I’ve been having a problem with my car lately, and I’m not sure whats causing the problem. About a month ago I was on the highway, I had been driving for about 15 minutes on the highway when I noticed my car coughed. I didn’t think anything of it, until 30 seconds later my car started coughing violently, I shifted into 4th thinking it might help my problem, but with no luck I pulled the far right lane and shifted to 3rd with my hazards on. Driving about 70 in the right lane, my car was struggling but I was about to get the car off the highway and to the nearest parking lot. The whole way off the highway the car was inconsistantly gaining, and losing power, the RPM’s were jumping up and down, regardless as to whether I had my foot on the gas or not. Once I finally stopped my car, I let it sit for a couple minutes and restarted the engine. It turned on and worked like nothing was ever wrong in the first place.
I drove around for another 3 weeks before I noticed the problem again, this happened just last week. THIS time my car was showing the same symptoms but once I pulled it stalled quickly. I tried starting my car a few times, and everytime it stalled. After about 10 mins, and the 6th try of starting the car it finally went, and drove it home.
Again I let this problem slide for a week or so, and just last night it happened to me again on the way home. I got my car to the garage, and this time it was on the verge of stalling, but never did. The garage smelled very rich of gas while this was happening. So I shut the car off, and went inside. This morning the car started fine, and I haven’t had a problem all day.
My guess is it’s some dumb sensor. But which one? Really I don’t have an idea, but if someone could give me some insight, then I’d really appreciate it. I hate the idea of dropping 80 - 100 bucks to have some shop tell me it was a sensor I could have replaced in my garage.
I had the same problem with my s13 where the car was inconsistently gaining and losing revs, I found out it was an ignition problem. Your car is defiantly running rich/ not burning fuel properly if your smelling the fuel in the garage. Try to see if your spark plugs/wires are alright. and maybe a short video to help us help you
I have a small video of when i was testing some spark plugs, I found out there was something wrong with my wires, as soon as I opened my hood the car started to cough and run real vibrant. I moved the wires a bit and and it ran back to normal. Also I knew something was definitely wrong with the wires because absolum came over to drop stuff off he also checked my ride and he got shocked from my wires while trying push them into the sparkplugs. The insulation was toast.
Well I replaced the spark plugs just about 2 months ago, but not the wires.
How do I test my spark plug wires? Can I use a multimeter? Perhaps I will run out tomorrow and get new ones. I mean even if that is not the problem, maybe it’s best they are replaced anyway. Assuming they’re affordable. That would be one more thing to leave out of the question. How much do they cost? Where would suggest I buy them? It’s hard to take a video of my problem, I’m not sure what’s triggering it, and it’s not a consistent thing. I also don’t have a cam with me 24/7 while I’m driving haha. When the problem does occur, it seems if I leave my car off for a while, the problem magically disappears.
You can test the wires with a multimeter… just make sure they are off the car and nothing is connected to the ignition coil.
yeah it is scary sometimes… i was testing my car out once and i was running on 2 cylinders at one point, car hardly could move. Wires are not too expensive and its worth replacing along with your maintenance. I suggest to stay away from bosche (CT sells this and its mostly the only thing on their shelves) Try checking parts source or Napa for the wires… look for NGK wire(they range from 40 -50 for the set). Yeah the problem is if the wires are old the insulation could be messed up and sometimes the wires would ground the ignition power somewhere else and leaving the cyclinder without a spark causing a rich mixture for the next time that cyclinder fires.
Ok well I just went to check the wires on the car. Didn’t have my multimeter handy, but I did take a look, and they don’t seem to be corroded at all. Nothing but nice shinny connectors on both ends of all four wires. I will change them tomorrow regardless. Of the top of your head do you think there could be any sensors causing the problem? I’ve asked other people (not a 2 40 owner) and they’ve suggested it could be the MAF? Is there a way I can test that sensors with a multimeter? I’m just trying to narrow down the possibilities. Thanks!
are u runnin a dohc or sohc? you can check the Mass airflow sensor with a multimeter, your checking for resistances to see if the sensor is doing its job. you will need specs for the proper readings. If your going to have the 240sx for long term, i suggest you pick up a FSM factory service manual, it will save you alot and give you most of the info you need. I am not sure if its the MAF. But you should look over it anyways since there is no harm in it.
