cwm9

My Maxima runs great 99% of the time, but 1 out of 10 mornings when I first get up it won't start.

It just cranks and cranks. If I hold down the gas pedal and keep cranking, eventually it catches a little, then more, and finally roars to life. It then works completely normally.

Even if I then turn the engine off and restart it, it starts just fine, and will start just fine all day long until another week goes by.

When it won't start, outside the car I can smell some gas after cranking, but I don't know if it's "a lot" of gas or not.

I followed all of the trouble shooting procedures for "difficulty with cold/normal starts", but didn't turn anything up. Specifically: Checked ECM mode 3 and 5, no codes. There is pressure in the gas line when starting. Battery is fine. Starter is fine. IACV-AAC valve is fine. Car has new injectors. (but I have not pulled them out to look at them again. Could an injector leak cause this?) Have not checked the ECM harness, but will do that soon. All new injectors.



Any idea what might be causing this? Thanks!

-Chiem

burhan92SE

looks like there is high resistance present in ur solenoid connections or in the solenoid...when u crank its cold and harder for ur engine to turn and starter needs more power to turn the engine....while u keep cranking and cranking current finally goes through and ur engine starts...


ok first of all, u have to check the solenoid on the top of the starter....there might be alot of corrosion or lose connection....first only do a visual check if u see any lose connection or corrosion or anything like that fix that and then u will see 3 connections on the solenoid one coming from battery, one going to the starter motor and the other one coming from ignition...check the voltage on all three connections...battery voltage should be present ( to check voltage on ignition conection turn the key to the ignition on position )....if u still have the problem then u will have to change that solenoid...its cheaper but if u dont have alot of mechanical knowledge then it wont be cheaper for u....u better of changing the starter....even tho if ur starter motor is gud but cuz of ur bad solenoid ur starter motor is like engine without tranny....no power....


and the gas u r smelling is cuz u r cranking the engine and injectors r spraying fuel in the engine but ur engine is not starting thats why there is unburn fuel and u r smelling gas cuz of that....

report back...

LvR

IMO damaged/pinched injector O-rings ................... expansion of those with heat (?) seals them up ................ and the starter itself is just fine imo.

1993-VG30E-GXE

It's possible your starter is slowly dying too - how old is it? Before mine completely died - it did the slow crank thing - then would finally kick in. Also look around your fuel rail for possible leaks - you could be smelling a gas leak too...which I also smelt but was from leaks in those tiny hoses in the fuel rail...only on startup would it spew out.

If you do replace the starter - I recommend a brand new one. I went through 2 refurbs until I caved in and bought the brand new one - and it hasn't glitched for months now.

Wiking

From that sound one might suspect that the starter cranks ...?

Cracked cap, collects moisture intermittently, all sparks lost (I suspect it also rains intermittently?).

While there, get real wires and plugs, see http://www.cardomain.com/ride/748507/12

Check TPS, page 6.

At startup, all injectors fire simultaneously. This will cause fuel smell if nostart - its a feature

cwm9

It's definitely not the starter. When I said 'crank', I didn't mean to imply slowly: the starter turns over happily and quickly. Usually the car will start in less than one second.

I live in Hawaii, but it doesn't rain on my side that often... I replaced the distributor cap and rotor recently, but there IS a rattle coming from the distributor. Maybe there is something wrong in there, but the thing is, once the car fires up, in just a few seconds it runs great. Frustrating! I guess I can put in a spark checker to see if there are sparks in the AM...

Not sure what you mean by page 6? I'm pretty sure the throttle position sensor is working. At least the hard switch works (ecm test). I'll look up the TPS tests...

burhan92SE

then i think its the contact disk in the starter's solenoid....when that disk goes bad it doesn't go bad from all over but some part of it.....and thats wat is happening to u....when u crank the engine that disk moves in the solenoid and makes the contact and sends the current to the starter motor.....now, sometimes u get that bad part of it and it doesn't make a good contact and ur starter motor doesnt get the power and doesnt start...and wen the good part of this disk touches it jus starts right away.......thats wat happening to u ....well most of the time it happens wen there is a situation like urs...and u have to change the solenoid...

check ur distributor too

Wiking

Never been there - but I do suspect that the humidity, thus the dew point varies? If cap has cracks and/or bottom seal is bad, it breathes and ambient air humidity seeps in, condenses shorting spark routes. New caps can come cracked from shop... (see p.12 below)

Distr should be noiseless. Is the bearing ? tight, feel for the axle.

When problem is on, check campos signal at ECU (p15), distr ground.

Quick distr gnd check when the problem is on, using a jumper wire:
See http://www.cardomain.com/ride/748507/10



Edit: note that also MAF can kill engine. Test disconnect it when problem is on.

burhan92SE

wiking, does that extra distri gnd to engine body any helps? i m thinking of grounding my camshaft sensor to the engine body with the separate wire....

Wiking

Yes do it with separate wire; better to use distr gnd screw. Cap screw may also work...

Jumper wire: Just a quick way to troubleshoot: if distributor is floating (definitely can be), then it corrects the problem immediately. Try it: if u see/hear no change, then grounding is ok at this very moment... Later ? who knows.

The cap screw is connected to distributor, when it is connected to engine gnd, then distr is grounded.

Floating distr can cause campos -signal to warp = bad idle.

See groundings on p10 of my CDomain site.

burhan92SE

sorry i forgot to mention that i was talking about VE not VG and VE doesn't have distr

Wiking

Grounding nonexistent entities seldom help

No harm is done via adding new groundings to existing sensors/parts. As such, no "boost" can be expected: they can help only if electrically induced fields interfere/warp the signal. I cant imagine what kind of radar station would do that in VE campos... I guess that the sensor contains already plus/minus supply and the signal. Minus would be grounded already somewhere. If that ground wire has continuity problems, grounding the casing will not help.

In the distributor theres a rotating mass which is capable of inducing some current into the assembly - provided its contact with ground is lost. Some could argue that the VE cam could also be such a source - just dunno. Probably not.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

Do you understand what he said? His starter turns his engine over just fine all the time, the engine will not fire up sometimes..His starter is fine..

burhan92SE

arite, got it

gapboi210

Sounds like a spark issue. If your motor is turning over fine at normal speed and u smell fuel sounds like you have a weak spark. You said it catches more and more then it starts. It also may be flooding out due to a weak spark.

I'd start with the basics, plugs, wires, sparkplugs, coil & distributor.

cwm9

I think I found it. All those who suggested ignition problems: kudos!

The high tension wire from the coil to the distributor is bad. I think when the humidity was high, it was grounding out to the coil frame. I've purchased a new set of wires and may also replace the coil if I continue to have problems.

I'll be back if this doesn't solve the problem completely and the other potential solutions don't pan out either, but I think this is it. I had the compartment open and was listening to the distributer when I heard the "snap snap" of a ground-out. I repeated this at night and sure enough, I could see sparks flying.

As always, you guys are a wealth of Nissan wisdom! Thanks so much!

Nmax92

My car had the same problem. After a new starter and Ignition coil, it turned out to be the coolant temperature sensor.