I bought a '99 Maxima SE 5 speed, and it has fuel pressure, cranks, no start. I checked grounds, theres no resistance between the engine and battery (negative), I also did a starter voltage drop test and found it was minimal (2v TOPS). I checked for power at the coils, and it is present, the injectors are pulsing, and with my scantool I found all sensors are working properly, except Ignition Advance shows just 1deg, and its constantly 1DEG. I went ahead and checked the Cam sensor's resistance while cranking, and it varies as it should. I then back-pinned the connector going to the Crank sensor, and I can't find a reference voltage from either of the connectors, even while cranking.

So, anyone have any ideas? Fuel pump is good, injectors are pulsing, coils have voltage but aren't firing, grounds are good, start is good, temp sensors etc are all good..just no spark. Shouldn't there be 5v at either the black or white wire to the Cam Sensor?

Or, does the cam sensor produce AC Voltage, in which case im amazed my DMM survived it. LOL

 

OK, I got my car running after dealing with the issues, it turned out to be the security system, so I reset it and it started up with a jump. Unhooked the jumper cables, and it kept running..then start misfiring, all dash lights came on (meaning bad alternator in Nissans), and...now It won't start again with a jump. I armed the security system and am letting it sit for now, then I will go unlock the doors to disarm it and try again. PITA stuff. Basically, I think I had it all figured out until the battery went dead again and screwed **** up like it was before.

 

All dash lights on does NOT mean bad alternator on Nissan cars. The Brake and battery light on at the same time means bad alternator.

 

I thought once the NATS locks you out, you'll need to have someone reprogram it?

 

It varies car to car, for example Z31 300ZXs have all the dash lights on. The maxima, that may be the case..CEL was on because of codes anyways, and the door was open, so yeah...

I got it fixed and running, Crank Sensor connector is buggered so I have to replace it then it'll all be prime.

It was a PITA, turns out my first diagnosis of the alarm was wrong, I just got lucky the first time. As I said, the problem was the connector to the crank sensor having an intermittent signal, if I push it in and wiggle it the car will start just fine.