i appreciate all your help here people - i really do.


im going to drive up to him next weekend and spend a few hours trying things (finding leaks, grounding the starter, grounding the oil pan to tranny case, etc. etc.)

if all those things fail, im going to remove the spacers and hope that fixes the problem and then try to resell them (i guess.....) for half of what i paid.


and by the way last night was the worst start ive ever experienced.
ill give you guys a detailed account, in case any of this has to do with anything else.

- drove 30 miles on the highway to my house.
- was in my house for 15 minutes and decided to drive to the video store. started up my car and it had a semi-weak start, not bad tho
- spent 5 minutes in the video store. started my car again, same weak start, but not bad
- drove from there the 5 minute drive to the supermarket. spent 30 minutes in the supermarket.
- i pack my groceries in my car, go to start it and it ignites, catches, but then just gives out around the 200-300 rpm range. i try again, goes up to about 400 and gives out.
let it sit for 15 seconds, try again and it BARELY starts. the weakest of them all.....

so i guess the "peak weakness window" is like 30 mins sitting after getting the engine hot.

 

Hey, i had a similar problem when i had my 97.. I accidently fixed the problem when i rebuilt my tranny.. just made sure everything was grounded correctly.
check all your grounds. battery, starter, tranny. run an additional wire if needed.

 

Because ive seen to many cars with similar problems, Warm starts etc.... they always come down to this, either the starter heat soaks or the Idle air control valve assy is dirty as hell or clogged with excess crankcase vapors.
Spacer, as i said before are not the cause of the hard start problem, what the op needs to look at is all his vacum lines, breather hoses and PCV system intact and working properly. While making excess grounds allow for a better electrical system all together, The main problem is generaly overlooked, IMO i'd rather clean my IACV and re-check vacum lines and hoses than take my brand new spacers out for a simple problem like this but thats just me......

 

How mouch stuff do you have hooked up to your battery?

 

nothing, no woofers or any other draw.

and like i said, everything worked perfectly previous to the ypipe/NWP spacer/valve cover gasket install

 

I am sure It can be this,since you had modded it with the spacer I am sure the thing is not on right or It is just causing the motor to not suck in the air very good because the spacer is proballay not seated. The best adivice will be is that you should check out the whole installation and try the car without these mods. Good luck.

 

OK, mine may not be relevant at all, but I've sorta got the same issue, but my 96 wont event start after those 30 minutes or less, it just cranks for about 5-10 seconds (maybe less, just seems like forever as with anything in life that is painful) and then sputters to life. once started, 9 outta 10 times, it idles high at about 1500, and when i hit the gas, acts like it wants choke out and die, put it into gear, and just fine. i was kinda thinking i had an injector stuck open. ive notice a few times smoke coming from the exhaust when it starts like this. i know its not oil, but the smoke isnt black lke its rich. i dunno. like i said may or may not be relevant. didnt know if it was the same problem

 

after reading through all this I still stand by my last suggestions I gave you in your previous thread. 1. add a grounding kit, 2. have a vacuum test done on your intake manifold.

I agree with TheWizard that its probably due to the spacers but as a fellow spacer owner, I wouldnt resort to selling them quite so soon. my spacers didnt add any starting problems but my car already has a grounding kit which connects to both the UIM and throttlebody. I also am pretty positive i installed good so there are no vacuum leaks. You did use RTV sealant right?

ps...i still disagree with your decision to skip the coolant bypass on the UIM. skipping that basically nullifies any effect the spacers have so you should change that too

pss...your starting scenario in post 41 sounds like a dieing battery symptom. how old is it?

 

yes we used RTV, plenty of it.

if my intake was leaking somewhere, wouldnt i feel those effects all the time?
at idle? cold starts? etc.


if we run the coolant bypass, wont that make the TB more likely to get iced up in a northern/colder climate?

and my battery is about 3-4 months old. a DIE HARD i bought at sears.

here are pics of the day of the install on all this stuff (not that its gonna help):

 

pm sent about the coolant bypass, dont want your thread to get off topic.

