[FONT=Arial]Ok i have the same problem as most people with starting problems. I have a 97 GXE 5spd with 140k miles. Usualy wont start in the morning or after sitting more then a couple hours. I can push start it just fine. Will not jump start though. After push starting it I can turn it off and it will start right up. I have a obd2 scanner and there are no fault codes at this time.

Here is what ive tried so far after reading about this for the past 2 months.

Replaced ignition switch, starter from a wrecked maxima with 60k miles, cleaned the throttle body, new battery, alternator seems to be working fine checked it at 14 volts charging when car running, new ground cable, cleaned the places the battery ground makes contact with on the block and fender well.

I was thinking of pulling off the intake as well and cleaning it just havnt gotten that far yet. At this point im at a total loss. Dont wanna take it to the stealership cause im sure it would cost me more then its worth to get them to try and fix it and they would probable change most of the same parts again anyway. Im thinking i could get all new sensors all around cheaper then going to the dealer to try and fix it. Any help would be awesome.

 

does it turn over when u try to start it or nnothin at all???

 

Re-grease the starter. Does it turn over(starter turn) or nothing at all?

 

I've heard of this happening sometimes. The culprit is the clutch start switch. Its located under the dash on the firewall. The clutch pedal compresses the switch and the car is able to start.

Another culprit is corrosion inside the positive cable to the starter. Replace that immediately.

 

i have the same car, same miilage, and same symptoms. I've gotten knock sensor dtc before, so I changed that. After excessive cranking, crankshaft possition sensor code came up, but that's expected... I'll replace that later.

6 month old alternator from Nissan recall works
6 month old Optima red top is strong
3 month old start from Autozone is working
Cleaned TB
Checked iacv, cleaned
checked tps

right front o2 sensor fluctuates a lot, so i'm replacing all the sensors tomorrow. If that doesn't work, then I'm going for the cps next.

Jae

 

Probably a wiring problem somewhere since it looks to be intermitent.

 

how come noone mentioned the coolant temperature sensor code? it would make the car hard to start when the engine is cold. once warmed up, you would have no problem. i had that problem and sometimes i had to crank for like 5 mins before i got it to start.

you didnt tell us much about your problem. does the car crank or no crank?

 

im having a problem starting too, maybe not the same, my starter kicks fine. I swaped it out for a junk yard one and still same problem, my car will always start but only after a lot of cranking, almost sounding like the timings off or somthing of that sort. I've checked the crank sensor, a lil dirty but cleaned it off, i dont wanna buy one untill i have a better idea what the problem acually is. done usually alt. batt. tests. My next step is replacing the crank sensors, its a common problem on a lot of cars and dont always bring up fault codes. same with cam sensors but usually with cam sensors the car wont start for a period of time after geting warmed up. Just kickin around some ideas, hoping maybe somone else has a fix for this.

--Dan

 

Sorry about not describing the problem clearly or at all. It turns over just fine so the starter is going. I replaced the starter with a junkyard one just to see if that would fix it. It didnt. I can sit there and crank it all day long and it wont start after sitting. Ive done it as long as 10 minutes not straight of course. But i would crank it for a good 5 or 6 seconds at a time off and on for ten minutes. It cranks like no tomorrow but it wont turn over. But you roll it down the hill and clutch start it and bang starts right up and runs like nothing is wrong. I have in the pass when it was having other problems got codes for knock and o2 sensors. I believe this was related to a coil pack going out cause i had one dead cylinder. Any other ideas would be great.

Think it could have something to do with coolant temp sensor? or maybe fuel related pressure?

Terry

 

A bad crankshaft or camshaft position sensor would definitely cause hard starting. Can also be fuel related.

The ghetto way to check if its fuel is to take your intake pipe off the throttle body. With the car cranking, pour some fuel inside the throttle body and see if the car semi-starts.

I recommend you not do this (in case you blow yourself up and sue) because it is very DANGEROUS. But its something I would do.

If you do decide to be dangerous and do this, and the car starts instantly, you know the problem is fuel related. (Because you put fuel in and it started right away)

 

And if you do blow your car up...

Just so you know someone on the I30 forum is looking for a dashboard clock.

 

a safer way to test that would be to just pull one end off the fuel filter and turn the key to the on position, it should spit a pretty steady flow of gas, it wont tell ya if theres anything wrong after the filter, for that youd have to go the explosive route lol...im thinkin all the problems are due to a crank sensor, i might pick one up next time i have some extra cash, i'll let ya know how it goes, i need to order a new y pipe first

--Dan

 

how about just spray starter fluid instead of gas?
Dan, I'm chuckling about the y-pipe deal... why y pipe when the car wont' reliably start? Just thought that was funny.
Jae

 

guys check if black smoke comes out of your tail pipe if it does its most likely the fuel pressure regulator.

 

cuz if i have to listen to the cracked flex section of my budget pipe for another day im gonna have to drive into a wall

i mean it starts reliably, just takes a few seconds for it to turn over but it always starts, body kit goes on soon to so i wanna get everything done that requires me to crawl under it

now im acually having a problem with it idling unusually high, it always use to idle around 600rpm, i changed the starter, pulled the intake pluged everything back in and now it idles around 950, sumtimes over 1k? no idea if this is related to the starting problem or not...maybe its just signs of old age

--Dan

 

Buy a 2ply or 3ply flex off ebay like I did to replace your old busted flex. I got mine for 30bucks. And I it is pretty quiet.

 

first two things to check...fuel and spark

 

is it idle-ing that high on cold start or w/the engine warm?
Jae

 

Crankshaft position sensor faults are guaranteed to prevent a start. Seeing how you already got that code posted, I don't know why you're waiting to replace it... cause it's probably the cause...

Dave

 

Had the same problem you guys are speaking of and it was just a 54 dollars camshaft position sensor that had gone bad