My first car problem. Sputtering.

[mikethemike]

I've been experiencing an issue ONLY upon start up. The car sputters, RPMs sorta bounce around and sometimes it'll even die on me. But when It starts up, the car drives just fine, and it will start up just fine after its been driven. But if I leave the car off longer than 2 hours or something, it will start to sputter. Mind you the car only has 11,000 miles on it. I'm wondering if its a fuel filter or something.

[float_6969]

Shouldn't be a fuel filter @ 11K. If it's only at 11K, isn't it still under warranty? Why not take it to the dealer?

[AlexN09]

mine does the same thing and I have a 2011 with 12,900 miles. It never comes close to dying but the rpms drop and are kinda sporadic. Maybe just raise the idle.

[mikethemike]

I called the dealer and the funny thing is my warranty expired a few days ago because its been 3 years, but it sounded like they'll still honor it. I was thinking it had something to do with my intake sucking something into the MAF. I doubt it though because like I said the car drives fine

[DJ_B_Easy]

If you have an aftermarket intake I would try an idle relearn before taking it to the dealership.

[el_blacky06]

Filter could be a possibility, same thing happened to me a few days ago when I had cleaned the filter. In my situation, it turns out my filter was loose so it had the same effect that's happening to you.

[SHIFT_COUPE]

The same thing happens to me when my car is sitting for 24-48 hours or so. Does this happen regularly?

[yttimhcs2009]

mine idles at 400rpms lol sometimes I don't even know if the car is on, never had a problem with it though.

[sc20]

Mine does this a lot worse. Every single time I come to a stop, it sputters and rpms drop to 430-450. Sputters once per stop. Before, it would only sputter every once in a while. I took to the dealership and all they did was flash the ecu and do an idle relearn. It fixed the problem for two days and then got worse. I've been meaning to take it in. I also thought it might be due to the MAF, but some guy on the Nico fb page was experiencing the same before he had an intake.

[mikethemike]

Yea but mine is only upon ignition, and it started on Friday. I don't think idle relearn would do much but ill give it a shot

[mikethemike]

If you have an aftermarket intake I would try an idle relearn before taking it to the dealership.

I had the intake one for maybe half a year now, so it would be unlikely for it to all of a sudden start screwing with my idle, wouldn't it?

I have a feeling it had to do with the cold weather conditions, which doesn't excuse it for starting that way. It still needs to be fixed. It shouldn't sputter just because its 43˚ outside.

[float_6969]

Watter wetter/Heet? My father in law had a gas line freeze up on him for the first time in his life a week ago when we had a storm come through on his Honda CRV. One bad tank of gas, or getting some condensation in the line is all it would take.

[mikethemike]

s***, I did fill the car up with some gas from my job but only two gallons of it since I was on empty then filled tr rest up at a gas station. But assuming it was a s*** watered down two gallons of gas, would that be enough to screw it up?

[Innovazn]

Watter wetter/Heet? My father in law had a gas line freeze up on him for the first time in his life a week ago when we had a storm come through on his Honda CRV. One bad tank of gas, or getting some condensation in the line is all it would take.

Honda CRV?!??!!??!

[float_6969]

Yep a Honda CRV! [/ninja editing]

[sc20]

So I took my car in today for the sputtering....supposedly they didn't find anything, however my car doesn't sputter anymore(fingers crossed) but I got some horrible news....my transmission is going out . I just rolled over 26000 miles, this shouldn't be happening. Transmissions are on back order so I have to wait a month. Now I'm skeptical about driving my car around

[mikethemike]

Jesus already at 26000 miles? Thats ridiculous.

Yea I took my car in as well. They couldn't do anything unless the engine light was on. Just to diagnose it would be $120. But I think I figured out what the problem was, which may sound stupid at first but I'll explain. To make a long story short, I MAY HAVE put diesel fuel in the tank. Nissan wouldn't cover that s*** anyways.

I work for parks and rec and in the maintenance yard they have two gas pumps: Diesel and Un-leaded. My car was empty while leaving work, so I borrowed one of many 2 gallon red tanks they have in the garage just to give me enough to go to the gas station. Usually they are labeled "Gas only" or "Diesel" or "mixed oil". This red tank was NOT labeled, but was the only one that was full at the time. I figured most of the vehicles use unleaded oil any ways. As I filled up only 2 gallons of it, i noticed when I spilled a little on the ground it didn't evaporate as quick as gas does. I never dealt with diesel so I figured "hmmm probably just because its cold outside". Then again, it could've just been some old gas thats been sitting there.

Then you know the rest. This also probably explains why my tail pipe is black as s***. So what I'm doing now is wait until I'm near empty, put in some Techron fuel injector cleaner and pump a tank of 91 gas from cheveron, just to get some clean gas going through. I'm HOPING this is the case and that will fix it. My spark plugs probably took a toll on this being that diesel trucks, to my knowledge, dont have spark plugs or something lik that.

[float_6969]

LOL, 2 gallons of diesel won't really hurt much dilutted with the gas that was still in the tank, but it does need to have a good fuel system cleaner run through it to clean any carbon off that has built up on things like the plugs, valves, cat, etc.

[mikethemike]

Yea I need to clean out the exhaust badly. Is seafoam the only way to clean out carb build up in exhausts?

[float_6969]

IDK if it's the only one, but it's the one that I've had the best experiences with and know it works.

[mikethemike]

So for seafoaming what do you do for the exhaust? You spray it in the manifold or you dump it in the gas tank? What's the worst that can happen ?

[float_6969]

I'd do both. Generally when I Seafoam a car, I do half of the bottle in the intake manifold, then the other half in the tank. If you don't know how to do the intake manifold "steam clean" part of it. We have an article on it in the article section.

[SanoSuKe]

mine idles at 400rpms lol sometimes I don't even know if the car is on, never had a problem with it though.

An exhaust system is in order! When my car idles, my neighbors yell at me lol

[mikethemike]

I'd do both. Generally when I Seafoam a car, I do half of the bottle in the intake manifold, then the other half in the tank. If you don't know how to do the intake manifold "steam clean" part of it. We have an article on it in the article section.

Ok I read the article, and it seems pretty straight forward. Have you ever done this yourself? I watched a few videos and they say once you do the engine cleaning part of it (through a vacuum hose and then pouring it down where you put oil), you should do an oil change shortly after. Also pouring it in your gas tank is also good, but someone said it can screw with your sensors.

All in all, I may do this once I do my next oil change just for safe measure.

[float_6969]

yea, I've done it a half dozen times. I'm not a fan of any kind of oil flush, so I don't put it in the oil. Just the steam clean and the gas tank. W don't worry about the sensors, it specifically says it's safe for O2 sensors.

[mikethemike]

Ok. And as it says, let the brake hose suck it up slowly?

[float_6969]

Yea, I dip it in and then pull it back out. Don't let it take big "gulps". You don't want to feed in so much that it makes the engine die. Also, I like to make sure the engine and intake manifold are really hot. I usually beat on the motor for a bit for I do it.

[mikethemike]

did you do an oil change right after too? (sorry for all the questions, just need more closure)

[float_6969]

Nope. Anything that makes it past the rings will be minor abd will evaporate out of the oil quickly
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