 

alright this is what i have listed to eliminate as possibilities:

- Clean all grounds
- Ground Oil Pan to Tranny Case
- Ground Starter (8 AWG wire from starter bolt to battery, or tranny)
- Check Spark Plugs
- Run Coolant Bypass
- Check ECTS
- Starter Solenoid (getting hit with exhaust?)
- Vapor Lock possibility? Gas line near something hot?
- EVAP canister wtf?
- Improper crankcase ventilation? PCV hose damaged/not secure?
- IACV damage/miscalculation? (having trouble “keeping up” with warm motor)
- Vacuum leak test?

 

sounds like a good list, also if your mechanic has access to a smoke machine, i would recomend that method to chase down a vacum leak, best of luck on your problem

 

I just had my 2nd alty & starter replaced. I also asked the guys to run a ground wire from the starter to the tranny, as well as cleaning the other end of the negative battery terminal. New starter's great, but it still sputters on a semi-warm start (after the car sits for an hour, 30 mins is still okay).

 

over the weekend.....


drove 2 hours south to meet up with a couple of org members.

spent about 4 hours there (with my car off). starts up fine after that time.

go to the local mcdonalds on my way home. turn the car off and go inside to eat.

come back outside, put the key in the ignition and NOTHING happens. no coughing or choking or weak starts - just silence. all the lights turn on in the dash, and the overhead works, but there is no sound when i turn the key.

MY STARTER IS DEAD.......im now stranded at mcdonalds, 100 miles from my house.


i make a couple of phone calls and finally Essential1 (awesome guy) tells me to bang on the starter with a piece of metal. so i get my spark plug extension out, hit it a couple of times, plus touch the starter to the body using the rod.

it starts, very weakly, but starts.

i drive home, let it sit for 6 hours and try it agian before i go to bed. starts fine......



WTMF ?

is this my starter going out?

why does it still start when the engine is cold, but when its warm its completely dead?

this still sound like a grounding issue?
should i replace the starter?

 

ya, replace the starter

 

yeah dude my car had messed up starts when my starter was going out... but eventually mine died completely and wouldnt start at all. Im thinking eventually ur starter will completely die. Just replace it with a nice oem one, and c if that fixes ur issue all-together.

 

replace it with the autozone lifetime warranty starter...your car is still young so never have to worry about the starter again.

 

Actually replace it with a Napa lifetime starter for a 99 maxima. The last time i went looking for starters advanced auto,auto zone,checkers only had a 10 tooth model. Napa had a 10 tooth model but for the 99 they had an 11 tooth model available. Nissan now sells a 11 tooth model as well.

This should be the correct one.
http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPage...emfd+-+Premium

 

11 toof ?

please to be explaining why that is for the better

 

Your car probably has an 8 tooth if it's the original starter. If not it will be a 10 tooth. With the 11 tooth it will turn over easier.

 

is there any downside to an 11tooth?

i was actually going to get an OEM nissan one at cost from a local dealership

that is a bad idea?

 

It dies when its hot because starters hate heat. Like when you add headers to a old 350, its a good ideal to heat wrap them cause the starter is right next to the headers. Get a new starter!

PS. those wheel spacers where warped.

 

Yeah they cost about $30 more then the 10 tooth.

Yes. Nissan sells remanufactured starters just like you would get at Napa only the dealership doesn't offer a lifetime warranty like napa does.

Of course Nissan also sells brand new starters but there expensive and still no lifetime warranty.

 

alright well exoticcreations and i put a refurbished Nissan 11 tooth starter in today.


SAME ****ING PIECE OF **** PROBLEM IS HAPPENING.


car chokes on warm starts only........

 

So what all was done to your car over the weekend? did you complete the list you made?

 

no not yet. this weekend i will run through it with kenny.

 

Starter has nothing to do with dying when it's hot, or any other time. A completely dead starter will allow the car to run fine and not die.

