Questions and Answers
Stalling Altima
Q. Hello, I was wondering if you could help. I have read most of your answers regarding stalling problems and was hoping you could help me with mine. 1993 Nissan Altima, automatic, 4 cylinder, power everything, 282,800 miles.
Here is a slight background, don't know if any of this has to do with the current stalling problem.
1. Last year I failed inspection for emissions (New Jersey). Took it to the mechanic he said the timing just needed to be adjusted and slapped my inspection sticker on there.
2. A few months later the fuel pump died. It was hard to start the car a couple of days prior and then poof it was done. So we replaced the fuel pump.Then I started stalling. Whenever my foot was off the gas I would stall. Which was a big pain when you lose the steering mid turn. So we replaced fuel filter cleaned some other parts and it worked fine for about a month or so. Then it started happening again. Again cleaned the fuel filter (keeps getting black particles in it) and cleaned EGR valve with carb cleaner. This time it lasted a lot longer - but then started stalling again.
So cleaned everything again including replacing rotor and distributor cap and cleaning plugs and injectors. Car had the best pickup its had in a long time! But it only lasted a few days. So off to the mechanic.
Didn't stall for him and he said no codes came up in the computer. So he used something that shot a cleaner through all the lines to clean out the carb. That was Friday - Today, Monday, the car is running worse then ever! Now when I drive the engine bogs down and seems to jerk just while driving at a constant speed. And I stall at every stop. I have to put it in park and keep gas on, or just start up right before the light turns. I have no problem starting the car - never hesitates there.
So mechanic thinks maybe mass air flow or TPS - but he is not sure which if either. I see you mentioned the Idle Air Control Valve a lot. Oh forgot to mention - the car chokes and jerks a lot before the stall. Doesn't usually just die. Can you please help in any way?
Thank you,
KelleyA. I think what happened was you were on the way to fixing the original problem and in the process inadvertently created another problem.
When a fuel pump goes bad it can dump a lot of torn up fuel pump pieces and particles in the fuel system. That's why you kept finding those black particles in the fuel filter and it got better each time you replaced the fuel filter. If you had left it at that, it would have been fine.
But, by cleaning the injectors, you may in fact have ruined them. Nissan used a "pintle-less" fuel injector that does not need to be cleaned.
From Nissan:
Due to the introduction of contamination resistant "pintle-less" fuel injectors, Nissan no longer recommends using fuel injector cleaners in vehicles with injectors of this design. Use of fuel injector cleaner on these vehicles, while providing little cleaning benefit, may cause corrosion of the fuel injector coil and eventual failure of the injector. Do not use fuel injector cleaner on the models listed in the chart or subsequent models with "pintle-less" injectors.
Model Engine Year Altima KA24DE 1993 240SX KA24DE 1991 Truck/Pathfinder KA24E 1990 300ZX VG30DE 1993 Truck/Pathfinder VG30E 1990 Maxima VG30E 1993 Quest VG30E 1993 Sentra GA16DE 1991 Sentra SR20DE 1991 Before I go condemning the injectors however, I would suggest doing a good cleaning of the IACV and throttle chamber and do a component check of the MAF and TPS just to eliminate those as a possible cause.
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
