Car starts rough, dies, won't start again

Post by **Teh Luckinator** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 6:49 pm

For a couple of days, my car would idle rough. Jumpy, above 1K rpm. Then finally, it started really rough, then died. I tried starting it up again, and it wouldn't start. The first time I tried giving it gas it would rev up, but after that attempt giving it throttle did nothing.

My friend and I took off the air filter, thinking it was clogged, but that wasn't the problem.

Here are the specs of my car:

S141998 KA24DE 76,000 milesMegan HeaderGReddy Air Filter

Any ideas of what the problem could be? My friend said to change out the fuel filter, so I'll try that tomorrow. I changed the oil around 450 miles ago, so it doesn't need an oil change.

I also have a timing chain problem, but it's the tensioner. You know, not the actual chain, I just need to get in there and spray WD-40 on the tensioner. At least I hope.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

Post by **NISTECH** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 2:51 am

. try starting it while holding the pedal to the floor till the loping of the engine stops then let off the gas and see if it fires up. If it fires at anytime while holding your foot to the floor dont let it rev to redline. back your foot off and see if it will run. If it starts it means you were flodded and you should probably take a look at your coolant temp sensor to see if its reading right. You could also have a bad airflow meter. Is the airfilter an oiled filter. Too much oil on it can take out the airflow meter.

Post by **Teh Luckinator** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 1:36 am

Wow, you're simply amazing. Here are the codes that came out:

12 Mass Air Flow Sensor13 Coolant Temperature Sensor41 Intake Air Temp Sensor98 Coolant Temperature Sensor

So ALL of those are broken? And also, I forgot to mention, when the car is actually started, and the plug to the MAF is disconnected, it runs FINE but at a higher idle than usual. I'm pretty sure I need a new MAF for sure, but are the other ones absolutely needed? I need the car to run soon, it's my daily as well. Thanks.

Post by **NISTECH** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 2:13 am

Ok contrary to the popular belief of the gear heads I say loose the oiled air filter. I have heard of guys being able to clean the maf with carb cleaner. you could give that a shot before replacing it. you just spray it on the element in the middle of the chamber and let it air dry. you can also try this trick on the intake air temp sensor if it is still installed[if its not installed that may be why you got the code] The coolant temp may be as a result of a bad connection in the connector , pul the plug and see if there is any green corrosion in there, if so use some battery terminal cleaner or some backing soda water mix and a wire brush to clean it. then recheck that. If there is no corriosion chances are the sensor has an open circuit internally and will need replacement.

Post by **Teh Luckinator** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 2:29 pm

Before I buy a new MAF, I'm just wondering, would a bad MAF make black smoke shoot out from the exhaust? I connected just the MAF, and the car started up, but black smoke came out. Just making sure that it's the MAF that's wrong, and not something else.

Post by **NISTECH** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 2:43 pm

unplug the maf and start it, does the smoke still exist?

Post by **Teh Luckinator** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 8:00 pm

I completely disconnected the MAF, started the car, and got the same exact reaction. So now I'm thinking the MAF isn't the problem? Any other ideas? If all else fails, I'll have to take the car to a mechanic. This is also my daily driver, so I need to fix it quickly.

Post by **NISTECH** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:55 am

do the same thing with the coolant temp sensor. It too will make the car run extreamly rich if its open. while its unplugged check its ohms reading.

Post by **NISTECH** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:57 am

I just noticed your in stockton, If i didnt have a full plate today I would come down and take a look at it.

Post by **Teh Luckinator** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:00 pm

If you wouldn't mind, do you think you could come and check out my problem? Anytime soon would be great. I work today (Wednesday June 22) until 6 PM, but if you're free anytime after that it's fine. Even into the late hours. I'll check the forums at work if you replied, and I'll shoot you my phone number in a PM.

Post by **NISTECH** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 2:09 am

Well when I posted that last post and stated my plate was full THAT day. I was suppose to simply install a radiator in a 93 grand am due to it being cracked. Upon receiving the car and placing the new radiator I found this huge can of worms and I opened it. This damn car has a blown head gasket and it is now beached in my driveway. Unfortunitly I have to work on it right after work till I am done with it. It is one of those Quad engines and it is teh suck to work on. I dont expect to be done with it till possibly friday as I have to send the head for pressure check once I finally get it off.

