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Nissan Quest/Mercury Villager Starting & Stalling Problems

511 messages,  Last post on Jan 08, 2012 at 8:34 PM

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What is this discussion about? Nissan Quest, Mercury Villager, Van

Messages Page 41 of 52

#396 of 511 Re: 2000 Quest stalling [nissanquest94] by nissanquest94

Jun 22, 2011 (9:14 pm)

Replying to: nissanquest94 (Jun 20, 2011 8:57 pm)
On the other hand, it may be even easier to just adjust your Idle Speed http://www.fixya.com/cars/t2286144-replacing_idle_control_valve_97 just with a screw driver.
 
You may adjust the screw base on the standard way http://www.se-r.net/engine/adjust_idle.html but you may try something creative, knowing the theory behind.
 
Basically, when you press the pedal, it really just open the throttle body plate to let go air and the TPS, Throttle Position Sensor, gives the info to computer that tells how much fuel to spread by fuel injector to have correct air/fuel mix.
 
But, when idle, you got no air coming through throttle plate, but the preset amount of air going thru the bypass circuit, and the bottleneck was controlled by the Idle Speed Adjusting Screw, so turn clockwise or counter clockwise will tighten the bypass or open up to let go less or more air that in turn rev down or up the idle RPM.
 
I personally believe that adjusting this screw is the "engineering intended" way because this screw is so easy to access, especially for my Nissan Quest 94. So, I would adjust it BEFORE considering "clean up IAC valve", and NOT TO MENTION replace IAC valve for hundreds of dollars.
 
When I adjust this screw, I was doing like "tuning the radio". I simple start up the engine and after 2 minutes when computer was not reading any initial sensor data, the engine is idling, I use screw driver to tune this screw. I turn it clockwise for one or two turns, and turn it back to original position, and turn it counter clockwise for another one or two turns, and turn it back to original position.
 
Believe or not, my engine calm down a lot, and my idle was great, but my Idle Speed Adjusting Screw still back to its original position. I did NOTHING? No, in fact, I have been tuning it to adjust idle air volume and "train the computer" to adjust the internal look up table and formula to obtain the optimal solution.
 
If you look at how the ECU works, it really tries to calculate in real time the best way to run the engine like conductor of an orchestra. It has to take as input from all sensors input and look up pre stored table of formula to calculate and send out controls. In other words, it really does NOT need us or mechanics to adjust it manually.
 
For example, while engine idle, if you turn on a/c, it will automatically rev up the idle speed just like if you turn on other electric, the voltage sensor will know the load and tell ECU to adjust.
 
You can buy a performance chip that is loaded different tables of formula that ECU can look up to make your car much more powerful as the original one has to satisfy many regulations. On the other hand, you can also "tune" your screw or sensors to train your ECU to do much better performance.

#397 of 511 Re: 1997 Quest Missing [thert] by nissanquest94

Jun 24, 2011 (8:37 pm)

Replying to: thert (May 16, 2009 8:06 pm)
It seems to me your problem is still fuel, and it is simply that you got bad gas in your tank. It is very subtle because gas is lighter and on top of your tank, while water is heavier and sink to the tank. Now, if you never use to very low of your gas tank, you may never hit this problem. However, if you always get cheap gas, over years, your gas tank may have more and more water, and eventually you will still hit the water. When you do, your fuel injector spray water instead of gas, every so often, and that your spark plugs fire not able to burn it and creates knocks, and your knock sensor got the info and feed into your computer that adjust your fuel pump to give you more fuel (in fact, more mix of gas and water). So, you got all sorts of symptom at different situations.
  
The OBD II scanner can not tell you the truth because it takes the snap shot of what's going on, and although it can tell you for "repeated problem", the water vapor may hit different cylinders and spark plugs at different time. So, your mechanics may simply advise you to "replace all spark plugs", and it is easier for them to replace wires and distributor ...etc all together as well, but you now can guess it has nothing to do with solving the problem.
  
So, the mechanics get crazy like you and would then ask you to replace knock sensor because if now you got good parts and the computer data still give you wrong ones, then must be the sensor giving out wrong data, so ... ,but as now you know it has nothing to do with your knock sensor.
  
The correct way to do would be to replace the bad gas, but it would be costly and hard to do by yourself. The easiest way may be just get a "dry gas" bottle like Heet yellow bottle of 12 oz at $2 or so at parts store and feed into your fuel tank that will sink down to meet water and combine into burnable fuel since Heet has other but methanol. Then your fuel injector will spray less, if any, water vapor, and your spark plug will fire to burn it at combustion stage, and your knock sensor would be happy.
  
