QuestionI'm having a bit of a problem that has stumped every single person who knows anything about Nissans... and I am hoping someone can help. The other evening, I had dropped a friend off to pick up his car, and after restarting my car... it went into reverse just great, yet, when I shifted into first and let completely off of the clutch, my RPM's dropped to zero, the car sputtered and died. It then would not restart.
I ended up having to leave it, and upon my return the next day (in the daylight), the car started just fine. However, after going into reverse once I tried starting off in first gear, the same thing happened. The RPM's dropped to zero and the car sputtered and died. So my thinking was... let's see if I can throw it into second and maybe it'll catch... I went maybe 10 yards on that idea before the car sputtered and died.
Beings I was in an intersection, I had to attempt to restart it and pop the clutch out in first, jarring it forward just enough so I could repark it. The engine would not completely turn over at this point, although there was plenty of spark (finding this out after disconnecting the starter and watching it zap a few times).
Where I left it was in a pretty shady area, and my house was several blocks away... so later that evening I went back, and drove in reverse, almost reaching the house. I wouldn't advise this at any other time, but the RPM's on my forward gears just weren't doing it for me...
I was about a block from my house when the car finally died again. It would not restart until a few hours later, when I went back and continued driving it in reverse to my driveway. It has no problems "going" forward, until I let completely off of the clutch. It seems that it's only lasting less than 10 minutes, even on idle, and the engine cuts out and dies. At that point, it takes quite a while for whatever it is that's not working to "cool down" so that I am able to start it up and try again.
I have it in the shop today to get a diagnostic done, but I am really worried about a mechanic trying to fix any and all problems but the real problem (being a female, in a small community this is often the case...). So in short, the transmission guys don't think it's the transmission and the clutch guys don't think it's the clutch. Well, it's something, that's for sure...
AnswerIn my first thoughts I am leaning towards a simple fuel filter replacement.
The second thing I would check is the fuel pump.
The last thing I would check is the ignition coil.
Then the timing.
Even though you said its getting spark, a cracked coil will die if the temperature of the engine gets overly warm.
All in all you should find the problem relative to what I have described here.
