1995 Nissan Maxima idles good, misfires when accelerated

Tiny
BFLOBRIAN
  • MEMBER
  • 1995 NISSAN MAXIMA
  • 6 CYL
  • FWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 185,000 MILES
1995 Maxima is nearly undrivable at present. Starting recently has been a chore, almost as bad as a carburated auto from the 70's. When started it idles good. Upon accelerating it bucks and misfires. Flooring the gas pedal does not increase the rpms. I can slowly bring the engine rpms up to 2000 and then it starts skipping and misfiring and goes no higher. Probably could drive it slowly around town at 25 mph. Checked all the plugs and one was worse than the rest but not really that bad. Just drove it 1200 miles on a trip with no problem. Came home and within a couple days it started skipping/misfiring. I know I should check the PCM and bring up a code and I will, but I thought I would get any ideas from techs here also. Thanks for any advice.
Saturday, October 17th, 2009 AT 6:30 PM

6 Replies

Tiny
RASMATAZ
  • MECHANIC
  • 75,992 POSTS
1995 Nissan Maxima idles good, misfires when accelerated. Check and test the following:

Dirty fuel injectors (cleaning the injectors often fixes this).
Bad MAP (manifold absolute pressure) sensor
Bad TPS (throttle position) sensor
Bad or dirty MAF (mass airflow) sensor
Low fuel pressure (leaky fuel pressure regulator or weak fuel pump)
Vacuum leaks (intake manifold, vacuum hoses, throttle body, EGR valve)
Bad gasoline (fuel contaminated with water or too much alcohol)

Sometimes, what feels like a hesitation is actually ignition misfire rather than lean misfire. The causes of ignition misfire may include:

Dirty or worn spark plugs
Bad plug wires
Weak ignition coil
Wet plug wires
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Saturday, October 17th, 2009 AT 6:37 PM
Tiny
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Here are the codes I brought up.
91 and 37
Can you translate what these mean.
I know one is related to the 02 sensor and the other is closed loop.I have no idea about right bank for either problem.

I have replaced 02 sensors before and I have a universal sensor on hand so I will probably try to replace it. The other problem I haven't a clue.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian
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Sunday, October 18th, 2009 AT 12:31 PM
Tiny
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These are the DTC's you should be getting not familiar with those no.S

Diagnostic Trouble Codes - 1995
Nissan
11 Crankshaft Position Sensor
12 Air Flow Meter
13 Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor
14 Vehicle Speed Sensor
21 Ignition Signal
22 Fuel Pump
31 Engine Control Unit
32 EGR Function
33 Oxygen (O2) Sensor
34 Knock Sensor (Turbo Only)
35 EGR Temperature Sensor
43 Throttle Position Sensor
45 Injector Leak
51 Injector Circuit
54 A/T Control
55 No Faults In Memory

Could be caused by the following:

Dirty fuel injectors (cleaning the injectors often fixes this).
Bad MAP (manifold absolute pressure) sensor
Bad TPS (throttle position) sensor
Bad or dirty MAF (mass airflow) sensor
Low fuel pressure (leaky fuel pressure regulator or weak fuel pump)
Vacuum leaks (intake manifold, vacuum hoses, throttle body, EGR valve)
Bad gasoline (fuel contaminated with water or too much alcohol)

Sometimes, what feels like a hesitation is actually ignition misfire rather than lean misfire. The causes of ignition misfire may include:

Dirty or worn spark plugs
Bad plug wires
Weak ignition coil
Wet plug wires
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Sunday, October 18th, 2009 AT 1:43 PM
Tiny
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Sorry. Beg to differ.

OBD-II trouble codes - 1995 and later models
as per Haynes Repair Manual

trouble code number.37. Aka 0307
Unable to obtain closed loop operation (right bank)

trouble code number.91. Aka 0901
Upstream oxygen sensor heater fault (right bank)

The codes you refer to are for 1993 and 1994 models.
I have a 1995 Maxima 3.0

Hopefully this will help in your diagnosis.
Thanks for your help.
Brian
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Sunday, October 18th, 2009 AT 5:21 PM
Tiny
RASMATAZ
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1. A P0307 is a misfire on cylinder no.7 and you don't a V8 or higher engine

2. There are two types of Oxygen Sensor trouble codes: O2 heater circuit codes and O2 sensor codes.

O2 Heater circuit related codes include P0036, P0037, P0038, P0042, P0043, P0044, P0050, P0051, P0052, P0056, P0057, P0058, P0062, P0063, P0064 & P0141.

O2 Sensor related codes include P0130, P0131. P0132. P0133, P0134, P0135, P0136, P0137, P0138, P0139, P0140, P0142, P0143, P0144, P0145, P0146, P0147, P0150, P0151, P0152, P0153, P0154, P0155, P0156, P0157, P0158, P0159, P0160, P0161, P0162, P0163, P0164, P0165, P0166 & P0167
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Sunday, October 18th, 2009 AT 5:28 PM
Tiny
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OK then why am I coming up with
3 flashes and 7 flashes when I do the trouble code check on the PCM?
Likewise 9 flashes and 1 flash.
I did this like 4-5 times to confirm the number of flashes.
Thanks
Brian
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Monday, October 19th, 2009 AT 11:02 AM

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