You may ask questions like, well you always get the gas from that "cheap gas station", how come NEVER had problem till now. Or, why your other 2 cars also get the gas from that cheap gas station and running fine? If you know your gas tank has mostly gas on top part because gas is lighter, and some water, may or may not be a lot, sink to the bottom. You can imagine the cheap gas station's reservoir also have mostly good gas on top and some accumulated water sink to the bottom. So, you NOT always able to hit the water, but could be unlucky to get some when the gas station running out of gas before next refill.

#398 of 511 Do you think it is a great idea to buy multiple Nissan Quest van? Why? by nissanquest94

Jun 25, 2011 (9:22 am)

Recently, I met a poor but savvy father outside Pep Boys, who also drove an old Nissan Quest. I was surprised to find out that he bought 3 old Nissan Quest, another two to each of his college twin daughters. He is so savvy because he told me he found a job years ago at Rutgers University dinning hall, that way both his twin daughters going to Rutgers FREE of tuition, as children of Rutgers employees, and he has saved huge tuition for past years.
 
He was so good on Nissan Quest because he did not make much and needs to support college kids, he maintained all his 3 old Nissan Quest. He said every time he had problem with his Nissan Quest, he would go to dealer and ask for estimate, but do NOT repair there, so he got first hand information on what the symptoms are and what the problems should be. Then, he will go to other auto mechanics to verify and obtain the knowledge as to which auto mechanics are honest and which are not just simply tricked him to replace expensive parts blindly.
 
When I asked why he got two extra Nissan Quest for his twin daughters, he said one reason is that van is saver for first time drivers, and when there is an accident, van will be much safer due to the weight than sedan. Besides, the view is much better and can see farther for driver. He chose Nissan Quest because he knows exactly how to maintain Nissan Quest inside out by now.
 
One very clever trick is that if he was advised by auto mechanics to, say, change all sparks plugs, blindly, he would just swap the "may be bad plugs" with the "good ones" with another good Nissan Quest, to see if the problem resolved. If not, and the good Nissan Quest replaced with the "may be bad parts" still working great, then he can tell immediately the advise is fake or just guessing.
 
Since his Nissan Quest are older than 95, OBD II (On Board Diagnostics II) does not work for him, parts stores like Auto Zone, Advance Auto Parts, Peg Boys, ...etc who offer FREE OBD II scan does not apply to his vans. However, he showed me to get a cheap adaptor over Internet, to plug in that makes his vans able to obtain free scan.
 
He also told me the fact there are a few subtle problems on Nissan Quest that are very easy and cheap to fix, but most owners do not know, nor auto mechanics, and by the time they got all their parts replaced by auto mechanics and broke, the problem still exist, they sold their van at good price, so he was very happy to buy them cheap and fix quick and cheap for his daughters to drive. Besides, most of the parts already replaced new.

#399 of 511 Re: Intermittently won't start or hesitation [back_dr] by nissanquest94

Jun 25, 2011 (11:33 am)

Replying to: back_dr (Jul 29, 2009 1:22 pm)
Let me try to give you the theory behind.
 
Your % of water in your fuel tank, fuel line, fuel rail, may be at the threshold of bad and good, that's why 90% of the time it starts and run great, the other 10% it starts hesitating. What you did not describe is these 90% of time when starts and run great is when your water % is below the threshold, e.g. when you just fill up the tank and more % of fuel in the tank. when your gas low and most fuel burn and same water amount but represent more % of water of total fuel left, it starts giving you problem.
 
A quick temporary fix may be as simple as go fill up the gas tank, especially, fill up good gas like prime from name brand gas station such as Mobile or Shell ...etc. Just avoid cheap gas station for a few weeks that shall lower the % of water in your gas tank. Once below the threshold, you should be 100% start and run good. No need to see auto mechanics.
 
Since the threshold of water % that may cause start stall or hesitation is NOT a fixed number; it depends on the temperature. More precisely, the lower the temperature, the lower % of water will start causing problem that due to fuel injector may spread some mix of water and fuel that spark plug when fire at combustion stage, it will not burn completely, if at all, and that cause "knocks" making your knock sensor unhappy to flag the check engine light.
 
