I have a 1989 Nissan Sentra that is hesitating/missing + rough idle (dies at stop signs). Thing is, it does very well going up steep, long hills -- lots of power, no problems. But when I ease up on the accelerator, or on the flats or slight downhills, it starts jerking/hesitating/missing. If I floor it, then it kicks back in and is fine for a while. Also, it sometimes dies at stop signs. It has new spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor, oxygen sensor, fuel filter. Ideas?

Asked by JonnyPeace Mar 30, 2018 at 11:27 PM about the 1989 Nissan Sentra E Coupe

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 1989 Nissan Sentra that is hesitating/missing + rough idle (dies at stop
signs). Thing is, it does very well going up steep, long hills -- lots of power, no
problems. But when I ease up on the accelerator, or on the flats or slight
downhills, it starts jerking/hesitating/missing in an inconsistent manner. If I
floor it, then it kicks back in and is fine for a while. Also, it sometimes dies at
stop signs. It had been running great, then I parked it for the winter, and the
problems started when I started using it again. I thought it was bad gas, but
did fuel treatment, refilled the tank, and problem persists. It has new spark
plugs, spark plug wires, distributor, oxygen sensor, fuel filter.

JonnyPeace answered 6 years ago

It took a while, but I finally figured this one out. Well, first I took it to a garage, and they thought that it was a defective rotor and the wrong spark plugs, so they changed all of that out and thought they fixed it. They didn't. So then I took it to a friend who started dismantling the throttle body. Before long we found that the air flow meter (This car doesn't have a mass air flow meter before the intake, but it's in the throttle body, itself) had some corroded connections. We cleaned them up, and cleaned the sensor itself, put it back together, and voila! It works again.

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I have a 1989 Nissan Sentra that is hesitating/missing + rough idle (dies at stop signs). Thing is, it does very well going up steep, long hills -- lots of power, no problems. But when I ease up on the accelerator, or on the flats or slight downhills, it starts jerking/hesitating/missing. If I floor it, then it kicks back in and is fine for a while. Also, it sometimes dies at stop signs. It has new spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor, oxygen sensor, fuel filter. Ideas? 1 Answer

I have a 1989 Nissan Sentra that is hesitating/missing + rough idle (dies at stop signs). Thing is, it does very well going up steep, long hills -- lots of power, no problems. But when I ease up on ...

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