Car had hard time starting, took it to the dealer, and the dealer tells me that it's a bad wiring harness. How common is this? And how big a deal is replacing a wiring harness. Dealer says $1000-1600 just for parts. Does this sound right?

 

Sounds like a scam. I'd get a second opinion (another stealership). Hopefully someone here can relate and help you out. But yes, price wise thats typical for the stealership.

 

maybe a bad starter?

 

Does the engine turn, just not start?

 

the car turns over fine. the dealer spent two days trying to diagnose the problem, they say no codes are coming up, and they suspect it's a faulty wire in the wiring harness. So they suggest to replace the wiring harness.

 

If he suspects but can't pinpoint the problem, not a good idea to go ahead with any repair.

Faulty position sensor? I'm not an engine person, need engine folks to post.

Ironically, I've been having a hard time starting a VQ25DET
Flooded the damn thing, plugs are our right now, to dry.

 

as of close of business, that's what their leaning towards. They'll let me know for sure tomorrow. It's a 98 with 95000 miles whether that means anything or not, but I would think it should last the life of the car. But does anyone know how common it is to replace the wiring harness?
Just say it is the wiring harness, is this something that the dealer should handle, or should I attempt to go elsewhere??

 

Take it somewhere else. A '98 with 95000 miles? You should be saving your money and find a good local shop to do work on your car. Dealerships stink.

 

Maybe it's this thing: http://www.jatan.net/tsbs/056841.pdf

 

Yes in that case i'd leave it to Nissan certified mechanics. But I have never heard of the harness going bad with out some physical problem causing it, like how do wires go bad suddenly unles they are stripped, rusted, severed or broken, connections come loose, etc. All small issues compared to a 1500 price tag on a new harness, when in fact the problem may only be one loose connection thats gonna cost 2 cents to fix, if you can find it!

The harness plugs into the computer, runs through the firewall and splits all over the engine bay to all the vitals, its a long process to find a losse connection, so replacing the wole harness is more cost effective if your a dealership considering labor hours.

I'd say do full routine maintenance for your mileage, replace sensors, etc. Its just really odd.

What exactly is the issue, are you stalling or what?

 

a month ago i noticed it took a second longer to start my car. So I figured it was time for a tune up so I replaced the fuel filter and spark plugs. It did not solve the problem. As time went on it took longer and longer to start. So I took it to one Nissan dealer, and they told me they thought it was a starter and wanted to charge me $400. I did not let them do it. I took the starter to get tested myself. 3 different people said the starter was fine. So I took it to 2 seperate auto electric places. Both of them had no clue what the problem was. There are no codes coming up. They both suggested to take it to the dealer. As of last weekend, the car would not even start at all, but it would turn over fine.

 

Im stumped, turns over but wont fire, hmmmmmmm.........the harness is still far fetched if ya ask me.......a sensor is more likely but I cant be sure, im digging up some old threads i have save to see if i can be of more help.....

Any more details you can offer will be helpful.

 

When I have gotten it started, I smell a lot of gas, so that tells me that atleast I know it's getting fuel. So it has to be electrical.
I have a feeling tomorrow morning the dealer's gonna tell me it's the harness. My next decision is whether to let them do it, or take it elsewhere. The problem with that is I've taken it to 2 people capable of diagnosing the problem and came up with nothing. Any suggestions is helpful, thanks

 

this sounds a lot like a problem i had with an old car of mine. turned out to be a broken ground; replaced the terminal and that solved it. i wish i could tell you where to look on these cars, but only had it a little while. have you changed the starter yet; you said you had t checked out but not that you changed it. i've had starters that test out fine but do not work.

 

well the dealer is now telling me that they fixed a wire from the wiring harness, and tells me that i need a new starter...the dealer said that my starter is not spining fast enough dus that sound right???

 

the starters are known to lose their grease, mine is making a noise now and i replaced it about 60,000 ago. Try taking it off yourself and regreasing it, its a very easy job to do. Look on motorvate.ca

 

Go to AutoZone and have them test your starter for free. Don't buy it from the dealer. Buy it from an auto store since it'll be cheaper (I think AutoZone has a lifetime warranty on the starter).

Removal/Install: http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/516

 

i already took the starter to Auto Zone and pepboys to test it and they both said it was good, but all they did was put it to a 12 volts to see if it worked.....Is that all ther is to the test ? the dealer wants $200 Auto Zone wants $150

 

i dont know about u but i can get a rebuilt starter for about $60 or so and it is a DIYer, clean your battery terminals and test your battery and alternator