# Car Stalls In The Morning



## 40's Nissan (May 29, 2004)

Please Help!! 1998 Maxima - V6 3.0L....After the car has been sitting (overnight or all day long at work) and it is cold, I'll start the car, it will struggle and immediately stall. This will happen once or twice, and if I pump the gas while cranking, it will start and run. Once running it is fine. The car never used to do this, hence my concern with the problem. Changed the fuel filter, and still have the problem. I have no codes locked in, neither "MIL" nor pending......

Any suggestions......

Thanx.....

Paul


----------



## BeEleven (Jan 22, 2003)

40's Nissan said:


> Please Help!! 1998 Maxima - V6 3.0L....After the car has been sitting (overnight or all day long at work) and it is cold, I'll start the car, it will struggle and immediately stall. This will happen once or twice, and if I pump the gas while cranking, it will start and run. Once running it is fine. The car never used to do this, hence my concern with the problem. Changed the fuel filter, and still have the problem. I have no codes locked in, neither "MIL" nor pending......
> 
> Any suggestions......
> 
> ...


This has happened to me a few times in the last couple years and seems very isolated. I've never been able to link the incidents. It's happened when the car is warm, cold, parked on hills, driveways, recently driven, parked for days, etc. Usually, I just kill it for a second, try again, and then it goes, or tap the gas like you said. There was only one time where it didnt start up relatively quickly. I tried tapping the starter and that didnt work, so I went inside, and when I came back, it cranked right up. Really wierd. One thing I have noticed about this car is that it doesnt start up as easily as other cars I've driven (mostly 4-cyls) but this may just be a factor of size and compression.

Your problem sounds more chronic though. How many miles are on the car, and when did the issue start?


----------



## 40's Nissan (May 29, 2004)

It's actually not my car, but the problem started "recently" ....I guess once we had some cold weather. Fuel filter is good...pump and regulator are good. MAF is good. I'm thinking dirty throttle body, IAC/AAC & FICD solenoid....I told my friend to clean inside the throttle body for good measure. I'm thinking if the FICD solenoid is sticking, it might not be retracting the plunger to adjust the throttle position for fast idle on cold starts...(at least that appears to be the way it works...sure wish I had an FSM for this car) The car was already warm when I looked at it...so I had no way to verify this theory. Anyway....I told him to clean things up and get some WD-40 on the linkage and we'll see what happens tomorrow morning. If he still has the problem, I guess I'll put 12V to the FICD solenoid and see what happens....we shall see.....


----------



## BeEleven (Jan 22, 2003)

40's Nissan said:


> It's actually not my car, but the problem started "recently" ....I guess once we had some cold weather. Fuel filter is good...pump and regulator are good. MAF is good. I'm thinking dirty throttle body, IAC/AAC & FICD solenoid....I told my friend to clean inside the throttle body for good measure. I'm thinking if the FICD solenoid is sticking, it might not be retracting the plunger to adjust the throttle position for fast idle on cold starts...(at least that appears to be the way it works...sure wish I had an FSM for this car) The car was already warm when I looked at it...so I had no way to verify this theory. Anyway....I told him to clean things up and get some WD-40 on the linkage and we'll see what happens tomorrow morning. If he still has the problem, I guess I'll put 12V to the FICD solenoid and see what happens....we shall see.....


Cool, let me know what you find out.


----------



## niznos (May 27, 2004)

Sounds like the engine coolant temp sensor. It has been known to fail and cause this problem yet never go out of spec enough to trigger the check engine light. the ECTS is cheap, give it a try.


----------



## 40's Nissan (May 29, 2004)

*Problem Solved...*

Well...I was way off on how the fast idle system works, but in the end that part of the setup is fine. Turns out all I needed to do was to clean the throttle body out. Finally got around to toying with it the other day....cleaned it thoroughly, and no more problem. Five days now with no recurrence of the problem.....


----------

