# Car stumbles then shuts off, help!



## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

Hey folks, I have a problem with my Sentra. It's a 96 ga16 with an auto.

I drove this car everywhere and put over 200K miles on it. My wife bought a new car and I ended up letting my father-in-law have it since I had no title to it and the title was half under his name. This car used to be my daily driver.

I've changed so many things on this car it's almost new. I never had this problem with the car ever until I let him have it. The car starts up fine and drives without a problem. After about 25-30 minutes once you let your foot of the gas and stop like at a light for example, the car would begin to stumble unless you give it some gas. If you dont, it'll eventually shut off. Once it shuts off the first time, forget about trying to restart it. It'll try but it just wont stay on. At best maybe stay on for a few seconds, stumbling the whole time puffing smoke out and then shut off. If you let the car cool off for about half an hour, it'll start back up and you can drive it away again you got a small window though.

He ended up changing the plugs, wires, rotor, cap and battery but this did not work. It's still doing it. My father-in-law is a dim bulb and has zero idea what the hell he is doing so there is nothing he could've done to mess it up. The only thing I can think of is the car sat for about three to four weeks in the driveway before he decided to take it out for a spin. Then this began. The car again sat in the driveway for about another month after that and the problem persists. When I owned the car, it NEVER sat in the driveway. At most it would sit there two days tops. Any ideas????


----------



## jtahlgrim (May 28, 2010)

Have you ever cleaned out IACV and throttle body? Maybe even check the air filter while you're at it. I had a slightly similar issue a couple months back.


----------



## Jopet (Aug 10, 2009)

IMO its a clogged fuel line. I dont think that can happen when the car sits for a few weeks. I've had my car do that every year when I go on vacation. 
Did the problem start when the car was started for the first time after a few weeks? Or was it driven then after a couple of trips the problem started? Did your father-in-law ran out of gas? 
Check the fuel filter


----------



## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

Jopet said:


> IMO its a clogged fuel line. I dont think that can happen when the car sits for a few weeks. I've had my car do that every year when I go on vacation.
> Did the problem start when the car was started for the first time after a few weeks? Or was it driven then after a couple of trips the problem started? Did your father-in-law ran out of gas?
> Check the fuel filter


Sorry I forgot to include that the fuel filter was changed after the problem started. No, the problem started after the car sat for a few weeks. When I handed the keys over the car was perfectly fine and never did what it's doing now.


----------



## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

jtahlgrim said:


> Have you ever cleaned out IACV and throttle body? Maybe even check the air filter while you're at it. I had a slightly similar issue a couple months back.


The IACV yes, the throttle body no. How do you clean it exactly? Just shove my hand in there with a rag and a little mineral spirits or take the thing off and thoroughly clean it?


----------



## jtahlgrim (May 28, 2010)

Personally I'd rather use Throttle Body Intake cleaner instead. Costs maybe $4 a can. You can either:

(A) remove the throttle chamber from the manifold and clean it or 

(B, the method I used) unscrew the clamp to the air duct closest to the manifold, move the duct to the side without damaging it, spray a bit of cleaner at a time and adjust the throttle lever to rotate the disc inside, scrub with a toothbrush and clean with a rag and just keep repeating until you clean out as much carbon deposit as possible. And don't shoot the little spray nozzle tube into the engine either; that would be bad.


----------



## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

jtahlgrim said:


> Personally I'd rather use Throttle Body Intake cleaner instead. Costs maybe $4 a can. You can either:
> 
> (A) remove the throttle chamber from the manifold and clean it or
> 
> (B, the method I used) unscrew the clamp to the air duct closest to the manifold, move the duct to the side without damaging it, spray a bit of cleaner at a time and adjust the throttle lever to rotate the disc inside, scrub with a toothbrush and clean with a rag and just keep repeating until you clean out as much carbon deposit as possible. And don't shoot the little spray nozzle tube into the engine either; that would be bad.


I like your method better too!  You wouldn't happen to be able to scan or send me a pix of it would you? I dont have the car with me now nor do I have the damn Haynes Manual and my brain just isn't remembering how it looks right now.


----------



## jtahlgrim (May 28, 2010)

Sure, I'll try to get something for you shortly.


----------



## Jopet (Aug 10, 2009)

Was just re-reading the issue. Car starts to stumble and engines dies "after 25 to 30 minutes of driving" then the car starts up again after an hour of rest - engine cools.
Overheating? that's the symptom right? 
Have you pulled any codes? could also be the ignition system. I had to replace my distributor when it was misfiring. And it only misfired when the engine was up to normal working temp. Just a thought


----------



## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

Jopet said:


> Was just re-reading the issue. Car starts to stumble and engines dies "after 25 to 30 minutes of driving" then the car starts up again after an hour of rest - engine cools.
> Overheating? that's the symptom right?
> Have you pulled any codes? could also be the ignition system. I had to replace my distributor when it was misfiring. And it only misfired when the engine was up to normal working temp. Just a thought


Well no, the car is not overheating. Every single hose was replaced, the water pump has only a few thousand miles on it, both fans are new and the radiator is new.

Everything else is correct. The engine doesn't shut off though....usually when you restart it. It only shuts off when you put it in gear.


----------



## motoman740 (Jan 17, 2011)

Ignition coils are capable of causing that problem...


----------



## payk (May 5, 2004)

check the fuel pump..


----------



## Guro305 (Dec 16, 2007)

I just cleaned the IAAC and the TB really really good with some TB cleaner over the course of a couple of days and drove off fifty miles with the car. No problems whatsoever.


----------



## myusername (Feb 25, 2011)

*engine accessories*

Take off all belts and try to turn the accessory pulleys by hand. Similar thing happened to me when my a/c compressor pulley clutch went out. I have a MT when I went into neutral the car stalled, it would start but you really had to work it. Basically, the pulley seized, being attached to crank pulley, it stalled the engine.

Good Luck


----------

