# 1997 Altima rough idle and no acceleration



## sksp (Dec 30, 2007)

Hi,

I have 73K miles on my 1997 Altima and recently I noticed that when I start it, it has very rogue idle and when I put in drive and press the gas paddle, it does not pick up the speed at all. It continues at idle speed (speed when I don’t press gas paddle). Engine is making loud noise and whole car shakes bad. First time it happened, I just turned off and on the car few times and it was driving fine for few days. It happened again few days later and again, turn off and on worked. Today, problem persists and I can not drive it. No check engine light so far. No code in ECM (I did the test mode stuff). Any help on where to start looking? Can it be fuel filter? 

Thanks,

Sksp


----------



## SpeedmanRC (Mar 14, 2006)

Well my Altima...well both before I smashed the first one, anyway It's a misfire if it's a car shaking thing. and my Altima needed a injector. like any power, I would wait for it to come. but my car has like 165k miles on it. maybe just needs a tune up? how are the plugs and wires? it's fuel or spark that something isn't in the right time/spot.


----------



## sksp (Dec 30, 2007)

*any help??*

I took the car to machanic and there was no problem at that time (as I said in orignal thread, problem come and go). He could not really tell me what is wrong with the car. he said leave the car for a day and he will look at it. he thinks problem is in emission or some sensor related. I already checked the MAF sesnsor and it looks fine (using the Hayn's manual to check voltage etc..). 

My problem is when I start the car, it does rogugh idle and when I put in drive and press gas, car kind of shakes bad and there is no accelaratin. It just keep going at slow speed (5 miles per hour) no matter how hard I press the gas. Can it be O2 sensor? Any one with same experiance??


----------



## birdsflyingover (Dec 19, 2007)

it is common for the intake gasket to leak on the number 4 cylinder. spray some brake clean where the intake bolts to the head and if the idle changes, bingo.


----------



## filipinowise (Jan 1, 2008)

*try this*

it could be egr value maybe stuck or needs to be clean with carb cleaner, adjust your idle.

here is a youtube vid on cleaning egr value it should be similar to nissan

YouTube - EGR Valve Cleanup


----------



## francisco006 (Dec 15, 2007)

wut about a plugged exhaust...but then it should do it all the time try doin the manual ECM diagnostic becuase even though the engine light isnt on theres still quite a bit of sensors that go bad and dont turn the light on.... its near the gas pedal in the center console behind the plastic cover all u need is a phillips and a flat head screwdriver.....


----------



## sksp (Dec 30, 2007)

Finally car broke down. It will not even start and even when it starts, it stalls very soon. I towed it to my mechanic and he said distributor is bad. He replaced it (cost me total $357, 255 for part + labor). Not car is running fine.


----------



## Negative (Jan 16, 2008)

Hi all. A little background on me:
I work on Toyotas. Namely Toyota Celicas and MR2's with S series motors. I have a 94 Celica with a JDM 3S-GTE Turbo engine. I very rarely [but sometimes] help friends with their Nissans - mainly modifying.

Anyway, because I'm always modifying something on my car in the parking lot of my job people always bring me their problems. That's cool - I like to help out when I can.
Today, a friend of a friend brought me her '97 Nissan Altima 2.4l [I assume that's some derivative of the KA-24? -killer engine BTW] after her check engine light came on and she had the codes read by Autozone. AZ told her it was her EGR and her Knock sensor and not to change out the EGR but to clean it and it would make both codes and her very rough idle disappear.
So I take the 2 parts of her EGR off and sure enough there is tons of black carbon deposits inside so I get a wire needle and a wire wheel after it and clean everything all nice and replace her gasket. Reset the ECU and then restart the car and the Check Engine light comes immediately back on and her idle is still rough.
This lady doesn't seem to have a lot of money and doesn't have any family here to help her out. I'd like to save her some but I don't want to kill her car. So what can I do to clean her EGR? What should I spray inside to clean it out. Is carb spray OK? I would assume so but you know what assumptions do. Any help you guys can provide me would be greatly appreciated by both her and I.

BTW - sorry for the novel but You guys don't know me from Adam so...


----------



## MikeSD (May 23, 2008)

Negative said:


> Today, a friend of a friend brought me her '97 Nissan Altima 2.4l [I assume that's some derivative of the KA-24? -killer engine BTW] after her check engine light came on and she had the codes read by Autozone. AZ told her it was her EGR and her Knock sensor and not to change out the EGR but to clean it and it would make both codes and her very rough idle disappear.
> So I take the 2 parts of her EGR off and sure enough there is tons of black carbon deposits inside so I get a wire needle and a wire wheel after it and clean everything all nice and replace her gasket. Reset the ECU and then restart the car and the Check Engine light comes immediately back on and her idle is still rough.
> This lady doesn't seem to have a lot of money and doesn't have any family here to help her out. I'd like to save her some but I don't want to kill her car. So what can I do to clean her EGR? What should I spray inside to clean it out. Is carb spray OK? I would assume so but you know what assumptions do. Any help you guys can provide me would be greatly appreciated by both her and I.
> 
> BTW - sorry for the novel but You guys don't know me from Adam so...


I just had the same deal happen with my 97 Altima. The same codes, etc. I just had to break down an buy a new EGR, and also replace the vacuum hose coming out of the bottom of it....very rotten as well. Reset the computer, and all the codes went away, problem solved.

I'm sure between the date you posted this question and the day of my response, the issue has probably been resolved- but, in the event anyone else searches on the topic, I thought I'd include this info.


----------



## Altima SSS (Oct 10, 2007)

sksp said:


> Finally car broke down. It will not even start and even when it starts, it stalls very soon. I towed it to my mechanic and he said distributor is bad. He replaced it (cost me total $357, 255 for part + labor). Not car is running fine.


Sounds like the dreaded oily distributor guts syndrom.


----------



## Garage Battle (Feb 25, 2004)

oil in the distributor

or a failing MAF

MAF problems if intermittent, will not throw codes. see:

YouTube - Nissan MAF Repair by Rob Fleming


----------

