# 2001 Sentra GXE stalling out when it's hot out- Dealer can't figure out what's wrong



## MYGXE (Apr 26, 2011)

My Sentra keeps stalling out, under specific conditions. It's hot out, I have the AC on and I'm stuck in traffic. The temperature gauge is in the middle, A/C is cold. When I slow down in traffic, at an idle sputters out and stalls. When I try to start it, the engine turns over but won't start. After 5-10 minutes with the hood up, it will start up and run. At this point I usually park it and get a cab home. This has been going on for two years now.

I brought it to a mechanic last year, who changed the coolant, test the thermostat and checked the radiator. As soon as it got hot out (apx. 74F and sunny) it started stalling again. I brought it to the dealer, thinking that they have seen these cars for the last ten years and might know something about common problems and they guaranteed me that by changing the EGR valve and Airflow Sensor, it would solve the issue. 30 minutes after picking the car up and $1200 later, it stalled same as before. Now Nissan has it back in the shop, they can't figure it out. They told me that all the recalls had been done on the car.

Has anybody experienced this type of thing before? Any clues would be very helpful. 

Thanks very much for your ideas.


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

You're probably getting vapor lock somewhere in the fuel lines; it's called heat soaking. Check to see if any fuel lines are close to a high heat source such as the exhaust manifold.


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## MYGXE (Apr 26, 2011)

Thanks Rogoman, I'll have a look tomorrow morning. Can the lines be insulated or should I try to simply move them back from the heat source?


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## SPEEDO (Jun 9, 2003)

old school days, cars had trig-units, they would heat up, expand and break contact, shutting the car down, if you let it sit and cool down, the car would start up and run fine... I wonder if you have something like this happing? ecu maybe? is it throwing any codes?


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

rogoman said:


> You're probably getting vapor lock somewhere in the fuel lines; it's called heat soaking. Check to see if any fuel lines are close to a high heat source such as the exhaust manifold.


On a fuel injected vehicle with the fuel constantly circulating from the rails to the tank and back constantly? Been a long time since I've heard of it, especially these days. The fuel in the tank would have to get awful warm.

I'd lean more towards an ignition problem.
But since the car is at the "Dealership", I'm sure those guys know how to check for things like that...or not...

Take it out for a spin, let it die, pull a plug wire and check for sparkyness.
No sparky...no runny...


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

Yeah, vapor lock is non-existant on a modern fuel injected engine. I would be suspect of the cam and crank sensors, which are known to be problematic on late model Nissans and the cause of stalling issues.


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## MYGXE (Apr 26, 2011)

Thanks for all the great info. The mechanic that first looked at the car said to check the crank sensor. I told the dealer, they still have it in the shop. I think I'm going to have to bring it somewhere else. No codes were thrown, no check engine light and it runs great usually. I've got just under 41,000 miles on it.


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## gsh1992 (Sep 22, 2011)

*2001 Nissan Sentra GXE*

Hey MYGXE, I have the same car and the same model and my car is doing the exact same things as yours...I was just wondering if u ever discovered what the cause of it wass if u figured it out it would be greatly appreciated!!!


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## MYGXE (Apr 26, 2011)

*found out it was a defective fuel pump*

So $1200 later, and after the Nissan dealer replaced parts that it turns out didn't need to be replaced (i.e. mass air flow sensor, air filter, etc.), I still had the exact same problem, especially on hot and sunny days. I was very frustrated with them as I'd left my car with them for over a month, and got it back with a "sorry we tried everything" reply and an empty gas tank as they had drove my car around to try and find out what the issue was.

So I complained to the Dealer Service Center Manager, told him to &^%&%$ fix it and that this wasn't acceptable... They took back my car a second time and the mechanic drove it until they recreated the problem. 

Turns out it was a faulty fuel pump, resulting in the engine unpredictably shutting down. As soon as they replaced this, my car has been fine ever since, even on the super hot days. I suspect my car always had a faulty fuel pump, I think it just got worse with time, as I don't have many km's on it and have kept it well serviced.


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

MYGXE said:


> So $1200 later, and after the Nissan dealer replaced parts that it turns out didn't need to be replaced (i.e. mass air flow sensor, air filter, etc.), I still had the exact same problem, especially on hot and sunny days. I was very frustrated with them as I'd left my car with them for over a month, and got it back with a "sorry we tried everything" reply and an empty gas tank as they had drove my car around to try and find out what the issue was.
> 
> So I complained to the Dealer Service Center Manager, told him to &^%&%$ fix it and that this wasn't acceptable... They took back my car a second time and the mechanic drove it until they recreated the problem.
> 
> Turns out it was a faulty fuel pump, resulting in the engine unpredictably shutting down. As soon as they replaced this, my car has been fine ever since, even on the super hot days. I suspect my car always had a faulty fuel pump, I think it just got worse with time, as I don't have many km's on it and have kept it well serviced.


thats awesome! glad they fixed it but too bad it took them too many tries.


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