# mysterious power loss



## Skibob6 (Dec 1, 2007)

Recently while driving my 94 SE i have had issues both at freeway speed and at about 35mph both between about 1900 rpm and about 2500 rpm where the motor will just kind of cut out and loose power while my foot is on the throttle, if i let off it will come back on semi smoothly if i dont it will lurch back up and continue in a pulsating fashion. the stranger thing is the tach doesnt seam to drop in correspondence with the loss of power, in fact it barley drops at all. this has been happening sine i bought the car about a year ago but only about once every couple months and the tach seemed to follow. what could be causing the engies power to cut out and pulsate like this? i have been very suspisious of my transmission (A/T) as it has been a piece of crap since i got this car but i was just wondering what some of the other possibilities are. any suggestions are much appreciated.


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## internetautomart (Mar 8, 2004)

have you checked the condition of your ignition coils?


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## Skibob6 (Dec 1, 2007)

no i havent, i have read that these could be the problem but never suspected them because i A) dont know the procedure for checking them and B) they sound like a costly repair. So how would i check them and how much would they cost to replace if that was the problem?


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## internetautomart (Mar 8, 2004)

pull them out and physically check them for anything that looks abnormal.
they run about $70 ea to replace


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## Skibob6 (Dec 1, 2007)

I pulled em and the front three were all cracked and one of them had a rusty powder on the outside. the rear three were fine, im going to replace them soon but im having a hard time getting them. if this does not fix the problem what else could it be?


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## internetautomart (Mar 8, 2004)

Wrap your current ones tightly with electrical tape and see if that helps.


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## guinnessmike (Dec 20, 2006)

I would also check the fuel injectors. Checking both the ignition coils and injectors is fairly easy but a little time consuming. You need to remove the cam position sensor (CPS) and with the key in the acc position turn it manually. You should hear each injector making an audible clicking sound. To check the ignition coils, pull each one (leaving it connected to the wire harness), put a known to be good spark plug in it, and turn the CPS until you see a spark. There is a better description of the process in the factory service manual I downloaded (for free, although it is nice to give a donation) from PhatG20 (see sticky above).


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## tamal_86 (Aug 1, 2008)

Hey there

I have an 1989 Maxima SE, and I think I'm having the same problem you have, and I'm going to check my ignition Coils ASAP, I thought it was my Gasket Valve or transmission, I got all those things checked out and it still was losing pressure, so I’ll take and my ignition Coils.


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## internetautomart (Mar 8, 2004)

tamal_86 said:


> Hey there
> 
> I have an 1989 Maxima SE, and I think I'm having the same problem you have, and I'm going to check my ignition Coils ASAP, I thought it was my Gasket Valve or transmission, I got all those things checked out and it still was losing pressure, so I’ll take and my ignition Coils.


you only have 1 coil.
in your case I would replace the cap/rotor/wires/plugs/fuel filter first


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