arrocha87

no i didnt search as im at work. trying to help a stranded person. Her car wont start. battery is fine and so is starter. i see her security light keep flashing on the dash. im not familiar with third gen. do they have the ignition switch problems that the 4th gen have? also it has the keyless enrty buttons and her friend was messing with them. when u turn the key the fuel pump primes and thats it. dash lights dont dim. i disconnected the battery leads hoping itll do something... how long do i wait?

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

Go ahead and hook it back up...try it...report back..

arrocha87

i did but she left her car here at my store while she went home, if she comes back while im at work i guess ill help her, if not i guess i tried to do my good deed of the day.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

haha...alright man..women..as soon as something stops working like it should, they're gone lol...

arrocha87

well she came back and it still doest start. fuses look ok.... i really dont know third gens at all. she says shes had it a while and its never done this.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

ask her if she knows the code for the keyless entry on the door handle...

if she does, close the hood completely, shut the doors, lock the doors with the keypad control, then use the code to unlock the doors...then try to start it...If that doesn't work, then use something like a big wrench or hammer to tap on the starter while she tries to start it...

1991Maxima1991

iTrader: (3)

make sure the battery terminals are tightend on the battery and make sure they are clean...

arrocha87

tried starter. it seems good. the security light keeps flashing on the dash. is there a quick fix to disable the security feature?

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

if its a GXE tell her to put the code in the keypad

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

did you try the process as i described??

1991Maxima1991

iTrader: (3)

The security light flashes when a door or hood or trunk is open....wiggle the shifter and make sure its in park... shut the car all up lock the door with the key then unlock it with the key get in lock the door and try it.....ive worked on cars that were funny like that...is it cranking at all or just clicks when you turn the key?

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

If yes, then try pushing the shifter up toward the dash when trying to start...

arrocha87

She don't know the code. I thought it might be the park sensor but messed with I quite a bit. Her hood is crashed... I tried locking everything and unlocking with key.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

ok..her hood being crashed is why the security light is blinking...the anti-theft hood sensor switch is probably not getting pushed down all the way..this will not prevent the car from starting....

Idk how far you want to go with this, but i could name off other diagnostics all night lol but they are more detailed and take some tools to do.. is she good looking..?

arrocha87

Nah. But I would like to try other options. I can to manually stet the carbby touching the starter contacts to rule out the ignition switch can't I?

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

99% chance It's not the ignition switch...they last forever on these cars...I wont advise you to jump the starter like that...

arrocha87

I couldn't reach it right anyways. What else can I try. I'm probably just gonna give her a ride home.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

The anti-theft box is under the driver side dash...marked "anti-theft" ....you will need to take the dash section under the steering wheel off to access the box.. just un plug it...

arrocha87

..... It's too dark to check and I don't have my flashlights. Just locked it up and left there. Maybe in the morning she and her dad will have better luck. Whats strange is that she's swearin up and down it never had symptoms. She was just inside my store buying her cell saying how awesome her maxima was cause it har never left her stranded and I had even referred her to our site... The only thing that could maybe jus die like that would be the batt but it's good!

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

my $$ is on shifter bushing like the 2 guys further up hinted at.. one day my car was electrically fine but refused to start, and when i threw it in neutral, it finally started. the $4 bushing between the shifter and shifter cable (above the cat conv) gets brittle from all that heat and crumbles over time.

arrocha87

Never thought to try it in neutral. Dang it! Well if she comes while I'm at work I'll try that.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

yep fire it up in neutral. my shifter bushing went and i got my starter replaced twice, finally i just tried starting it in neutral when it wouldnt even try in park and it started. my shifter bushing was fully gone

before she gets a new bushing, rock the car back and forth in park. when mine wouldnt start, i would have to rock it and you would hear a click and it would start

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

So whats the update on this 3rd gen? oh and is she hot?

1991Maxima1991

iTrader: (3)

^^^ lol i would hope so after going through all this for her...Hope she tips you kindly

arrocha87

lol. well i was only at work til noon today and she hadnt shown up. she never came back while i was there so didnt get to try anything... From her knowledge of cars itll probably be there when i go to work tomorow.

Insane Psychologist

I have a very similar problem. The security light is off when all the doors, hood, and trunk. But is on when any of them are open. Mine is a 1990 manual transmission.

The car started spitting out oil and I could not see where it was coming from. Looks to be coming from the passenger side towards the bottom back.

I lifted the car up on stands, changed the oil, cleaned the area thoroughly, and was planning on attempting to observe where the oil was coming from.

But, when I went to start the car, all I get is the dash start up lights.

Before I go into a complete disassemble to figure this out, I was wondering if the original poster ever figured out what was wrong with his girlfriends car...hhmmmm???

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

security light being on when you have the door, hood, or trunk open should be normal. my 92 did it

leak on the passenger side could be anything, if its from higher up could be a valve cover gasket

Insane Psychologist

Thanks for the reply Chrome,

I am at a loss right now over why the car will not get past the dashboard start up lights.

I think tonight I will take apart the steering column and see if I can get to the security module that someone on here mentioned.

There has to be something I 'triggered' to make it stop starting. Battery is good.

I did have to tighten the positive post as it was loose.

If I can get past this mountain of a problem, I think I could fix the oil problem.

Cheers.

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

so when you put the key to "start" it simply acts as if you haven't gone beyond "Run"? Have you looked at the clutch pedal bottom-out switch to see if the green rubber stopper is still there and that the switch is being pushed in when you step on the pedal?

MaximaVA

Sorry to jack this thread like this, but I am having similar issues. I have a 94 SE with a manual, and last night I couldn't get my car to start. I turn the key to "start", and I just got one single click from the starter. Battery was good, radio played, windows worked, etc, but I put a jump on it anyways, still no luck. I tried tapping the starter, still nothing, so I got it roll started and picked up a new starter and put it on there.

Bad news, same problem.

So I put it on the charger overnight, it was drawing 8 amps (of 8), but this morning it would start 2/3 times, on average. So I decided to see if I could get my battery replaced, as it was still under warranty, but when they checked it, the battery was fine, so we replaced the positive terminal, as it was a little loose.

I'm still having it start probably 1/2 - 2/3 of the time, and the other times, it just clicks once from the starter. I checked to see if the headlights dim when it does just one click, and it does not.

I'm really at a loss as to what's going on here. I'm a long-time lurker and have followed many tutorials posted here, and have a pretty general understanding of what I'm doing, but once I start getting into finicky electronics, I'm done for. Any help is appreciated!

shiloh51933

iTrader: (5)

If one of the code combo key pads is malfunctioning the Anti/theft system will disable IG.