It’s DOHC. I have the FSM on my other computer, unfortunately it isn’t working at the moment. Is there any way I can find the specs for the sensor without having the FSM? Which wires do I test? How do I get at them?
the Maf sensor should be located around the airbox on the metal neck. Honestly I am not sure what wires to test as i have not checked my Maf before. It is best to research a little more around the forum, I am sure some more people will think bout helping you out as well and give the specs you need to compare to.
just find the ECU code decoder online somewere… tthe series in which the light blinks tells u whats wrong… sometimes u actually have to unbolt the ECU and look at it to decode it(theres a small light that faces the front of the car so u have to turn the ecu CAREFULLY towards the rear to see it.
search to find the decoder and how to set to test.
I tried searching google, and ebay with no luck? Is there a specific company that makes this product that I can try searching? Is it expensive? If it’s reasonably priced I would consider buying it. Assuming I had a list of codes, I would think something like this would come in handy. Not that I would want to have more problems with my car, but if I ever did, I wouldn’t have to ponder about whats wrong I could just hooked up the decoder and I’ll know what causing the problem.
after the wires i’d check out the fuel injectors if you don’t know of their condition. i had a similar issue where one clogged. just leave the engine on and pull out the wire connectors for each injector. if the engine loses power the fi’s good, otherwise it’s done. also remember to try out an alternator test and check your alt belt tension.
So over the last couple days I have done a couple things to my car to try to solve this problem. I have replaced the spark plug wires. As I mentioned before my spark plugs were replaced a while back and shouldn’t need replacing as they are brand new. I bought some special electrical cleaner, and cleaned the MAF sensor. I forgot mention that I did replace the fuel filter back in July so that shouldn’t need replacing. I have checked my fuel injectors using 'kimmerkaze’s method. Though I do have a question if some could answer it for me.
When I pulled out each fuel injector one by one. I noticed the engine would die down, but by listening to engine die down each time it seemed that (not by much) the car was dying down more when I took certain injectors out.
Could this be a problem? Could this suggest that some are clogged more then others? If that is the case, is there a way I can removed them from the car, and possibly clean them by hand, or maybe somewhere sells a solution I can soak them in?
I’ve noticed that the bogging problem has improved after doing all these things. I’ve been trying to figure out what’s triggering it, so that I and whoever reads this can better understand whats going on, and hopefully find a solution.
My car has not yet acted up as badly as it did a week or two ago. It’s atleast not stalling on me anymore, or it hasn’t since the last time this occured. I’ve noticed the bogging seems to occur (NOT consistently) at high RPM’s in different gears. Usually around 4000 - 5000. It doesn’t seem to be speed related, or gear related. By saying that I mean it doesn’t matter what gear I’m in, whether I’m on the highway going 130, or on a regular road just starting from a stop at stop sign in first gear. I tried to take a video of my problem today and as usual, the car was fine when I was recording, but 15 minutes before hand it was happening… Stupid cars they work, when you need to show the problem, and don’t when no ones around…
Well hopefully everyone will read this story book I just wrote, and I apologize for writing so much but I want to give everyone as much detail as I can to ensure that people know exactly whats going wrong. So if anyone can help contribute to my ongoing problem please feel free, I’m definitely open for suggestions.
Here is a long shot, but I had a similar problem. My car would miss like a whore and the smell of unburnt gas was overwhelming. After confirming the condition of all the ignition/fuel delivery components we concluded that it was the coolant temp sensor. The computer relies on input from this sensor in order to run the engine in closed loop or open loop. You can check the resistance between the terminals of the sensor, @ about 180 Degrees Celsius it should read anywhere from 33-44 ohms to still be functional. Once we replaced this the car ran great.
I was actually experiences problems with my coolant temp gauge a couple weeks ago. It was jumping up and down like crazy when I would push the gas. After I cleaned the connector on the sensor, the gauge stopped acting up and read fine. I didn’t think that it was a problem. I beleive there are two coolant sensors. Am I correct? One for the Temp. gauge on the cluster, and another for the ECU. So which sensor would I replace, and how do I go about replacing it? Where can I buy a new one?
So here’s the update, I replaced the coolant sensor to the ECU, and I’ve still had the same problem happen to me. I also purchased new belts, though I haven’t had to time to install them yet. I will do so this weekend. I think I will continue to find a way to clean my fuel injectors. If neither of these fix my problem… Then I’m not sure what to move onto next…