engine stalls at idle but runs well when revved up

[Guest peeny420]

I just traveled a 20hr drive to the north woods to hunt moose and had to leave after 2 days empty handed because my pathfinder was on the fritz.

so long as i'm in gear and giving it gas, no problems.

as soon as i'm on the brakes it either stalls or idles eraticaly at about 500 RPM.

I've noticed black smoke coming out the tailpipe as well.

my mileage was not adversly affected on the drive back either.

these are the parts i've changed with no improvement.

air filter, fuel filter, cap and rotor, spark plugs, and pcv valve.

the truck also has a new o2 sensor that i installed a week before the trip.

the truck showed similar symptoms on 2 isolated occasions before but got better right away. I'm really pulling my hair out here and any help offered would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

ps it is a 94 pathy

:help:

[derogate]

cleaned your Maf recently?

[Guest peeny420]

just cleaned it up and it seems to be running ok

seems pretty dumb that something so small could cost me seven hundred dollars in fuel and a wasted trip.

couldn't they have come up with something a little less finicky

anyhow thanks a bunch

[Precise1]

Do yourself a favor and check as many sensor related electrical connections as possible. A little dirt and corrosion goes a long way.

 

B

[M in KC]

Did you clean your throttle body butterfly valve? And like B sez check your electrical connections. You might consider running diag. on the ECU.

 

Let us know how it goes.

 

M

[94extreme]

check that o2 sensor again.. sounds like you're running rich... did your mpgs go down? check the ECU for any codes..

 

could also be bad gas.. h2o in the gas... clogged fuel filter, dirty air filter..

[MidTex01GT]

Mine sputters a bit when under "load" from the ac or when the car is in gear. Idling it seems fine, but when it has to work, it seems down on power all around. I guess I might need to change the header/exhaust problem and see if that gives me a few more horses, because even before this problem, the Pathy seemed gutless all around. Like I mean....it will constantly downshift when trying to use the cruise control....

 

 

I have the carbourated V6 (oldie)

Edited August 24, 2005 by MidTex01GT

[Casey.T]

I had a similar related challenge. Died for no reason, Mileage went in the tank and would not stay running unless you had your foot into it. She had her good days and her bad days, like failing emissions.

 

This was the same time frame as the exhaust header bolts breaking.

 

I took it to the exhaust guys first, then they took it across the street to the engine guys.

 

They called me up and said that they could not find anything wrong and it passed thier sniffer and it would pass the county inspection.

 

It did.

 

Since then shes been perfect :Magic:

[Mr. Pickles]

Run the computer for codes. I'm thinking knock sensor, as that's how mine acted when the sensor went to he!!. If that's the cause, get ready. Its something like $160-200 and I ended up like $450 with labor to have it replaced by the time we figured out what was wrong (didn't have the time or place to do it). Good luck!