Questions and Answers

Nissan Stanza Runs Rough At Idle Q. Dear Vincent, I have a 1987 Nissan Stanza, 2.0 liter 4 cylinder, automatic transmission, fuel injection, P/S, A/C and rack and pinion steering. My problem is when the car idles. It starts very well but won't keep running, even when it is warmed up. At every stoplight it stalls unless I put it in neutral and step on the gas.

It seems to be running on three cylinders when idling and four at full speed on the highway. When idling there is a raw fuel smell in the car. I took it to a Nissan dealership and they put it on a tester of some sort and said the O-rings in the injector seals needed changing. We did that and nothing changed. We changed the air intake box and nothing changed. Do you have any idea where we can go from here?

Thanks for your time.
Yours truly
Joy

A. I don't know what tester can be put on an engine to check for O-ring leaks. I am, however, familiar with the Nissan tester and I know it can't test for any kind of vacuum leak. The first thing I would do is check for fuel leaks. If there is a strong raw gas odor, there could very well be a fuel leak and that is our first priority.

Once we know for sure there is no fuel leak or it is repaired, I would have the engine checked mechanically to be sure it is sound. Then we can check the ignition and fuel systems for the problem.