engine stalling on '96 Maxima

I've recently purchased a '96 Maxima SE (stick, fully loaded). The car has 250,000km on it, but was extremely well maintained and is in excellent condition, save this one problem -- which, of course, started occuring about 2 weeks after I finalized the purchase.

Engine will stall about 2 out of 5 times after being started when cold (engine is cold, not outside temp). The behaviour before dying is what's baffling me.

Here's the scenario of events:
The car will start fine on the first crank. A few minutes into it, the engine will just die. This has happens regardless of whether I start driving the car or I just let it idle.
I can prevent the engine from shutting down by pumping the gas, but it almost feels like there isn't enough fuel getting to the engine. If the engine does indeed die, upon attempting a restart, engine will crank many times before starting, sometimes after several attempts.
Once it starts, though, all behaviour is back to normal.

So far, I was thinking one of the following things may be wrong with it. Some of these may sound idiotic (since my auto mechanics background is shaky at best):
(1) fuel pump ... but why would it act up only after a cold start
(2) idle sensor ... don't really know anything about it
(3) (possibly idiotic) somehow a void of air is being introduced on the fuel line and engine dies when void reaches spark plugs ... don't know what may cause this.

Before going to the mechanic with this, can anyone shed some light into this "mystery"? The car is bone stock, with no mods.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

How about the battery?

Check the towers on the ignition coils may be rusted, check those.

I presume there is no check engine light. Sounds like a temperature sensor is reporting the wrong reading causing it to switch from high idle to normal idle too soon.

To confirm you need an OBD-II analyser (not just a code reader) which will read the actual temp reported from the sensor.

Does the high idle (above 1000 rpm) stays throughout the period before it dies?

dirty injection systems perhaps?

could also be the ignition...too many variables, your better off checking a local maxima forum and seeing if anyone else has experienced the same problem.

Originally Posted by DragonZealot

I presume there is no check engine light. Sounds like a temperature sensor is reporting the wrong reading causing it to switch from high idle to normal idle too soon.

To confirm you need an OBD-II analyser (not just a code reader) which will read the actual temp reported from the sensor.

Does the high idle (above 1000 rpm) stays throughout the period before it dies?

The check engine light doesn't turn on. What you're saying makes sense (esp since it seems that the engine is dying at about the same RPM every time, and definitely during engine warmup), but I don't know how it would account for the extended periods of cranking upon attempting to restart the engine.
Also, the fact that this doesn't occur every time (though it seems to be occuring increasingly often lately) makes this issue kinda hard to troubleshoot (esp by a mechanic).

Originally Posted by B0000rt

Check the towers on the ignition coils may be rusted, check those.

I looked into ignition coils, you raise an interesting point. I will inspect them first chance I get (hopefully this weekend).

Originally Posted by D-3vil

I don't know how it would account for the extended periods of cranking upon attempting to restart the engine.

The sensor is reporting fully warmed up situation while it has not. When you crank at that time it gives leaner than needed mixture causing hard starting.

If it never dies after it fully warmed up then it is likely a fuel mixture problem.

Originally Posted by D-3vil

Also, the fact that this doesn't occur every time (though it seems to be occuring increasingly often lately) makes this issue kinda hard to troubleshoot (esp by a mechanic).

Intermitten connection problem? You just need a flight recorder to diagnose this. It is an OBD-II protocol converter that connects to a laptop and records all sensors output and fuel mixture ratio during the journey. It is not that difficult by today's standard. Check with your mechanic to see how much they would charge you. The protocol converter costs about $100 ~ $200 only.


What RMP is it at when it dies??

check the ICM under steering wheel. Sometimes they are badly connected, which can be fixed with some soldering.

Check the ignition coil. Distributor? Is it stalling because of rain conditions. Then humidity leaking in to the distributor can stall it.

If you don't know, bring it in to your local mechanic or dealer to diagnose. Doesn't cost much to diagnose.

Originally Posted by DragonZealot

What RMP is it at when it dies??

it's at about 1,000 - 1,100 when idle. However, I could be accelerating, and it would start jerking, as if fuel is not getting to the engine.

Originally Posted by maniacshopper

check the ICM under steering wheel. Sometimes they are badly connected, which can be fixed with some soldering.

Check the ignition coil. Distributor? Is it stalling because of rain conditions. Then humidity leaking in to the distributor can stall it.

If you don't know, bring it in to your local mechanic or dealer to diagnose. Doesn't cost much to diagnose.

I suspected rain at first as well, but it has also stalled during perfectly sunny conditions (ie day 3 of a 5-day sunny streak).

These 2 links may help.

http://forums.automotive.com/communi...ing/index.html

http://www.carsurvey.org/viewmorecom...ew_4306_4.html

Regardless it is worthwhile to pull the codes, reset and wait it to happen again, and then pull the code again.

Originally Posted by DragonZealot

These 2 links may help.

http://forums.automotive.com/communi...ing/index.html

http://www.carsurvey.org/viewmorecom...ew_4306_4.html

Regardless it is worthwhile to pull the codes, reset and wait it to happen again, and then pull the code again.

even if the check engine light isn't on?

There may be some codes stored before you got the car.