Have you seen any wet spark plugs after you try to start it?

Have you tried to hold the accelerator to the floor at wide open throttle while attempting to start to clear a severe flooding condition?

I've seen leaking injector o-rings cause severe flooding that will keep one from starting. Also, if the o-rings have been leaking for a while, it could be suffering from cooked or clogged cats.

 

The sparks I replaced weren’t wet but was about 30 minutes after a start attempt.

I’ll check that tomorrow

 

Which code?

 

Was 10-8 on the ECM CEL flashes... think it was p0443 on the scanner. I walked away to see about ordering the evap canister

 

Here's a video on P0443, Though all valves will need to be cleaned.

 

Awesome thanks - any chance at all this is a root of the cause of the no start or just another issue needing fixed for when it does start? This particular component was full of charcoal when I removed it, got about a handful of charcoal out of it when I dumped

I was starting to think maybe timing chain broke once I verified there was a spark.

 

Our timing chains seldom if ever cause issues.

I second what CS_AR said about flooring the gas pedal while cranking . This clears flooding conditions. This used to be standard operating procedure to relieve flooding conditions when cars had carburators. Particularly in winter.

I also agree with the possibility of bad seals on the fuel injectors. They are a known issue on our cars.

Please crank for a while while flooring the gas pedal. The car might just start. If it does start, but flooding continues, we should discuss the fuel injectors.

 

Went ahead and swapped the PCV valve and Fuel filter (though the old one looked fairly new)... didn’t think either would help, but no luck.

Pulled the plugs and they’re dry... I’ve given in and will be carrying it to a Nissan Tech this week. Going to blow out the evap line and put on a new vapor canister before I carry it to him.

 

loop

Did you crank the engine while pressing the gas pedal to the floor like both CS-AR and I asked you to?

If not, please do so. For as long as 30 seconds.

 

yes... did they it when checking to see if plugs were wet and did it again just now. No luck either time

 

all i can say is, been there, done that. these cars can be awesome or a f'ing curse. i had the p 0443, replaced evap purge control on the top of the motor, bought the evap solenoid as well and haven't had the time to replace. i spent dozens of hours trying to diagnose my 95 when it was giving me issues, and a bad or leaking injector or 2 can wreak havoc on start up, but i get that it won't start. i wish you luck, i know the frustration of an old car and problems that come with it,. good luck and keep us updated

 

Haven’t had much time to get under the hood the past few days, needing to work some video production stuff for our HS football team.

i did have the opportunity to blow out charcoal pellets from everything. The parts I thought I had shaken out the pellets still had a LOT in them when I put a low psi shot of air through them. The hose headed back to the vapor took a bit to blow out as well.

New vapor canister arrives tomorrow and then I’ll likely be turning the car over to the Nissan Tech I was recommended to.

 

Just a quick update -
evap code cleared after I was able to get the rest of the charcoal out of the solenoids.

carried battery to get charged, they said it wouldn’t charge so i bought a new battery but no luck.

Was told to disconnect the Cat to make sure it can breathe.. no luck there either. Starting to feel like this car may end up getting parted out and scrapped. Nissan guy is picking it up today but won’t be able to work in it until after the holidays.

 

Did you try checking the alternator, my car wouldnt start or even budge without having enough Cold Amps, if you got a new battery only thing left is alternator, go ahead and do your tensioner and belt while your at it too

 

Run new grounds from the transmission bell housing to the battery negative terminal. Use anything between 14 to 18 gauge wire. Shoot, it can even be household speaker wire for the sake of the test.

If this solves your problem, it's because whoever took the transmission apart in the past didn't lightly sand the outer casing/clean up the gunk where the engine meets the transmission.

 

If this doesn't work, then I would be looking at two things related to the fuel pump. The fuel pump itself and double checking that the sock is oriented correctly. Assuming the fuel pump has been replaced at some point in its life (easy to do and under the back seat), sometimes the sock is accidentally installed pointed up at an upward angle, reducing the effectiveness/sucking and causing no start issues when the gas tank is below a 1/4 . You said you added gas, but I don't believe you stated what level the gas gauge is actually at now.

 

Less than a 1/4 tank

we’ll have a good bit of work to do to check these tomorrow

 

Hopefully you got my PM with additional information. If not, let me know and I'll post it here.

 

Got it - thanks!

 

Where we are at the moment

still needing to do the transmission ground, lacking a wire and haven’t been able to get under it due to my back and then rain/storms today.

 

I oiled the inject o rings as well as rubbed onto the sides of the well the injector lives.

Sometimes the diaphragm in the fuel pressure regulator develops a leak.. That kind of leak can cause the kind of issue you have. Supposedly the fuel is sucked through the vacuum line. Check if there is gas in the vacuum line.

I would certainly change the oil. I wold reuse the filter after pouring the contaminated oIL I would put in cheap oil and run with that until you are sure that the fuel leak has stopped.

