Blown330

Have a 1995 Maxima GLE and ever since the cold weather has settled in it seems to have affected how the car starts. It rarely gets below freezing around here but even in the 40's it seems to need a second or third crank before it will idle. It starts then immediately dies. Also the temp gauge stays on C or within a very close proximity of it while highway driving. I've cleaned out the IACV, which helped a little, and checked for any loose connections.

Fr33way™

iTrader: (23)

Many problems become MUCH more apparent in lower temperatures.

Blown330

My brother had a 1995 Maxima and he said his car was always slow to warm up too. Reading around I figure it's just how these cars are. But if the ECT sensor is bad I wonder if that might cause some problems. The only time the temp gauge gets near midpoint is in slow traffic.

zeeman

iTrader: (3)

i think it might be ur coolent temp sensor, even though theres no cel on. I m sure one symtom of that problem is taking more than once to start the car, as u ve mentioned and longer time to warm up.

Also do u realize if your rpm drops below 1K right after the car started in the morning?

Blown330

They stay right above 1k until I shift into drive.

natty99

iTrader: (6)

never had a problem with mine, baby starts right up.

Sounbwoy

iTrader: (2)

Thermostat....

andrei3333

ALRIGHT,. ive had enough of this!!!

there seems to be a common problem that just showed up as the weather got cold, everyone seems to be having the SAME EXACT issue with starting.

while COLD, the car starts and immediately dies, or wabbles the rpm from 200 to 1000 back to 200 and then back up to normal COLD RPM

there HAS to be a fix for this, i changed my PCV valve and still have the same problem, another user said he changed the coolant temp control sensoor and is still having the same issue

DOES ANYONE HAVE AN ANSWER TO THIS PROBLEM CAUSE ITS DRIVING ME NUTS!!?????????????????

Cdg2125

iTrader: (7)

I only have cold start issues cause of the 00vi and PF tb.

Blown330

I was thinking along those lines too. On these cars is the thermostat on the supply or return side of the radiator?

Jesse729

I once asked my mechanic about all the problems I've had trying to start my car in the winter or even at all. He told pretty much what I already knew. The ECU requires some pretty accurate data from all the sensors in the engine on start up. Over time, 125,000 miles, dirt, grease and whatever build up on the senors causing them not to break but to provide inaccurate readings sometimes. I guess I could replace 50% of the sensors but it was never a major starting problem so I lived with it.

heynow

iTrader: (1)

I dunno, my baby start right up as well. I let her warm up for about 3 mins until the rpms are @ exactly 1Krpm

babymac

iTrader: (20)

I didn't have the starting problem, but I had the same thing with the temp gauge never going up and I changed the thermostat and fixed it. Now it warms up and the gauge go's right to the middle and stays there.

tmnjmax

Just give it about 1/3 throttle when you start it cold- should eliminate drop in idle and stalling when cold. By the way this is Nissans suggestion for cold starting issues.

chillin014

iTrader: (67)

your talking about the coolant temperature gauge?

Sounbwoy

iTrader: (2)

Hmmm. not sure. The bottom hose of the rad goes to the T'stat housing....I guess that would be supply, right??
All I know is, start with simple things before diving into looking at sensors and stuff like that. They DO go bad, but check the obvious things first. You probably don't have as much interior heat as well. The t'stat is stuck open, so the car never warms up. While in th eSHORT term, it won't hurt the car (I drove for about a month before finally changing mine), you want to change it as the car will basically be running rich. Over a period of time, running rich can ruin your cat converter. Changing the t'stat is not hard, just a little cramped. Do it yourself, and save some $$ and don't forget to bleed th ecooling system when you put it all back together.

fithos

iTrader: (1)

Many cars with age will have a little trouble starting up while cold. It is because the fuel injectors are a little plugged up. It cannot produce a fine mist spray pattern which helps to vaporize the fuel. Liquid gasoline does not burn, only gasoline in a gaseos (vapor)state will burn. It won't affect the car a few moments after it is started though because the engine will be hot enough to vaporize even a streamlike stray pattern. I am not saying that this is your problem, I'm just saying its not uncommon for cars to have hard starts during cold weather.

nismology

iTrader: (8)

Return side meaning it's after the radiator in the coolant flow circuit.

x X CLoud X x

iTrader: (2)

Agreed, there is def. a common problem with Maximas and Cold Starts, for the time being, i replaced my Starter, which helped alot, now its below 30degrees in NYC, and i just keep my right foot on the gas peddle whenever i startup the car.

garyrr

iTrader: (1)

thats what i do and it works fine.. if i dont do this half the time it stalls. I only see this problem if its below 0*C and i have almost 200k km on the car

JPMax

iTrader: (10)

Only time I ever had a starting problem in cold weather was when my starter motor was dying. Understandable considering that it was the original starter.

Old dry grease + cold = glue in the starter.

After I replaced the starter (5 years ago), never had a problem again.

Regarding the temperature problems, have you replaced your coolant recently?

Sounbwoy

iTrader: (2)

I can't remember the last time I've had to press the gas to keep the car going once it starts....

tonyrunna

iTrader: (9)

no prob starting so far, 146k seems to like the cold a lil more pep

Kazao

Yea my car is the same way in the cold, it starts up and dies right away. got tap the gas to keep it on!

