Cephyr13

[SOLVED]
I was getting no fuel and no spark. It turned out to be the Eng Cont 1 fuse. Replaced it and the car starts again.

[3RD UPDATE]
The fuel pump does prime once when I turn the key to the on position, but not if I turn the key again to the on position.

There's no fuel and no spark. I think the security system is causing that but the security light isn't going solid to indicate that the security system is preventing the car from starting.

I bought a new key fob for the car a couple of days before this happened. Then a day or so later, the alarm starts going off randomly and I use the fob to turn it off.

I noticed that when I first got the fob, the trunk button on it worked. But after one day, the trunk button no longer popped the trunk. I've read security system threads on here that talk about there sometimes being a problem in the trunk with the security system and it causing the car not to start.
​​​​​​
Any ideas?

​​​​​
[2ND UPDATE]

Fuel pump doesn't prime (so I was wrong earlier when I thought it was priming).

I took the battery cables off the battery for 30 mins. Then I reconnected them, rolled all windows up and locked the doors and let the car sit for 30 mins. That's supposed to reset the alarm system. Didn't work.

Any other suggestions? I think this may well be the alarm system. I forgot to put the anti-theft fuse and the horn #2 fuse back while resetting the security system. Not sure if that matters.

[UPDATED 1/15/20]

As I suspected, there's no fuel. Changed fuel pump. Still no fuel. Fuel pump DOES NOT prime when key is turned to "on." No fuel makes it to the fuel pressure regulators (I pulled one of the hoses to check and it was dry...even tried to crank it without the hose connected and no fuel came out). Read the original post to see what else I've done.
​​​​​
​​​​​
[ORIGINAL POST]

2000 Maxima 5sp 187k

The car cranks but won't start. I don't think it's the SECU system because the red security light doesn't stay solid when cranking like it would if it were immobilized. And at the moment, I have the anti-theft fuse pulled out and the horn #2 fuse pulled out so the alarm doesn't go off. The security light still blinks though, like it's active! So I plugged in the anti-theft fuse again and that didn't fix anything. Haven't tried plugging the horn #2 fuse back in, though, because it seemed unrelated. I've had them unplugged for a couple of days and saw no problems.

One symptom of a problem the car has had since I first got it was that when I start it first thing in the morning, it will idle out after 10 seconds or so and it smells like it's running very rich. I replaced the ignition could packs with OEM Hitachi coil packs from Nissan, I replaced the MAF sensor, replaced the IACV, and made sure the plugs are good. One plug was loose, so I tightened it. After all of that, now the car idles for around 20 - 30 second now before it dies. But it only takes about a minute of keeping it idling myself for it to start holding idle now. I also noticed that when this is happening, even after the car begins to idle on its own, I hear small explosions in first part of the exhaust. They're very quiet, so I believe they're happening somewhere before the main cat, possibly even before the primary cat.

Once the car warms up, it doesn't run rich anymore. Someone suggested a cat might be broken causing the backfires early on in the exhaust and weird sound and poor idle when cold. I haven't checked the cat yet, but a broken cat won't cause the car not to start at all, so that's not causing this current issue.​​​​

I bought this car less than a month ago. Been fixing things ever since.

Regarding the no start issue, I'm not sure if I'm getting fuel. I haven't had a chance to check it yet. Is there an easy way to check real quick when I get back home to the car?

Any ideas what could be causing this problem? I'll check the spark when I get home. It's getting air. And I want to check fuel if there's a quick easy way on these cars.

Thanks so much. Gotta get this figured out quickly since this is my work car.

ChrisMan287

iTrader: (34)

Why is the alarm not turning off? Does your fob not work? Have you tried using they key in the door and turning it to locked then unlocked?

Cephyr13

​​​​​​
The alarm would sound off randomly for some reason. I used my key or the fob to turn it off. Then it would go off again in about 10 minutes. Sometimes 5 mins, sometimes 15 or so minutes. No real pattern. I even tried putting the hood up but that still didn't keep it from tripping. I'm just surprised the security light is still flashing after I pulled the anti-theft fuse. (I just added a little more info to the original post if you want to reread it).
​​​​​​

Cephyr13

I think it may be the security system, but I'm not sure. I found that there's no fuel getting to the motor.

I don't hear the pump prime.

I pulled the fuel line going to the fuel pressure regulator and it's dry as can be. No fuel comes out when I try to start the car.

I went ahead and replaced my fuel pump with the one from my other car to eliminate that part. Didn't fix the problem.

So I'm wondering now if it really is the security system cutting the fuel. But I imagine if that we're the case, the security light would be solid while I try and crank it.

Any ideas what might be cutting power to the fuel system? Or how to fully disable the security system? I'm at a loss.

Cephyr13

I updated my original post. Check it out.

Cephyr13

Here's the 3rd update if you missed it in the updated original post:

The fuel pump does prime once when I turn the key to the on position, but not if I turn the key again to the on position.

There's no fuel and no spark. I think the security system is causing that but the security light isn't going solid to indicate that the security system is preventing the car from starting.

I bought a new key fob for the car a couple of days before this happened. Then a day or so later, the alarm starts going off randomly and I use the fob to turn it off.

I noticed that when I first got the fob, the trunk button on it worked. But after one day, the trunk button no longer popped the trunk. I've read security system threads on here that talk about there sometimes being a problem in the trunk with the security system and it causing the car not to start.

Cephyr13

[SOLVED]

I changed the Eng Cont 1 fuse and the car starts now. Weird.