QuestionI HAVE A 1999 NISSAN SENTRA WITH 80,000 MILES ON IT! RECENTLY, MY CAR HAS BEEN STARTING FUNNY, SOMETIMES DOES NOT START AT ALL! IT WILL START, PUTTER A LITTLE, THEN WILL IDLE HIGH THE LEVEL OFF. WHEN IT DOESN'T START AND I GIVE IT GAS, IT STARTS WITH NO PROBLEM! I JUST RECENTLY REPLACE THE DISTRIBUTOR, BATTER, NEW NGK WIRES AND PLUGS, ROTOR, CAP, FUEL FILTER, AND AIR FILTER! I AM STILL EXPERIENCING THE SAME PROBLEM! ALSO, WHEN I USE MY LIGHT, POWER WINDOWS, OR BLINKERS, MY IDLE GETS ROUGH! THE RPM GAUGE BOUNCES A LOT AND MY LIGHTS GO DIM! I CHECKED MY ALTERNATOR AND MY BATTERY AND IT'S CHARGING AT 13.5-14 WHICH I HEARD IS GOOD! WHEN I USE MY POWER WINDOWS, I HEAR A BEEPING SOUND COMING FROM MY BELTS I THINK. I JUST RECENTLY REPLACED THEM IN THE SUMMER. DO YOU THINK THEY COULD BE LOOSE AND CAUSING THE POWER PROBLEM? LIKE I SAID ALSO, EVERY NOW AND THEN WHEN THE CAR STARTS, IT HESITATES, THEN KICKS OVER! DO YOU THINK IT COULD BE TIMING? I NOTICED THE TIPS ON 2 OF MY OLD PLUGS WERE BLACK! THE OTHER 2 WERE FINE. I DON'T MEAN TO KILL YOU WITH QUESTIONS, BUT I'M DESPERATE, LOL! THANKS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
TONY
AnswerTony,
The belts might be loose or the alternator is binding up. That is, it could be charging fine but the bearings might be going out.
The starting problem could be that the two injectors where the black plugs came from could be defective. I have a 350Z that was doing the same thing yours did and the two plugs that I pulled that were black denoted that the injectors were leaking. That means that those cylinders flood until the car gets going and warms up. I would do a fuel pressure test to check how fast the fuel pressure drops off when you turn the car off. If the injectors are leaking the pressure will drop off suddenly. If all is well the pressure will stay up for a few minutes.
