I am a new owner of a 2000 Nissan Maxima, but unfortunately it developed a few problems within the first few days of me receiving it and I have spent close to a month trying to determine the cause of the problems. If I attempt to start the car, it will crank but it will then sputter and die. I can keep the car started by revving the engine up to about 3000 RPM but if I then put it in gear, it shakes horribly and dies. I changed the MAF and it didn't solve the problem. Then I got an OBD2 scanner and it was throwing a code for the camshaft sensor, I replaced that but I still have the same problem. If I unplug the crankshaft sensor on the passenger side of the car, I can start the car and even drive it, but it is not running smoothly. Also, the car has excellent compression, but whenever I keep the car running by revving the engine to 3000 RPM it is only running on 3 cylinders. But none of the coils are bad. I am completely confused by all of this, and I would appreciate any and all help. Thanks.

 

What a mess. First - how do you know that the car is only running on 3 cylinders?

While the coil packs may be good, the signal that tells the coil pack to fire may be missing. Each coil pack has 3 wires going to it, a red wire that is 12 volts and a black wire that is ground. The third wire is the one that tells the coil to fire. Check that you have 12 volts and a good ground to the coil. Use a voltmeter on AC volts to monitor the trigger wire and see if the coil is getting a pulse to fire. Depending on your meter, this last part may not work, so try it on a coil that you know is working. An alternative is to pull the coil off and with it still connected to the wire harness and a spark plug plugged into it, crank the engine over and see if a spark occurs. You have to make sure that the base of the spark plug is grounded.

Also, bad fuel injectors could give you the same symptom. All fuel injectors have 2 wires going to them. A red wire that has 12 volts and the other wire to make it fire. Use a voltmeter as described above to check for a pulse. If you remove a fuel injector, it is highly advisable to replace the o-rings on it. 13 year old o-rings break real easy during re-installation.

You could also pull a spark plug out after the engine has been running and see if it looks wet, what color it is, etc.

 

I can pull all 6 coils and plugs, ground them and spin car over. Only 3 cylinders firing. I can move coils from cylinder to cylinder, same 3 cylinders not firing (2 in front, 1 in back). If i move throttle then back cylinder will fire a couple of times then quit.I have good compression. I noted while I was testing sensors, that after I re-installed the existing POS crank sensor, car ran better than when I bought it. So, I replaced POS crank sensor. Car went back to running on 3. Several times I have been able to unplug POS crank sensor and plug it back in while the car is running, and car will run great, until I shut it off. Then all symptoms return. Scanner still shows cam sensor, but I have replaced it. One other really odd symptom is that there is a loud hissing noise coming from air intake when car runs bad.

Really got me stumped.

 

OP bought a lemon like me!

 

Sounds like you might have gotten a bad sensor, or you may have other issues like PCM/ECM or wiring harness issues.

If you have only 3 cy firing and you tried swapping the coils, it means something isn't telling the coil to fire. And like I said, PCM/ECM or harness issue is usually the suspect. I would check all harnesses around the coils and from the PCM/ECM.

 

Thanks for the tip George, but I'm trying to keep the faith.

SSJRich, I've read all coils are fed from the same pin n the ECM. I don't know that to be fact though. I've thought about harness issues, focused mainly on the harness to the can and crank sensors but I have not started on them yet. I was really hoping someone would chime in saying "that's exactly what mine was doing and it turned out to be........

 

I wouldn't wait for that. Especially when it comes to a cy misfire or coil problem. There are so many scenario's where you have the same symptoms but diagnostics turn out to be different problems.

I have seen it WAY to many times where people on car forums say "oh this is your problem, replace part X" They change part for $$$$$ and then the next day you see the post, "well I replaced my X part and I still have a problem."

If you are going to self diagnose your problem, just make sure you are doing it in the right order, and don't assume things like new parts work like they should etc. Most people over thing a diagnostic and most times is the obvious.

GL

 

This is sounding more and more like the timing chain has jumped a tooth. The crankshaft sensor on the passenger side (CKPS(REF)) is used to determine top dead center for the ignition timing. But if the sensor is bad (or unplugged) the ECU can somehow determine this some other way. When you unplugged the sensor and the engine starts and runs better, it makes me wonder.

 

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