This issue is driving me nutz.... to the point that I bought a 2014 Altima.....I have a 2003 Maxima SE, 167k on the motor. Ive been trouble shooting a "crank but no start condition for 6 months. Any help would be appreciated. I have replaced fuel pump and filter, verified spark, good voltage on the battery, sprayed fuel down the intake from a mist bottle and verified all fuses are good. Best of everything is that its not throwing any codes!?!?!? no P0 codes for cam/crank sensors. Cam sensors were a past problem. I was driving when it began to sputter, nursed it to my gf's house then had it flatbedded home...started it to get it in the driveway....each time it started it seemed like it was loosing one of the 3 (air, gas or spark)and was continually harder to start each time until alas...it doesn't start at all. Love the car....must get it fixed

 

make sure your pre cats are not clogged.
make sure your security light is not on and chip key is good.

 

Check your fuses - there is a fuse that can fail and cause this condition, I forgot its name/location.
Your MAF sensor can go bad and it often won't throw a code. Clean it, or replace it.
Does the car start when you give it a lot of gas? If so, check/replace your IACV.

 

Hi,

I seem to have the exact same problem. Noticed it chugging while driving, like a miss-fire. The issue got worse and more common over the course of a day, until now it won't start at all. I have checked all fuses, and security light flashes, goes off during cracking.

I'm hoping we can help each other figure this out. I just bought this car used 3 days ago!

 

No one bothered to swap the cam/crank sensors, eh

 

Well my issue was as easy fix... The car was acting like it was out of fuel, so I added fuel...

And, it started right up. Obviously the fuel gauge or tank sensor is bad, I just got this car a few days ago.

Can anyone lead me in the right direction to fixing the gauge issue ?

 

I would start with the sending unit (under the rear seat). Disconnect the battery and check the electrical connector first; then make sure the float is not stuck. See The FSM, pages FE-6 to FE-8 (this is for 2000 max, but the 5.5 should be similar).

 

Maybe the ignition relay is going bad. It is located on the backside of the fuse panel.

see page 3 - http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Max...03/foldout.pdf

There are 3 relays. 2 have a blue case and 1 has a brown case. The ignition relay is the one with the brown case.

You can either swap it with another brown case relay from under the hood or you can remove the ignition relay and put 2 jumpers in the socket, one jumper for pins 3 to 5 and the other for pins 6 to 7.

 

A neighbor (ASE Mechanic) with a Snap On Verdict scan tool verified that everything is in place for the car to start!
That is a huge relief. He was unable to test pressure on Saturday but he did get 51lbs of pressure from the pump.

Next was a noid light test to see if the injector was pulsing power and it is....for 3 pulses then nothing.

Any thoughts?

 

i've read through a slew of other "crank no start" issues and they gave me a couple other things to check..... The most interesting ones related to fuel..so going back to what has already been done we replaced, pump/filter and verified fuel pressure from the new pump, but is fuel being delivered to the cylinders? ...I don't think so.

I pulled 2 of the front cylinder bank spark plugs (1 at a time) and cranked the car. I would think that the pressure would force the gas mist out through the spark plug holes. Nothing came out from either cylinder. I looked at each cylinder prior too and after and didn't notice any real change....other than the height of the piston. No fuel mist inside the spark plug well.....

so i'm thinking the fuel pressure damper/regulator that are prior to each rail....There are 2.

-----or-------

a clog in the fuel line....

what do you all think?

 

Could it be that the car is immobilized? The ECU will shut off the fuel injectors if it is.

If if the car is immobilized, the red security light in the clock will be on solid while you crank.

 

The security light doesn't come on at all while cranking. While sitting it flashes once every 4'ish seconds. Looks normal. I still haven't checked the fuel lines. Maybe this weekend. Thanx for all the info Dennis!

 

Do you have any kind of update on this??

 

Unfortunately no.... we did verify fuel pressure under the hood and voltage at the cam sensor connector, changed out the relays and still nothing. We know that there is a start signal from the computer but something is telling the the injectors to stop pulsing. They pulse three times and then stop. There is a laundry list of things that we have checked within this thread. I'm bummed since its a great car with more life to be had.

 

I *almost* bought a 5th gen project car with this exact same issue a few months back. I subscribed to this thread and have kind of kept up with it as I debated getting that car.

The guy selling it had bought it thinking it just needed a battery, and he was going to flip it. I think he paid something like $5k for it, hoping to make a little money off it.

He then fooled with it for MONTHS and could never get it running. He tested/replaced a ton of stuff on it, even had new keys made at the dealership thinking that was the problem.

