So I got caught in the blizzard over the weekend. I got stuck in a ditch...real fun. Anyway, in an attempt to get out of the ditch, it was really an unpaved street, I tried rocking the car back and forth, this caused debris and what not to shoot up in the wheelwell and make the mud/water guard fly off on my front passenger-side.

So I'm driving the following day, and after 25 mins of driving I get this burning smell that is all-to-familiar to me. I just assumed it was water and snow getting onto the belts and burning off.

I proceed to go into work and not think much of it. I come out 6 hours later, and my car won't start. Radio and everything else comes on, but the engine barely cranks.

I play with it for a little, then let it sit for 10 minutes, and pop the hood. Everything looks cool, relatively speaking, but I smell that burning smell once again. I let it sit some more, and finally turns over, but it takes damn near a half hour of me fiddling with it, cranking/letting it sit. Once it's on, this terrible rattling noise persists, no matter if I push the gas or not. I want to say it gets faster as I push the gas but I couldn't hear it as much when I was driving.

I have a 98 maxima, with 150k miles on...never had this problem before with this car.

 

AT or 5spd??

Rattiling noise from where..Engine??...wheels??.. underside???

Smells like what?? burning oil?? any puddles under the car?? driveability lost??

Any codes?

From cursory impression of the info u supplied...i would say somethin on the passenger side...maybe ball joint or bearing is the cause of the noise.

AS far as the no start...u may have fawked up the CKPS (REF) when the ice and crap flew up into the engine bay

need more info bro

 

are there any lights lit on the cluster? that would show alternator or sensor issues in theory.

 

its an auto...no puddles...doesn't smell like burning oil, can't quite describe it. you ever spill water on a stove...it's a subtle smell like that. I'll throw my code checker on later, the light is on, but its been on. It was a p1447 something completely unrelated that I have yet to resolve.

 

I once drove over a block of ice thinkin it was jus snow...screwed up the entire passenger underside of steering. Had to replace everyhtin. Now THAT sucked hehe

 

I understand that the grease in the starter "dries up" and is the main cause of starter failure. You can actually remove the starter and re-grease it to prevent the starter from going out.

 

i have a 1k used starter by bosch for sale

 

The bearing in the idler pulley is going.

Thanx everyone.