You may often fine if there is a problem at the cold start in the morning, or the first start of the day, not thereafter starts during the day. that's because for the same % of water, in colder temperature in morning, the threshold is lower % of water to get by, but once start, and "warm up", the engine went up to 230 degree, it seems fine because with the same % of water, the threshold is higher, meaning, it can tolerate higher % of water to still for engine to run fine. This coincide with the old advise that "old cars needed to be warm up 10 to 15 minutes" as older cars with high millages, say, over around 120,000, may have accumulated good % of water over time.
 
It is still very subtle because different people have different habit of fill the tank, some will fill when it is close to empty, some may often fill the tank when it pass below half tank. As you can guess, the first ones may hit the water % problem sooner than the 2nd ones. This also came to another common advise that "when gas tank is filled most of the time, the cars often get more millage", of course, because the water % is lower when filled up.
 
So, in the long run, a "dry gas" product may be used to "remove the water" from the gas tank. I used Heet yellow bottle, $2, that has methanol which will sink down to bottom to combine water to become burnable fuel. But I also found Splash bottle cheaper, 99 cents and started using it; however, I often could not find on Pep Boys's shelf; I need to specifically asked them to give me the "cheaper product" to do the same work. Just like you may pay much more for "prescription drugs" and much cheaper on over the counter drugs. But this is the other way around in Peg Boys which often show you the more expensive products and hide the equivalent cheaper ones BEHIND THE SHELF and counter. You need to know and ask to get them.
 
As long as you continue getting gas with much less % of water, and remove existing water in your gas tank, your problem will be resolved magically. I still remember the first time I power the yellow bottle of Heet into my gas tank and driving the van out of Pep Boys, I feel like the power increase ten fold. That feeling was very impressive. I called this "Auto Pharmacy" as opposed to "Auto Surgery" often blindly advised and performed by "Auto Mechanics".
 
I learned this from a retired Bell Labs researcher who I met at Walmart auto parts department. This old gentleman was so nice and informational because he maintained all his 3 vehicles for decades, and one as old as 1980's still running very well. He was the only one so far I encountered can articulate such problem very clearly like an "Auto Doctor" and gave me "auto drug prescription" and I went to "Auto Pharmacy store" (Pep Boys") to buy the $2 auto drug Heet water remover and it cured the auto sickness IMMEDIATELY.
 
So, I am proposing to the governor to find a way to separate "auto surgeon" and "auto pharmacy" and license them, only licensed "auto doctor" should be able to diagnostics your vehicle and prescribe the correct "auto drugs", only in the extreme situation refer to "auto surgeon" (aka auto mechanics) to replace parts.
 
---------------------------------------------------
'94 Villager recently started intermittent problem with starting and brief hesitation when accelerating after light turns green. 90% of time it starts and runs great, the other 10% it starts hesitating and then the next time you turn it off you can't necessarily start it back up. We had it checked on computer and they said fuel pump needed replacing. We spent $400 on that, to find out we still had the problem. I have read through this entire forum subject. Does anyone out there think this could be the distributor or speed sensor. I think it is a spark problem somewhere.
  
Side note -- radiator blew all over the place about two months ago -- possibly affected a sensor or something??

#400 of 511 Re: Intermittently won't start or hesitation [nissanquest94] by rockmobile

Jun 27, 2011 (9:32 am)

Replying to: nissanquest94 (Jun 25, 2011 11:33 am)
nq 94, your are replying to some posts that date back to 2009. Those problems have either been taken care off or the vehicles might have even been sold. Just an observation.

#402 of 511 Re: Intermittently won't start or hesitation [rockmobile] by rightattitude

Jun 27, 2011 (8:01 pm)

Replying to: rockmobile (Jun 27, 2011 9:32 am)
nissanquest94's information makes sense and and may allow me to keep driving because I can't afford to replace all the parts that the auto repair guys guess is my problem. Each one has a different solution and they all cost several hundred dollars. Thanks nissanquest94!

#403 of 511 Re: Intermittently won't start or hesitation [rockmobile] by nissanquest94

Jun 27, 2011 (9:17 pm)

Replying to: rockmobile (Jun 27, 2011 9:32 am)
Your observation is correct, but do you know why I still replied to that post?
 
For one reason, we have the same twin van 94 that I know it well; it is a perfect van when I bought it new because my Bell Labs colleagues highly recommend and it was ranked #1 van by JD Power in that year. It is still very good after 17 years, and it really did NOT have all sorts of problems auto mechanics guess in this forum, but, as you may not know, "water in the tank" problem is for all vehicles, even boats, container trucks, ...etc.
 
