I'm wondering if this has happened to anyone and if so what it might be. I stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts this morning before work and when I went to leave my car wouldn't start. At first I just thought that I didn't have the clutch in far enough. So I tried again this time with the clutch depressed all the way to the floor. But the car still wouldn't start. Now I can't remember for sure (since I was starting to get rather ****ed) but I'm quite certain that the starter was turning over but the engine wouldn't fire. I tried two more time, took a deep breath before I put my foot through the windshield and finally on the third time it started right up with no problem. Has anyone had anything like this happen to their 2k2 Max (or other generation Max's)? Thanks!

 

no probs yet but i got a 2002 auto so not sure about the 6 spd

 

Did it happen again after that? Or is everything normal now?

 

I haven't tried again. I went straight to work and I didn't want to ruin my whole day if I tried at my office and it wouldn't start. I'll find out when I leave though.

 

very common on the VQ engine. If you take a short trip and shut down when the car hasnt warmed up completely (10 mins), then it will be too fuel rich on startup.

 

Yes it was actually a short trip but the engine was warm. I first stopped at an ATM (not a drive up so I turned the car off). After I got some money I drove about 100 feet to the Dunkin' Donuts. I had no problems leaving the bank and I had been driving for about 30 minutes prior. Can the engine cool down that much (relatively speaking) to still cause this problem?

 

you will have problems with this up to about 6000 miles.. it will happen alot less and finally it will be rare over 10K.

 

I actually have 8K on my car which still fall into the mileage catagory that you were talking about. Thanks for the info. I'm glad to know that this isn't that uncommon of a problem. Thanks again!

 

This happens to me...and it seems to happen more often now that it's past 20K miles.

I've tried to have Nissan service look at it a couple times, but they can't replicate it.

The "crank but won't start" problem not only happens in short trip, but also at initial startups in the mornings and in the afternoon (after work).

I've tried several things to prevent this from hapenning. One is that make sure that the chip is pointed towards the engine, and another is to turn the key to "ON" and wait a couple of seconds before you start the cranking. This seems to help a little, but the non-start cranking still occures.

 

Tim this is just a problem you have had, I don't think it's a normal problem on "VQ's" or low mileage ones. I have never once had a problem like this with 60,000 miles of VQ driving under my belt.

 

Sounds like you have a fuel pressure leak if you have to prime the fuel pump like that. If you want to know for sure you can setup a fuel pressure gauge, start the car for a few minutes, then shut it off and leave the car sitting over night. In the morning your fuel pressure should be the same as when you left it other wise your injecter gasket or something along those lines needs to be replaced.

 

Thanks for the advice!! I shall so that. Any fuel pressure gauge "How-Tos"??

 

This happened to me a few months back when i moved my car in my driveway and then when i tried to restart the car it wouldn't start. the starter was turning but no turning over. I called my dealer and they told me to hold down the gas as i was cranking the car over. I did it and the car started up. I guess the engine could get flooded if it is a short trip. Make sure you remove your foot from the gas pedal when it starts!! By the way this was a 2000.

 

Do you think it might be the anti-theft device in the key? There's something in the manual that said the car may not sometime start due to the key being wet or even from interference (microwaves or something).

 

I have not had this problem. I have had my Max for about 2 months and have not had any problems with the start up(knock on wood!). I have a 6 spd. I'm not sure what could be causing your problem. Anyway Good Luck with it!

 

Funny, this has happened only once on my 99 SE auto.

Conditions: I took it to nissan for an MIL which turned out to be an O2 sensor.

When i got in the car, it didnt start (or more over it cranked over for about 15 seconds and then caught)..

After that day it never ever happened again. There are 126,000kms on this car..


ED

 

This sounds like it's a common problem...but there doesn't seem to be a cause pin pointed yet...

Anyone else have this issue?

 

About what you said I have been working on nissans for 10 years now and went to tne new model training for the max and in the time I have been working on them I've found the break in period for this problem is 15k My 02 max does the same thing

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