keil

i got it fixed it really turned out to be da ground allso,it was da lil metal pin to put on da gound wire.so thanks every 1 for da inputs im loveing da light weight flywheel,clucthand tranny.

luke95gxe

iTrader: (4)

wordage glad it helped

maXspeed96se

iTrader: (2)

they really should sticky this thread

luke95gxe

iTrader: (4)

STICKIE

maXspeed96se

iTrader: (2)

^

cashoit

yo maxspeed man...im feelin those 6 star rim....ooooweeee!! lol

maXspeed96se

iTrader: (2)

those were my 350z wheels. got 5.5 SEs now. gettin rid of these next weekend hopefully

beatdown97

iTrader: (2)

ok after like 4 ppl getting theirs running with just running another ground i think imma try it tomorrow i already have 1 4 gauge wire running from the - battery terminal to the shock tower bolt.. and i have cleaned all my sensors and ohmed out all my injectors and my coils, good battery, good starter so now tomorrow imma go get a new set of terminals from wal-mart or AZ or something and get a 2 or 4 gauge wire and run it from the - terminal to the tranny housing bolt.. and maybe ill get lucky and get the same result.. if i get it to start ill vote it for sticky lol

cdmapro

out of curiosity, does anyone have an explanation for what is going on here? ok weak ground - but what system(s) is it affecting? apparently not the starter - it cranked fine. do the ckps sensors get their ground from the engine block, which gets its ground from the tranny, etc? are the plugs not getting a ground and hence not firing? (except plugs will fire in open air with no ground contact at all). fuel injectors not getting a ground? very goofy I've never seen anything like this, and I highly doubt any shop or dealer would know about this fix. an org exclusive for sure.

good luck beatdown I know you're struggling with the bad boy...

321VQ35MAX

iTrader: (6)

Xavier, you wouldnt have this problem in a Mazda

beatdown97

iTrader: (2)

what sucks is a good friend of mine has a 98 se mt with all kinds of goodies on it yet he wont part with anything even though his is totaled in the rear end, to name a few (to the best of my knowledge) his 98 has forged pistons, arp head studs, 8psi ball bearing turbo, huge friggin intercooler, megan headers to a full megan catback exhaust, stage 2 exedy clutch, HKS cam gears, just to name a few (im sure he has more in it) he bought it new in 98 and just little things along the way and the motor only has like 56k on it

beatdown97

iTrader: (2)

i finally got it started and running check out my post for more details

Swazey

this is a common problem after replacing the clutch. mine did exactly the same thing. i added a ground to the starter as well as the tranny, exactly where you put yours. starts right up now!

beatdown97

iTrader: (2)

the bolts that connect the tranny to the engine you should see one right beside your mount on the driver side and one just a little lower then that i grounded to the lower one

ugufru

I've had a similar starting problem with my 1995 in cold weather. Even this summer, it's not starting right away and usually requires a quick throttle tap to get it going. After reading this thread and a few others that talk about grounding, knowing that my clutch was replaced around 60K, I thought for sure this would do the trick. But it did not make any difference. I'm getting a 1005 code though. Starter and battery are fine. Cleaning the EGR tube next...

Italianjoe1

iTrader: (1)

I did an engine swap on a '96 and am getting the exact same problem. Re-did all the grounds and no change. Any other ideas? Have already swapped both CKPS and CPS from the old motor over.

snoplow

i would like to know this too..i am a newbie when it comes to figuring out all of these sensors and what effects this and that.. i have a 95 that i just put a good motor in that is not getting spark and i am stumped and searching for leads.. but there will be more on that later i have to post some more before i can start a new thread and i dont want to hi-jack this one.. so in the mean time i will just observe and learn, but how does a ground differenciate what will work and what doesnt? and what needs to be grounded and what is over doing it?

beatdown97

iTrader: (2)

ok when your car system isnt getting a good enough ground.. its pretty much telling your ecu (IIRC) that it doesnt have a safe current load on the system thus allowing your ecu to lower the spark(or kill the spark) im not exactly sure what exactly it does but thats what was told to me by a few ppl including my father in law (whos been a mechanic for over 30 yrs) go to your local parts store and get a 4 gauge "starter to ground" wire the 24 inch wire will work perfectly and run that from your negative side of your battery to your bolt that bolts between the engine and tranny and make sure you get a good connection (clean the spots and scuff it up with a metal brush) and then charge your battery and see if gets spark .. best case scenario it starts.. worse it doesnt but then you have one thing eliminated in the search for more answers

beatdown97

iTrader: (2)

we should really sticky this issue since its such a common question if it pleases the admin "gods" lol ill do a write up on exactly what to do with pics and all on saturday when i put my new a/c compressor (which will also be documented)

snoplow

kudos.. thanks beatdown.. i will give it a shot and let you know if it helps..either way i kinda dig whats going on here so i think i will stick around

cashoit

I jus added some grounds to my car last night including a ground to the tranny...o yea the car feels good.

Wheneven u do a motor swap, u have to clean the mating surfaces between the tranny and engine till that bish shine. The tranny and engine are grounded "internally". If u dont then u gonna have poor conductivity. To help with electrical conductivity "cleanliness", find a bolt on the engine, either on top of engine or near CPS, and ground to chassis. It def helps.

beatdown97

iTrader: (2)

yeah thats what were here for is to help out other ppl

snoplow

no luck for me .. but how about this... when i was putting the ground wire on the tranny side it sparked..... i am not a genius but i dont think that is normal.. what would cause that??

sbreeeezy

Check your sensors, and the starter(: i had this same problem like a couple of weeks ago.

snoplow

after thinkin about it i just realize that i am a bonehead.. i had connected the new ground to the batt. to run it down to the bolt so it wouldnt look like a cluster and i never unhooked it when i bolted it down.. ..so and i have tested the sensors and coil packs and i know the starter is good..still no spark.. its kinda frustrating cuz i really like the car but i dont have much mucho deniro to put into the thing..

