# 2002 Idle problem with my 3.5se, please help



## cobra0827 (Apr 7, 2005)

Recently my 2002 Altima 3.5se is hard to start. It start the idles goes and up drop right away to either die or to about 200rpm then goes back to the normal 700 or so. It only does it after it sits for a few hours. Any ideas or input would be greatly appreciated.

thanks


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## Marvin (Oct 16, 2002)

Have you taken it in to have any recalls performed on it?

Sounds like it might be a clogged fuel filter. Does it do this when its only very cold outside?


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## cobra0827 (Apr 7, 2005)

Is there a fuel filter on it? where is it? and yes i had the recalls performed? It sits in a heated garage tha tnever gets below 50.


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## Marvin (Oct 16, 2002)

Well hopefully you are still under warranty. Even if you aren't, the dealership might be your best bet. Hopefully someone on here has had a similar problem and can help you out to prevent you from paying much out of pocket at the stealership.

If you are under warranty, here's what I would do:

If the car idles improperly EVERY time you crank it from a cold start, drive to the dealership, park the car in a spot and don't tell the dealer you are there. Have your wife, friend, family, etc. pick you up and go to the mall, lunch, whatever. Leave the car there for about 3 hours. Go back, tell the service manager what the problem is, and take him out there before you start your car. This ensures that someone at the dealership sees the problem and you don't get a nasty "Can not duplicate".

If this is an intermittent problem, going to be tough for the dealer to catch.

By the way, how much time are we talking here between cranking the car and the time that it starts to idle fine? 5 seconds? a minute?


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## cobra0827 (Apr 7, 2005)

Instantly, it has only died twice when trying to start but every morning and every night when leaving work the idle drop very low for a couple seconds and then all is normal. the idle only flucuates for about 2 seconds but it isn't normal.

Is there a fuel filter on the 3.5? where is it?

thanks


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## Marvin (Oct 16, 2002)

I'm not really sure. It would make sense that the filter is clogged when no fuel passes through it, and then the rush of gas pushes out the clog. But i'm not an expert by any means.

I don't know where the filter is, but i'm sure someone does. Research it online.


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## BOLTS (Apr 27, 2006)

I have your answer. Same thing was happening to me. I didn't do anything for a while because after the drop in rpms it would go back to normal. Occasionally it would start and stop, but always start. I brought it in to the dealership and they simply reprogrammed the system so that the rpms would be higher on start up...left it with them for 30 mins, no charge, haven't had another problem in months.


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## liljohnny (May 25, 2006)

Fuel filter is in the tank... 

john


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