# 98 Altima- Occasional Hesitation



## jmacho (Aug 20, 2004)

Hi; I recently purchased a 98 Altima GXE with low mileage. Upon purchase, I did a complete major tune-up; plugs, wire, cap, rotor, and fuel filter which were all original.

The car exhibits an ocasional hesitation while driving at highway speeds yet I cannot detect any hesitation driving around town. At first I thought it might be bad gas but I have noticed the problem has continued. What has me puzzled is that I can go for days without noticing the hesitation, yet during a trip yesterday in the rain the car began to hesitate badly after about 1 hour of driving with major bucking. I Did not see a drop in rpm's and no engine light from the ECM . Previous driving in rain did not affect the car's hesitation. I have reseated the wires and checked the ignition. Starts, idles fine with no miss. Driving around town today I had no problem. It appears the hesitation usually occurs after driving more than an hour, noticed at highway speeds, happens on level or climbing a hill, and with constant speed or accelerating. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


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## Darktide (Jul 29, 2004)

how about weather conditions? You stated you were ok until the rain... did you thorougly inspect the cap before installing it? If it isn't seated right you'd have a problem, but if there is a crack or a way for moisture to get in it would certainly give you a nasty problem such as serious bucking. Also, check your O2 sensors, they actually don't always throw a light. I had this happen on a friends 94 Altima, her mechanic replaced EVERYTHING on her (plugs, cap, rotor, wires, was telling her she needed serious work done), and then I toss in a new fuel filter and an O2 sensor in, which I had been recommending all along, and it ran fine. But the 94's sensor needed to be heated up by the exhaust so it would take about an hour before it got warm enough and then it would buck and come close to stalling. All of this with no sign of the CE light. Not even a flicker, I know because I drove it for a while to get a feel for what it was and the thing died on me after bucking for 10 minutes and no light at all. I think that's a good place for you to check next.

Darktide


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## jmacho (Aug 20, 2004)

*98 Altima- Occassional Hesitation*



Darktide said:


> how about weather conditions? You stated you were ok until the rain... did you thorougly inspect the cap before installing it? If it isn't seated right you'd have a problem, but if there is a crack or a way for moisture to get in it would certainly give you a nasty problem such as serious bucking. Also, check your O2 sensors, they actually don't always throw a light. I had this happen on a friends 94 Altima, her mechanic replaced EVERYTHING on her (plugs, cap, rotor, wires, was telling her she needed serious work done), and then I toss in a new fuel filter and an O2 sensor in, which I had been recommending all along, and it ran fine. But the 94's sensor needed to be heated up by the exhaust so it would take about an hour before it got warm enough and then it would buck and come close to stalling. All of this with no sign of the CE light. Not even a flicker, I know because I drove it for a while to get a feel for what it was and the thing died on me after bucking for 10 minutes and no light at all. I think that's a good place for you to check next.
> 
> Darktide


Thanks for your prompt reply- The hesitation occurs both in dry or wet weather and I notice the hesitation generally occurs when the car has beed driven for some time so the problem may be related to temp. Yesterday for example, I was driving in the rain for over an hour before the hesitation started and was much worse than I had experienced before. It gradually became worse, we stopped at a store for about 1/2 hr, got back into traffic and no more hesitation.
I'm not convinced about the O2 sensor- that usually causes problems in the air/fuel mix affecting performance but I'm not ruling it out either- the 98 has 2- manifold and cat.
Thanks


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