Is the car drivable at all?

Post by **Teh Luckinator** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 8:07 am

No, the car's not drivable at all. Hahaha. I searched every Nissan forum for problems, and here a list of possible problems I came up with:

Vacuum LeakFuel FilterClean ECT SensorClean Throttle BodyClean Idle Control ValveLeaky InjectorFuel Pressure Regulator

Wow. Hahaha. Is there anything on that list that you could for sure eliminate? I'll try checking most of those things out today.

Post by **NISTECH** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 2:30 pm

its not a vaccum leak,its not the fuel filter,its not the throttle body,the others are possiblitilies but not to probable except the leaky injector but I dont think thats it.

Post by **Teh Luckinator** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:45 am

I tried cleaning the element on the MAF with carb cleaner yesterday, and when I put the MAF on again, it acted the exact same way. So now I'm looking for a new MAF. S14 MAF's are hard to find.

Post by **Teh Luckinator** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 12:30 pm

Bad news. I bought another S14 MAF off of a 97, and installed it. The car started up fine, like it ran normally. I turned it off and tried to start it again, and it didn't start. Wonderful.

I got the car to start again though, and I noticed something. The car wouldn't rev above 2.5k RPMs. I remember reading someone having the same problem?

I'm about to just take it to a mechanic. I kind of give up, hahaha.

Post by **NISTECH** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 2:46 pm

you need to do an ohms check on your coolant temp sensor and a voltage check on the airflow meter. you may be losing a connection to the meter.

Post by **Teh Luckinator** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:42 pm

...Uh oh. Ohms check? Great. Hahaha. Do you have the equipment for that? And can I borrow it? Hahaha.

Post by **NISTECH** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:51 pm

ahh come on bro its a basic volt meter. you dont got one and your trying to fix your car??

I wish I had known you were still working on this 2 days ago. i was off yesterday and today. Other then mow my lawn I didnt do squat all weekend. I actually sat down and watch TV for a couple hours ,which is a rarity for me. Learned alot about somolia and the black hawk as well as land mines..lol Watched the history channel cool stuff! I coulda been helping you out today. I thought you had it figured out. Did you ever unplug the coolant tmep sensor to see how it would run with out it pluged in?

Post by **Teh Luckinator** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 10:13 am

...Oh wow. I checked the coolant temp sensor again. I unplugged it and ran the car, and the car continually started fine, just rediculously high idled. So I think the problem has been found.

I have to replace it, right? There wasn't any green corrosion or anything, which is why I didn't think anything was wrong in the first place, and just plugged it back in.

Post by **Teh Luckinator** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:23 pm

This is quite possibly the most confusing thing I've done in my life.

I tried starting the car again, started up with the coolant temp sensor unplugged. Then I tried starting it with the coolant temp sensor PLUGGED and... IT STARTED.

I even drove around the block a couple of times. It would stutter sometimes, and I'd get more backfire than normally. And the car died once when I came to a stop. I gave it gas to start it again.

But now I'm confused. I thought I found the problem? When I pulled into my garage I tried starting it again without the coolant temp sensor plugged in, and it won't start again. Wow.

I'll be checking the voltages soon.

Post by **NISTECH** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:56 pm

When you unplugged the sensor you put it in failsafe. It detered to the intake air temp sensor to get a general idea weather the car was warm or cold and picked a set fuel map for that temp. It does not continue to moniter the sensor just gets it in the ball park. so yes you could of had start issues with it unplugged to. that is not abnormal for a failsafe condition. What you need to do now is ohm check your coolant temp sensor. with it unplugged you put your ohm meter leads on the sensor pins see what the ohms reading is across the 2. On a cold engine the ohms reading should be in the neighbor hood of 2.1k to 2.9k ohms if you are alot higher then that you have a bad coolant temp sensor.

Car starts rough, dies, won't start again

Car starts rough, dies, won't start again

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