2009 Nissian Altima misfire, wants to stall, fuel

2009 Nissian Altima 4 cylinder misfire, wants to stall, fuel hungry. Tested the coils they read 2.8 on 3 of them and 2.7 on one. No error codes on the machine. Gave her better fuel with a cleaner added in and went to YouTube to try to figure it out. I'm a single mom trying to do this by myself with my boyfriend as my only help. He knows as much as I do about cars. I can do the work, just need to know wtf to work on. She felt shaky too in the beginning before this started. Kind of a light pull. also have occasionally smelt burnt oil but it goes away and I haven't found any leaks or anything.

How do you know it is fuel hungry? Did you spray carb cleaner in the intake and the idle smoothed out?

It is great that you tested the coils. I like people of action.

Unfortunately, Ohm testing a coil doesn't tell you necessarily there is a short in them. It would definitely tell you if you had an open coil though.

Since you have no codes, how do you know you have a misfire? Is it because it is rough or idles really poorly or lack of power? I find it really interesting you have no codes. Has the battery been disconnected lately? Have your readiness monitors completed successfully?

Please forgive me if these appear to be stupid questions. I really have very little information to go on here, so I'm trying to pull out as much information as possible.

Since it doesn't sound like you have a great deal of diagnostic equipment, I suggest checking out the TPS, verify EGR valve, check for a vacuum leak, and check out spark plugs. ScannerDanner has plenty of videos to show you what to do. For clarity, I'm proposing you test these things not just replace parts. Please don't be a parts changer. You'll most likely make things worse just throwing parts at the car.

From what you're saying, it doesn't run very well not matter the RPM. Right? So, it runs poorly all the time. Right?

When did it last run normal? What has happened since them? Tune up? What issues have you had in the past, e.g. starting issues, alternator issues, battery issues, blown head gasket, ...?

My boyfriend said she was fuel hungry. Just from driving her. All I've done is tested the coils so far. She runs rough like she wants to go but can't get there. We put it in neutral and coasted her home last drive. The idle is rough. Goes up and down. She was shaky and pulling a little bit I noticed. The last work that was done on her was by the dealership when the steering column locked up and she wouldn't start. They had to replace the key fab and a chip or something. Besides break jobs and oil changes she hasn't had any real work done on her. It started about a week ago and escalated to the point my boyfriend couldn't drive her to his job across town. I had noticed the idle was high a few weeks prior when I noticed the shaking and every once in a while I smell burnt something, fuel, oil, I don't know but it's gone just as fast as I smell it. Usually whenever I'm in heavy traffic. I'll check out all those videos you suggested too. Thanks.

Are you able to rev the engine? If not, I suggest a back pressure test.

I still stand by the things I suggest you look at.

GeekDIYMechanic wrote: Are you able to rev the engine? If not, I suggest a back pressure test.

I still stand by the things I suggest you look at.

I was thinking that myself. A restricted cat will give you that "starving"feeling when you get into it, and wouldn't always set a code. It certainly wouldn't be the first Altima with a bad cat...

The OP may want to invest in a low cost code reader with live generic data capability. Then we could look at fuel trims at different loads to get an idea about what's going on when it's running poorly.

Noah wrote: The OP may want to invest in a low cost code reader with live generic data capability. Then we could look at fuel trims at different loads to get an idea about what's going on when it's running poorly.

This! Even with Generic data, we could get a much better idea of which direction to go in.

If data isn't an option, then there's other direction tests we can do. A vacuum gauge on the manifold could help us ID a plugged cat or a restricted intake. You can also disconnect the MAF and drive again, see if your symptoms improve.

We've done some stuff to her and now she's idles better but when we put her in drive she sputters

What "stuff " did you do and can you provide some data/testing results as already has been asked for? Essentially this will be necessary in order to help you further. ..

Did a dionostic ( I think I'm using the right words ) check. No codes. Nothing was showing. He changed the fuel pump. Sprayed some spray into a sensor area that involved resetting the timing or something like that by doing a series of things like turn ac off make sure battery charged enough push a button in the door jam area I belive to reset the thing then press the gas in a sequence. I might be off a little in my explanation but I'm alone and don't know exactly what he said it was he was doing but it made the idle come back up normal but if you put it in drive it sputtered.

noel.peterson wrote: Did a dionostic ( I think I'm using the right words ) check. No codes. Nothing was showing. He changed the fuel pump. Sprayed some spray into a sensor area that involved resetting the timing or something like that by doing a series of things like turn ac off make sure battery charged enough push a button in the door jam area I belive to reset the thing then press the gas in a sequence. I might be off a little in my explanation but I'm alone and don't know exactly what he said it was he was doing but it made the idle come back up normal but if you put it in drive it sputtered.

