Starting problem, lots of details, huge headache PLS HELP (long story beware)
 

Ok heres the story!
97 5spd max, 140k miles on it.

Trans blew so I got a 01 AE locking trans to put in it.
I take it to a local shop. They put it in. New clutch/flywheel/driver side axle.
I go pick the car up, test drive it around a little. The car starts fine. Drives fine. Clutch is a hair sloppy but they said its because it is new and needs to be broken in. Also I was used to a harsh stage 3 or something clutch so it was different to me. I pay them for the work, then drive to the local beer store and get some beer. Drive back to the shop and have some beers with the guys there. Car started and seemed fine. I leave later on and go get $20 premium gas at a local station that I go to pretty much all the time. I drive home and park the car. Next morning after a really really cold night, I can't get the f'ing car to start. Just cranks and cranks every once in a while it would kind of back fire and sounded like teh starter would jam and then it would crank more. I think it was hydrolocking or something. So I crank the thing until it dies. Then I call the guys at the shop and they say there is probably water in teh gas or something and to take it into the garage and get some heat on it for a while then try it. So I push it into the garage and put some blow dryers and a heat gun on it underthe hood. 1 hour later I try to start it to no avail. I spray a little starting fluid into the intake mani and it starts up. I let it warm up then drive it to advance auto parts and get some dry gas to put in it. Then to the gas station to fill it up and put the dry gas in. I proceed to drive to work (50 miles all highway). Car drives fine from what I can tell. Idles pretty much fine? I don't notice a difference except it might be a HAIR rough at idle 650-720 rpm. 6 hours later I go to leave work and it is hard as hell to start. It started not as bad as that morning but it took like 5 min to start it. Again, with the starter sounding like it would jam every few seconds, from hydrolocking i think? and backfires and everything.
I go to the advance auto place again and put another treatment of dry gas in it. Park it, go to sleep. Next morning, pain in the a$$. Again, not as bad as the first morning, but it still took like 10-20 min to start. Backfires, etc. Once it starts though its pretty much fine. So I figure its getting bettery slowly and the water is getting out? I go to work a few days with it and deal with it. Then the weekend hits and I buy some sea foam and put 1/3 in the gas 1/3 in the oil and 1/3 in the brake booster hose or whatever. Smoked like hell the whole seafoam experience. White smoke tons of it. Still i have this starting problem though. So I go to the shop and they say to check all the spark plugs and see if one is wet, this woudl mean a injector is cracked and leaking. Sure enough the one all the way on the left is wet. I pull the injector and it is cracked and kinda broken! I get a new injector. Now it doesn't jam or hydrolock really, but it still takes forever to start. Cranks forever then seems as if luck it will start. Doesn't backfire as much though.
Hooked it up to their odb computer thing and they say everything is coming up as OK. They put new crank sensor and some other crank sensor type thing in and it still has this problem. So they took them out and returned them. They checked the grounds and said everythign is good. However! If they leave the crank sensor un plugged. It will start after appox 7 seconds of easy fast cranking (no hydro locking, starter jamming, backfires)
Any ideas? I think I might have to take it to the damn dealership.
Truly I never thought I would have problems like this with my max. I am getting fed up with it now and almost at the point where I regret getting this trans put in and shoudl of traded it/parted it out/junked it with a bad trans.
I am like $2400 into this car with just the 01 AE trans + new clutch/flywheel/axle/labor. And now the new trans is leaking again out of the driver side axle, so it needs to be rebuilt. new bearings and seals. The shop said they could do it for approx $950 + tax. I was able to get $400 back from the place I bought the trans because it is leaking. So this will put the total up to almost $3000 for this trans. Then I have to deal with this fuking starting problem. What could it be? How much is it going to cost. WTF this is killing me.

:Prinz: you maxima gods

hmm. leave the CKPS plugged in, do your 10 minutes cranking thing, and then check the plugs again (and point a flashlight down the plug tube and have a look-see). if the plugs and CC are wet then you're flooding it.

why unplugging the CKPS would change that is a mystery to me. unless unplugging it triggers some kind of "default safe mode" where the ECU sends fuel injector & ignition signals according to a "safe" fuel/timing map that does not depend on the CKPS that you're unplugging....

question -- is that the CKPS (POS) or CKPS (REF) that you're unplugging? they do different things.

do you have an FSM? it will help you understand how that CKPS is interacting with your starting sequence, and that will give you a good idea where to look next.

I have a hunch the guys f'ed up a sensor when they did the tranny swap. I know it started fine when you picked it up, but it seems a bit too coincidental. and how does a fuel injector just crack? I wonder if they had to lift the engine with a hoist to get things lined up, tied some chains around the IM and and broke the injector in the process. and they knew exactly what to tell you to look for....hmm.

BTW -- don't leave that seafoam in your oil. it will eat away at your bearings.

Well they said that the 1st morning when it wouldn't start it was due to ice being in the fuel lines/rails/injector. And they think the ice is what cracked teh injector. It was the very tip of the injector that was cracked. So I don't think it could of been done on purpose or by accident unless you took the injector out. Which did not look like it was taken out in a while when I took it out. I had to break the 'bead' of crud holding the 2 screwes in. Then i had to break another bead of crud holding the injector itself in. I drove only about 200 miles with the seafoam in the engine oil. Going to have an oil change done before this pos gets on the road again.
Seemed logical that the ice cracked the injector, causing a leaky cyl and hydrolocking,backfires (which were coming from the exhaust + the intake btw). Sucks that I did all the work with changing the injector, and they said they would charge me whatever the injecor cost them, because i was doing it. They said it cost them $180.... Kinda high I think for 1 injector..

starter fuse.

Starter fuse? The starter cranks fine. The engine just does not start. ???

it will crank all day long. check the fuse just to make sure.

my car will start but i have to tap the gas in order for it to turn over this only happens in the morining after sitting all nite. and sometime its sound like its shorting out when im trying to start it but like i said i try it again tap on the accelerator and im good , but my question is should i be worried and what do i need to fix this problem

yeah check the starter fuse!! :squint:

Did you pull the plugs yet?




As for kiki, your could be a number of things including a dying fuel pump that can no longer hold its seal. dont get worried though as that is just a possiility. pull your plugs and look for deposits.

The plugs were black and i guess covered in carbon. All of them.

PM sent.......