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

Hey glad you found the problem I had the EXACT same problem which occurred after I dropped in a different engine. My problem was the ground that goes from the trans to the chassis under the trans mount. My videos in my thread match the cranking of yours so here's the link for your thread and mine which should probably go in a sticky like everyone is suggesting.

I'm sure other members can copy and paste another link or two for "validity" of the problem.

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...eak-start.html

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...ont-start.html

Imagination

Agreed sticky information

Mnick1

After 8 months of trying to figure out my hard starting problem, I will try adding the infamous ground wire. Not sure it will work for my Max since mine is an automatic. I've been reading and reading and reading about similar but not quite the same problem. I'm not trying to hijack this thread for post accreditation. I just need this thing to start once and for all. I'm getting the 4 gauge gr., 24 in length I'll measure just to be sure. Mine never eventually starts after so many attempts. I've even taken UIM off replaced VC gaskets and cleaned everything thoroughly as I placed them back into place and voila! She fires up! Yeah right? Nope Mine will gradually over 24 hours time even after test starts to make sure it will start from now on, by the next day back to crank crank crank recharge battery and so on. This ground wire will be the last thing I try before I have to let tow truck come and take this 250k miles, powerful, smooth running, started to idle kind of rough, Jade green with Beige interior to the JY! This thread is my last hope.
If this works or not I will let anyone who cares know the results. May the Org be with me!

Mnick1

If anyone still gets a message of a reply on this thread or by chance anyone reading this like me looking for a helpful idea to there no start problem fixed, this may be a slight bit out of left field question but would it matter if it were a stick or an automatic for the infamous "ground wire add-on" to work? Just curious

luke95gxe

iTrader: (4)

doesnt matter if its auto or stick the starter grounds its self through the tranny which grounds its self through the enginge the trannt has a lil bs clip ground thats why adding a ground to a tranny bolt works alot of times also if im not mistaken one of the crank sensors grounds through the tranny did adding another ground fix ur problem mnick1??

Mnick1

Well..... I don't know yet. I started out adding the additional ground wire from the negative battery terminal to to a nice spot on the tranny and then I had I thought. 2 weeks ago when I was replacing the negative battery lead I had noticed this steel or hard metal bracket on the engine block that lead was connected to. Does everyone have this? I don't understand the reason for it. It's 6 inches down from the top of the front bank almost in the middle of the block. I'll see if I can upload a pic if necessary. Not sure of the purpose so I removed it and bolted the lead to the engine block. I figured it would be a better ground this way. Didn't work.
So I added it back. Instead of going from battery with both grounds I took one from batt to eng block and second from same spot on engine block to tranny where that wire you mentioned was at. It was rusted, I cleaned it but didn't reattach it. I turned the key and cranked and cranked but no action. I smelled gas on the 4th try and tried holding the pedal to the floor but nope nothing. Think I'll try the batt to tranny and the batt to eng theory. Maybe I should reattach the pre-existing wire also for good measure. We'll see

luke95gxe

iTrader: (4)

all electical componats in the engine bay ground them selfs through the engine those grounds from the batt to engine and tranny need to be there

Mnick1

Welp nothing. Still cranking not starting, although with extra ground in place it seems like it will help. I think it's an electrical problem don't know for sure. A few months ago in efforts to fix the problem I replaced the MAF and it started up right away. In under 2 weeks time the hard starting happened again and car would never start. Last week I removed the UIM and replaced the valve cover gaskets. Put everything back in cleaned all and replaced all hoses car started right up. Tons of white smoke (steam actually) coming from exhaust. I let car run for 20 minutes. Waited a few and started it back up no prob. Next day back to hard start no start. I've been wanting to save the money to get replace the problem part rather than giving the money to a shop or dealer and have them charge for a diagnosis that more than likely won't fix the problem. Going to try testing the battery to see if something is draining the battery. Constantly having to recharge after several starting attempts.
If you have any ideas feel free to let me know, I can't start my own thread yet I have about 6 or so post left. Thanks for the info on the extra ground.

maXspeed96se

iTrader: (2)

still no luck??

dersh.z

I'm in the same "boat"... not enough replies to start a thread. I did put the ground to tranny on my 98 auto, didn't make a difference. In fact, I just got my car back from an auto repair shop who also could not find the problem (I've been trying off and on for a month now - I'm here most nights reading)... sometimes tough to start and randomly dies - the tech told me he had it running for 4 hours today which is 3-1/2 hours longer than it usually runs...??? Fuel injectors???

I'm not ready to send it to the junk yard since it has no rust and was getting 30+mpg on the highway... guess I'll keep trying, but it is getting cold outside and I have no heat in my garage.

Good luck, I'll be watching this thread and/or for a new thread when you get enough replies.

dersh.

dersh.z

FYI... I finally gave up and took the car to a mechanic... after two weeks of fiddling with it, he found a leaking upper intake gasket. The car runs great except I have to give it a bit of gas to get it going on cold mornings, once it starts it runs all day.