 

Thanks JVG - that’ll be the next thing to check once I get the ground wire on... I need a garage lol. I started working on getting it hooked up and the bottom fell out on me - so gotta wait until the weather clears.


one of my friends mentioned possibility of it jumping time. Is that something you guys see as a possibility too?

** still waiting on dealer to send the title. I’m getting annoyed and they’re likely to end up with this back on their lot if I don’t get the title soon

 

Your friends probably think that our engines have timing belts.
We have a timing chain. I haven't read about any of our cars "jumping time".

 

Yeah that kind of had me a bit since all the topics I’ve read about this none mentioned timing (that I can recall).

also finding out this thing most likely sat for a while. Sheriff buddy did a registration check on the VIN since I hadn’t gotten the title yet (which is really bad on this dealer and I can pursue refund for purchase apparently) and he stated it hadn’t been registered in several years.

I knew it had some issues when I bought it but man it sure didn’t seem it had as many as I’ve found. The negative right now on the title situation is that while I should be able to get purchase price back - probably won’t get what I’ve put into it back.... makes me want to hold out hope they’ll get me the title and I’ll get it running (May trade it to someone once I do get it running and title though if I can pull that off haha)

 

Our cars have certain well known issues.

However...... those issues are generally solvable without going to great expense. Our cars are over 20 years old now. Many previous owners let the number of issues accumulate until the car becomes inoperable. The leaking injectors dont throw their own code, but trigger other codes. Service techs will deal with the codesame they see, but don't understand the root cause.

Our cars aren't worth much any more, or cost more to have fixed by the pros than they are worth.

But these cars can often be driven an addional 100k miles or more once all deferred maintenance has been taken care of.

You might have spent more than the car is worth. Might as well go the rest of the way, then drive it for ten years.

 

title came in

ground didn’t work - not 100% I grounded the right bolts.

no fuel in vacuum tube from fuel pressure regulator

 

jason, i am the last one to say "give up" as i went through the same hell as you are now. these cars are def a pain in the a$$ when they start having issues. are you getting fuel through the system? you have spark, but the car was obviously neglected so there is def still issues. i did the evap solenoid as well as the purge control and will be doing charcoal cannister as well. good luck as it sounds like your getting close. did you replace starter? i don't recall you saying that.

 

I watched your Youtube video. You definitely grounded it wrong, very wrong. LOL See my PM.

 

Also, to confirm, this is definitely a 98 Maxima and not a 99?

 

Yes 98 - got your message! Lol I knew it looked wrong

 

so, went to clean my box after the maf and the rubber piece was ripped all the way around. plus, there was a crack in that elbow and another elbow was completely missing. check to make sure you have all the intake pieces intact and tightened down.

 

Max - thank you! When I found the resonator box (big black box on air intake after the filter) was cracked. I replaced the box and all of those rubber components as they were like yours and cracked.

wizard - I got the grounds on and it worked! Well umm no it didn’t sigh... but I said what I was hoping I’d be able to get on here and say.

battery negative terminal to top 14mm bolt on starter

& battery negative terminal to 12mm on side of transmission near the park neutral switch (behind the plastic cowl between transmission and driver side tire). Bolt above it looked to have a factory ground wire already - as it had a factory looking connection and I am not sure where it went to.

car still turns over super great... I mean this car turns over better than any I have ever had (trying to say something positive)...

thinking injector rebuild on pay day, but may go ahead and pull the intake manifold to verify it isn’t clogged to high heaven

 

Awe man, I was really hoping that the grounds would solve your issue as I've seen other members plagued with no starts and the grounds solved the problem.

Next thing I would check is the Engine Coolant Temp Sensor. A simple check with your multimeter will confirm whether it's good or not. The test is in the FSM. A faulty ECTS will cause a no start condition. If that passes, I would be looking at the Fuel Pressure Regulator (FPR) and test accordingly. A bad FPR will cause a no start condition as well.

 

Fingers crossed on the sensor! 😂
tomorrow’s check for sure

 

so, i don't know about your resonator box jason, but my original one had an additional little box attached to it. i got another one from a junkyard and it wasn't there, so i guess it was deleted from the car i got it from. can't see what use it could've had, weight reduction, woot!!

 

Well, any update? I wanna hear that you fixed your Max!

 

unfortunately no

i’ve had plenty of excuses not to work on it that I have taken full advantage of - this issue has killed my motivation lol

so I did just try the starter fluid again just to re-verify for father in law. Nothing... I am getting a knock now when turning over

thought it sounded like it was coming from the starter but when under the hood I heard it better on the passenger side, but unable to verify where.

if I could offload it for $1k I would :/ take a bit of a hit from what I’ve put into it but really frustrated. I need to get to checking the temp sensor but had to stop and go in to cook... wife isn’t feeling well at the moment, her Leukemia meds normally are ok but past few weeks she’s been too tired to do much when she’s at home