I am about ready to throw in the towel on this car. If anyone here can help out I would be thrilled.

It is a 1997 Maxima 5 Speed with 170 K that I bought new. Back in June the original throw out bearing snapped and broke the collar on the trans, so I had to replace both.

After the mechanic replaced the trans, he could not start the car for a month. He tried crank sensors and finnally tried tapping the ECM and it finally turned over, this took a month.

Well, the car still does not start correctly. I have replaced the ECM, (on the advice of a dealer) and alternator, burned out 1 new starter, and have a second starter in there now.

Car is currently at another mechanic, (first one gave up) and he thinks it is an electrical problem, but he's had it over a week now and his currently scratching his head. He has tried replacing the crank sensor already and nothing has changed.

I have put nearly $3000 into this car, since I bought it new and have taken good care of it, I would like to try and keep it. I love this car! I never had any serious problems starting this car prior to my transmission change.

Can any one help?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions they are greatly appreciated.

 

Have they checked the starter wiring harness and transmission harness? Its possible it was crushed or damaged during the removal/installation of the transmission and could be causing for things to car to ground out or not start, etc... just a thought. Basically, if the car was fine before you brought it in, and all he did was remove the transmission and replace what was necessary, it has to be something in that general area that is now causing the problem, unless your first mechanic was mucking around in other areas he shouldn't have been... hope this helps.

 

Check the transmission grounds. Also there are multiple posts about starting issues and if somone who has access a search may help you find your answer. I also had a starting issue for 5 months and after multiple mechanics, I finally got it fixed due to a bent flywheel. Replaced the flywheel and starts up like new. But thats just in my case. Goodluck.

 

I had a similar problem to starting, and burnt out two starters. It turned out to be a transmission grounding problem. I also suggest you have the grounds checked, its such a simple solution, but it is often overlooked.

 

Kaz: Thanks So much for your suggestion, I will ask the mechanic if he checked the harness/grounds.

Gen8888: Nice to know I'm not alone with this problem and I'm glad yours was fixed. (My car is the spitting image of the one in your photo.) The first mechanic ordered a new flywheel, but when he checked it against the old one, he noticed no difference in the teeth etc., so he did not replace it. Maybe I should have it replaced anyway?

MaXaZor: Thanks for your suggestions as well.

One thing I did not mention in my first post is the car WILL start eventually, and it seems to run pretty well. It just will not start very well, and it is driving me nuts, quite frankly.

Thanks again for your suggestions, and if anyone else can chime in, it is much appreciated.

 

This sounds exactly what happened to me...he could have easily missed the ground inside when the tranny was replaced, the guy that did your tranny should check this for free, because the whole tranny needs to come down.

 

I was by the shop today, and this mechanic has checked the grounds and they appear to be OK.

He has checked all the wiring leading to the ECM and those connections checked out fine.

What appears to not be happening is the proper signals from the ECM, I have no spark or fuel happening when it needs to be at start up.

The flywheel does not appear to be the solution, his inspection of the flywheel did not reveal any problems with the flywheel.

He is going to try replacing the inner crank sensor, even though there is no error code for it. (or for anything else for that matter.)

I'm dreading the next step: the dealer!... or the junkyard.

Please anyone with any ideas, your input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Have him check the camshaft position sensor while he's at it.

 

For the fuel pump to work and the coils to fire(after the initial key cycle), the motor will have to "see" a cranking(RPM) signal. Any OBD scanner with a data list can show RPM while it's cranking. If I were you mech, I'd be checking that first...

Sunshine

 

Ok I will provide you info from what ive learned so far from basic electronics and clutch performance class at lincoln tech. 1st thing to be checked is the battery. Do these following tests.
(Battery load test)
-Big leads to battery.
-Induction to machine Negative cable wire.
-Crank uo load to 1/2 CCA for 15 sec. (Find your CCA on the battery)
-Min. battery voltage of 9.6 but you want to see a nice 12v.

(Starter draw test)
-Disable engine (fuel or spark)
-Big leads to battery
-Induction lead to negative cable
-Crank for 15 sec
-Min. voltage 9.6V and Amps of 200 or higher.

(Alt output)
-Big leads to battery
-Induction lead to power stud wire
-Engine @ 1500-2100 RPM's
-Crank up load and drop voltage to 12v
-Amps within 10% of spec of 10 amps.

Now these tests will provide you with information if everything is working properly as those are for reasons of an engine starting. Another thing this goes for clutches now. Do you realize all the crap that must be bolted off to pull down the tranny to replace clutch? Its very possible the person did one of these:

-Didnt center up the Clutch disk to the flywheel and pressure plate. What this means is that everything wont go into place correctly. For this to happen they must use an input shaft key and play with the pressure plate to line everything up.

-Our tranny is a good ground.. most likely they forgot to put back some grounds

-Lots of things were bolted off in the process of getting to the tranny, maybe they forgot to bolt things back when they had the tranny back into the engine.

Hope this helped, I know a bit more but its just things for you to check on to get an idea of how things are doing. Good luck to you.