Hey guys. Need some more help here. I've searched and think I have narrowed it down but I am looking for some confirmation. I just had my clutch replaced in my 97 and now I am having a long crank then start condition. It did not do this before the clutch job so I am leaning toward grounding issues. It will crank, crank, crank, crank, crank STOP, crank crank crank FIRE. Sort of like that. Letting the key sit in the "ACC" position for 10 or so seconds does not help. I was told all crank and cam sensors tested good as well as TPS etc. I am not getting any codes. Like I said, i am leaning towards a ground issue just looking for confirmation. Best way to run the ground is from Neg battery to ANY bolt on the Transmission...Yes? Thanks guys.

EDIT FOR FIX: Ended up pulling the tranny back out and cleaning the tranny/engine mating points...problem solved. So, if you pull your tranny, make sure you clean the surfaces very well before you put it back in.

 

yessir. did you sand down the mating surface of the trans when you pulled it? Forgive me, I don't know if the trans needs to get pulled for clutch replacement or not..

 

I personally did not do the job so I don't know for sure if the trans was sanded down...I'd like to think he at least cleaned it up since he is a reputable guy. I don't think not sanding it would be an issue though since it's the same tranny that was in there so it's not like i replaced the tranny with a rusty one from a junk yard. I am hoping though that if it was not sanded down, running a seperate ground from battery to transmission bolt will fix my issue.

 

It doesn't matter if it's the same tranny once you separate it from the engine it needs to be sanded down really good. Run a ground from your negative battery terminal to one of your starter bolts. Run the second from neg to a chassis ground, Run your third to one of your bellhousing bolts on the transmission. Solved all my problems after i replaced my transmission.

 

Which chassis ground point did you use and what gauge wire? I think I may have some 6GA laying around...will that work?

 

i've seen some hack job work come into my shop needing to be fixed. try not to get too narrow minded on one solution. they could have pinched any number of wires during removal/install. there could be codes in the pcm but not codes that require the check engine light to come on. there is also a TSB for the A32......



APPLIED VEHICLE:

 

I guess they could have pinched wires but I don't see anything out of place. As for codes, it was scanned with a scan tool and no codes pending. It does it whether its hot or cold. I just worked 10 hours and had hard start, drove home 20 minutes, try to start, still hard start. Double checked crank sensor on bell housing and no build up on it. We are gonna try a new cam sensor later today cause the one in it is from a junk yard and last time that went, I think I had the same type of hard start...could be coincidence I guess but not likely. thanks for the help, keep I coming.

I also know the mechanic is not happy with the job and he said he spent many hours, not charged, trying to trace the problem. He said he tested continuity on pretty much everything, even tried a new crank sensor on the bell housing with no better results.

Also, may not be related, but my cruise control does not work after the clutch job. The light on the dash comes on but it does not engage. All fuses are good and all stops are still on the brake and clutch pedals.

 

Here is a video. This was after driving for 20 minutes to work.

Shut it off, then try to start = not too bad but not right. Shut it off then try to start again = longer crank then stumble to life.

 

Yep that's what i used. I bought three of them.. I sanded down one of the factory chassis grounds under the battery tray (5th gen) and used that. One to one of the starter bolts and last to one of my lower bellhousing bolts. Your video sounds like my car did and it's a really common problem. The first one i ran to the starter bolt and right away started perfect but then a couple weeks later it started doing it again so i ran the other two and it hasn't skipped a beat in 8 or 9 months. They say the bigger the wire the better but mine are working good. Also if you do decide to do it sand your mating surfaces down real good.

 

Exact same issue here with mine. It got relatively worse since Ive been subbin lately.

 

Great! Thanks for the info. My 6ga I had is not long enough so I'll go to walmart and pick up some battery cable and run that the the starter and see if that works. If not, I'll run the other 2 grounds. This doesn't sound like a cam sensor issue does it? The last time my cam sensor went, it started like my video but it only did it once in a while so I'm leaning away from cam sensor problems.

 

Well guys, I think I found the problem thanks to more searching on the org. The transmission ground that is bolted near the air filter is not plugged in. You can see it in this pic where the yellowish light is shining


Now, who can tell me where this plugs in to? Top side of tranny or bottom?

