[VersaDriver2022]

Hi! I drive a 2014 Nissan versa note it’s got 170k miles but only 50k miles on the tranny I do doordash in it and I was leaving a customers house and it shut of and I started it again and it shut off again I started it a 3rd time and turned the A/C off and it drove home once I got it there I cranked the ac all the way up with the headlights on to see if it was a bad battery and it drove fine it makes noises and stuff when the ac is on I have had codes for a bad MAF but changed it 2 times does anyone know what I can change or check I have a parts versa with 89k miles I can’t loose my car it’s all I got lol thank you I’m just hoping it isn’t another transmission issue

 

[Desert Rodent]

Is the check engine light on (now)?? If so, what are the codes??
Did you have to crank it for extended periods to get the car to start??

 

[VersaDriver2022]

Is the check engine light on (now)?? If so, what are the codes??
Did you have to crank it for extended periods to get the car to start??

No it’s been on for a MAF but I cleared it changed the maf and it never came back I have a rough idle with ac on but if it’s off it seems alright I’ve pulled codes for cat bank 1, maf, and airflow all having to do with air but I thought I fixed it a bad maf can’t shut down a car can it and yes I was delivering for 4-1/2 hours and I left it running at a customers house when I got in and put it in reverse and then drove down the road less than a second in it shut off I turned it on and drove and it did it again but the second time it was harder to crank and then it ran fine for a 30 min drive home I’ve been having a lot of problems with it recently I don’t know what it is

 

[Desert Rodent]

(1) Did you reset the computer after installing the new MAF?? (disconnect the battery for 10-15 minutes)

(2) Have you changed the engine air filter lately??

(3) As far as running rough, have you changed the spark plugs lately?? how about fuel injector cleaner??

(4) Can you elaborate on the statement, that you pulled codes for "cat bank 1"?? Was this a P0420 code for the catalytic converter??

 

[VersaDriver2022]

(1) Did you reset the computer after installing the new MAF?? (disconnect the battery for 10-15 minutes)

(2) Have you changed the engine air filter lately??

(3) As far as running rough, have you changed the spark plugs lately?? how about fuel injector cleaner??

(4) Can you elaborate on the statement, that you pulled codes for "cat bank 1"?? Was this a P0420 code for the catalytic converter??

I didn’t I drove it because where I bought it said it would auto reset, air filter, plugs and coils, cabin air filter, all have been replaced back in July and everything was new except the coils they came out of the parts car but yes fuel injector cleaner I use Lucas I used it a few weeks ago and yes when the MAF started acting up I pulled P0420, and P0101 I replaced the filter and they went away?

 

[Desert Rodent]

I pulled P0420

The P0420 code is "low catalyst system efficiency" which (usually) means the catalytic converter has gone bad or your downstream 02 sensor is bad. Most of the time it is a bad cat and with 170K on the car, I'm thinking your catalytic converter is worn out or clogged.
The hard starting and general decline of the car has me thinking the catalytic converter is clogged causing back pressure.
Where you live, do you have to take your car through any periodic inspections?? Emissions or general inspections?? Anything like that??

 

[Desert Rodent]

I didn’t I drove it because where I bought it said it would auto reset..

I'm not 100% sure that is right or wrong. Since it doesn't cost anything, I'd disconnect the battery for 15-20 minutes and let the computer reset itself.

You will lose your radio presets, but you can put those back in, just write down the stations.

 

[VersaDriver2022]

I'm not 100% sure that is right or wrong. Since it doesn't cost anything, I'd disconnect the battery for 15-20 minutes and let the computer reset itself.

You will lose your radio presets, but you can put those back in, just write down the stations.

That’s fine lol I don’t need them I never preset them the old woman who had it before me had country set on it I just don’t know what to do I’ve heard a fuel regulator is a common issue as is the MAF I’ve only ever replaced the sensor could it be a VAC leak? It’s got like no power as it is I have to have the throttle down past halfway to even get it to back out of the yard

 

[VersaDriver2022]

The P0420 code is "low catalyst system efficiency" which (usually) means the catalytic converter has gone bad or your downstream 02 sensor is bad. Most of the time it is a bad cat and with 170K on the car, I'm thinking your catalytic converter is worn out or clogged.
The hard starting and general decline of the car has me thinking the catalytic converter is clogged causing back pressure.
Where you live, do you have to take your car through any periodic inspections?? Emissions or general inspections?? Anything like that??

