2003 Infiniti I30 Hard To Start and Stay Running...
 

I have a friend that has been killing herself trying to keep her I30 on the road over the past few months. She has put over $6,000 into this car recently. Not sure what all has been done but here is what I know.

1. The car starts up in the morning kinda rough and while backing out of the driveway it stalls. Starts back up and runs a little rough but goes.
2. While driving, it randomly shuts off and sometimes will NOT start right back up. So she sits in the street until it does start. Yesterday I sat in the street for several minutes untill I pushed it out of the street (I was close by).
3. It would not start for 15 minutes, then did and drove about 3 miles to park. While there it did start but idled low, about 625 rpm's.
4. I could not here the fuel pump prime the times it did not start so I replaced the fuel pump relay. After that it started, idled high, 1,200 rmp's and ran smooth for about an hour. Then it died at a light.
5. After several stalls and restarts I met her in a parking lot and it started and idled at about 1,300 rpm's.
6. The check engine light was on so I pulled the codes. They are P0171 and P0174.
7. I cleared the codes, unplugged the MAF and the idle did NOT change. So I tried to drive the car about a mile with the MAF unplugged and it died about 100 yards into the drive so I parked it.
8. I plugged the MAF back in, started the car after several tires, and it idled low, back to 625 rpm's. So I unplugged the MAF and it died.
9. I plugged the MAF back in, and it would NOT start untill I gave it some gas while cranking. It started and idled low again.

I told her if she drove it like a hoopty home, she should make it. She did not know what a hoopty was so I had her niece drive her home.

Any suggestions or clues?

Thanks for reading. :confused:

Have a '98 i30, I think they are similar. Running lean and dying I'm betting clogged injectors, I crudded out O2 sensors (Seafoam!), they don't cause dying, you unplugged the MAF, so that is out.
Nissan is like GM except in Japan - makes you appriciate working on Volvos!

I did a lot of reading on Maxima.org. The car is similar to the '03 Maxi. I believe the car has the following problems:

1. Bad MAF
2. Bad IAC
3. Dirty Throttle Control
4. Will need to relearn how to idle once the IAC is replaced.

The throttle body is a time bomb and should only be cleaned by someone that really knows what they are doing.