I was driving in to work this morning, when suddenly the car started to lose power after an upshift - misfiring badly. This happened to me a couple of nights ago, but then I took my foot off the throttle, reapplied the power and all seemed to be back to normal. This time, the engine is just misfiring awfully all the time.

 

The idle is really rough, the acceleration is very, very rough and poor and keeps on spluttering and losing power again - it doesn't stall, but in order to get any power at all back, I have to push the accelerator much further than necessary.

 

I've done some searching on the site and have checked the connections on the TPS (when I disconnected it, the idle revs raised), the two front temp sensors, pushed the coil packs down and the MAS, although the MAS check has only been me wiggling the connector as it didn't seem to want to come off and I didn't want to break it.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions what I should try next?

 

Going into begging mode now - is there anyone in the local area able to spare a little time to help me out with the diagnosis / fix? As at this point, my knowledge of the car is extremely limited.

Its does sound v much like a bad connection on an injector connector or coil pack.

 

Listen round the back of the car to the exhaust when idling, does the sound poppoppop instead of purr? Like a cylinder is not firing. Thats what mine did when an injector connector wire had corroded, a new one soldered on did the trick.

 

A ConZult check would show the faulty connector if wiggling the wires around doesnt show which one is at fault.

 

Good luck

 

Pete

Was it raining or very wet? do you have problems at arounds 2500 - 3000 rpm, if so, it's the MAF which has got wet.

When I had symptoms very much the same as this my MAF (Mass Air Flow sensor) or MAS as it's known too was dead.....idle was really rough, car would drive but roughly and would not go over 2500 (I think) revs as it's a get you home mode!

 

The TPS is used by the ECU in place of the MAF (MAS) to get you home.....

 

I had mind changed and all is now fine.

 

Check how high the revs go and if it's limited to 2500 then you need a new MAF (MAS) and Vijay will be able to get you one (£125 approx) or £250 (approx) from Nissan.

 

Hopefully it's something simple and cheap!! ;)

 

Matty.

I initially thought it was to do with the MAF getting wet, as when it first happened, a couple of nights ago, it had been bucketing it down earlier on, but I'm not sure about today as it hasn't been rained on since.

 

The exhaust note is definetly a pop instead of a purr - is there any place I can go to get a ConZult done in the North East?

Matty - I actually didn't notice if the revs went higher. I'll go check that out now (along with wiggling coil pack connectors).

 

Thanks

Update - the revs will go up to 4000 then it'll splutter and the revs will fall back, although it's very rough up to 4000.

 

Wiggling the coil pack connectors didn't seem to make any noticable difference.

Could it be the p.t.u i had a simular problem and it was that.or maybe your timing belt has slipped another thing which happend to me lol fun. :eek:

Take off your air-filter and MAF tonight and stick them in the airing cupboard to dry them out.

do you have access to a conzult?

No access to a Conzult, unless anyone can point me in the direction of one in the North East.

 

Will try taking a closer look at the PTU and MAF after work, this evening. Is there a knack to getting the connector off the MAF? I tried earlier, but it didn't want to budge and I was scared I'd break it.

there will be a spring clip on the MAF connector which can be removed with a small flat screwdriver (be careful it doesn't fly off though) :)

 

Vijay

Checked the MAF and PTU connectors last night, which looked ok.

 

I did notice this morning, that when the engine is cold (from standing overnight) the problem is much less noticable (although still there) - it seems to really come on as the engine comes up to temp.

 

Any ideas?

Have you checked the engine temperature sensor/connector? (the bigger of the two with two wires) Sorry if this is stating the obvious...

 

Cheers

 

RobH

I would have said MAS, a few months back my friends Z was spluttering and going lie an utter trolly, wouldnt go above 2500rpm either, we took the whole unit off of mine (from the elbow joins etc so the whole air filter etc came off) and just switched over to check, worked fine when we switched, so he picked up a second hand one for a bout 60.00 new tho they are about 300.00!

 

You saying that it goes up to 4k tho and seems rougher when warm doesnt sound like this is your prob.

 

Sound more like an poor ignition / over fueling problem to me, is there loads of unburnt petrol comming out? does it smell?

 

ME

have you tried removing the connectors to each coil pack in turn to see if nothing happens when one is removed?

There's no smell of petrol at all.

 

Will try removing the coil packs one by one after work this evening.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.