Well I've pretty much tried everything but maybe someone has had a similar problem as me.

When I turn my car on it will crank and crank and crank, pretty strong too, but it won't fully turn over. Then after a while it will finally turn over, maybe a minute or so, after a couple of backfires and spurts. This whole cranking process varies everytime I go to start, sometimes it take forever to get going, sometimes it starts up pretty quick.

I've had the starter replaced and also the crankshaft position sensor.

This only started happening after I replaced my transmission. Any Ideas? To me it seems like a timing issue. Perhaps a chipped flywheel but I'm not sure.

 

I didn't see a reply from the gurus on this old posting.
I am struggling with the same circumstance.
I just put a clutch in my 97. Now I am experiencing the same slow starting issue. If I disconnect the crankshaft position sensor, the car turns over great (but wont start obviously). When it is connected, the car acts like the timing is off. My auto shop says that I must have put the flywheel on wrong. WTF? It only goes on one way, no? Bolt the freaking reluctant ring to the flywheel and then bolt up the flywheel. Right? That is what I did. No locating dowels or anything that I saw so I just bolted it all up.
Any ideas? Did I screw somthing up? Is there a locating dowel that I missed? Am I a doofus? Be nice......

 

did u clean between the block and tranny? where they connect? i had the same problem, and it turned out to be crappy grounds

 

Run a Ground straight from the negative battery terminal to the Bellhousing on the tranny.

 

ignition switch, look for the how to. This is if you checked the battery, and starter and all that first...

 

Hey carnut888 the flywheel has a little hole that you need to match with the crankshaft if you didn't you will NEVER start the car .. trust me that is what happend to me .. as far as the ring goes I think it goes on a spesific way but can't remember .. but def on the flywheel to crank ! also check the crank sensor between the engine and tranny !
hope this helps !

 

Thanks for the help. The car starts, but it starts like the timing is off. Turns over nice, then after 3 seconds or so, starts feeling rough. Sometimes it will catch and start, sometimes I have to stop cranking to try again. Hot or cold doesnt matter. When it does catch, it runs nice and strong through the RPMs like it should. It has thrown no codes. Also, if the crank shaft pos sensor is disconnected near the bell housing, there is no start 'stumble' (like the timing is off). Of course the car will not start at all. I guess I will try running a ground from the battery and to the tranny 1st, but being in AZ im not sure that thats it. We are in the land of little coorosion. (who wants to buy a 4th gen with no rust? LOL!) Next try the ignition switch??? (any further feedback on that suggestion cause Im thinking that is unlikely??) Then I think I need to pull that damn tranny again and see if there is an indexing hole in the flywheel as suggested. I did see a hole in the end of the crank, but it looked like a hole where they balanced it?? I didn't see one in the flywheel to match it, or a hole in that crank/flywheel adapter/plate bolt thingee. If the flywheel does need to be indexed, then what is the proper way to line it up???? Anyone?? Bueller??
I need to put this crap behind me so I can enjoy my ride. Thanks for any and all relative advice.

 

So I tried the easiest suggested fix thanks to whiteSE and TLMNICK. I made sure I had a good ground by running a wire from the negative post of the battery right to the tranny. The problem is about 50% better, but still not right. Soooo, now to Abimax95's post about matching the flywheel to the crank, any ideas??? I replaced the old flywheel without much thought. I unbolted and bolted the signal plate onto the fly wheel, then bolted the flywheel to the crank. So could I have gotten indexing wrong??? The Haynes manual talks about marking the original flywheel position, which wouldn't work for me since I replaced it, but it also mentioned that sometimes the bolt holes to the crank were offset to allow specific indexing. That isn't a possibility either as the holes were all symetrical. So now what? Im at 50% success. How can I make it right again? Pull the tranny for the 3rd time? (im getting good at this...) or is that a waste of time because I have other issues? Grounding problem elsewhere? Bad POS?
For the record, if the POS is disconnected, it will not start but it turns over effortlessly, if it is connected as it is when I want it to start, it turns over fast then chugs like the timing is off. Not as bad as before, but still not like before the clutch/tranny R&R. Any ideas??

 

I read the 1st post and instantly thought of this post: http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...ml#post6866647

But I guess it's unrelated to yours. You're saying it won't run at all? What about push-starting the car?

Dr J

 

have you driven this thing around?

turning over and not running? Or running and not turning over right?

You went through the simple things like making sure your MAF is connected, and all your hoses are reconnected from when you pulled the tranny (I'm assuming you pulled up to the TB off).
If you haven't been able to drive this thing, I would guess it's something other than the transmission and more fuel or vacuum related.

 

All,
The car runs like a champ once started. No codes no nothing. The problem is getting is started. It turns over nice and fast for a few seconds, then it starts to lug. I think it is the computer trying to pull timing out of the engine. I really think it could be the signal plate being indexed improperly, but I cannot find any information to tell me how the signal plate should be installed in reference to the POS. That is really what I want to find out. I will pull the tranny again to fix this, but I dont wanna do it without knowing the corrective action. Anyone?

 

Please also see the thread http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...intensive.html This will correlate the issues.... Thanks

 

I'm just wondering, I've seen the part where they tell you to mark your flywheel and clutch, but if you replace your clutch that shouldn't matter.

And if you replaced your flywheel, how are you going to get things to line up if there's nothing to line up?

Have you tried resetting your ECU?

Actually, if I were you, I might make some calls to Nissan Dealerships and talk to the service dept, maybe they can give you some guidance.

