My 1997 Maxima SE had developed a problem similar to what has been discussed on the forums boards, where the car is stalling when at idle or light throttle cruise. The problem occurs ONLY when the car has been fully warmed up, say after 7-8 miles of driving. At light or no throttle conditions (approx 40 mph) the engine lacks power, and transmission seems to hunt around for the correct gear. When finally coming to a stop, as in traffic, the engine chokes down and then simply dies. I am able to restart and go a few more miles home.
When starting the car cold and driving until warmed up, none of symptoms are present(?!) Unfortunately, there are no 'check engine' trouble codes to work with. I have replaced the fuel pump,strainer and fuel filter, pcv valve, front crank sensor and TPS and still the problem persists.
The car has 188K miles and has been garaged and well maintained. Any suggestions as to what to check next would be greatly appreciated. I ordered a LIVE DATA obd2 scanner which hopefully will provide some real-time info to work with. Once again, thanks for any help.
Stalling lack of power ONLY when engine is warm
Re: Stalling lack of power ONLY when engine is warm
My old 4th gen had this issue after it passed to my daughter. I ended up replacing the IACV and the MAF, and the problem went away.
Re: Stalling lack of power ONLY when engine is warm
Thanks for the reply. The OBD2 scanner revealed pretty much what I already knew: the engine loads up and slows down (O2 sensors rich) accompanied by sulfur smell from exhaust, then engine dies. No associated trouble codes, only knock sensor pending which the car has been doing for years and still ran great.
Would a shop be able to diagnos or simply take educated guesses and replace parts as I have been doing? The IACV measures approx. 50 ohms between pins, the chiltons manual states this should be 30. Thanks in advance for any help.
Would a shop be able to diagnos or simply take educated guesses and replace parts as I have been doing? The IACV measures approx. 50 ohms between pins, the chiltons manual states this should be 30. Thanks in advance for any help.
Re: Stalling lack of power -Problem Solved-
Scott, hey thanks! yeah that was it the IACV. After repair took the car on a 60 mile mixed traffic test loop and couldn't get it to stall.
I decided to disassemble the IACV and clean it since the stepper was now reading 30 ohms with the VOM directly connected (no alligator leads.) MAF cleaner on the plastic pintle and seat, throttle cleaner for the metal shield. So, couple hundred $$$ later in uneeded parts problem solved.
I decided to disassemble the IACV and clean it since the stepper was now reading 30 ohms with the VOM directly connected (no alligator leads.) MAF cleaner on the plastic pintle and seat, throttle cleaner for the metal shield. So, couple hundred $$$ later in uneeded parts problem solved.