I've read many posts regarding Maximas not starting when it's raining. Since my 96 has no distributor cap or spark plug wires, a few possibilities are ruled out for my model. We've had some heavy rains in Houston lately where the last 7 days have been nearly constant overcast and drizzle. During this last week, after trying to start my car at work when coming home (it's parked in a covered parking garage), my car will turn over but will not start unless I floor the accelerator, which to me indicates a flooded state. However, this doesn't happen when starting my car in the morning in my garage (dry air?) after sitting for the same 8 or 9 hour period, only when my car's been sitting out in the moist air for anywhere from 1 hour to 9 hours will it require a floored accerator to start (will crank for a full 10 seconds or so with accelerator floored before starting.)I don't see how moisture can exacerbate leaky injectors, but that seems to be what's happening. The reason I'm posting is because I took it to the dealer and they said what I've heard many times before "We can't find anything wrong with it" So now I'm reduced to having to diagnose and fix my own car because their $3000+ diagnostic computer can't find the problem. The weather is now clear and sunny and the humidity is back down so now it won't act up for the dealer, but one day, I'll be stuck in the rain. Perhaps 3 cans of fuel injector cleaner will fix it, but that's a strange problem to only manifest itself when it rains - leaky injectors should leak in dry air as well as moist air so perhaps it's a coincidence or perhaps it's not the injectors at all but some electrical problem that the computer couldn't find. If it can't find it, how could I imagine that I could? I'm asking for diagnostic help if anyone can offer ideas. At the last tuneup I did - about 35,000 miles ago - I replaced the air filter, fuel filter and plugs (from dealer). The car has about 128,000 miles on it.

Thanks,
Van

 

The starting problem you describe points directly to your Engine Temp Sensor. That might sound strange, but it's a cheap part and it just may be slightly out of calibration, not enough to throw a CEL light. Replace it, clean your throttle body and I bet your car starts like new all the time!

 

njmaxseltd,

Thanks alot for your diagnosis. I'll pick up a new sensor today when I go to the dealer to pick up my car. I'm sure my throttle body can use a cleaning after 128K miles so I'll take care of that as well and I'll post the results.

Thanks,
Van

 

njmaxseltd,

You were right! The computer finally threw a code indicating the ECTS was defective. Before I made it to the dealer, they called and said they found the problem. I went ahead and let them replace the sensor themselves - although a 2 hour labor charge seems a bit much to me - I guess they're just using the standard labor rate. They get $69.50/hour at my dealer in Humble, so my total bill was $182. I could have saved about $85 doing it myself, but I since I had to pay $70 for the diagnosis anyway and would have had to pay about $30 for the part, I just went ahead and let them do it. However, I had to get my hands dirty as they didn't finish putting the intake back together. My car growled a bit too much on acceleration - upon inspection, one intake hose was disconnected, and they didn't bother to snap my intake box down with the metal clamps. Oh well, such is life.

Van

 

2 points for me

Glad it's all fixed for ya!