QuestionQUESTION: My '93 Altima has recently started stalling.
It happens when the car is hot, usually towards end of the day, at city speeds. The tach jumps for a few seconds, sometimes returns to normal for a bit and then it stalls. Once pulled over and turned off for a couple of minutes, the car tends to operate normally.
If attempt to restart is made too soon, the engine cranks normally but no sign of starting or even coughing. Check eng. light is not on at time of malfunction.
I took it to a shop where a tune up was done(sparks and wires, fuel filter, air filter, PCV, distributor cap + rotor) and alternator replaced. No improvement.
Another Detail: Perhaps unrelated - mostly during highway cruise, the check eng. light will come on once in a while. It disappears after a few seconds if you accelerate. No performance change between the two states.
Any advice would be highly appreciated! Thanks.
ANSWER: Mike,
It sounds like the distributor to me. Get a Haynes manual and read the codes or follow these directions.
The ECU has a window on one side to view a red LED and a green LED - when checking fault codes, a red flash is worth 10, and a green flash is worth 1. So for example, the code to say that everything is functioning normally would be 5 red flashes and 5 green flashes - the code is 55.
The ECU has 5 modes of operation, for diagnostics codes, it has to be set to mode 3.
1. Make sure the screw next to the viewing window is turned clockwise.
2. Turn the ignition on
3. Both LEDs with flash once, then a pause, then a second time, then a pause, etc. etc. up to 5 times then will repeat the process. After is has flashed 3 times then turn the screw completely anti-clockwise. - this will select mode 3.
4. The LEDs will now flash codes. 55 means that everything is normal. The rest are written below.
5. When finished, turn the screw back to clockwise and the ECU will reset itself automatically.
Don't worry about the '5th cylinder misfire' and '6th cylinder misfire' or anything, the codes are the same for all Nissans.
11 Crank Angle Sensor/Camshaft Position Sensor.
12 Air Flow Meter/Mass Air Flow Sensor.
13 Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor.
14 Vehicle Speed Sensor.
21 Ignition Signal.
22 Fuel Pump.
23 Idle Switch.
24 Throttle Valve Switch.
25 Idle Speed Control Valve.
28 Cooling Fan Circuit.
31 ECM.
32 EGR Function.
33 Heated Oxygen Sensor.
34 Knock Sensor.
35 Exhaust Gas Temperature Sensor.
36 EGR Control-Back Pressure Transducer.
37 Knock Sensor.
38 Right hand bank Closed Loop (B2).
41 Intake Air Temperature Sensor.
42 Fuel Temperature Sensor.
43 Throttle Position Sensor.
45 Injector Leak.
47 Crankshaft Position Sensor.
51 Injector Circuit.
53 Oxygen Sensor.
54 A/T Control.
55 No Malfunction.
63 No. 6 Cylinder Misfire.
64 No. 5 Cylinder Misfire.
65 No. 4 Cylinder Misfire.
66 No. 3 Cylinder Misfire.
67 No. 2 Cylinder Misfire.
68 No. 1 Cylinder Misfire.
71 Random Misfire.
72 TWC Function right hand bank.
73 TWC Function right hand bank.
76 Fuel Injection System Function right hand bank.
77 Rear Heated Oxygen Sensor Circuit.
82 Crankshaft Position Sensor.
84 A/T Diagnosis Communication Line.
85 VTC Solenoid Valve Circuit.
86 Fuel Injection System Function right hand bank.
87 Canister Control Solenoid Valve Circuit.
91 Front Heated Oxygen Sensor Heater Circuit right hand bank.
94 TCC Solenoid Valve.
95 Crankshaft Position Sensor.
98 Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor.
101 Front Heated Oxygen Sensor Heater Circuit right hand bank.
103 Park/Neutral Position Switch Circuit.
105 EGR and EGR Canister Control Solenoid Valve Circuit.
108 Canister Purge Control Valve Circuit
Email me back. But what you are looking for is something like multiple cylinder misfire. Code 71
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks for the reply. I got Codes 11, 21, 32, 34.
There has been a new development
I started the car this morning, and about 30 sec into operation it began running pretty rough, idle higher than usual. When put into D or R it gets worse. It almost seems as one of the cylinders is not firing.
No new codes at this point, it just flashes 55. Unlike the previous stalling this condition is consistent - every time I shut it off and start it.
I guess I'll run a spark check. Any advice? Thanks for your time!!
AnswerMike,
I would replace the distributor and that should resolve the first two codes.
I would replace the knock sensor and that would correct that code.
The 32 is the EGR and that probably needs to be cleaned or replaced too. This one will cause the idle to be poor.
