Hey guys i pulled my tranny to replace my throwout bearing and after putting everything back together i got a hard start. The engine would rotate, spudder, backfire and sometimes would catch. This countinued until my starter died and i replaced with a new one. Engine cranks at about a consistant 800-1200rmps but still doesnt catch. Im afraid this is gona eventually eat up my new starter

I checked visually and with multimeter, crank pos sensor, MAF, speed sensor, cam sensor. Spark pluggs are a little chared up but the gap looks alright.

A mechanic looked at it for a while and scanned the computer while cranking and found 2 misfire codes for cylinders 3 and 6. and found jumpy and spuddering crank speeds.

What else can i check? any input at all anything would help?

 

I also cleaned off and re-located the main ground wire

 

just got a code for bank 1 oxygen sensor, cleared it and it has not come back on

 

pull your plugs... and smell the oil on the dipstick. If either ones smells like gas... you continuously flooded the engine when cranking. There could huge deposits left on the plugs. If they are black sand then down/ burn them off with a torch or just replace them. Might explain the mis-fires.

 

how sure are you that u replaced and/or but back everything right in the tranny ei flywheel,clutch?? if your positive that all is good with reinstallment then check all three sensors crank,cam, and uhh i forgot the name of the other one sorry lazy today...but anyway one is by the timing chain cover,the other is by the oil pan, and the other is on the front of the tranny if u had an injen intake that last sensor would be around the filter section (just giving u an ideal of the location) cause thats the one that prevented my car from starting for over 8 mnths and three different mechanics couldnt figure out . check them all wipe them down and if any looks old and rusty replace or if u have a friend with a max borrow theres and see if it starts then before u buy a new one. after checking those sensors check ya ground wire see if any molds are developing if so replace the wire.. cheap and wouldnt hurt anyway. i have to look at old threads to see wat esle to check ill get back at ya

 

The starter ground has most likely been compromised due the transmission/engine mating surface(s) being dirty. Try running a ground wire directly from a starter bolt to the frame.

 

What he said! x 1000000000

 

what they both said... i know thats where my hard starts are coming from... nissan dealer confirmed this... they wanted $1000 to remove tranny and clean the surface... ya right!

 

Guys, I'm finding this thread very interesting... I just put my transmission back in my car. I haven't tried starting it yet but I also didn't clean the mating surfaces between the tranny and engine very well. You guys have me worried.

What I don't understand is why the bolts holding the tranny to the engine wouldn't provide sufficient grounding, also the starter is grounded so I don't understand why the surfaces need to be clean. Then again I've seen some pretty strange problems caused by a bad ground.

One more thing, there's a grounding tab under one of the bolts, I can't remember what wire goes to that clip. I guess when I get everything else back in, it will be the only wire not connected.

 

The starter is grounded to the block by way of the transmission. The transmission mating surface is the ground "wire".

 

You would think the bolts would be enough, but they are not. My car ran for a week after the clutch job before it started starting really bad.

 

Hey guys, i thought this tread was dead but im glad to see it still around. My max is the problem car and I left it at home while im at school now but I need to fix this problem, this hard start burnt up my old starter and im wearing down the new one as I keep trying to start it. The plugs look alittle black but the gapping is still fine. I think this is from me being so hard on the old starter when she died in the middle of the road.

As far as the three sensors that go to the tranny i believe they are:
-Camshaft position sensor (on timing chain cover)
-Crankshaft position sensor (in the side of the transmission infront of the radiator?)
-Speed sensor (on the back of the tranny?)
If any of these three sensors are not working correctly the starting would be hard.
I replaced the crank pos sensor to no change in the starting and i returned the part.
I visually checked the speed and cam pos sensor and they seemed intac, and i check the connectors with a meter.

The car runs amazing, just put on my stillin b-pipe paired with the warpseed y-pipe. Ran a 15.5 with the hard starting and a ****ty launch.

I had a long talk with my mechanic and he had only seen this problem once, he gave up and the owner said he brought it to the dealer and they cleaned off the surface where the tranny and block meet and apparently the problem was solved.......

This unclean matting surface makes sense, the garage we worked in was terribly dusty and the heater was acting up and large puffs of dust came out earlier before we started working. I specifially remember me sneezing and my allergies acting up.

Pulling the tranny again is going to be a pain and might offer that job to a nissan specialist in my area. However my throwout bearing is still unexplainable. The oem one squeeked , and now my autzone TO bearing squeeks too. This whole pulling the tranny killed me, put me in debt and didnt even fix the intial problem. What do u guys think, any input would help or diagnostic tips for narrowing this problem down.

Please ignore my spelling/grammar, its like 1 am right now.

 

Run a ground from the negitive battery terminal to the starter. I went through this replacing every part bs so you don't have to.




http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=452286

 

Well the battery itself isn't a ground. Why not run it to the frame which is what the battery is grounded to in the first place?

 

Aight guys, I really believed that my problem was a poor starter ground, I was planning on diverting the ground from the starter bolts to the neg/frame like explained in the a link in this thread. So I take off the intake and see that my mechanic who tried to daignos this probem relocated the main ground and moved it to a bold ON the starter. The car and all its electronics work fine once its started so theorfore the starter must be properly grounded am I right? That surface where the bellhouseing meets the block is clean and making a good connection? I am back at school now with the maxima and im gettin better at starting it, it seems to work better if i just flick the key on untill it catches verses holding it and putting stress on the starter. What do guys think? any input would help

 

...bump...

 

bbbuuummpppp........

 

camshaft position Sensor?

 

I don't really understand what you are saying here, it seems like you answered your own questions.




NO

 

WHAT?!


So you're saying he removed the negative cable ground from the frame and attached it to a starter bolt?

 

Its bolted to the side of the starter, not one of the two bolts that secure it to bell houseing

 

NO, no no! The negitve cable(the big one on the battery) should be left alone. Run a whole NEW wire from the starter mounting bolt to where the negitive cable bolts to the body or the negitive terminal on the battery. The best thing would be to bolt it on the body under the air filter box.

DO NOT change the location of the negitive battery cable. Since the starter is getting a bad ground already, the whole car woulod get a bad ground if you run your main negitve battery cable to the starter. Holy crap! Do not do that.

 

I am aware of this, my mechanic moved the battery ground, However the car runs and drives great, all electonics are in perfect working order. So i believe that the starter is grounded properly.

 

Any other thoughts?

 

I didn't know the negitive cable was long enough to reach the starter. Your starter will always crank like hell now, but since the only other spot thats grounded is to the body and if that spot corrodes, you will have no current flowing anywhere but your starter. If it's running good then great but I wouldn't comfortable with that setup. Good luck.

 

Yea, I plan on relocating the main ground again to the frame and try my original plan which is to run a ground wire from a starter bolt to the negative on the batt, even tho im pretty sure that this will not solve my starting problem.

 

Hey everybody with a hardstart on a 1997 maxima. Every morning I would have a hard start on my vehicle it didn't matter if it was a cold day or hot day.

The problem was solved when I looked at the fuse box to the left of the steering wheel and noticed there was not a fuse on the "start signal" compartment, I got one of the spares and put in the "start signal" compartment and my car has been starting with one crank. I don't even have to press the gas for me to help it. BEAUTIFUL!! I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! The fuse box is why my car wouldn't start at one crank...hope this helps FOR YOU!!