Jesus, there is way too much misinformation here.

ROCKART, I know your starter was dead, but I needed to clear up what exotic stated.

Also, it's probably too late now, but slamming a bad started w/ a wrench or rock does help it turn over. Helped mine for months until I ponied up the dough for a new starter.

 

my car didnt die while i was driving it. i turned it off for 10 mins and came back out and it wouldnt start. no noise, no catch, no nothing.

what do you mean "a completely dead starter will allow the car to run fine and not die" ??

and what made me think it was the starter causing this problem, was when i hit it with the metal bar, and touched the starter to the body panel, it allowed me to start my car (barely).
so we replaced the starter yesterday, i drove home, turned the car off, went inside for 15 mins and came back out, and i had the same weak start ive been having for the past month - since putting on the NWP spacers and Y pipe.

im gonna fabricate my own grounding kit tonight and tomorrow and hopefully have it in by this weekend.

if the grounds dont fix this, im taking out the spacers.

and if that doesnt fix it, im driving the car into a lake.

 

I never said the car will stop running if the starter dies. U can take the starter out of the car when its running. He was having problems with the car starting, not shutting off when the car sucessfully stated.

 

Ok Is it Me or have you completed your list yet? grounds will most likely not help your problem, because if it were a ground issue it would be constant not just when the engine gets warm. However you did replace your valve gaskets and alot of stuff must come off for that to happen, Which leaves room for a lot of **** to be hooked up wrong, cracked hoses etc.... What i dont get is why do you keep overlooking the basics? you have a list, do that, then if that dosent work, sell me those spacers.

 

This statement is false. ^^

 

Meaning when the starter gets heat soaked it dies(THE STARTER)Not the engine. He never said the engine shuts off on him.

 

That's what I've been saying too for over a week now.

 

I can guarantee it's not the spacers themselves that are causing this problem. I've been talking with Rockart since day one trying to help him diagnose his problem.

The car that we did all our temp and dyno testing on was completely stock with just a JWT POP Charger. It did not have any kind of grounding kit either. The thing ran great the minute we fired it up.

I am guessing that it's simply a faulty install of the Ypipe or spacers. But it does sound like the starter was bad as well. That needed to be replaced anyway.

 

Hey frank. Sorry I havent been in contact with you. There is something wrong with my phone. I can see calls coming in, but when I open to answer, it keeps ringing. And when I try to make calls, it just keeps saying call failed.

Anyway, I still see that your still having problems with the car even with the starter replaced. I don't know why it's still acting up after that. But I can assure you, just like aaron said, I'm just about positive the spacers aren't the cause of the issue. I'm still convinced that it has something to do with the starting system in your car.

The next step would probably be checking all your grounds/wiring for the starting system in your car. If the problem persists still, for some reason, your starter is getting heatsoaked more than it should be. And it that case, i'd try wrapping your exhaust. I never heard of aftermarket y pipes causing such a big increase in EGTs to weaken the starter. But what else could it be?

 

i dunno man. im as lost as you are.

i spent the majority of this week making wires (set of 5) to ground various things. im gonna put em on tomorrow as well as sand off all the existing grounds.

kenny is coming down through here on sunday, on his way to check out exotics vq30, and he is gonna look over some things.

do you know how to install an o2 sim?
the directions are pretty ****ty.

im thinkning that might also be the cause of this.

 

This is false, electricity is very temperamental to temperature and humidity. My car started perfect cold but 8 out of 10 times you would have to press the gas to get it to start correctly when warm. Added a 8awg wire from the starter bolt to the battery and it has started perfectly for 2 weeks now, cranks faster, and mpg has gone from about 26 to high 29s.

 

put a new starter in it..... it will put a smile on your face

 

yea this is what the org member who put the spacers in says - that its an electrical issue and how the ECU responds


ill be sure to tell you all tomorrow.

 

If you read the thread you will see that he just did that