Yes I’m in nc so I have a yearly full system performance inspection bad cats fail as does rough or rich running and it passed not but 8 months ago back in April I believe I’m coming due on another it’s not pulling a cat code now so I’m unsure if that’s what it is when it died as soon as it drove again it had 0 lights on the dash I drove it for about 45 minutes today and it didn’t have any problems (aside from the cvts normal hard shift in the first gear) it’s a new transmission and I have the fluid changed every 30k I’m coming due on another (51k) as of now that’s all that’s on the tranny brand new from Nissan so I assumed it wasn’t that

 

[Desert Rodent]

I drove it for about 45 minutes today and it didn’t have any problems

OK... so it appears you have an intermittent problem. You don't have a current "check engine" light, but there may be some stored codes that could shed some light on the problem.
(1)Do you have access to an OBD2 scanner?? (borrow one from a friend??)

(2) When you drove the car today, was it hard starting??

(3) Did you try disconnecting the battery for 15-20 minutes (to clear the computer)??

(4) Anything different you did today, as opposed to the day when it was acting up??

(5) When you turn the key on and before you engage the starter, can you briefly hear the fuel pump (listen carefully, it isn't very loud)??

 

[VersaDriver2022]

OK... so it appears you have an intermittent problem. You don't have a current "check engine" light, but there may be some stored codes that could shed some light on the problem.
(1)Do you have access to an OBD2 scanner?? (borrow one from a friend??)

(2) When you drove the car today, was it hard starting??

(3) Did you try disconnecting the battery for 15-20 minutes (to clear the computer)??

(4) Anything different you did today, as opposed to the day when it was acting up??

(5) When you turn the key on and before you engage the starter, can you briefly hear the fuel pump (listen carefully, it isn't very loud)??

It still starts first crank it only hard started the second time I tried to start it yesterday my dad has one I’ll try and borrow tomorrow mine got stolen on a car I sold lol I couldn’t hear the pump today I haven’t ever had any trouble with it but I have got a noticeable decrease in gas mileage (33mpg) it was getting 41 when I bought it I will try the battery in the morning before I get ready to leave is there a relearn process? The only thing different is I didn’t drive it for 5 hours straight today I did yesterday and shut it off only briefly but never long enough to cool off it’s only ever broke down once other than this when a mechanic I took it to left the rad cap off and it was refilled and it’s been absolutely fine since then that’s was 4 months ago and this is something else, I don’t have the money for a actual mechanic now I’ve got $30 to my name but I have a whole 89k parts car which is why I’m trying to fix this on my own thank you for helping me

 

[Desert Rodent]

The fact that your gas mileage has gone down significantly, worries me. It does sound like the car may be running rich. From what I understand, when you disconnect the battery, the car should attempt to re-learn on its own.

It will also reset all the monitors, (which may help) as the car will run a "drive cycle" and look for problems. It will communicate any problems it finds in the form of a "check engine" light and associated codes. With those codes, we'll attempt to use parts off your "parts car" to repair your ride.

When you borrow your father's OBD2 reader, try to get the fuel trim numbers. I'm pretty rusty on fuel trims, so I'll need to re-educate myself.

And yes... I know what it is like to be down to my last $30. I'm hopeful we'll figure this out and be able to utilize parts off of your "parts car".

 

[VersaDriver2022]

The fact that your gas mileage has gone down significantly, worries me. It does sound like the car may be running rich. From what I understand, when you disconnect the battery, the car should attempt to re-learn on its own.

It will also reset all the monitors, (which may help) as the car will run a "drive cycle" and look for problems. It will communicate any problems it finds in the form of a "check engine" light and associated codes. With those codes, we'll attempt to use parts off your "parts car" to repair your ride.

When you borrow your father's OBD2 reader, try to get the fuel trim numbers. I'm pretty rusty on fuel trims, so I'll need to re-educate myself.

And yes... I know what it is like to be down to my last $30. I'm hopeful we'll figure this out and be able to utilize parts off of your "parts car".

thank you! So so so much I take care of a 73 year old and my fiancé who is disabled and this car is how I get them around lol so I can’t afford to loose it I start a job next month so couldn’t be worse timing than now, my parts car was made in the same factory a month after mine was ironically I’m not very mechanically savvy but I can change basic parts messing with fuel seems scary I’ll disconnect the battery in the morning and then I’ll either take it to my dads or to advance auto and borrow theirs I think it has live data but not sure I really really appreciate how nice you’ve been and agreed to help me! I love my versa I don’t wanna see her go out the woman before me abused the heck out of it (ac was broke, oil changes only when pressure light came on, wrecked in front and back, air filters were never changed, gas only when at a quarter tank, and she would slam on the accelerator at a stop, no tune ups… ever, belts the same I need to change that)she lived on a dirt road and the no air filters clogged the blower motor and she I brought her back when I got it and only recently had issues with it it may be running rich and stalling because it runs really really rough when first started on a cold day and then smooths out

 

[Desert Rodent]

Yes... glad to (attempt) to help. For the record, I'm an "old school shade tree" mechanic, I was an accountant for over 30 years, so "wrenching" on cars was a hobby that I enjoyed with my Dad. I still do most (but not all) of my own car repairs, although my Versa has just needed maintenance... so far.

