Maxima Won't Start (video included)

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Jul 22, 2016 | 08:29 PM
  #1  

Apologies for the poor-quality video.

Some history... 1996 SE 5-speed, 166k miles, leather guts, minimal rust (originally from Texas), was overheating and misfiring. So I put a gallon of coolant in the radiator (it was bone dry) and picked it up for $470.

Let it sit for a few months, and finally looked for the misfire, reconnected an injector wire, and it ran perfectly. Drove it up and down the street a handful of times over the course of a few months. Then it sat for a month or so without being started, and it will not start (see video). Last fall, with starting fluid (I have since learned the negative effects of starting fluid), I could get it to start, every once in a while, and it would idle for 2 to 4 minutes before stalling.

Today, I finally drained fuel tank, replaced fuel filter, poured new fuel and sea-foam in the tank, and still nothing.

Got frustrated and sweaty and gave up for now. Any suggestions?

Also, the fuel pump IS working.
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Jul 22, 2016 | 09:52 PM
  #2  
The engine doesn't sound like it is hitting on all 6. Maybe you have some gummed up fuel injectors.
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Jul 23, 2016 | 02:00 AM
  #3  
I think you might have bad fuel injectors where they are dumping too much fuel into the cylinder because your fuel injector pintle caps are broken due to wear and tear and age. The pintle caps hold the little o-ring which prevent the fuel pressure from leaking into the cylinder. Best way to check for broken pintle caps is take off one of the front injectors and check it.
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Jul 23, 2016 | 07:29 AM
  #4  
Another thing to try is take out the spark plugs after several attempts to start the car. The spark plugs will be wet if there are leaking fuel injectors.

Maxima 97 SE advice is a good idea, but I'm a pessimist. Murphy's law say that if you have 5 bad injectors and 1 good injector, pulling just one guarantees that you will pull the one good injector. So pull several. Also if you pull an injector, get replacement o-rings for when you re-install it. 20 year old o-rings have a habit of breaking upon re-install.

Have to checked to see if you have any DTC codes (check engine light)?
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Jul 23, 2016 | 11:39 AM
  #5  
Well a lot of the coils and injectors seem to be going out recently on these cars, I say your injectors are bad. Get them rebuilt at a injector shop.
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Jul 24, 2016 | 12:16 AM
  #6  
I would pull both crank sensors. Metric 10 to remove
1 on transmissiom housing(front bottom). Also there is below crank pulley 2 bolts on this one..remove and clean off then out back on. Also remove the cam position sensor and clean off as well. Its on passenger side metric 10 beside engine mount middles way of timing chain cover. You can't miss it. After all that id disconnect battery for a few minutes then hook battery back up see what happens. Sometimes metal can get stuck on the magnets or oil build up and cause an interference from.the sensors reading. Worth a shot
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