Hi everyone
I have a 90 maxima
My car was doing fine until i fill it up with gas and got about a mile and it start putting. (like a dummy) I cut the car off and now it will not start i get a strong smell of gas when im trying to start it but nothing. Just to get it home i was messing with it and took the fuel pump fuse out and it started like it was goin to start so i put the fuse back in and it start and i took it home, but that trick only work once it will turn over but its not catching any one have any ideas on what i should try.
Thank you

 

how's that fuel filter?

Atl got a gas shortage right?
if you're pumping gas that's at the bottom of the tank you might've picked up some extra dirt in your filter.
if your filter is on it's way out you might have plugged it up w/ the dirty gas. when you removed the fuse it decreased the pressure and it dribbled gas into the motor so it started up for a second...then you put the pump back on it forces more dirty fuel and blocked it up even more.

keep in mind that's all just a theory since i'm not looking at your car.

 

Why would he smell gas? I am currently expericing a very strong gas smell and I already replaced gas lines. I can't figure out where its coming from. Maybe underneath I dunno.

 

is it winter already?

 

not here in TX

 

check ur fuel pressure with fuel pressure gauge if u have available one before changing anything....its around 35 psi at idle engine running and 43 psi wen u turn off the car and jus turn on the ignition not engine...if it has wrong pressure then change the filter and chek again... and report bak

edit: so ur main concern is that ur car shuts off?

 

there's some gas passing thought...just not enought to fire. eventually it'll flood the motor and you smell gas. if he cranks long enough w/ the gas pedal down it'll fire and then it'll stall again.

if you smell strong gas smell then your fuel lines are going bad...so change them.
this usually occurs when it's cold. do a search...we beat this to death every year.

 

leaky injector ????

 

I have a new fuel filter on there but ill check it. its still warm here in Atlanta. I might be wrong but could it be my coil pack going bad and not burning the gas?
oh and the smell seem to be coming out my tail pipe with some gray smoke...

 

ha so i'm totally off. yeah check your coil pack.

 

by coil pack he must mean ignition coil right? he's got a veggie.... or a 90 with a VE swap

 

Just throwin it out there but a lot of us have had to replace the fuel lines underneath the back wheel by the tank. I remember a few threads on it. Forum gurus conjur me a link.

 

shazzam (actually... i started that thread myself haha, back in my early days on the org):
http://forums.maxima.org/3rd-generat...something.html

 

man i'm losing it...yeah it's probably his coil that's dead.

 

hmmmm go boost around on the highway for 30min... that might help.

other spark-inhibiting items being the resistor/condensor pack and the power transistor... if you have a code 21 that's where to look.

 

Shouldn't he start from checking for spark first? He was quite specific where the smell is coming from, it is not fuel lines. I'm not familiar with VG though and have no idea how to troubleshoot ignition there but it sounds all his cylinders are not firing so it must be in the common for all of them part. Any simple procedure how to check those items in your list?

 

i was hoping auto zone had away to check it but i just call and they said no. anyone have a way to check the ign coil.
if i buy it and put it on and it dont work i dont think they will let me return it

 

check your ECU trouble codes (general maintenance sticky, post 18 or 19.. i forget which) and if you get any codes, that'll give you a starting point to see what might be wrong

 

Could you at least confirm that you have no spark on your current one? The old- fashion way: take one spark plug out connect it to ignition wire, put it somwhere on the engine ground and watch for spark when someon is trying to start the car.

Then if it is not there you could proceed to check the relevant fuse, 12V presence on the coil, etc.

 

OK ill try that just to be sure i got it i take one spark plug out and put it in the ignition wire and just lay it near a ground on the car or do i hold it and touch the ground (will that shock me?)

 

can't he just take the coil wire and zap it to the IM? or does it have to be a cylinder's plug wire?

 

To be honest - I don't know. If you can provide him instructions - please do as I've never seen VG in my life so I don't know what's involved. This would be even better as the spark will happen 6 times faster and he doesn't have to remove the plug.

 

im sorry whats a IM?

 

intake manifold. the huge d-saped on top of your engine thing with the "Nissan V6 3000" sticker on it.

 

oh ok got it ty
ill try it i just dont want to get shock

 

http://i25.tinypic.com/30ijoxu.jpg taken from the VG Love thread

anyhow you see 3 wires on the backside of the distributor cap and 4 on the front. notice the 3rd from the left goes down to the little black box between the radiator hose and the breather hose. that's the ignition coil on a VG. so if he takes that wire out of the distributor cap and holds it just barely away from the intake manifold (basically, at the same distance off the metal as a sparkplug gap) he should get sparking. if no spark is happening then either the coil is dead, or the coil is not being told to fire.

 

ok ty im goin to try that now

 

ok well im getting a spark.
but i lock me keys in my car and i was pushing the window down and broke the window, 1 thing after another.

( i guess that mean my ign coil is good?)

 

Not only that - everything down to ECU as well. So you're left with distributor, wires, spark plugs or fuel problem but I'd look at the latter the last as it seems it got to exhaust somehow, so it must had been in the cylinders first. You can buy 1 spark plug and test spark on each cylinder without removing one - whatever works for you.

Caped, does distributor have more specific tests besides checking for spark after it? I understand it has a moving contact 'distributing' spark between cylinders. Has it ever happened that the contact turned around its axle and lost proper timing as a result?

 

i believe the d-shaped shaft is pretty hard to deform... but i suppose since the rotor has a plastic body it could have broken? and is not spinning on the shaft anymore? the coil wire goes into the cap, and there's a springloaded top 'button' that presses onto the contact in the center of the rotor, which has a contact leading to the tip and that electricity arcs onto the little tips that go out to each plug's recepticle on the outside of the distributor cap. caps can crack also, which causes driveability issues.

testing an extra plug, one wire at a time, is a good idea tho. a timing light is also a good idea.

 

within the distributor is a reluctor wheel that also controls timing in relation to injector firing

 

ok so to test the distributor i get a spark plug, plug it in and ground it to the IM for each wire to see if i get a spark?

 

Yes.

 

ok trying that today ty

 

Well i check all the plug and they are getting sparks. when i pulled out one i did notice it was wet and smell like gas??? any idea on what that could be?

 

flooded? is there perhaps something wrong with the gas in the tank? also i wonder if your timing is just way-off

this is what happens when your timing is 1 turn of the crank off (cyl 1 and 4 are at TDC at the same time, as are 2&5 and 3&6:


and this is what happens when your timing is like 20 degrees retarded (around 5 ATDC):

 

Well gas was the last thing i put in the car before it start acting crazy. and i dont know why the timing would be off i haven't touch that stuff in about a year or 2.
If i was to bet i would think its the gas, maybe the gas station had bad gas or something
is there anyway to save the gas in the car or do i have to remove all the gas and put new gas in it
(gas to high)

 

well if you got a way to put that gas aside in a big container of some sort.. and then have the ability to put a new tank of gas in there to test with... I dunno it's not like you want to get a spoonful and toss a match on it to "make sure the gas will burn" haha.

remember that gas eats certain materials tho so you'll have to put it in a fuel-safe container if you do try to do that


as for timing... is the distributor nice and tight? or can you turn it at all? does the tachometer work when you crank the engine?

 

yes its tight and yes the tach does work
im goin to take the hose loss from the fuel filter and let the gas come out that way is that a good idea?
im goin to have it goin to a container

 

how old is the cap and rotor? how old are the wires?

have you done a complete tune up on the car before all this happened?