 

Resetting the ECU is a good idea.

As stated above, go back to the basics... fuel, air, spark. The wonderful thing about the VQ is the smoothness of the engine. Which also makes it hard to notice a faulty sparkplug or injector. When the car's running, I'd one-at-a-time unplug a coil pack harness and notice if the rpms drop. If nothing changes, then u know you have a bad ignition.

Then try unpluging injectors and see what happens.

As for air, as stated above, check your tubes, and the PCV (though I doubt it's this). And check out the EGR. I doubt it's one of these.

BTW, do you have a service manual? It'll have procedures on how to check the sensors you're concerned about.

 

Thanks for the advice. I am pretty sure that it is something to do with the signal plate attached to the flywheel, but I dont know what. I did notice that there is an unthreaded hole in the crank and as well as the signal plate. Are these supposed to line up? There is not a similar hole in the flywheel reinforcement ring, that is why I ask if any one knows about the indexing. My car starts like it is about 10-15 degrees off timing, but once it starts up, it runs great and throws no codes. Incidentally, if I disconnect the POS, the car obviously wont start, but it doesn't lug after a few seconds like it does now. I really think the ECM is pulling timing out during the crank cycle.

 

I couldn't answer your unthreaded hole question. I hope someone else can help you there.

 

if the timing is off, wouldn't it always be off?

 

That's what I thought, and decided to examine other things, but the OP seems pretty certain it has to do with that. I'm sitting back to watch what happens, maybe I'll learn a thing or 2. We'll soon find out!

 

Any updates on this? Or are you just living with it?

 

you can't put it on any other way.... there is nothing to match up.. it either goes on or not..(unless im retarded and thinking of something else)

anyways it seems like you have a grounding issue.. clean all grounds and check to see if the positive cable is in good shape..

 

I'm having the exact same issuse. Just got done with the 5 speed swap. Now the engine is just cranking and cranking. Only logical explanation I could think of was the crank signal. I know I put the flywheel on with the 2 small holes lined up.

Then I started thinking that maybe I needed to set the engine at tdc cylinder 1 before applying the new flywheel to the crank. But I've never seen anyone mention anything about this before.

I just went outside to attatch another ground straight from the neg terminal to the trans. Didn't do anything for me. My battery is pretty dead now though from cranking so I will be recharging it tomorrow at work.

I know it has to be ignition timing because I got a few of those backfires too. And it also ran once for about 5 seconds then shut off.

I'm pretty stuck on what to do I was going to drop the tranny tomorrow and check the flywheel but I know it's in the right position so I don't think it will do me any good.

I wired up the neutral safety switch
No codes on the ecu.

I made a thread on nico and we havn't been able to figure it out either.

But now that I see it.. This thread is almost 5 years old.. So did anyone resolve this issue??

 

sorry to jack thread, but im trying to remove my starter right now for the same reason, and i took off the everything from the air box to the TB, however the big intake duct is still in its way. Just wondering how u remove this ?

Where i circled in blue?

 

there are two small plastic bolts that attach the intake duct to the front wall of the car. They are clearly visible. Not sure why u havent been able to find then...

O!! they may have small plastic caps on them too. I broke them the first time i took off the intake duct hehe, so be careful

 

bump, this my car hes talkin bout and we cant seem to figure out whats wrong with it, anyone know how to resolve this problem?

 

bump, anyone have any ideas? i want to finally drive my car as a 5spd, please help

 

I fixed my car!! I ran the ground wires as suggested but it didn't do crap in my case. So I finally did what I didn't wanna do, I dropped the tranny again, then pulled off the clutch and flywheel. When I put the flywheel back on I made sure that the non tapped hole in the crank lined up with the little hole in the flywheel. Then reassembled with fingers crossed (that was the hardest part). When I got it all back together VOILA!! It starts like a dream. Incidentally I removed all the extra grounds I had put on just to test my re-indexing theory. I hope this helps someone else out there with a similar problem. I dont doubt that ensuring good clean grounds are imperitive, it just wasnt the same issue that I was chasing.
Good luck to all!

 

Not excatly! I had this problem after my clutch replace. I studied the problem ans I found that the tranny need a DIRECT connection to the engine block.

The grounding kit will help and probably fix the problem, but if it doesnt follw this :

- Grind all tranny holding screw that you can reach. Just to remove dust and the gavanized protection.
Try to grind/clean all the surfaces around the screw to get a good electical contact.

Finally, put some of dielectric grease on screw and surfaces.

 

Good, but I dont think that was your problem. N-e way when you run the car, it never stops at the same place.

Your problem was probably just what I said above. when you put everything back, you ''scratch'' the screws enough to get back your direct electric connection.

I fixed a lot of maxima's starting problem with this. My grounding kit didnt do a thing in my case too.

 

whatever the problem actually was (or wasn't) I'm glad you got the car fixed. Interesting read one way or the other.

 

Its been 3 weeks without incident. I probably have an advantage living in the dry SW but I'll take it. The only thing now that Im chasing is a P705 code that pops up every so often. Interesting code considering that my Max is a 5 speed. Is this a joke. Well whatever, I so dislike chasing codes and cant stand little lights on my dash. I searched this forum but to no avail. I guess Ill keep clearing it, living with it, or driving one of my GM's.

 

is that the trans range finder code or whatever?

if so, on a manual that will pop up if your reverse sensor goes bad, so when it pops up (if possible) see if your reverse lights are coming on