My 04 Max SE takes a while to turn on when it's below 10 degrees. It has always turned on but sometimes (especially 5 and below) I have to hold the key for a really long time and some times give it some gas for it to turn on. Is this normal? I don't know much about cars but I thought that wasn't suppose to happen with fuel injected cars? Does anyone else experience this?

 

It's been below 10° for the most part where I live (Norwalk, CT) for the last few days and I haven't had that problem. This morning it was 8° actually... complete suckage.

I do what someone here suggested a couple of weeks ago... you move the key up to get the juice going and "prime" the pumps, leave it there for a couple of seconds, then turn it over. Haven't had any problems with starting at all.

 

Its been as low as -15 F in Montreal over the last week. This is not including the wind chill factor (-20 F). My max starts without any effort. Keep your gas tank at least at 3/4 . This will minimize any moisture in the tank causing hesitation or slow start.

 

By move the key up you mean put the key in the on position? Like where the radio turns on and the windows roll down. Then wait a couple seconds and start it?

 

The key has 4 positions... OFF --> ACC (accessories) --> ON --> START

What I do is move to ON and leave it there for a few seconds, then turn it over to start the car. I'm not 100% convinced that it's necessary, but like I always say "if it's stupid, but it works, then it's not stupid"

 

I've never had any problems starting my car in the cold. It's been below 15 degrees here in Chicago a lot lately. I think keeping your car at 3/4 tank is pretty drastic. I'd be filling up every other day. You should keep at least 1/4 tank in the winter when it's cold.

 

Experts say that you shouldn't go below half a tank of gas to keep too much moisture from building up inside the gas tank.

As far as the hard starting I can second the comment about waiting until the beeps stop when you turn the key prior to starting the car. I have never had issues if I let the car wait for everything to be ready.

If you still have issues while waiting for the car to prime itself you may have a bad battery and/or alternator. I had my battery replaced at 8400 miles. Car wouldn't start at 30F. Go to an Autozone and have them check your altinator and battery...it's FREE!

Check out my thread for more info
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=370022

 

You should keep at least 1/4 in the tank at any time of the year going below that is bad for your car. You should definitly keep it at 1/2 tank or higher preferably when it is as cold as it is now.

 

I've had a couple no start situations so far. Two last year, and one the other day. Always on a warm engine. I let it warm up for 10 minutes in the driveway. Go downtown to grab a coffee or fill up with gas. When I try to start it again, no go. Then give it 15 minutes and its fine. Like its flooded, but my foot was nowhere near the gas pedal. Dunno why it does this. Its very strange.

 

There is a TSB out there for your symptoms ****

 

I am in ColdHampshire, no starting probs, even fuel injected cars have a kind of built in choke/sensor for cold starts. I would say you might have a problem with something of this nature.
Remeber the old carb day pump the gave twice to set the choke and vroommm!