I got my 2004 Z's fuel system cleaned from Sears and the next day the check engine light came on. I took the car back and they erased it and since then it has come up 2 more times.

I need to know if its something caused by fuel cleaning or somrthing major was brewing up before (by the way the shop (Sears) said that its idle control senson that is tripping).

Kindly let me know what needs to be done here. thanks in advance

 

There is a code associated with OBDII. Without the code its a wild guess at best.

 

check your gas cap,take it off,put it back on...

 

the guys @ Sears are saying the code is "Idle control emission". I don't know if this makes sense or not.

 

my friend; I have filled up gas few times within 2+ weeks from getting the fuel system done and have done this exercise already. thanks though for the advise.

 

Is the car still under warranty?

 

Why would you take your car to Sears? How did they perform the service?

 

I am a store manager for a Sears Auto Center, so I know first hand at what they could have done wrong. But before I start, Nissan does not recommend doing any type of fuel system cleaning on our cars. It's in your owners manuel! I had a customer come into my store with a G35 and he asked about doing this service on his car. I explained to him what I just stated, but at the same time, the type of fuel system service that we perform can never do any harm so long as it is done properly and so long as the car doesn't have any engine problems already. He still agreed to do the service and we had no problems. The first thing they might have done wrong is clean out your throtle body with throtle cleaner. Our Z's use a drive by wire throtle body. This cleaner can do some damage to that component and create the type problem your having. Sears as a company understands this and trains its techs to look out for this and simply not do the throtle body cleaning portion of the service. The other thing they could have done wrong is that they might have left a hose unpluged. The fuel cleaner that is used is fed through a vac source on the intake. If they forgot to reconnect it after they performed the service, that would create a problem also like you are having. Other than that, there is nothing that they could have really done to create a problem. The service is a no brainer. The only reason why I haven't done it on my Z is because Nissan doesn't support it. I have done it on my previous Civic, and it worked great! It improved my gas mileage and a better throtle responce.

 

so according to what you just mentioned; will it hurt the engine because I was there when they performed this and you are right that they used the throttle cleaner first and once they were done with the cleaning they unhooked the vac and didn't put it back on. till this date I have seen it happen 4 times and today unfortunately is 1 of the day. what do you recommend? Thanks in advance

 

I would love to know the exact detail of Sears amazing fuel cleaning service. I am sure it's no more than cleaning the throttle body and pouring fuel system cleaner in the gas tank. To the OP you said that Sears told you the code pointed to the "idle control sensor" that was tripping the CEL, so I would first check to make sure Sears didn't unplug or damage that sensor. Lastly, call Sears and get the exact code that they are pullling and post it up so we can better help you.

 

I was in the shop when they performed this and they sprayed the throttle body first and then he opened the oil cap and put one of the solution in it (part of Zoom cleaning kit). then he opened the fuel cap and put one of the solvent into it and then he hooked the run clean to the fuel line along with vaccum to the exhaust. this is basically what Sears performed and the code its giving out is P0507 idle control sensor for the RPM. they have cleared this code about 4-5 times in front of me. I hope this helps explain everything. manager @ Sears told me that he will pay for the replacement but he want to know what kind of sensor is this first and when I called Nissan dealer; it also didn't register to them what sensor I was talking about (idle control sensor). dealer said MAF sensor but I don't know if that is what I need to replace. Kindly let me know if you could help. thanks in advance.

 

The idle control sensor (let's call it ICS) is NOT the MAF sensor, the ICS prevents the car from stalling when the throttle plate closes and the MAF takes a measurement of the incoming air into the engine. The ICS is usually located on or near the throttle body. Hence the reason I would have the ICS checked, to make sure it was not unplugged or damaged by the technician at sears while he was cleaning your throttle body. Your code P0507 specifically means that the "idle control system is higher than expected". It scares me that a Nissan dealer has never heard of an idle control sensor, but try another dealer or even an auto parts store. Good luck.

 

The idle control is all part of the throttle chamber on these vehicles. Most likely what happened is they unplugged it while doing the service then just plugged it back in. If the base idle was cleared then the light will come on. Take it to a Nissan dealer to have the attempt to re-learn the idle and if that doesn't work the throttle chamber may have been damaged if the throttle plate was moved too much during cleaning.

 

Tim the only time the car would need to relearn the ICS parameters would be if the ECU or battery were disconnected. Disconnecting the ICS would not do anything other than disable the functioning of the ICS, the ECU will still remember the parameters. However I agree with you and as I said before there is a good chance something was damaged upon cleaning.

 

That is not true. If the throttle chamber is unplugged 60% of the time it will throw a code after reconnecting and driving the vehicle. You can simply clear the light however it will come back on untill the idle is relearned (if no damage was caused).

 

I agree that the CEL will come on if the ECU does not recognize the ICS becuase it was unplugged. I disagre with this comment you made, "If the base idle was cleared then the light will come on. Take it to a Nissan dealer to have them attempt to re-learn the idle". I'm saying that there is no way to clear the ECU's memory of idle parameters, simply by disconnecting the ICS on the throttle chamber. I have never used a Nissan scan tool but I have used multiple other manufactures scan tools and there was no way to "re-learn the idle" through those scan tools. The ECU will do that on its own after a few driving cycles. Either way I get your point that if the ICS was unplugged, there is a good chance the computer still may not recognize the component. That is the cause of the CEL, which as you stated can't be cleared untill the ECU recognizes the sensor(if it is not damaged). Oh well good luck batmobileZ, keep us posted.

 

I still can't believe someone took their Z to Sears

 

The point of this was not to start a debate about the issue. I see these every day for many different reasons/causes. But if you know, then you know. I'm just trying to help the OP out with their problem. Take it to a Nissan dealer so they can use Consult II to re-learn the idle properly or at least diagnose it for you.