# '96 Maxima Got Us Stumped?



## metro273 (Sep 16, 2005)

I got a Maxima at work that got us techs stumped. Maybe one of you can help out. 
When it's dry outside, car drives fine. The moment it rains outside or gets humid, car starts to "chug". It clears up and "chugs" again, all this while accelerating. It seems as though it's a bad MAF sensor but I swapped it out from another known good-running Maxima and it still runs "bad" and the exhaust has a "rotten egg" smell. Our handheld tester (CONSULT), tells us it's running towards the lean side a bit (100%-120% alpha). We checked for a broken wiring harness at the right strut tower and it checked out fine. We did our continuity checks and again, checks out OK.
What could it possibly be???


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## mech361 (Jul 31, 2006)

Have you checked around the ECM for signs of wetness. There was a bulletin some time back that addressed this issue. Water would come inside the vehicle from around the fresh air door for the heating/ ac system. Windshield cowl campaign I think.


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## metro273 (Sep 16, 2005)

mech361 said:


> Have you checked around the ECM for signs of wetness. There was a bulletin some time back that addressed this issue. Water would come inside the vehicle from around the fresh air door for the heating/ ac system. Windshield cowl campaign I think.


We did. There is sooo much dust on the ecm that it's hard to see any water stains or damage. BTW, I got 2 codes: P0340(camshaft pos sens) and P1400(egrc solenoid valve). The P1400 code is easy, the egrc sol valve doesn't "click" when applying external power. Stumped on the P0340, this is a shielded wire.


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## Jeff (Oct 17, 2002)

Are you sure the CPS doesn't need to be replaced? That error is pretty significant.

Perhaps the CPS is allowing moisture into itself...I know this is a problem for the 98/99 coil packs. I had a coil pack go out due to humidity...everytime it rained or was really humid my engine would stumble.


Anyhow...replacing the CPS is fairly easy and the sensor itself is really cheap.


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## metro273 (Sep 16, 2005)

Well we found out what the problem was... 
One or more faulty ignition coils. I swapped them out of a known good '95 Maxima and the problem disappeared, can you believe that crap!!!
Anyways, the Bosch plugs were also swapped out to help further fix this problem.
Lesson learned for next time...


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## Jeff (Oct 17, 2002)

Wow...a '96 with coil pack issues. That's fairly rare but does happen.


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## Red Ranger (Nov 14, 2007)

I have a question related to this: A while back we had 2 of the ignition coils on our '96 Maxima go bad. At the same time, the EGRC went bad. Both were tested per manual. Now again I'm getting the EGRC code P1400/1005. Could bad ignistion coils be causing the EGRC to go bad? Maybe bad ignition coil > weak spark > incomplete fuel burn > rich exhaust gas mixture > coating of inside of EGCR > EGRC lock-up? I intend on replacing the rest of the ignition coils soon, because I realize once one starts to go bad, it's just a matter of time before the others do... and I've already had 2 bad ones. Anyway, just curious what the relationship (if any) might be. Thanks.


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## Jeff (Oct 17, 2002)

I would be willing to bet you're right. EGRC probably needs to be cleaned but it gunked up from your engine running rich.


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## Red Ranger (Nov 14, 2007)

Thanks for the input!


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## Diablo9420 (Oct 31, 2010)

rotten egg smells means bad catalytic converter


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

Diablo9420 said:


> rotten egg smells means bad catalytic converter




Not necessarily... If the air/fuel mixture isn't correct, this can also lead to foul smelling exhaust emissions.


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