I just bought a 97 maxima a week ago.
Drove smoothly for 4 days without problem except there
was a scratching sound when starting. I just let it be and
planed to have it checked on weekend.
However, just yesterday morning I couldn't start it at all, although there was cranking sound. AAA came and couldn't jump start it either, so
I had it towed to the garage. The mechanics briefly checked it
and said I might have to replace the Crankshaft position sensor.
It sounds weird to me because I cann't link the scratching sound with the problem of a sensor.

All the above is not the major concern to me though. The problem is that
I checked the engine oil and see nothing. I was scared that I might have
droven the car without engine oil for 4 days smoothly.

Actually before I bought the car I tested driving it without noticing the
scratching sound when starting. I just found it was kind of strange to check
the engine oil level at that time. Sometimes I could see the oil all along the whole checking stick and sometimes I couldn't see oil at the tip from low to high mark. But I had it checked by a mechanic before I paid the money to the seller. I remember the mechanic didn't see the engine oil at the first time of
checking the oil lever either, but he soon said he got it at the second try and
he explained that he put the checking stick into the hole in the wrong direction at the first time.

So my question is that whether it's the fact that it's hard to check the engine oil level of a 97 maxima. I'm worried that the car I bought may be
burning engine oil internally. If this is true, can I sue the mechanic that
helped check the car because I paid $50 for the checking and he should'be able to know if the car is burning or leaking engine oil.

Thanks for your reading and welcome comments!!

 

Wow, sorry to hear about the car troubles.

First off in checking the engine oil, you can put the dipstick in wrong way, but when you do that the dip stick wont go all the way and, and you'll know you need to turn it around (18 degrees), so once it in all the way you got it, if its still not reading anything, then I would drop a quart of oil in there and see if anything starts to show, if still no, then add some more, til you start to get a reading on the stick , and if you start to get a reading after a while, then ouch your had no oil in there, hopefully thats not the case.

Also if you are burning oil internally, I believe you would at least be able to smell the burning, if its internally you may not see the blueish smoke out of your tail pipe, but I would think some sort of odor should hit you.

If you crankshaft position sensor is faulty and your in need of a new one, dont let your mechanic do it, it is an easy job and mechanics will over charge your mostly in the labor department when it takes literally 5 minutes to change the sensor out. He may try to over charge you thinkin you dont know about cars hoping to get more money out of you, especially since you paaid him $50 to check the oil, it well spent to make sure your car is fine especially since you just bought it, but is something you can do yourself and save money. The Faqs can help and if not make a thread and someone will respond (with help hopefully).

Did the AAA guy say it was your Camshaft position sensor that needs changing or your mechanic? And how did he try to jump the starter? if your a manual and your starter is the cause of your car not starting you should (I guess this would be assuming everything else is functional on the car) tap the starter and fire it right up.

hoped I helped.

 

Check the oil level first thing in the morning, before you start it for the best reading.

 

MDeezy, thank you very much!

My car is in the garage now, and I have to got it repared
tomorrow. The mechanics there (not the same mechanic who checked
the car before I bought it) would charge me $70 for part and $80 for
labor.

The car is automatic and the AAA staff tried hard to jumpstart it but failed.

I still doubt it is the problem of a sensor and I'll
make the mechanics to guarantee it's the right problem of starting failure
otherwise I won't pay them. BTW, do you think it's really a easy job to replace the crankshaft position sensor that I can even do it myself?

After I put in a quarter of engine oil I can see some in the dipstick now.
So I might really have droven the car without engine oil for 4 days. It's
really scary to me. I wonder how the scratching sound when starting
and the failure of the crankshaft position sensor are related to the
lack of engine oil in the engine. I felt very smooth though when I drove
it in those days.

 

no problemo! glad to offer some help.

OMG so you had no oil? that scraping sounds could have been the requel to a ceased block. Good thing you have some oil in there now, maybe thats why it wouldnt start up, its cold plus almost no oil?!

$70 for the part I'm not sure if that a good price or not, I dont think thats a bad price. but $80 for labor, thats a rip.

there are 2 camshaft position sensrors. One is on the oil pan right below the crank pulley, to the right of the oil filter (held down by 2 bolts I think 4mm), the 2nd is located on the tranny itself by the oil pan right by the engine mount.

replacement is just a matter of disconnecting the cable, take off bolts, replace with new sensor, re-bolt, connect sensor, and thats it! hardly worth $80 of labor, but they gotta make money somehow, but not off you.

keep posting if you run into more troubles.

 

Thank you again!

Actually after I added some engine oil, it still couldn't start and I
had it towed to the garage by AAA. It seems the car can be
cranked without scratching sound and just won't start.

I'm not sure if it's the problem of the camshaft or crankshaft
position sensor. Either case, It sounds weird to me. How can
a sensor result in start problem?

 

I've never heard of the crank sensor preventing the car from starting up, but its never happened to be so I cant really attest to it.

does it turn over? it could be your starter if its just turning over but not starting. When I had a bad started it sometimes took about 4 minutes of cranking to finally get it to start, it was bad.

 

The scratching noise while starting might be the starter, it is a somewhat common problem with our 4th generation maxima's. There is nothing wrong with it, it's just that the starter needs to be regreased, since the old grease has hardened up. (There is a how to on regreasing the starter..its is very easy to do. The sound that comes at the startup sounds like a "eeeehhhhhhhhhh"

 

Here it is: http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/516

 

I highly doubt that it's the Crankshaft Positioning Sensor. It sounds more like a starter problem, few things you might want to find out does it make any clicking sounds when you try to start it? Make sure the battery is good. I would suggest a few more things but don't want know how much mechanical confidence you have. Try and see if it's the starter, my original starter had gone out about 80k miles, so that may be it.

Hope that helps!

Chris

 

what would be the best type of grease for doing this???

 

lithium based grease...you can buy it in a spray at an auto parts store it comes in a red bottle and it is called "white lithium grease"