I have a 2001 Maxima GXE, which has had a hard starting problem when the engine is hot for a long time. It seems to be happening more often now, but not all of the time. My car is still under warranty, so I finally called the dealer yesterday. They said they will first charge me $85 for a diagnostic and if they find a problem, I will get the money back and the warranty will take care of the repairs. It seems strange that I have to pay for the diagnostic. Also, since this problem does not happen all the time, I'm not sure if the diagnostic will even find anything. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

tell them to check the ignition coils and maf sensor which is prone to go back on 00-01 max....or maybe cleaning your throttle body should help...

 

The MAF sensors do not go "back" on a 00-01. Ignition coils will not affect start up.

It is probably simply a case of the engine being heat soaked from standing there in the heat. I get the same reaction once in a while (ok really far and in between) so i would disregard it unless you want to take advantage of the warranty.. the diagnostic fee is what they charge for reading codes off their computer, and if no codes show or they can't reproduce the problem, you are out of your 85$ and they will tell you nothing is wrong.

 

My car does that sometimes. When it's hot I just turn the key to the on position for a couple of seconds and then crank away. Starts right up that way. Could be something different, but it's worth a try.

 

don't let vapor lock happen to you.

oh, and you can go to Pep Boys or Advance Auto and they will pull any codes for free....

 

It's an ongoing symptom with 2k and 2k1. The latest I heard of it was something in the fuel rail....but I'm not too sure. Strangely enough it hasn't happened to me for a long, long time. But it happened quite a bit when I was at 30k to 70k miles.

 

It just occured to me that the fuel injection pressue could purge a vapor lock with this method.
Another thing,
On some FI cars, even though you should not have to do it, some throttle opening helps them start when they are hot.

 

Mine was doing it alot around 40-60K Miles in the summer time, I did a BG complete clean- intake manifold, injectors, and then the tank portion, cleaned the TB, got the newer coils- even thou mine where good, and got a new MAF- no.5 now... I have 90K miles and the car don't miss a beat.

 

its vapor lock.. My 2K does it during the summer after a long drive and I turn it off and let it sit for a minute. The solution that I have found is to let the key sit in the "on" position for about 5 seconds and then bump the starter. Sometimes it will just take a second bump to start... not a big thing