StageLeft
No Lifer
hee hee! 2000 maxima 5 speed, 58k miles.
When the engine is cold in the morning the car chugs at _low throttle_. Chugging I'm defining as what you could immitate by quickly pumping the gas with your foot. This is when gently cruising in 1st and 2nd gear (probably in third, but I'm not going that fast). If you give it a lot of gas the pickup is smooth and unproblematic. A few minutes after starting when engine temp is high there are also no problems.
It has a new air filter, pcv valve, semi-cleaned throttle body, and I'll be replacing the plugs tonight, though honestly I'm not sure that could cause it since as I said it's _only_ when the thing is cold.
*UPDATE*
I fixed it; it was a bad coolant temperature sensor. I got another one for $25 and did a coolant change while I was at it, and the chugging has dissapeared based on the two cold test drives I've done.
*UPDATE #2*
I thought I fixed it because I couldn't get it to chug again and then I realized that there is no way it was the coolant temperature sensor, because when I'd start the car cold it would always sit at the high 1500 rpm and slowly lower as it warmed up. The computer obviously knew that the car was cold. I then tried to replicate the bucking and could. So, I pulled out the sensor and returned it to autozone.
What I think for sure has fixed it this time is the new ignition coils I put in last night. The tech at nissan said he thought chugging could be caused by these, and my rattling (knocking I guess) has gone away, the car is idling a touch lower than before, and the engine is smooth as hell now. I'd grown used to it before and didn't realize it wasn't smooth until I got the coils in, but the car is much sweeter now 😀
When the engine is cold in the morning the car chugs at _low throttle_. Chugging I'm defining as what you could immitate by quickly pumping the gas with your foot. This is when gently cruising in 1st and 2nd gear (probably in third, but I'm not going that fast). If you give it a lot of gas the pickup is smooth and unproblematic. A few minutes after starting when engine temp is high there are also no problems.
It has a new air filter, pcv valve, semi-cleaned throttle body, and I'll be replacing the plugs tonight, though honestly I'm not sure that could cause it since as I said it's _only_ when the thing is cold.
*UPDATE*
I fixed it; it was a bad coolant temperature sensor. I got another one for $25 and did a coolant change while I was at it, and the chugging has dissapeared based on the two cold test drives I've done.
*UPDATE #2*
I thought I fixed it because I couldn't get it to chug again and then I realized that there is no way it was the coolant temperature sensor, because when I'd start the car cold it would always sit at the high 1500 rpm and slowly lower as it warmed up. The computer obviously knew that the car was cold. I then tried to replicate the bucking and could. So, I pulled out the sensor and returned it to autozone.
What I think for sure has fixed it this time is the new ignition coils I put in last night. The tech at nissan said he thought chugging could be caused by these, and my rattling (knocking I guess) has gone away, the car is idling a touch lower than before, and the engine is smooth as hell now. I'd grown used to it before and didn't realize it wasn't smooth until I got the coils in, but the car is much sweeter now 😀
