[khatrisa]

My car (95 Altima) started jerking pretty bad over the last couple of days but I kept driving the car because I had no other choice. I know it's not spark plugs, wires, or cap. The more I drove, the more it jerked.

Today, driving home up a hill, the jerking suddenly stopped and the check engine light came on. Now, acceleration is weak, nearly shuts off when stopped, RPM's hover around 200-500, and small, constant vibration can be felt while running.

My question, other than any advice on what the actual problem is, would be to know that if I were to continue driving it, would I be causing more damage? To me, it sounded like one of the cylinders was misfiring, causing the jerking, then all of a sudden that cylinder just called it quits altogether, alleviating the jerking, but causing weak acceleration and rough ride.

Please let me know what you think...I'm gonna try and get the codes from the ECU as soon as I get the chance. Will AutoZone do this for a '95?

SK

 

[khatrisa]

They should be able to do a 95 since it has OBD II because all the connectors and codes are industry standardized. I think some stores say that because they don't really know what they are doing as well as not being able to do many OBD I imports. They should ask whether or not it is an OBD II system or not. In any case you can access the ECU in the front of the center console if you want to try to do it on you own.
I would pull the EGI fuse (under the hood) for the fuel pump and pull a spark plug out, reconnect the plug wire and ground the spark plug and try starting the car (or have someone do it for you) keep looking at the plug to inspect color and intensity of the spark. Reinstall the plug and the pump fuse, start the car and pull the connector off of the mass air flow meter (just after the air box) if the idle drops or the car stalls then it is working correctly.
For more info we need the codes to diagnose.

Troy

Just got back from Advance,

0500 Speed Sensor
0325 Knock Sensor

Now I know this is what the machine said, but it's got to be wrong. I can understand the knock sensor because my car was vibrating and shaking pretty bad...but isn't the speed sensor on the transmission? My problem is definitely spark or fuel related or distributor related, not transmission. The rough idling and RPM fluctuations could no way be transmission related.

Anyway, lemme know what you think.

 

[khatrisa]

The speed sensor info is sent into the ECU so in a way that can have an effect on how the car runs. If you have access to a Haynes manual it has a good test procedure to diagnose the sensor.

Troy

Problem solved...I ended getting new spark plug wires again. Turned out that I damaged one of them when I changed the valve cover gasket 2 weeks ago.
So I got new wires and the cars fine again.

It was great that Advance was able to do the diagnostic test and then clear the codes once the car was working fine again.

By the way, I don't need to replace the knock sensor right?
I just cleared the code, and the car runs fine.

Thanks for all the help everybody.
sk