So then he decides to give up on it and sell it (at a big discount). I was on the verge of buying it and was doing research on it and found dozens of threads/links just like this thread all over the interwebz. Tons of stories of people pulling their hair out over no start/no crank issues with 5th gens.

It's kind of surprising actually, as prior to my looking into it I had always assumed the 5th gens were as reliable as 4th gens. But it seems like the VQ35 has a habit of developing perplexing no start/no crank issues as it ages.

I'm glad now I decided to pass on the car. I have a feeling I'd still be fooling with it. I was real close though, I had already arranged a trailer and truck to go grab it. I already have a temperamental VE but at least it runs/drives. It just stalls on me occasionally

 

I think I may have bought the car you are talking about lol.

 

No way? What are the odds.

2002 6 speed in East Texas? Had a cracked front grille area/bumper on the driver side grille area? I think it was in like Ore City or something like that? Guy named Loyce?

Have you done anything on it yet? How much did you get it for? I was trying to get him to $1200 or $1300 but he wouldn't go that low. I told him to let me know if he sat on it longer and decided to sell it cheaper. I'm curious if you got it cheaper and he never let me know.

If I was was 100% confident I could get it going for less than a couple hundred dollars I would have gotten it. So it was just such a crap shoot that I had to pass because I really didn't want to be screwing with it for months and swapping parts only to end up paying more overall than I would have had I bought a running one outright from the beginning.

I remember I was reading up on some crazy 5th gen issues. Something about the IACV going bad and somehow ruining the ECU itself. I had a whole bunch of ideas in my head of what it could be. If I could have gotten him to budge on his price some more to make it more worth my while I probably would have gotten it.

 

This guy was in McKinney. Dark blue with black leather interior. Factory HLSD car too. He started at 3000 and said he paid like 6k for it a year ago. I got it for less than 1500 lol even if I spend a 1000 to get it lined out im still coming out ahead.

 

There is a start signal that comes from the ignition switch. When the key in in the start position, 12 volts is sent to the ECU on pin 42, a brown/white stripe wire.

If this were missing, I don't know exactly how this would prevent the car from starting. I think the engine still cranks (notice I said I think), so it must either kill the spark or the fuel injectors.

This is a quick check with the voltmeter.

Where are you located at? Are you near Dallas?

 

Located in Albuquerque...I found a link to download the service manuals for it today. Gonna be a busy day at the printer tomorrow.

 

Have you checked your CPS? The ECu will shut off the fuel if it doesn't get the signal from the CPS within a second or two of starting .....

 

I have a 5th gen 2002 maxima, Whenever the car is cold I have to keep trying to crank until eventually it turns over. But the problem is not the battery I think it is the spark plugs. Anyone else have this problem? If it is the spark plugs any specific brands to get?

 

Any luck on this? Im having the same issue, where I add gas, and it starts right up.

 

Nope....the fuel is good. I know there is a gauge problem. Mine has that too....shows around a quarter tank but is empty. DTE stops around 110 miles until empty. After reading several other posts about it the only fix I found for the faulty fuel gauge was to replace the instrument cluster. I found some on eBay. I haven't messed with the car for a while. Its been in the driveway over a year now. I'm thinking about retracing all of my steps. Who knows at this point......

 

My gauge seems to be working fine. Bought at 1/4 of a tank. Put about 8 gallons in, and went up to about 3/4 of a tank. Strted right up. Drove around, parked. next morning, crank but no start. Added about 1/2 a gallon to it, and it started. I don't get it!

 

Sending unit failure.....That's a guess on my part

 

Any links to something like that? was debating getting the fuel pump/filter replaced. Only have had this car for a week. lol.

 

well now... i found my problem, i think... I noticed the security light this time around. When it's constant, car won't start... lol. Blinking, it won't. but when it's off, it will start right up... guess i just have to go outside of the car and hit unlock on the key fob... or there might be a problem with the chip in the key i'm wondering. I have 1 original key and one spare, pure metal key... i guess alternating them sometimes causes that.

 

Or maybe nats module is defective. You need to test each key a bunch of times to make sure they work. Also, you can't have both on the same ring. That will definitely set off nats.

 

Thank you for the advice, didn't know about that... i have them both in same proximity because i never know what's exactly going to work. lol. But as of now, I think i solved my problem.

 

There may be an underlying issue, but I think you did solve it LOL

 

The end of an era.....my beloved 2003 Maxima going to its new owner...Never did figure out why it wouldn't start.....sad day

 

I don't own it anymore but a good friend of mine does. After an exhaustive search of the wiring diagram and lots of probing and testing it has been fixed!!!! Apparently there is a box within the wiring harness above the front bank of cylinders. My buddy described it as a condenser with an internal diode....don't ask me but he found that it was burnt....melted if you will. A replacement was found within 10 minutes at the local "you pull it" and it now purr's like a kitten.

