So my dad gave me his nice very clean 02 maxima, because he is fed up with it. 104k miles on it. VERY clean car. Issue is after driving, if you shut it off it will not start. Nissan could not get it to do it. Hes wasted money replacing the fuel pump, crank sensor, and still has the issue. I have a feeling it is something with the security system. If you take the and unhook the battery for a hour, it will start again. Anyone have a issue with this before? Hes given it to me for 500 bucks, i have a 05 altima se-r and i figure its just spare engine parts if anything goes up on mine....but its such a clean car, im hoping i can fix it if its simple. So....anyone run into this issue before?

 

If you let the car sit for an hour without disconnecting the battery, will it start?

It could be be the MAF, they do really screwy things. Next time the car won't start, unplug the wires to the MAF and see if it will start.

When the car wont start, hook up an OBD reader that can read live data and see what the engine coolant temperature reads. The reading should be in the neighborhood of 200 to 212º F.

 

No matter how you decide to approach that, first thing replace the ECU relay. Just replace, do not think about it. It's $25 only and may fix the issue for good.