Hey guys, I have a 2000 maxima 5spd. Lately the car has been very difficult to start. It takes anywhere from 10 to 15 attempts to get her started but once I do she runs amazing. Does not matter if it is warm or cold. I know its getting fuel I can hear the pump and also smell it. It is also throwing a cel for an o2 sensor but I hardly doubt that would affecting starting. Also positive it is NOT a battery or starter problem. Im honestly stumped here and any input from u guys would be much appreciated.

 

that is exactly what is causing a hard start and smell of fuel.

the primary sensor is responsible for the air/fuel ratio, if it is faulty, lots of times it tells the computer the mixture is too lean, therefore the ecu wants to compensate by sending more fuel to the engine and therefore flooding the engine. Think carburetor motors, remember if you flood the motor, it is hard and sometimes impossible to start it until the gas is gone. Same thing is happening here except it is done electronically now with fuel injectors instead of the mechanical jets on a carb.

Try disconnecting the primaries and see how the engine starts. Replace the oxygen sensors. You are lucky you are getting the CEL, lots of times faulty o2's won't even set a DTC.

 

Ive driven the car 20,000 miles with that code and never had a single problem. And correct me if im wrong but the o2 reads air fuel ratio from the exhaust while the engine is running?

 

I'm having this problem on my daily driver beater '97 se 5spd. When I bought it a few months back it was fine then after two months it started to crank but not start and then the starter would just jam up and stop. Eventually it wouldn't even crank. I thought it was the starter or battery. I had a spare of each so I put both in and it would barely light up a couple dash lights. Cleaned the first ground on the negative battery cable and it fired right up. Drove it ten mins and parked it, tried to fire it up 5 mins later and it wouldn't even crank even though all my dash lights were bright. I think the grounds are all rusted and shot. I'm going to go one by one and remove each ground screw, sand paper it clean, and reinstall them and see what happens. Good luck.

 

Thanks im going to try cleaning some of the grounds up and adding the big 3 with 4 gauge wire. Idk if it will solve the problem or not but it couldnt hurt.

 

If you smell fuel, Something to check would be the fuel dampener and the fuel pressure regulator. Pull the vacuum lines and see if there's fuel dripping out. If so, they're toast. Replace them and welcome back to easy starting.

 

When I had that issued with my 4th gen, it was either the crank sensor or the engine coolant sensor. The former all the time, the latter only when warm. Ended up killing a starter prematurely because of it.