Hey yall!
The girlfriend got a 96 maxima with 200,000 miles for basically free! She and i replaced some sensors, a valve gasket and all new plugs. Even cleaned out the throttle body and used maf cleaner. (No Engine codes for a month now!) The darn thing runs like a dream and we even have a 97 donor car at the junkyard nearby in case we needed any spare parts in the future.

but we just have this one issue, the startup is GOD awful. You have to press the gas to bring the thing to life. It’s like bringing a zombie to life, if that helps paint the picture.

we replaced the fuel filter just because it was super easy and quick. We don’t suspect it’s anything with the fuel exactly, it drives wonderfully on the road! No sputtering, no loss of power, nothing.

the only thing is squeaking near the belts, which goes away after you hit the gas for a second or two, which oddly enough makes the RPM’s level out to normal. It’s almost as if the squeaking is trying to tell us something? We put a new pulley and belt on it as well. No dice.

We were hoping to hear from anyone with any tricks up their sleeve to help save this puppy, any ideas?

 

Does the hard start condition only occur when the car has been sitting for a while, when engine is cold or hot, or all the time?

 

Thanks for replying!
it’s terrible on cold, but after driving for a while and getting to operating temperature, the startup seems much better but not at 100%

the girlfriend and I are heading to the junkyard to grab a fuel pressure regulator off the donor car and also clean all the grounding straps in the car today.

also i see two cables running off the positive end of the battery into these little glass fuse holders. One of them is still connecting with a glass fuse inside, the other has been snipped. Any reason for that?

 

 

I believe a faulty engine coolant temp sensor could be a possibility in those situations. Could try to test yours with a multimeter.

 

So I just tested the resistance on the engine coolant temperature sensor and it read at 3.80 kohms. In a video I saw online, the guy measured his and it was 2.3 kohms
is mine bad?

 

You would probably have to confirm with the FSM, but a related post here lists values...

https://www.my4dsc.com/1995-1999-4th...s-22630-44b20/

 

Absolutely no reason for those extra fuses, except that previous owner(s) have added something "aftermarket" or potentially tried to fix something in a very unusual way. Wouldn't be a bad idea to trace down where the one remaining connected fuse is going, not that has anything to do with the starting issue.

So if you try to start from a cold state with your foot OFF the gas, are you saying it cranks strong but just stumbles like it's starving for gas? The fuel tanks at this age are very prone to a LOT of rust and debris, and consequently a very dirty pickup screen on the fuel pump, especially if it's the original. It might be worth the trouble of checking the fuel pressure prior to the regulator just to make sure you're dealing with a good pressure from the pump. You can also encounter a long crank situation due to leaky fuel injectors, which create an overly rich (flooded) situation, but this is less common after the car has been sitting, say, overnight. Usually this happens after you've driven the car, and then try to start an hour or two later. But I'm sure this is highly dependent on the severity and number of leaky injectors, which is pretty common.

When you do finally get it started from a cold condition, have you noticed if the fast-idle circuit is working? It should start out at just over 1K and then slowly drift down to 700 RPM as the engine heats up. It's probably less likely to be your starting issue, but it might be worth checking the Intake Air Control Valve, since this is also controlling your air mixture at a cold start and should be allowing MORE air to bypass the throttle body until the engine warms up. I recently started mine with the engine coolant temp sensor disconnected (not on purpose...) and it didn't have any trouble starting, but the fast idle was really fast at that point and would not come down, presumably since the computer had no temperature input and just set the IACV to wide open. Also, if you have access to even a cheap OBDII reader with LIVE data capability, you'll be able to read the exact temperature the computer is seeing in real time. You can learn a lot about the health of the car by reading the live data... mass air flow, lean or rich, O2 sensors, etc.

You mentioned replacing the pulley and belt (singular), but did you also check the condition of the power steering belt (tightness and oil contamination). This one is much more prone to getting attacked by various leaks (oil and power steering fluid).

Good luck! They're great cars to drive and relatively easy to work on, but definitely need a little TLC at this age to keep them going.

 

Hey thanks for the quick reply!!
so just figured out that those two cables with the fuse in them go to the audio system in the car (some guy put in an aftermarket system).

And everything you described is true in regards to the starting issue, like it’s starved. And the RPM’s do exactly as you say. Start at over 1000 then level off to 600 or 700.

ill keep digging out and see what I find.

 

Good deal. Might also be interesting if you try the hard start situation with the hood up and DON'T press the gas. Let it stumble a few times and then take a break and get your nose around the engine and see if you smell gas. It can start collecting in weird places (EGR circuit) if you're blowing a lot of unburnt gas out the exhaust. Coolant temp sensor sounds like it's doing its job if the fast idle is operating normally.

 

Hey there I had the same problem very bad cold start. cleaned the iacv was better.Then replaced the pcv valve and boot on rocker cover now starts perfect every time.
Very easy and cost very little.