Was having starting issues this past week (click link in sig for more details).

Got the car started via poping the clutch. She starts everytime I crank but something is off and causing resistance. Took her to a nissan certified shop that I have some trust with to check it out. After looking over the car they suggested starter, or my ecu!

There is a timing issue, which I determined on night when trying to crank and the car was backfiring thru the throttle body. They are hearing something wrong with the starter, and there suggesting the ecu could be causing it (as they are an "intermitted problem on 95/96 maxs")

Does this sounds like BS? Educated BS? He could be right?

 

There were definitely 95/96 models that had TSBs for ECU replacement for extended cranking, but I don't think it was related to timing

In your case, it might be a bad Crankshaft Position Sensor or Camshaft Position Sensor... all 3 are needed (in good working condition) to start and run properly.

 

They said they were fine, but If will double check again when I get the car back.

I checked all the sensor except for the Crank Position Sensor (POS) I honnestly couldnt find it. The other read within spec (Cam and Crank(Ref) )

 

I just redid my starter. It seems like almost everybody is having starter issues right now. Good luck. My guess would be the bushing in the starter have worn and are preventing the starter from doing it's job properly. If your unsure remove the starter and take it to a parts store to have it bench tested. That'll tell you if its good or not. simplest to remove and probably the most expensive part to replace.

 

The POS sensor is hard to explain - but I'll give it a go.

If you look down from the front of your car, the sensor is located on the transmission housing - actually it sits right along where the tranny and engine meet. If you follow the O2 sensor harness for the front O2 sensor down from the plug to the sensor, you go right by the CPS (POS).

The POS sensor has a single 10mm bolt.

 

Thanks njmodi, I'll check when I get my car back tommorow morning. I'd rather change that than the ecu. I hope that is it, they said its fine but who knows. But it could be the starter and not the ecu, so I have a lifetime warantee so I'll swap that first and see how she fires up.