druethe

Hey guys, I have a 98 Maxima SE that has 250k miles. It has been running great minus a few oil leaks since I bought it.

Over the last year, I've had this hard start issue once it got warm. It was pretty intermittent. It always fired up strong when cold, but once heated up, it would sometimes hesitate / sometimes fire up fine (I felt it was a fuel regulator issue, but I lived with it since its a pain to replace).

A couple of times over the last year, when it hesitated to start and I turned the key back, the starter would continue to spin while the car was off and the key was out of the vehicle. The first time it did it, it cut off pretty fast afterward. The second time it spun for a bit and I tapped on the starter and it cut off. Both times I was able to restart the car immediately afterward.

The other day, it did it for the third time, except this time it continued to spin. I tried to tap the starter but it continued to spin. I was going to try to unhook the battery, but I didnt have the proper tools with me. After about 7 minutes of spinning, it finally stopped and there was a puff of smoke. When I tried to start it back, it tried to turn over for a quick second and then died out. I tried to start a few more times afterward and there was no turn at all and even a spark or two from the starter / battery area.

At this point, I assumed the starter was blown and I have a lifetime warranty on the starter. I ran down and had it tested and it "passed" but the guy said he saw sparks and the test is unreliable and gave me a new one. I ran back and dropped in the new starter. I tried to start it up and same thing, no turn over at all, but no more spark.

I tried a few more times and then the battery seemed to be dead. The next day I was going to jump it and flip the relays over to see if it was a possible starter relay issue. When I unlocked it and put the key in, the battery started working 100% again. I tried to start it and still nothing. I switched the relay with the wiper relay and tried to start it and got nothing. At this point the battery appeared to be dead again. I popped the hood again and the battery came to life again and then died again shortly after.

I'm pretty confused what might be going on here. What kind of damage might have happened by the starter doing this? Is there possibly a fuse out there to check (I replaced the 7.5 start fuse in the main panel already just in case). ? Is this possibly a short issue and if so where would I start to get this to turn over again?

Sorry for the length, but please let me know if any of you have ever dealt with something like this before as its still a great car.

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

You definitely have a strange problem. My first thought is that you have a bad solenoid in the starter, but you have changed the starter. While rebuilt starters have a very dismal reliability track record, to have two starters with this same weird problem seems a bit unlikely.

I do not think it would be a fuse because fuses do not work intermittently, they work or they are blown.

The way a starter works is that the ignition switch energizes the starter solenoid. The starter solenoid is just an electromagnet that does 2 things when it energizes.
1 - it closes electrical contacts to cause the starter motor to spin.
2 - it pulls on a lever to thrust the starter gear into the flywheel gear so that the engine cranks over.

So for the starter motor to spin without the engine cranking over, there has to be some kind of short in the solenoid electrical contacts. As weird as it may be, I think the replacement starter is bad.

But I wonder if you have a 2nd problem. Some of the things you say about things not working sound like the ignition switch, which does go bad more often than on other cars.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Batteries don't simply come back to life, but poor electrical connections can go in and out. Clean all the electrical connections from the battery to the starter. Don't forget the grounds as well. Charge the battery a bit too.

Frank Fontaine

I had a starter problem and it was frustrating that the "new" AC Delco starters were junk. First one failed in months, 2nd bad out of the box, 3rd one, well, fine, but I caught that the main wire was cracking from heat I guess, and electrical taped it, and it's been good for a couple of years now.

I think unfortunately one cannot rule out the replacement part is simply bad nowadays.

But I do remember my ground wire was covered in oil, which oddly, did not affect me....

jholley

iTrader: (13)

If your drained battery is less than a year old and the alternator is fine then after jump starting it the battery might get charged back up.

When the solenoid switch on my starter shorted out and continued spinning I replaced it immediately. I walked over to Advanced Auto to buy a new starter and borrowed some tools then changed it right there in the parking lot.

As far as the warm engine not starting it could be a few issues. One is the ECTS may need replacing. Another is the solenoid in the IACV/AAC may not be working. When the engine is warm the throttle plate is closed allowing less air intake during a start. The IACV/AAC solenoid slides fully open during the start for more air intake. If you need to slightly press the gas pedal during a warm start then it's the IACV. Before replacing the IACV try cleaning it then further opening the black plastic screw on the IACV.

druethe

Thanks for reply guys. I had the ignition switch replaced not long ago and the starter and solenoid are one piece on this 98, so all of those should be working fine. The battery issue is very odd, I will check the connections although everything looks clean and this problem only started after I put in the new starter. Several years ago, I added about 3 addition grounds around the engine bay. I will go back and clean all connections though and see what that might do.

M in KC

I still think to pull the new starter and confirm that it is viable. Since I live out of town, and easy 1 hour trip for anything of necessity, when it comes to parts like starters I always make the parts house test them before I leave the store, new, reman or otherwise.

druethe

I'll try that out.

Since the starter had continued to spin before and then stop but then immediately would restart. My big question is what created the puff of smoke (fried the starter?) and then the sparks when I tried to turn it over (no turnover, just a click and some sparks) after that without touching anything. Is it possible this created a short or burned some connection ends that might create a loose connection somewhere?

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

These starter motors are light duty, not intended to run for long periods of time. The starter that smoked probably overheated and the insulation on the wires inside it melted, touched and sparked.

It is doubtful that this caused any damage to other parts.

druethe

Thanks for all the help guys, too let this thread RIP. The two hot connections coming into the hot battery terminal were both a tad loose for whatever reason. I never touched these but maybe they were shaken loose while I was changing the starter around. I drove it around all day today and had zero problems with the hard start, the starter spinning, or any further battery issues.

I had previously taken the car to two different shops to check on the hard start issue within the last year that I felt was fuel related. No one picked up on this loose connection.

Sorry for wasting everyone's time, but maybe this will help someone out in the future.