 

Wow, crazy. I bet your friend got himself a really good deal out of it all said and done.

 

Life long friend who has done a bunch of work to my rides over the years for nothing....so he got it for free. He was driving a 1990 Volvo....I told him "if he could get it started he could have it"....besides it hadn't started in over a year and it was still a better car than what he was driving.

 

I know this is an old thread but I'd like to expand on markiezee68's fix above and then ask a few questions since I'm having the same crank-no-start issue. Since I'm having the same issue I am trying to keep all the post about this issue together. Please know that I'm not trying to hijack this post but help keep all the information together in one spot.

The item in the picture above is a condenser (.47 uf capacitor). It doesn't appear to have a diode in it.



Snippet of ignition system wiring diagram.

Here is a better picture of what it looks like in the car. I'm showing it without the tape that is over it when you first remove the engine cover.




I removed mine and tested it with the capacitor test on my multimeter. It is a .47 uf (micro-farad) capacitor. Mine checked at .487 uf so I assume it is good. *Note: my meter reads in nano-farads so the reading of 487.2 converts to .487 micro-farads.




I know this is long but please bear with me.

I'm working on a 2003 Maxima with the 3.5. The car belongs to my sister. She has been having random stalls, hard starting, bucking and jerking. The car wold be running along fine then start losing power. If you pull it down in first you could limp it along and it may start running better the more you drive it.

I drove the car to my house to work on it and it died before I got there then would not start (Crank but no start). Just before it died you could hear a pre-ignition ping/knock if you tried to accelerate. Then it just quite running.

I pulled the codes and received:
P1800 (intake manifold air control solenoid),
P0345 (Camshaft Position Sensor "A" Circuit).
P0327 (Knock sensor -Voltage low)
P0138 (Heated oxygen sensor 2 Bank 1- voltage high).

I didn't spend any time troubleshooting it because my sister had already ordered both cam sensors and the crankshaft position sensors so I mindlessly installed them and smugly thought the car would start right up.... I was wrong. Then the troubleshooting started.

here are the knowns:
Key in the "on" position the security light flashes but goes out when you crank the engine.

Also with the Key "on" you hear the fuel pump run for around three seconds. When you spin the engine over then let it go back to the "on" position the fuel pump runs for a few seconds then stops.

With the oil cap off... I had a helper spin the engine while I verified the cam was turning. It was turning fine so I assume no broken chain.

I pulled a coil and used a spark tester to verify spark... the spark looked good.

All the fuses in every fuse box are good.

When it spins it doesn't even try to start unless you slam the accelerator to the floor. when you do it sort of tries to catch up for a second or so. but never really starts. I sprayed a little starting fluid in the hose that leads from the valve cover to the intake hose aft of the MAF and it made no change. Still no start.

With my ELM connected I can read the engine temp, throttle position and I have a cranking RPM of 150 to 165 RPMS.

I've not connected my fuel pressure gauge because I don't have the crazy little Nissan adapter to make it work.

Do you guys have any advice?? I'm stumped. I guess the timing chain could have jumped but normally when they do they still hit and try to start... this car does not. I just finished a Mazda 929 that had jumped time (belt not chain).

I can't stand being beat!! I'm incredibly persistent! This is the craziest car I've ever worked on... there are a million things that could keep it from starting. I just thought Mini's were crazy (electronically) but I was wrong. Nissan lost it's mind on this car.

Is there a way to "force" the car into "limp mode"?? On the old Volvo's I use to work on we could unplug the MAF and force the car into limp home mode. If the MAF was bad the car would die but unplugging the MAF would bypass all the other electronics and make the car run, not well but at least you weren't stranded.

Is there a way to bypass the NVIS system? On some cars you can ground a pin or power up a pin on the ECM to temporarily bypass the security system.

I have the service manual and have started reading it but it's HUGE and harder to read than a Tom Clancy novel.

Sorry for rambling on so. I value your opinions and thanks for your help.

Thanks,
Tony T

 

Were the camshaft and crankshaft sensors oem? What part numbers? What about the P1800 code? I think you may change that solenoid too. That may be responsible for the car stalling.

 

She bought these sensors. I verified they were correct for this car.



I've not been to concerned about the P1800 code. It's the VIAS control solenoid valve code and shouldn't cause a "no-start" condition. My thoughts are to get the car running then work out all the other codes.

Thanks for your help,
Tony T

 

Generic crap, no telling.

Steal a set from junkyard.

 

+1. The real oems are way more expensive.