Gr0dy

I have an 03 nissan altima 4 cylinder, the car starts and runs for about 3 seconds and then sputters out. If i hit the gas during those 3 seconds it sputters out. The only mod i have is a short air intake. Im not sure what the problem is and don't know where to start looking. It ran fine yesterday and when i left for work this morning it was doing that. Any help would be appreciated thanks

Fabrik8

Does that car have a mass air flow (MAF) sensor (I've never worked on an Altima, I have no idea...), because if it does it could be fouled with filter oil from the air filter. Other possibilities might be a bad throttle position sensor, or a broken/clogged idle air control valve.

Gr0dy

yea it does have a MAF , i have it connected in the ebay air intake.How can i tell if its fouled with filter oil? Also if it is, do i just take it off and clean it? or is it done and needs to be replaced?

Thanks for your help

C Ory

Try this, it is what we use at our shop with pretty good results:




Also try cleaning the throttle body. See if you are getting any codes.

Gr0dy

I took the spark plugs out and they checked out ok. I put them back in and started it up and it will stay on now but it idles around 1500 and jumps up and down. It also won't go past 2500 rpms if i press the gas, itll get to 2500 and drop then go back to 2500 then drop. Buddy of mine thinks it's the MAF sensor, i tried cleaning it and it didn't seem to help much. Its got the check engine light on so hes gonna see what codes it's spitting. If it sounds like it's something other then the sensor or if theres anything else i can troubleshoot please let me know because i don't want to waste $270 on the sensor if that's not what's causing the problem.

Fabrik8

I wouldn't bother doing anything else until you get the codes checked.

akeemfree2gunzu

either the maf or it needs new plug wires