# Really weird driveability problem - LONG-



## kpic1 (Jul 16, 2004)

Having a problem with my 1993 Maxima GXE. (its long and complicated so please bear with me)

Symptom: Slight off idle hesitation (pretty much all the time – but more noticeable when I have turned it off and re-started it (such as going into the Wawa for coffee and then leaving) this is tolerable but worse is when it rains very heavily (or during the last winter months here when it snowed) after driving and letting it sit (say overnight or for long periods) upon driving I cannot maintain throttle I must give it a lot of gas then back off then it will start to sputter and backfire so I have to give a lot of gas again, I cannot keep consistent throttle pressure (such as part throttle and just cruising) however it idles fine and will not stall! When it does this I can keep it in park and it will idle fine but upon giving just slight throttle it will want to stall and sputters and the revs will drop, upon giving more throttle pressure however it clears up and revs right up

I thought it was water getting into the gas so upon examining under the car I found a small hole in the rubber hose going from the overflow tube to the gas tank so it was replaced with the correct Nissan hose , however recently during a heavy rain (was ok while driving in the rain that night) but the next morning upon driving it the symptoms returned however upon sitting for a few hours and driving again it was completely fine.


What I have replaced, looked at: at first I thought it was water in gas so gas treatment, etc. was tried, I have replaced all ignition components (cap,rotor, wires etc) and I cannot find any exposed wires under the hood.

Whats left: the distributor cap does not have that rubber protective cap over it –possibly water getting on it then dispersing? Although I have sprayed it with “wire dryer\protector” , possible pin hole on top of gas tank? But unsure if water in the tank. It kind of acts like a bad TPS sensor but I do not get any “check engines” and would this explain the water connection?

Whew! Anybody ever experience anything like this? Any help is appreciated!


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## Dar (Jul 6, 2004)

Hey, I have had the exact same problem. It was a running joke that my car was known for not running in the rain. I am sure that I have some grounding issue some where in the car. In the past two years I have gone through 3 alternators (rebuilt, under warranty after the first one thank god) and two batteries.

Shortly after my car had the symptoms you describe the alternator would die, so I assumed that the problem was low voltage at the plugs. Most likely caused by water getting in the alternator and shorting something. Or some other short in the car which caused the alternator to draw too much current (although I never had to replace any fuses, I never got an answer as to what part in the alternator was breaking). Everytime I got a new alternator the car would work fine agian for about 8 months, until it went again.

I hope this helps.





kpic1 said:


> Having a problem with my 1993 Maxima GXE. (its long and complicated so please bear with me)
> 
> Symptom: Slight off idle hesitation (pretty much all the time – but more noticeable when I have turned it off and re-started it (such as going into the Wawa for coffee and then leaving) this is tolerable but worse is when it rains very heavily (or during the last winter months here when it snowed) after driving and letting it sit (say overnight or for long periods) upon driving I cannot maintain throttle I must give it a lot of gas then back off then it will start to sputter and backfire so I have to give a lot of gas again, I cannot keep consistent throttle pressure (such as part throttle and just cruising) however it idles fine and will not stall! When it does this I can keep it in park and it will idle fine but upon giving just slight throttle it will want to stall and sputters and the revs will drop, upon giving more throttle pressure however it clears up and revs right up
> 
> ...


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