So many of us, myself included have been battling the hesitation of starting (eg: my posting http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...ate-start.html). There are many suggestions of potential culprits - POS, ignition switch, ECTS, FPR. In my case, I have tested the various sensors mentioned, replaced plugs and FPR with OEM. Neither seems to address the problem. The car starts perfectly for the entire winter, but starts to act again in warmer weather. This leads me to think whether the starting problem I have all along has anything to do with the government's mandate of ethanol blended fuel (aka E10, 10% blended). Since ethanol (alcohol) tends to absorb and hold water, it could theoretically degrade the gas. But would it cause hard-to-start problem? I am not expert, but it feels logical. Our cars were produced much earlier than the government mandate for ethanol, might not have the blended fuel in design. It makes sense also why the car works much better in colder temperature when fuel phase separation is lower than in warmer weather. Does anyone know whether I can find a gas that is not ethanol blended. I would like to try it out just to test out the theory...

 

We have E-10 here in Hawaii, and it is super humid here, so the gas goes bad if left exposed to fresh air.

The problem you mention above mostly affects 2-cycle engines (yard equipment) and boats, etc. that have long durations of "sitting on a shelf."

For your car, if you let it sit for a very long period of time, then I can see you would have a gas-water separation problem. But if you use your car at least once a week, then you should look elsewhere (for your hard to start problem).

 

WXM man, i thought u solved yur hard starts issue?

 

It takes a month or two in a mower with a vented cap, left in the weather. This is not your problem.

 

I thought so too. Going through entire winter with no issue at all, it gets worse when it gets warmer.

 

i have hrd ppl go so far as to remove the 5mt tranny to clean the mating surfaces