# Misfires and stalls out



## Vulgarian (Jan 1, 2015)

So a bit of back ground. Driving to get groceries w/4yr old girl in tow. Getting low on fuel and pull into a pump. As I was pulling in it started to miss and chug hard. Shut it off at the pump and fuelled up thinking it was the incline and the tank was hella low. 

Upon start up it was the same, super rough idle for 20sec then stall. I figured it was a clogged fuel filter since it had done it before months back when I ran it low. Walking adventure time with my daughter. 

Hour later still in the parking lot, fuel filter swapped. Same issue. Checked the distributor and wires. The cap was cracked and the main lead running to the ECM(?) was corroded. Ok, 2nd walking adventure underway to lordco. 

New cap and harness installed. Same issue. Abandoned. Towed to my mechanic, reputable. He spent the day and couldn't figure it out. Ran all diagnostics and found it was a fuel code (didn't say which one). He checked the compression, timing, distributor for oil, fuel pump you name it, nothing. He was sad he couldn't help and couldn't bring himself to charge me. Towed back home. 

New born baby came, Christmas, New Years and finally I've had time to look at it. I figured it is an injector problem, so I pulled them, all clean, checked resistance on them and they are all 11.1 and one is 10.9. So they aren't fried. So I ran the car with one disconnected. And it RAN!! Rough as hell, 750-1200rpm. So I thought that was that problem injector on the 4th cyl. 

Just for to be sure I reconnected it and disco'd another one. And it ran just the same as before. Rinse and repeat on all and the same result. Runs on any 3 cylinders but stalls out in 10-15sec on 4. And smells hella rich. 

Not sure what to make of it now. Kinda want to take a .357 to her to put her out of misery. Any help would be great. 285k and it's been a solid whip. Bad computer maybe? I'm just at a loss now.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

I would check for excessive fuel pressure using a fuel pressure test gauge. I would also check for a bad intake gasket, which was notorious for failing on the U13 Altima. It will lean it out, causing the oxygen sensor to read lean and tell the ECM to richen the mixture. Failed intake gaskets will typically cause very rough idle and stalling and can be tested by spraying carb cleaner around the intake gasket area and paying attention for a surge in RPM when sprayed in a suspect area.


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## frankp13 (Jun 18, 2016)

check your mass air flow sensor as well, mine just had this issue and was resolved with a new maf sensor


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