAF! I learned that in Fuel and emissions class! I would check that and also change the fuel filter!

Yup that's why I'm doing a MAF to MAP conversion on my S15 SRAlso MAF sensor are the most inaccurate of all the intake air monitoring/measuring devices.

[positron1]

I had a problem a couple two months ago with my car shutting off and it turned out to be a faulty coolant temp sensor.

[Tr0uble]

I had a problem a couple two months ago with my car shutting off and it turned out to be a faulty coolant temp sensor.

I could see that happening. Faulty coolant sensor would read engine too hot which would cause ECU to dump fuel to cool it down thinking it was a way lean condition which would flood it since there was not that much airflow to use that much fuel.

[rodgermcdoogle]

alternator ?

[sxchatt]

Yes, this is what my car keeps doing, seems like very bad gas or something. It dies constantly when idling or slowing down, RPM's are jumping up and down. (91 240 sx) It had this problem before and I changed the o sensor, seemed better, but now it's back again. Not really drivable or so frustrating you don't want to. Do your RPMs rev up and down at all? It's killing my gas mileage too so need to fix right away.

[kmpoaquests]

maf sensor ?

[KA_240sx]

does the car start everytime?

i fixed a problem similar to your by cleaning the coolant temp sensor..

it was telling the ECU that the coolant was "cool" constantly, so it pumped alot of fuel in making it die/sputter on idle....

[240mx]

I fixed a problem like your just by cleaning the coolant temp sensor and the MAF.

Yes, this is what my car keeps doing, seems like very bad gas or something. It dies constantly when idling or slowing down, RPM's are jumping up and down. (91 240 sx) It had this problem before and I changed the o sensor, seemed better, but now it's back again. Not really drivable or so frustrating you don't want to. Do your RPMs rev up and down at all? It's killing my gas mileage too so need to fix right away.

[sxchatt]

This was unbelievable to me but it it has worked so far--I am going to post a thread about it. A nissan person suggested I spray some carb cleaner in my intake to clean my sensors. My car was doing something very similar and my car is running great. Amazing but true. It's only been a day so far though.

[sxchatt]

(post above) I did this while the car was running. YOu may want to use caution though as I did this because I was desparate.