sharkyjay

Once a while car would not start. There was no crackle sound that occurs from a dead battery. In the last 8 months this happened 3 times. Everytime this occurs I would check the hood then try again. Then it would start normally. What could be the problem? and should I stress it?

tyrotrader

I'm no mechanic, but same thing happened to me - I'd bet on bad starter; one of the renowned achilles heels of the 4th gen max - got one from autozone - a bit expensive, but has done well and way cheaper than dealer pary.

Dreizehn

iTrader: (4)

Could be the starter...

Could also be the Park/Neutral switch...

alexamparo

This is gonna sound odd but it's too much coincidence for me. my car started doing this around march. but in order to get it to start i would have to move the shifter up while in the park position. i got used to just pushing up the shifter every time i went to start the car and it always worked i took it as an unakedfor "kill-switch" cuz no one could turn on my car except for me. at this same time my tranny started to shift erratically until finally about 15 days ago it went!!!! so i got a new transmission put in and i haven't had to do what i explained previously again. i hope none of you guys trannys go but this just seemed like toooo much of a coincidence for me. it starts doing it, the tranny starts to act up, then it goes, so i change it, and there goes the problem.--i'm no mechanic but i think the shifter has something to do with the tranny!! meanwhile i'll try to get this onto unsolved mysteries

TheNip73

You weren't to specific on symptoms...

If when you try to start it it goes and then kills ... I had a starting problem every time my car was cold, as in not driven for about 3 hrs., it would not start without giving it some gas to make sure it would stay running. I live in Minnesota so I was going to wait until about this time of year to make sure it was just not the sub zero temperatures. Well, one day I had the car in the garage and I cleaned the throttle body and Boom, the problem was gone and is still gone some 5000 miles later. It wouldn't hurt to give it a try. It helps even out your idle. BTW, I had about 60,000 miles on the car when i did the cleaning.

If it just plain old won't crank I would think it is the ignition coil or the starter. Coil if you hear the engine crank over. Starter if it isn't cranking over very well.


Best of Luck. Also, try checking the ECU for error codes. If you don't know what I'm taking about do a search. Your car may have registered some codes when it didn't start.

spiff56747

iTrader: (-1)

fuel filter

alexamparo

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TheNip73
You weren't to specific on symptoms...

If when you try to start it it goes and then kills ... I had a starting problem every time my car was cold, as in not driven for about 3 hrs., it would not start without giving it some gas to make sure it would stay running. I live in Minnesota so I was going to wait until about this time of year to make sure it was just not the sub zero temperatures. Well, one day I had the car in the garage and I cleaned the throttle body and Boom, the problem was gone and is still gone some 5000 miles later. It wouldn't hurt to give it a try. It helps even out your idle. BTW, I had about 60,000 miles on the car when i did the cleaning.

If it just plain old won't crank I would think it is the ignition coil or the starter. Coil if you hear the engine crank over. Starter if it isn't cranking over very well.


Best of Luck. Also, try checking the ECU for error codes. If you don't know what I'm taking about do a search. Your car may have registered some codes when it didn't start. [/QUOTE

the car WASN'T cranking at all. all that would happen would be that all the lights and the radio would turn on but the starter wouldn't even crank,as if there were some sort of kill switch (or the tranny wasn't in park or neutral) the oddest thing though is that it hasn't doen it the 8 days or so that i've had the new transmission

TheNip73

Alex, I am trying to help the original poster, sharky, not you...

Also, the transimission on the maxima is very finicky. Always use your parking brake, even on automatics. I park my car on a slight hill and if I do not use my parking brake I cannot shift my automatic into gear after I starting the car because of all the stress put on transimssion by not using the parking brake. Besides, using your brakes is just a good habit.

sharkyjay

It's strange, the first couple of times this happened it was cold then the last time it happened the engine was still hot cause I just parked it. I do not think it was the weather. There was no crackle sound, it would just not start. It might be some loose wires.

It's not a big problem cause it doesn't happen often and it would start after a few tries so I think I'll just live with it until it happens often.