chrome91

iTrader: (1)

heres the cliffs

July 2008- car doesnt even try to start or click when the key is turned, called AMA, guy rocks the car, it starts. says its a loose wire, no biggie

July 2008-early 2009- all is good, car starts always

early 2009-2 weeks ago- car needs to be rocked 50%+ of the time to try to start, when its rocked, theres a click from the front and after that click it starts. no patten, i could park it for 5 minutes for a car wash and it wont start, could leave it overnight and it wont start

2 weeks ago- car wont click when rocked, AMA pulls it out of my garage, it starts. drive it to the garage, bad spot on the starter. i had the shifter bushing looked at months before and its good. get a new starter installed.

2 weeks ago-last night- with new starter, starts everytime.

last night- turn the key, single blunt click from the front of the car. turn the key about 5-6 times, final time it slowly starts. thought it was a one time thing

today- does it again, wont start, blunt click from the front when the key is turned. after a dozen tries today, it starts like normal. i just parked it at the garage so they can look at it tomorrow

- Alternator was replaced with a rebuilt one in late September i believe it was
- Battery was replaced with a new one in October
- New starter got put in about 2 weeks ago

what could be up with it now? now rocking does nothing and theres no click, just the dull click from the front when the key is turned. thanks for any info

BenStoked

iTrader: (7)

what is the voltage before starting?
what's voltage at idle?
was the starter new or reman?
if it runs/drives fine, I doubt the reman alty is bad.

edit: battery/starter wire on tight?

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

Hard to tell - there're few components connected together and either one can cause this. One simple test would be to supply battery voltage to the starter control wire to see if it turns. BTW, this is not alternator or battery- at least leave them alone. Were your lights (like in cabin map light) going very dim when it wasn't starting?

MoncefA33

iTrader: (6)

I don't know much about 3rd gens but my buddy had this issue with his TT Stealth.

Loose starter wire or bad ground?

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

- cant test the voltage, nobody could give me a lift after dropping off the car so i had to walk all the way back

- was going to get a reman starter but they couldnt find one so they gave me a new one with lifetime warranty for the price of a reman

- runs and drives fine once its started, my alty went all the way when it went (drove it downtown, ABS light would flick on, radio would turn itself on, weird noises) and after i parked it for a few hours, it wouldnt turn over. and this was in a crowded little parking lot downtown lmao

- all wires are on tight

- no lights were dim when in accessory mode, all of that was normal

i'm really stumped now because i cant think of what it can be. the rocking **** would ALWAYS happen at the worst times, as in at the gas station with 3 cars waiting behind me, drive in electronic carwashes, right before i had to go to work, etc. the rocking stopped for 2 weeks after the new starter, but now ive got the stupid click in the front

maximo018

iTrader: (6)

Have you check all your relays?

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

i think they might have when i took it for a new starter, not sure. i'll ask tomorrow morning

when i took it for the starter, i parked it overnight and when they tried to start it it started for them which they didnt want because they could right away tell what it was if it didnt start for them. tonight i can grab a ride with someone so i'm going to drive to garage and try to start the Max, hopefully it wont start

Stwodahorty

iTrader: (4)

dam that sucks bro. ive been having alot of problems with the car too.

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

The only conclusion I can come to from provided info is that your contacts on the battery are OK as well as the battery itself. This is of course assuming lights were not dimming greately when you were holding the key at START and it wasn't starting. The rest of description doesn't help to pinpoint the problem as it simply corresponds to a bad electrical contact. It is impossible to tell which one- it might be starting relay, inhibitor switch, relay on the starter or starter itself. You need to get a voltmeter and give us some numbers or do the test I suggested to get some progress.

Pearl93VE

iTrader: (14)

unplug the factory alarm system underneath the panel below your steering wheel/ where the lower heater vents are.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

interesting, could that be causing it?

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

for how good this thing has been to me, its minor. just need to wait until summer then i can get the Z31 turbo and stuff and start building up the Max. would be cool to just buy a rusty actual Z31 turbo car for a few hundred, and just take off the turbo stuff for my Max and do the bodywork myself on the Z31 and have a cheap NA 300zx to screw around in

the worst was the rocking in the drive in electronic carwashes, i would have to whip off my harness (say what you want, its comfy ), get out while the air dryer was still going, rock the car, wave to the 5 other people in the lineup squinting to see WTF i'm doing, and drive off

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

It might

Hectic

iTrader: (20)

First step would be to ditch the stock positive terminal and that useless factory link connector a few inches from the terminal.. If it does it after that, wiggle starter circuit fuses.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

one guy there said its probably the starter again, but one guy thinks its something else. since the starter is lifetime warranty they threw in another one and so far so good, theyre just going to keep it overnight and see how things go in the morning

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

so he started it a few times today, all good. i pick it up, and was going to grab something to eat but i had to p155 bad so i stopped at home. tried to start it after, NOTHING

it starts in neutral though so a switch when you put it into park isnt engaging, theyre gonna check that now

Garf

iTrader: (1)

...double/triple check shifter bushing.