Blown330

If the injectors were that bad then I would suspect I would be having other issues. Once the car starts and stays started it run perfectly fine...smooth idle and acceleration. On a cold start the PCM is dumping fuel into the engine at a very high rate anyway...much more so than most people think. Part of it is to warm up the catalyst but mostly because fuel is condensing on the surfaces of the combustion chamber while the engine is cold, requiring several times more fuel to maintain idle than it would if it was at normal operating temp.

andrei3333

i am also noticing that the heater is not so "HOT" either, its always on maximum these days and at night when its below -10 or -15 c (this week) i have to keep it on the 3rd setting to be WARM not hot.

the heated seats sure do help

the actual engine temperature gauge seems ok tho, car warms up and the gauge stays smack in the middle so i dont think the thermostat is broken. as far as the coolant, i duno if its ever been changed, because i bought the car when it had 203k on it, now it has almost 208k (im so excited its my first oil change coming up with her )

so what else could it be ?

2da mizzax

iTrader: (4)

Old dry grease + cold = sludge on the IAC Valve and Throttle Body also. Sludge holding open TB plates = too much air. Sludge on IAC Valve = restricted air passage. Warmer engine = softer sludge allowing more air in (not to mention you need more air for a cold idle than a hot idle). As for your heat not being hot, do the Prestone Super Clean (not flush). goo inside of the system, scale deposits inside of the system all build up an insulating layer inside of the heater core reducing its ability to transfer heat. A word of warning, cleaning old things can cause problems too. Well not cause but reveal leaks held in check by those same deposits.

Cars are 8-12 years old. Things need to be cleaned.

andrei3333

alright i can get the TB cleaned for a small fee at the local Canadian Tire, but i wanna clean the IAC valve myself,

where is the IAC valve and how do i clean it ?

Fasteddie01

my 98 has 193000km, about 120,000 miles. this am in Halifax it was -20'C ,
(-5F)with 40mph wind. car was sitting with wind in her face, and started right away . . . like 1 second cranking. Gotta love adult owned cars - Ha

buzpuck11

iTrader: (3)

If you can handle cleaning the IAC yourself, you can clean the TB yourself too. It is easy and takes about 15 minutes.

As for these starting problems. I changed my engine coolant temp sensor and it fixed my hard to start problems. It was also throwing a code for me. While I was in there I flushed/changed the coolant and replaced the thermostat. Heats right up and starts easy now.

2da mizzax

iTrader: (4)

At canadian tire they will celan it by spraying TB cleaner into it and maybe wiping it down. You should take ti off and celan it properly yourself. Really isnt that much work. To find the IAC Valve, look at your air box. on the right hand side of the air box is a large hose and a small hose right next to each other. The large hose leads you to th IAC Valve. To celan it you have to take off the bracket holding a plug (10mm) and the 3 12 mm bolts holding the IAC Valve to the plenum. Spray and wipe it clean (inside of the copper looking portion to). I find Berryman B12 sprays it clean quickly. If you do do the throttle body yourself make sure to use TB cleaner and not regular carb cleaner.

andrei3333

ive read a write up on motorvade http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/518

this guy used a carburator and combustion chamber cleaner, u say not to use it ?

im gona stop by can tire today and pick something up for a weekend project with my dad again, but what should i buy

1) i want to clean the TB because it looks easy,

2) i want to clean the IAC valve because i think it may improve my starting issue

does cleaning these 2 things actually help / work ? do u notice any difference ?

pvel

hi, this is my first post.
i have a 2000 infiniti i30 with 108000 miles.
no problems till recently.
first i had a screeching starter and replaced it. this helped the screech but it has not helped the cold start problem.
it starts and runs fine when the temperature is above 40 degrees.
i took it to a mechanic and he replaced the fuel pump which has not helped.
any suggestions would be appreciated.
thanks

2da mizzax

iTrader: (4)

Every one i did, the owners called me up to tell me how much of a difference they felt. Idle is smoother, throttle response will be a little faster and startup problems went away. That isnt to say this is the solution for all cars with startup problems. Motorvate's TB cleaning instructions suck. you have to take it off to do a good job. Throttle bodies have a teflon coating that will be removed by regular carb cleaner. What will happen if you get rid of it?...probably nothing.

Dcarlton

My car would do the same thing; sit over night, in a garage. Temps would get down to 50 or below and the only way to keep it running from this cold start was to give it some gas. When this occurred you could also smell raw unburned gas. Then my car began random mis-fires; it has 197,000 miles on it.

In the process of eliminating the mis-fire, I changed the plugs (80,000 miles since last changed), changed the PCV valve (never had changed it), cleaned the throttle body, cleaned the IAC valve, and replaced the air filter. When that didn't fix my misfire, I had to determine what was causing this. However, I noticed that now my car would crank on the first crank and RPM's were where they should be as if the outside temps were in the 70's.

Eventually traced the misfire down to a bad coil, but that wasn't what fixed the cold start issue. The most expensive was probably the plugs and I know they didn't fix it as it still misfired and hard started. If I had to guess, I would say the cleaning was the biggest thing and following the posts from here, did it all in less than an hour and 1 can of cleaner.

babymac

iTrader: (20)

Yes.........

pvel

thanks, useful thread. my 2000 i30 with 108000 miles is experiencing the same problem, that is it will turn over but not start when the outside temperature is in the 30's.
i recently replaced the starter and plugs.
i read on another thread that there is an update for the ecm that helps this problem.
anyone have any experience with this?

pvel

both the keys got deprogrammed, somehow.
i had them reprogrammed at the dealer and the starting problem is solved.

99BlackMaxMS

iTrader: (85)

Cold weather always seems to be rough on cars, espacially if they are not garaged. Remote starters come in handy

rockfordmaxII

iTrader: (3)

ive been having cold start issues too, start up, dies, start up, dies..until i start it and give it gas it will just keep dieing. cleaned iacv, and tb, didnt do anything. i was thinkin maybe the coolant temp sensor. i just figured i would add to the list of cold start issuees.