Hi,

I've got a 95 Maxima GLE with about 135K miles on it. This past weekend
while running some errands the car started lurching back and forth. I
noticed the tach would hit 2000 rpms and then drop back a couple
hundred. At first I thought it was the transmission going (automatic)
but after pulling over and reving the engine in neutral it displayed
the same behavior. But, after a few minutes it "broke through" the 2000
rpm wall and behaved as normal. I drove the car home and didn't mess
with it.

The next day I went to an Exxon and bought some STP fuel additive and
filled the car up. I thought I might have gotten a bad tank of gas
because the Costco I had last filled up had a sign up saying they were
out of premium a few days later. I thought either their premium was bad
or I got the bottom of their tank and possibly picked up the lees.
After adding the STP and filling up the car behaved fine on the ride
home.

The next day I drove the five miles or so to my work without problems
but on the way home I started hitting the 2K rpm wall again. Then white
smoke started coming out from under the hood. I pulled over and saw the
smoke was coming from a radiator hose. I didn't have anything to
protect my hands in order to open the radiator so I opened the windows,
turned the heat on full blast and drove the last mile or so home at
10-15 mph. The smoke went away fairly quickly.

I let the car cool down, popped the hood and opened the radiator. It
was bone dry. The overflow resevoir was also dry. I added coolant and
water to both and I think I spotted a leak in the radiator. No biggie
I'll get it fixed or a new radiator. I've been adding coolant/water as
needed and have not had the 2000 rpm problem since.

But, my question is, does a 95 Maxima have some kind of governor/sensor
that will keep the engine from reving past 2000 rpms if the temperature
gets too high?

Everybody I talk to has said they've never heard of anything like this?

Thanks,

Jason

You should NEVER continue to operate an overheating vehicle. I hope you
didn't trash the engine...

jason (AT) shakabuku (DOT) org wrote:

Is your temperature gauge broken?

jason (AT) shakabuku (DOT) org wrote:

That sounds more like what a dieing MAS sensor does.

--

Steve

http://www.atlantaracing.com

Thanks you've been a big help. You must be a mechanic.

JimV wrote:

You're welcome. I am actually. You must be an idiot to keep driving it
that way.

jason (AT) shakabuku (DOT) org wrote:

jason (AT) shakabuku (DOT) org wrote:
bad news. It may still work, but it won't be the same.

The 2000 rpm issue is usually related to a suspect MAF.SInce the problem
comes and goes, it sounds like the MAF has a bad or loose connecton
somewhere.

HTH

CD

And you're the typical grease monkey that is useless when it comes to
helping people.

I let the car cool down before I started driving it again and watched
the temperature gauge the whopping mile I drove home.