Nissan Almera 1.5SE 2001 - Nissan Almera - stuttering, power loss, stuttering

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Tue 26 Apr 2011 21:56
Nissan Almera 1.5SE 2001 - Nissan Almera - stuttering, power loss, stuttering - dtmark

Hoping to get a second opinion.

As per title:

- General (perhaps 25%) loss of power
- Accelerates mostly smoothly from low speeds
- Accelerating (including trying to maintain speed uphill) causes power loss - engine "stutters" which gives a kangaroo effect (less pronounced at higher speeds, the car doesn't "jerk" but feels like it pulls back)
- Most obvious from 3000rpm+

Once the stuttering effect starts, what you do with the throttle makes no odds. It clears eventually.

I have a suspicion that after this has happened the first time you need more throttle to achieve the same speed until the car is restarted but that's hard to prove.

Sometimes the car will struggle to maintain 70mph on a flat road in 4th with the throttle to the floor.

The car performs better with Super Unleaded normally. Likewise the fault is less common with Super Unleaded but does still happen and it's still down on power.

I has a Vauxhall Vectra which did something similar once and that turned out to be a sticking "flap" in the air flow sensor I think.

Having looked around the net the following seem to be the possible causes:

- Mass Air Flow meter faulty/sticking
- Air temperature sensor faulty
- Fuel pump failing
- Blockage in the exhaust system/injectors

I also came across references to the timing chain but these seem to relate more to stalling and it doesn't stall.

I took the air temp sensor off and cleaned it. I've cleaned up the contacts to the MAF but the unit itself doesn't seem to be cleanable/serviceable. This hasn't madr any difference.

Can anyone else say - does the above checklist look right, in descending order of probablility?

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Wed 27 Apr 2011 04:34
Nissan Almera 1.5SE 2001 - Nissan Almera - stuttering, power loss, stuttering - unthrottled

Kangarooing at medium engine speeds normally indicates total misfiring.

Basically, you either have weak/absent spark or an air fuel ratio that is seriously lean.

If the fuel pump were failing, the problem should get worse at higher engine speed where fuel flow is greatest (fuel flow through the fuel pump is independent of load)

My bet is the fault is likely to lie with the ignition system-either the coil packs or the plugs. Normaly coil pack failure manifests itself at high load around 2000-2500 RPM where the cylinder pressure is highest and the spark is retarded. It takes a big voltage to jump the gap under these conditions and the insulation in a marginal coil pack can break down-leading to no spark.

Have you checked the obvious things like spark plug gap? If the plugs are worn, the gap could be too big, which would also lead to arcing somewhere in the High Tension side of the ignition system.

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Sun 1 May 2011 21:46
Nissan Almera 1.5SE 2001 - Nissan Almera - stuttering, power loss, stuttering - dtmark

Thanks... we've got the car booked in on Wednesday (it's stuttering now at most speeds) and oddly enough what you're suggesting is where they propose starting :)

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Fri 6 May 2011 17:39
Nissan Almera 1.5SE 2001 - Nissan Almera - stuttering, power loss, stuttering - dtmark

Just in case this happens to anyone else - I was looking for the answer but this isn't a particularly common/known fault with this model as far as I know:

The garage started with the plugs - perhaps also to get a feel for whether it was rich or weak running and then methodically went about ruling things out.

It did turn out to be a faulty mass air meter in the end and we're collecting the car later on - should be like a GTi compared to how it was before :)

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