93SCMax

iTrader: (3)

Make sure you check both bushings ( one at shifter and one at transmission). As I recall it was less than $5 for both from the dealer, and one of the first things I learned from this forum a few years ago.

If you have an automatic, won't start in park, and it starts in neutral, I'd replace them just to eliminate this a a potential failure mode.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

bushings were checked by them and a different mechanic and theyre good, that was my first thought too. I held in the shift-override and wigged the shifter in park and no matter what, no start

the only thing i can think of is i think me and some other people installed my subwoofer in July 2008 as well, and i cant remember if that was before or after the first rocking incident so maybe we got debris on or bent the parking switch while working under the dash/console and ever since the switch has been wearing down more and more hence why the rocking got more and more prominent. theyre going to take off my centre console and see whats up, hes pretty sure its a cheap simple fix.

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

Most likely your inhibitor switch contacts are oxidized and all you need is to open it, clean, put some electrical grease there and re- assemble. It is actually located on the transmission itself.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

you dont have to drop the tranny do you?

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

I don't know about VG but on VE with AT this is located on the side of the tranny facing front and easily accessible from the bottom. The switch is held in place with 2-3 bolts and has plastic axle. Watch that axle when removing/installing it as it is easy to break. You'd probably need somebody to move shifter back-forth to get switch linkage to the position where you can remove it. You can then proceed to opening/cleaning it - there're few screws holding the cover and you should use good screw driver and Liquid Wrench or equivalent to unscrew them without stripping. I did the 'electrical' part of the process on my desk as there're few tiny pieces there you don't want to lose.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

It's your starter...disassemble your solenoid and clean it and lube it with some LPS 1 or 2... clean all your connection while your @ it as well!

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

thats what I/the garage thought it was first so i got a new starter, and my old starter had a bad spot. still happened so i got another starter yesterday (lifetime warranty) and its still a no-go

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

You said that you can start it now in N but not in P. If this is the case - it is inhibitor switch as you already checked the bushings.

If it was the starter it wouldn't depend on shifter position. Looks like you had this problem all this time and replaced working starter (twice?).

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

Put 12 volt across starter while on bench it should kick out the drive gear and rotoate...if it doesn't it bad too....
Do you have 12 volts one of the starter lugs? Check the connector for the solenoid @ the positive battery post! Use a test light at the starter solenoid or the plug b4 the starter solenoid...turn ignition to start and the light should illuminate! I eliminated that whole POS @ the positive battery post....

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

mother Donkey Kong nuts it was a bushing, i thought it was a bushing the whole time, but everyone said the bushings are fine and i gave a quick look and thought well they know more than me. they ordered in a bushing and it'll be in tomorrow

BenStoked

iTrader: (7)

well, you would think the pros would know. but this should be a lesson to people who take their cars to the same mechanics for the same problems....
he should be fixing it for free + paying you for your time, and probably replacing a perfectly good starter

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

my starter was bad though, huge difference with the new one so that kinda saved me a trip within a year or two.

first time i got it there i mentioned i personally think its the bushing but i didnt want to come on as a jerk know-it-all so i just lightly said it. when i shift into D i have to wiggle it down a bit so it engages and puting the shifter into park has always felt a bit weird so i'm not surprised

ve30max

iTrader: (2)

Wow, after all this time and stress, it was indeed a simple bushing. I am am going to replace mine, which needs to be done, out of spite for your situation and for the forum. We can count this as another thread with silly symptoms that ends in a simple bushing replacement. Enjoy your lively Maxima!

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

everything always matched up with it being the shifter busing but i was told it was fine, simple $5 piece caused me all this **** for a year and a half

anywho as long as it doesnt do the no-start crap anymore i'm happy, i can finally go to car washes and gas stations without my heart beating 300bpm panicking if it will start or not

CapedCadaver holds the record for shifter bushing replacement i think, when he had his 3rd gen still he replaced it 5 minutes before going to work

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

holy crap is it ever a difference, imagine your shifter shifting 1/5 as good as it is now and thats what ive been dealing with. amazing difference and i now can go to gas stations and car washes in peace