Nissan Repair: 97 Nissan Altima - idle stall, nissan altima, fuel tank cap

Question
Dear expert,

I'm having some trouble with my '97 Altima stalling.  Note - this car does not get driven often (20-30 miles/wk).  A couple months ago it started sporadically stalling, but only when I came to a halt after driving around for awhile.  I cleaned up air filter, checked IAC connection, inspected MAS, and ruled out EGR valve.  Things improved for awhile but it has now rapidly gotten worse.  Now if I start it in my (upward slope) driveway and just let it idle, I can hear the rpms very gradually continue to drop (tachometer is broken).  After between 5-10 minutes it gets rough and ultimately cuts out.  The engine will turn over when I turn the ignition again but it will cut out after only a few seconds unless I apply gas or first let it cool down for awhile.

Suggestions?  I'm still thinking IAC is the most obvious but because of location it seems impossible to get to in order to clean it (as per Hayes).

One more thing - yesterday after smelling gas fumes I discovered a lot of pressure in the fuel tank.  Fuel was actually dripping out of the cap and I never over-fill the tank, so this was a first.  But it was a hot day and the problem has not reoccurred since I released the pressure, so for now I dismissed this as an unrelated issue.

Answer
Hi Jason -

I can think of a couple things. I am assuming that there is no check engine light on -

I would first check if you have contaminated fuel, or water in the fuel, especially if it has been a while since the last fill up.

Also check the fuel pump operation, even replace the fuel tank cap. The pressure should be about 40 PSI and also a have a good and steady volume of fuel when operating.

Hope this helps -
aloha
calvin