busterbrown1

It's been a while since I posted on maxima.org as my 98 GLE has been relatively trouble free for the past 18 months. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time diagnosising a cold engine start up problem with my max. Yesterday, I had to replace my starter as it would not crank the motor, only make the infamous "click, click,click.." with the ignition. I was able to get the new starter installed without issues. It cranked strong with the turn of the key... However, I decided to clean the throttle body assembly, IACV, and MAF while I had the air box out because...over the past several months, I noticed that during a cold start, I would have to give a little gas in order to prevent it from stalling on first crank. After about 6-7 seconds, the idle would jump up and operate as expected. I figured it was a dirty TB. Now, after the starter install and TB cleaning, It seems a bit worse in regards to giving it some throttle to avoid a stall.

I was looking at suggestions as to why this behavior was more pronounced after the starter installation/cleaning. I now need to give it rpms north of 10 seconds in order to get the engine to run in a cold engine state. Any way to check functionality of the cold idle plunger? Love my low mileage maxima (118K) but don't love its sensativity to cold starts. Any help is appreciated.

Mxrider52

iTrader: (8)

My car does the exact same thing when first start up when cold out and my rpms will drop when go depress the clutch when coming to a stop but usually recover. But I believe it has something to do with the IACV base idle. Basically the idle has gotten out of adjustment. I need to adjust mine but I never have.

How to adjust IACV -

Warm the engine up to operating temp.
Turn off the engine.
Disconnect the TPS.
Start the engine and adjust the idle speed using the stop screw on the throttle body to 650 RPM's.
Turn off the engine.
Reconnect the TPS and restart the engine.

If the IACV is working correctly your idle should be correct. If it's a bit low, try adjusting the screw on the IACV bypass to get your idle speed to ~700 in neutral with no load. (no load means no lights or A/C)

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Simply look at the plunger and linkage when the engine is cold. You should see that the throttle plate is off the default stop set screw and being held open slightly by the plunger and associated linkage.
Also check the engine coolant temp sensor, it may have drifted out of specs.

lux97Max

iTrader: (24)

1998 Maxima New After Market Starter vs OEM Nissa…: http://youtu.be/BzMZvGA9u3w

Does it sound like this.

CS_AR

Cool video. As it turns out I bought one of those "New China" starters last summer. It would start the car but it made a terrible screeching and humming noise after the car would start. I had to disconnect the battery cable to get it to stop making noise. You can see the difference in the starter gear teeth in your video.

Some years ago I picked up a new looking Remy Rebuilt starter from a salvage yard that had has worked fine in the I30 for roughly 4 years now.

So last summer, I returned the "New China" starter and picked up another Remy Rebuilt from AA that has been working fine. I've seen other posts on here where people have trouble with the "New China" starters.

For the OP, an additional item to check is fuel pressure. I've seen fuel pressure regulator issues make our cars hard to start -- especially after sitting over night. One way to check for a failing pressure regulator is to turn the switch to the on position for a minute to let the fuel pump build up pressure before you hit the starter. I use an inline fuel pressure gauge to check fuel pressure when ruling out a weak fuel pump or failing pressure regulator.

Here's a picture of my "well worn" Harbor Freight fuel pressure testing gauge that I bought a few years ago.

busterbrown1

Thanks for everyone's advice. I did some more troubleshooting, and checked both the engine coolant temp sensor and IAT sensor. Based on the results from my multimeter, they were operating properly. Also made sure the IACV was adjusted properly when the engine was at normal operating temp. I did make a hair adjustment to the set screw to make sure that the throttle plate was positioned properly when cold.

Searching a bit further on the org, I happen to read that someone had a problem similar to mine and resolved it by replacing the fuel filter. So, I decided to do just that. So, after I put the air box and intake back together, I cranked over the cold engine. Wouldn't you know...started right up. Revved to about 1200 RPM's then slowly settled at around 675-700. After idling to warm, engaging drive dropped the RPM's to around 575.

I'm now happy with the new starter and easy cold starts. If it was the fuel filter, the last one I installed was about 2 years ago when I bought the car at 80K miles. Now approaching 120,000, it seems that 40K is all your going to get out of the filter media. I hope the I can get another 80,000 miles before I retire her. Body is remarkably rust free with just normal wear.

Thanks again.

busterbrown1

If my last attempt at a solution didn't pan out, my next option was to change out the fpr. Several threads, though, made mention that both warm and cold starts are affected by a failing fuel pressure regulator. Anyways, I'm up and running now. Thanks for your input.

CS_AR

Congratulations! Here's glad to see you found the issue.

JoshG

Fuel Filter caused all that, interesting to know thanks for sharing for future people who will may come across this problem

95maxrider

iTrader: (32)

This is very interesting. I've got the exact same cold start problems where I need to keep my foot on the gas a bit for 30 seconds or else it will stall, but after that it's fine. I just replaced the coolant temp sensor but it made no difference. I've got a new fuel filter sitting here, so I'll install that and see what happens. I hope it helps!

JvG

You might want to clean out the iacv.

​​​​​​It' job is to control air flow wheng, and the warm up phase.

Unless you are experiencing insufficient power on hills and freeway on-ramps, I'd say that your engibe gets enough full at idle.

95maxrider

iTrader: (32)

I cleaned out the IACV about 3 years ago, but it couldn't hurt to do it again! I just replaced the fuel filter and the car started right up afterwards, but it's now about 60* out and probably too warm to trigger the cold start problem.