This sounds a bit like the APP relearn, which you'd do in preparation for a idle air volume learn. That'd account for the improved idle.

Like Juergen said, we'll still need some testing or data to give you a direction to go in as far as the sputter. Fuel trim data during the sputter would be valuable, or a vacuum gauge on the intake.

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This hose goes to nothing. Could that be the problem? I believe it's under the intake. I might be wrong. I wish I knew terms better. It's curved like it's hooked to the block or valve cover my boyfriend says. But it's not connected to anything but one side as of now. I'm trying here. Thanks guys.

This hose goes to nothing. Could that be the problem? I believe it's under the intake. I might be wrong. I wish I knew terms better. It's curved like it's hooked to the block or valve cover my boyfriend says. But it's not connected to anything but one side as of now. I'm trying here. Thanks guys.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B52bwI-LGy6wQ3dFT3RXMjZGdFE/view?usp=drivesdk

drive.google.com/file/d/0B52bwI-LGy6wQ3d...FE/view?usp=drivesdk

That's a picture of the hose. Stupid phone. Hard to work the forum on it

I need to get a reader of my own. Using the one at auto zone only tells me so much to answer you guys. I'm good at changing parts but I don't want to do like we did with the fuel pump and buy it but it still didn't fix it. Now I got a new pump and mine probably wasn't that bad off my boyfriend just jumped the gun.

Can you get a video up on how this car is acting please? What testing tools do you have? Multimeter, test light etc.

I'll do a video tomorrow and we have a lot of tools, an ohms meter and various different tools even some air tools. Most anything you need except specific tools like the one for the serpentine belt ( the long rachet thingy I said to him fixing an alternator ) and the diagnostic reader. We go to auto zone and put it on theirs to read codes. I'm not sure what we would need too different from the lawn equipment tools we use. We do landscaping. We just have basic stuff I guess is the best way to put it. We have a charger for the battery that plugs into a cord. That helped the other day. An aircompressor. I'm trying to answer the best I can without sounding dumb here. Again thanks for trying to understand me and help. I'm making progress on her so it's helping. He said we will try to figure out how to do the other test you guys have suggested he just went straight to the fuel pump and that didn't fix anything. $200 wasted. Now he wants to listen to my idea from you guys. But at least we figured out the sensor and fixed the idle some. Progress is progress. I don't understand everything but I'm willing to learn it and try and that's cheaper then the darn repair shop right now. We would have to tow it and everything. It would cost a fortune right now. Thanks again guys.

How do you do fuel trims? I'm reading over to see what I'm missing here.

noel.peterson wrote: drive.google.com/file/d/0B52bwI-LGy6wQ3d...FE/view?usp=drivesdk

That kinda looks like the transmission vent hose, based on the location... Does it have vacuum on it with the engine running? If not, then I wouldn't worry about it.

Caritech wrote: Can you get a video up on how this car is acting please?

Ooooh yeah, great idea.

I'm making progress on her so it's helping. He said we will try to figure out how to do the other test you guys have suggested he just went straight to the fuel pump and that didn't fix anything. $200 wasted. Now he wants to listen to my idea from you guys. But at least we figured out the sensor and fixed the idle some. Progress is progress. I don't understand everything but I'm willing to learn it and try and that's cheaper then the darn repair shop right now. We would have to tow it and everything. It would cost a fortune right now. Thanks again guys.

No problem, can't argue with progress!

If you're interested in getting a scanner, you've got options. Most local parts stores sell scanners with varying capabilities and features, but the ability to read live data is what we're interested in. There's also a huge selection of Bluetooth OBD dongles out there, and several apps available for smartphones that'll allow you to use your phone to read live data. Neither will cost an arm or leg.

As for fuel trim, I'll let ScannerDanner explain that. :lol: He's much better at making sense of that than I am. I think this video would be a great starting point for fuel trim diagnostics. Please feel free to ask us any questions that come up.