# spitting and sputtering



## copperlite (Oct 12, 2004)

hey!

I really hope someone has had this problem in the past, i'm going to be traveling this weekend so i need to get this fixed ASAP. Here;s the story...

I have a sentra with a e16i

So I was accelerating from a stop, i got up to about 10 mph and all of a sudden my car started sputtering, hesitating, and bucking a little bit. I had no power. I pulled over and checked under the hood for anything obvious, but found nothing. I started up down the road and i found that as long as I kept the throttle cracked a little bit, the hesitating would stop. I think the problem relates to how wide open the throttle is if anything.

I dont think it has anything to do with timing. I can rev the engine all the way up with the clutch in. also, when i went a little further down the road and got up to 55mph, i put the car into 3rd and let it scream...it was A-OKAY.

So what *I* think I have is a clogged up exhaust or maybe a dead spark plug or wire.

Please give me some input!!!


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## tampapulsar (Mar 25, 2005)

I would check plugs, wires, dist cap & rotor first. Next vacuum hoses. Finally thermostat and coolant temp sensor. Also might not be a bad idea to take off the intake and spray carb or throttle body cleaner into the tb. That about covers it, Had the same problem and had already done all the above so I tried spraying tb cleaner directly into tb and it went away.
Good luck! :thumbup:


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## dreamteam (Jul 29, 2005)

IF it is a spark plug wire, yes, it can get worse with a load.

Here is one way to diagnose:
with the engine running and in nuetral,open the hood. You will need a dark place for this test. Look for open spark running to a grounded spot near the head, usually inbetween plugs and close to the block.
If you have an assistant,put on the e-brake and have someone put the car in gear and give it some gas.
Watch for bright blue spark and a snapping sound.


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## bob89sentra (Sep 15, 2005)

Something I learned when I worked at an auto shop
Take a spray bottle (like and old windex bottle), and put a couple squirts of liquid soap (hand soap, or dishwashing soap) in and fill up with water. Turn the nozzle to stream mode. When the engine is idleing spray on the spark plug wires from end to end. If there is a hole in the wire this will make a spark that usually isn't visable to become very bright, and loud. This even works in broad daylight. Good Luck!


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## copperlite (Oct 12, 2004)

here's the update...

I got the car home, poped the hood and looked at my plugs...(one of them i had to repair a few days earlier because i ripped the crimp connecter at the end that snaps onto the plug  :thumbup so i pulled on the wire and the darn connector got ripped off again. I took the pieces and re-crimped the connector (i put a lot of effort into it this time :cheers I plugged it in and the problem hasn;t come back...so we'll see what happens. Thanks for the help guys! I owe you all a beer or 2 by now!


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## dreamteam (Jul 29, 2005)

Good diagnostics, copperlite.
You prolly want to replace those old wires soon...........


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## copperlite (Oct 12, 2004)

i'm reviving and old post, but i'm having the same problem

I took a trip upstate this weekend and ran into a little trouble...

It got colder and started raining up here and my car didn;t like it. It started the same spitting and sputtering like before. I have no power. When i floor it, the car bogs down and the exhaust sputters. As long as I keep the throttle only open a bit, the car will run pretty smooth.

I'm thinking it's an ignition problem. and i'm guessing it's the coil. I took it off a j/y pulsar a while back when I was trying to weed out a different problem and it was a little differnt from stock, but it ran fine until now. Anyway i'm also getting really bad fuel economy, so what do you guys think? I checked my plugs a week ago and they were a llittle white, but otherwise fine.

Thanks!


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## bob89sentra (Sep 15, 2005)

Did you check your engine codes yet? It sort of sounds like the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) or MAF (Mass Air Folw) could be out of wak. If you still have your old coil try putting that back on. Also have you replaced the plugs recently? Sometimes even new plugs can be defective. Does your car idle rough and seem to have no low end power, but when you rev it up, the problem goes away, or does it run bad at all RPMs when you open the trottle more?


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## copperlite (Oct 12, 2004)

okay, here's the update...

It's been really rainy here and it's been making the problem a lot worse. The problem is really bad at low rpm's...but only when the throttle it open more then just a tiny bit. When you get to higher rpm's it kind of smoothes out. You reach a certain point when you accelerate where first it'll be sputtering like a punta then it'll pretty much click and take off and smooth out. It's pretty odd, but helps for diognosis.

I did pull the codes and I got code 23???? This is the 2nd time that i've pulled a code that isn't in the book.

Luckily I do in fact have a spare TPS and MAF, but I don't have my old coil. As it turns out I don't think I've replaced the plugs since I've owned the car (10,000 miles ago).