 

what i would do if see how far the wire can reach in a couple directions. if you know how far it can reach you can narrow it down to a smaller area of where it can be plugged in. also trace back the wire and see where it goes. that may also help you determine what it should be connected to.

 

Yeah, I just spent the last half hour doing that and can't for the life of me find any place to plug it in. It is a ground that is bolted in to the inside of the driver side fender near the air filter.

 

Ground wire from the negative battery terminal to a BOLT on the tranny housing.

SEarch WXM...i think he or Trini-boom posted a pic.

 

Did that...no difference. I ran 3 new grounds, neg battery to starter, starter to trans (cause I didn't have a wire long to go straight from the battery but I think what I did is the same thing) and neg battery to chassis. None of these even made a slight difference.

 

Your probably already did this, but check the ground under the battery and the one on the front of the engine.

 

Well, found out today that the mechanic did not sand down the mating surface when he reinstalled the tranny. But given that I added all the extra grounds that should be the same as if it was sanded right? Also found out the the random ground wire I found hanging has no place to plug in to. I am completely stumped and it doesn't seem like the mechanic want to take the tranny back out. He seems to think its no issue with not sanding the mating surfaces. Any other thoughts before I push to have him remove the tranny?

Also, on a side note, why would that random ground wire be there with no place to plug into? Does that wire only go on AT? And does that mean that my car may have had a swap before i bought it?

 

The ground your showing DOES have a place to go. If you take the wheel off the driver side and remove the splash guard you should be able to see where it goes. One end is bolted to the body, the little black thing you showed attaches to a ****ty little metal ring that is connect to the tranny body by one of it's own bolts on the driver side of it. I realize this doesn't help much so here's a picture:

 

Ok, so I'm not looking for an actual "female" plastic connector for the "male" connector I showed in my pic? I pulled the splash guard off this morning and turned the wheel to the left but was unable to find any place to plug it. With your further info, I will look again. Thanks. Oh, and this infor is true for the Manual Transmission? The mechanic said that wire was not plugged in when he pulled the tranny.

I guess I was looking more for something like these in this pic.

 

i would check the crankshaft sensor and wiring again. Also check the harmonic balancer.

 

Crank sensor on the driver side of the car was replaced with a new one for testing purposes...no difference. Care to elaborate on checking the harmonic balancer? I do notice a metal on metal sound when at idle sometimes, but it made this noise even before the tranny pull so . This no extended crank issue only happened after the tranny pull.

 

Look closely at the bolt that I pointed out on the side of the tranny. I'm willing to bet you'll see a broken little metal tab coming out. It's your standard ground, I don't know what they're called.. flat metal circle that a bolt fits through? The metal is weak, when I took mine off on my 5th gen the metal was so rusted that it snapped after one movement. I stripped the wire, took a thin washer and sanded it to bare metal and then soldered the wire to the washer and bolted the washer onto the same bolt I took the old one off, good as new. I'll snap a picture when I'm working on the car today in a few hours.

I can't honestly say for sure its the same for the manual transmission but the wire looks identical and I don't see why they wouldn't ground the tranny through the same method, it seems pretty universal.

 

Thanks. Yeah, pics are always good. I will probably just run another ground wire since the factory wire is only a ground. I think I am pretty well grounded now anyway (battery to starter, battery to tranny, battery to chassis) so I don't think this will help my problem but I'll give it a shot.

 

Well I found where that little ground wire went. It was not on the same bolt you pointed out so it must have gotten moved at some point. Anyway, reconnected it and ran a couple more grounds. Still won't Start without cranking forever. I am guessing grounding is not the problem at this point since I have grounded the hell out if it. Any other thoughts here? Its going to the garage today but I'd like to have somewhere for him to start. Thanks.

Edit: just got off the phone with the Nissan dealer. They say tranny needs to come out again and and mating points sanded. He said the extra grounds I added are not enough. Off to the guy that did the job to tell him that.

 

Brought the Mechanic a TSB off the ORG...love the ORG...that says about needing to sand down the tranny / engine mounting area. Also told him I called the Nissan dealer and that they also said you need to sand it down. Anyway, I will be dropping the car off to him this morning to have him pull the tranny back out and complete the job properly. He aint happy about it...hope he doesn't try to charge me!!

 

1st post updated with fix. Thanks for all the help.