It seems I do more wrenching on my girlfriend's old Dodge Neon than anything else. She loves that car, so I'm doing my best to keep it alive.

Yes... back in my day, when the car ran rich, you adjusted the mixture screw on the carburetor. Those days are long gone.

 

[VersaDriver2022]

Yes... glad to (attempt) to help. For the record, I'm an "old school shade tree" mechanic, I was an accountant for over 30 years, so "wrenching" on cars was a hobby that I enjoyed with my Dad. I still do most (but not all) of my own car repairs, although my Versa has just needed maintenance... so far.

It seems I do more wrenching on my girlfriend's old Dodge Neon than anything else. She loves that car, so I'm doing my best to keep it alive.

Yes... back in my day, when the car ran rich, you adjusted the mixture screw on the carburetor. Those days are long gone.

So I drove it for about 35 minutes and here are the pics from the obd it’s still running rough the advance guy said I can’t do that and unhook the battery for 10 minutes because it messes with the computer oh well did it anyway lol

 

[VersaDriver2022]

Advance said battery had no reserve

 

[Desert Rodent]

The FLI% jumped out at me. It should be 14.7
I do think you are dealing with a rich condition. I did some research on rich conditions and there are a few items that could cause it. My first thought was a vacuum leak.

Personally I use propane and a long hose to test for vacuum leaks, but if you don't have a torch to meter out small amounts of propane, it won't work. You also said you changed the plugs so I am assuming you removed the intake manifold. So there could be a vacuum leak there or any of the vacuum hoses.

"Eric the car guy" on youtube has a video using brake cleaner or carb cleaner, which only costs a few bucks for a can of it. Maybe watch his video and see if you are comfortable testing for vacuum leaks using his method. You need to be very careful when using his method, watch the video and make sure you understand before trying it. If you are not completely comfortable trying it... don't do it.

A faulty oxygen sensor can also cause a rich condition, so if you have no vacuum leaks you might want to swap upstream and downstream Oxygen sensors from your parts car.
But let's think about vacuum leaks first.

I'll crunch the rest of the numbers you provided after dinner and see if anything sticks out.

As far as the battery, a weak battery does cause havoc with these cars. I'm not sure it could fool the computer into adding more fuel, but we'll just keep that in the back of our minds, for now.

 

[VersaDriver2022]

I don’t have any of that unfortunately I did think of a VAC leak myself and checked the hoses I undid months ago but couldn’t find a loose connection, I would be able to do what’s in that vid lol, I don’t know how to read any of that data it just told me that it was fine aside from the battery, I did only drive it a few hours today I’m sure a long term drive would make more problems apparent to the system, the parts car I bought from a junkyard for 300 bucks they cut the cats off of it it might still have the sensors but I know it runs and drives they just wouldn’t give me the cars cats… b holes lol does anything else jump out?

 

[Desert Rodent]

I looked at the rest of the numbers last night.
(1) The oxygen sensors voltage is a bit high, so it could be that
(2) The VPWR is low (voltage), which reinforces the fact that your battery is getting weak, but you already knew that (from the Advance Auto guy). I'm not convinced that a weak battery could upset the computer enough to cause a rich condition.

As far as vacuum leaks, the car is used and you don't know who has been there before you. A pinched gasket here or there and you have a small vacuum leak. I'd also check around the intake manifold and ALL the vacuum hoses.

 

[VersaDriver2022]

I looked at the rest of the numbers last night.
(1) The oxygen sensors voltage is a bit high, so it could be that
(2) The VPWR is low (voltage), which reinforces the fact that your battery is getting weak, but you already knew that (from the Advance Auto guy). I'm not convinced that a weak battery could upset the computer enough to cause a rich condition.

As far as vacuum leaks, the car is used and you don't know who has been there before you. A pinched gasket here or there and you have a small vacuum leak. I'd also check around the intake manifold and ALL the vacuum hoses.

dang could be why I was pulling cat codes before, I don’t think it could cause stalling, I will look through the engine bay do you know how much shops charge to go a vacuum test? I have a shop I use that does my transmission fluid for $150 which I have found is extremely cheap maybe I’ll call them I just don’t think I’d have the cash lol unless it’s like $20 I might attempt that vid you sent me