Q: Car stalls when I stop.

Having your Maxima stall while stopping can make it difficult to ever want to stop driving! Typically when I see a vehicle with these similar symptoms it leads me to consider two common possibilities, a dirty throttle body and problems with the idle air control motor.

Both the throttle body and idle air control motor components can get covered with carbon build up. This will prevent the necessary air from getting into the engine at idle speed and that in turn causes the vehicle to stall. A certified mechanic would have to look over these parts to verify the buildup, and if they are dirty, clean them.

A dirty or failing mass air flow sensor can also duplicate the symptoms we see caused by the throttle body and idle air control motor. Even another culprit could be an EGR port (exhaust gas recirculation) that is plugged, causing the vehicle to stall at low/idle speeds. It is best to have a certified mechanic verify which of these problems can be causing your Nissan to stall while stopping and hopefully get you back driving safely in no time.