And for another reason s/he mentioned had read thru hundreds of all posting in this Nissan Quest forum and got NO useful solution to his or her problem. So, I feel if I documented here in detail, future members who may soon or later encountered this water problem can benefit from with little cost.
 
I have a friend who is auto mechanics who used to make $5 changing oil on demand at client's driveway or even on roadside in New York City. Ever since he learned the tricks from Toyota Dealers, now he already became millionaire and fix cars in his backyard home garage.
 
His money making trick is very simple. He ofters EVERYONE referred to him a "free check up", Once people come to his home garage, one at a time go by appointment and everyone thinks his only repair as leisure for friend referral, he would ALWAYS find something to REPLACE, and he shall give you a list to be replaced in the future and REPLACE ONLY ONE part that cause hundreds.
 
He would not do any job making money at lower than $250 an hour. e.g. he will kindly refer all to Costco, BJ's or Sams Club for CHEAPER tire replacement. He would even refer people to change oil at Lube Express, Valvoline, Mobile Express ...etc. He would not service old car older than 96 when OBD II (On Board Diagnostics) not works.
 
For every car comes to him, he would start REPLACING part by part along the time till ALL parts REPLACED. Eventually, always need to replace "transmission" which cost thousands and he would advise you to buy new car.
 
He would always replace dealer parts or expensive parts and easy to replace with less labor time to replace but charges same labor hours.
 
His wife would go to all sorts of groups like churches, schools, ...etc and invite all she knows to come to home for "free check up". And when new friends come visit, she would invite them to her nice living room, kids play games, free drinks, cookies, ...etc while husband checking the car, and as you know, unless your car is brand new, he always can find you some parts to REPLACED.
 
Recently, I saw a news that police found an auto mechanics fraud in New York City and found $700,000 cash in the house (yes! $100 bills), I thought about my friend right away because he would charge you sales tax if you pay check, otherwise, if you pay cash, no tax. Where are all these cash go?
 
I mentioned this story to show all who are good in auto repair how to make huge profit like my friend and became millionaire in just a few years. Of course, I also want to show those who do not have deep pocket how to save money.
 
----------------------------------
nq 94, your are replying to some posts that date back to 2009. Those problems have either been taken care off or the vehicles might have even been sold. Just an observation.

#404 of 511 Re: Intermittently won't start or hesitation [rightattitude] by nissanquest94

Jun 27, 2011 (10:09 pm)

Replying to: rightattitude (Jun 27, 2011 8:01 pm)
As you may not know, I constantly talked to people I encountered with old cars whenever I met in park, Walmart auto parts, Pep Boys, Auto Zone, Advance Auto Parts, ...etc as if I were doing a rigorous research subject, not to mention doing lots of searches over Internet.
 
For example, a guy working at Advance Auto Parts, when I brought up this question, he suggested that my alternator needed to be replaced. So I asked if he knows how to check if an alternator is good or bad, he said he did not know. So I showed him how. Just use digital voltmeter to measure battery at cold to see if it is 12.66v that he knows, and start the engine, to measure again to see if it is over like 14+v that alternator is charging and not over charge at 15 or 16.
 
Another one I encountered at Pep Boys who told me IAC sensor needed to be replaced ...etc. Yet another senior mechanics came close to show me "dry gas" product, valvoline 12oz bottle at $3.99, rather than showing me Heet 12oz at $1.99, not to mentioned the undisplayed Splash at 99 cent 10oz bottle.
 
So, if you really want to save money, you need to have sufficient information.
 
When I asked to buy AuqaSocks http://aquasocks.net/ I was told they do not have; they do not even know what that is, so I had to explain to them.
 
----------------------------------------------
nissanquest94's information makes sense and and may allow me to keep driving because I can't afford to replace all the parts that the auto repair guys guess is my problem. Each one has a different solution and they all cost several hundred dollars. Thanks nissanquest94!

#405 of 511 Re: Intermittently won't start or hesitation [rightattitude] by rockmobile

Jun 28, 2011 (8:08 am)

Replying to: rightattitude (Jun 27, 2011 8:01 pm)
Oops! did not know nissanquest94 had a silent audience. Good to hear some 94 Quests are still chugging right along.

Messages Page 41 of 52

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