If this question doesn't get some attention here I'll make a new post: Does anyone have a generic ignition coil in their car (like a MSD or Accel)? I may get some platinum plugs and try a bigger coil to try to improve my fuel economy. I'm getting black soot in my tailpipe that I CANNOT find the reason behind. maybe it's a weak spark and i'm not getting complete combustion???


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## bob89sentra (Sep 15, 2005)

10,000 miles on one set of plugs? that isn't unreasonable you should probbaly change them anyways though. I would lean twards the ignition problem since you say it runs better at hihger RPMs It could be arcing to ground some where at idle and lower RPMs when the voltage of the spark is higher. At higher RPMs it will smooth out from the lower voltage not allowing it to arc as far. This is what my car did when I drove it from california to colorado. I know this is a dumb question, but have you taken off the boot from the distributer cap and checked the wires there? I drove for 600 miles with one wire off, and didn't even think to look there.  WOAH.... Wait a second you said you have code #23? That would be the idle switch. That could be faulty, causing it to give you the improper amount of fuel at idle (too much) I'd check the idle switch first then look at some of the previously mentioned things.


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## copperlite (Oct 12, 2004)

bob89sentra said:


> 10,000 miles on one set of plugs? that isn't unreasonable you should probbaly change them anyways though.


Yeah, I pulled the plugs and the electrodes looked fine...they were a little white, but otherwise fine. I dont know if they can degrade internally or something, i mean i guess i dont really know the anatomy of a spark plug  




> I would lean twards the ignition problem since you say it runs better at hihger RPMs It could be arcing to ground some where at idle and lower RPMs when the voltage of the spark is higher. At higher RPMs it will smooth out from the lower voltage not allowing it to arc as far.


I'll inspect the coil visually and check it's resistence. I guess I could do a spray-bottle test and look for any arching but i dont know how effective that will be.



> This is what my car did when I drove it from california to colorado. I know this is a dumb question, but have you taken off the boot from the distributer cap and checked the wires there? I drove for 600 miles with one wire off, and didn't even think to look there.


Thats funny....i drove all the way to Boston a couple months back with a LOOSE spark plug, it ran smooth though   anyay i checked under the hood and there was a bunch of soot on the valve cover!



> WOAH.... Wait a second you said you have code #23? That would be the idle switch. That could be faulty, causing it to give you the improper amount of fuel at idle (too much) I'd check the idle switch first then look at some of the previously mentioned things.



Thats wierd...I dont see code "23" in my chiltons manual under the E16i engine. Anyway, i've known this is faulty for a while. On cold mornings my car always has to heat up before it starts to idle properly. Maybe it just totally kicked the bucket now.


Anyway, thanks for the help, I appreciate it. I'll look into all this tonight. Maybe i'll get an accell coil and try it out with some new plugs. I could use a reccomendation on that. thay're only like 30$ (5$ more then stock)


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## copperlite (Oct 12, 2004)

Okay, so I've replaced my plugs and my coil. The problem has gotten a little better IE the car is driveable now :cheers: . So I'm also getting even worse gas milage then i was before (around 17mpg) My car still feels like it's gained 1000 pounds when i'm driveing it...i have no acceleration power. Every once-in-a-while something clicks and my car runs perfectly but then like 2 minutes later it'll go back to before. After driving my car for a while i've realized that there is a night and day difference. I do have a code on the computer for my idle air controller and I have realized that when my car is running "perfect" the idle is smooth but when it's running "crappy" the idle is really low and the engine bogs down almost to the point where it's about to stall sometimes. 

I dont see how the idle air controller could be causing a lack of power and horrible gas mileage? Someone can correcet me if i'm wrong?


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## Slacky (May 31, 2004)

usually the iacv will cause insane bucking aswell as speed and rpm restrictions, u can take it out and carefully clean it for regular maintenence , it might help anyway. could also be the temp switch or 02 sensor is SHOT


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## copperlite (Oct 12, 2004)

I've tested my coolant sensor for resistence at the sensor and at the ECU and it works flawlessly. About 8 months ago I replaced my O2 sensor hoping to bring my fuel economy back, but it did diddly. I've cleaned out my IACV when i did my O2 sensor but it didn't fix anything either. I know it's shot though, when it's cold out it doesn't work at all, my car WILL NOT idle on cold mornings. It's the one thing that I know is wrong with my car that i've never taken the time to replace. HMMMM...Wish the JY wasn't 45 mins away! 

I mean it kind of makes sense now...Before i knew it was broken b/c my car wouldn't idle properly but it never threw a code. Now that the weather has changed again...right when this whole mess started was when I finally got a code on my computer for the IACV!

well...If anyone has a working IACV laying around, make sure you PM me!


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