Rough cold start on nissan sentra

40

Asked by tammi1960 May 31, 2018 at 07:54 PM about the 2004 Nissan Sentra 1.8

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Rough start in the morning takes
a few times to get to a normal idle
then has to warm up for a few
minutes or it will die when you are
driving.After car warms up it runs
great.

13 Answers

40

It had a tune up 6 months ago car has 135,000 miles .Great car just doesn't like cold weather first morning starts .After its be running for long periods its fine .Starts up first time after its been started .

3 people found this helpful.
40

Had a test done said it was a camshaft position sensor changed that out still does the same thing.

1 people found this helpful.
10

I am also having the same issue with my card did you ever find out what the problem was

1 people found this helpful.
80

I’m also having the same problem only in the winter. I’ve changed cam sensor, temp sensor, spark plugs, timing chain, maf sensor, battery, and computer reprogramming. I GIVE UP. 2008 Nissan Sentra. Also in cold weather, when it does start, idle is erratic going up and down for the first 10 seconds.

8 people found this helpful.
40

My daughter's 2008 Sentra does the same thing - about 10 seconds of very erratic idle speed about once per second, then it smooths out and runs fine. She's had the problem for the last few months when the engine is cold. It doesn't have to be all that cold outside. But if the engine is warm there is no problem. We haven't replace anything yet. I was going to start with plugs and wires, just because it's probably overdue for them anyway. Only other issue is that it's been burning oil for the last 2-3 years - about a quart every 1000 miles. Not sure that's related to the more recent startup/idle speed problem at all.

3 people found this helpful.
40

You need to replace your idler control sensor, if your engine runs rough or idle erractic when it’s cold.

4 people found this helpful.
30

Had anyone had any luck figuring this out my 2007 started doing it, I have changed plugs, cam sensor and throttle body. This is very frustrating

3 people found this helpful.
40

In the case of my daughter's car, we did not change anything yet (weather is too cold now to work on it). However, we did find that if she hits the gas right after starting it in order to rev it up to 2000-2500 RPM for just a moment, then it will quickly settle back into a normal idle and everything is fine. She is much more comfortable doing that rather than listening to the idle speed cycling wildly up and down for the first 10-15 seconds of operation.

1 people found this helpful.

Has this issue been solved? I am having the same issue in my 2016 Sentra. I also have less than 25k miles. I haven't changed anything as of yet.

20

Same problem with my 2008 Nissan Sentra. It has been at the dealership for 3 weeks now. They put a new throttle body on it; new ECU; cleaned plugs and when they let it sit outside to get cold it won’t start.

2 people found this helpful.

Has anyone found a solution yet? I've got an 08 Sentra doing the same thing on cold starts - intermittent idle for first 5-10 seconds and then it's fine. Put it in gear too soon and try driving, it may die.

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