I have a 2011 that has required me to feather the gas pedal every morning when starting this winter. I realize it says this is normal in the manual but I never had to do this before even in similar temperatures. Any ideas? Anyone else encounter this?

 

Hey,

What do you mean by feather the pedal? Is it have difficulty starting?

 

Very strange...my foot is on the brake pedal and never the gas when I start my car.

 

Very strange.

Feathering the gas pedal should not be required on Fuel Injected Vehicles.

When it does start does it go into fast Idle (1200+ RPM) then drop down to around 700 RPM?

How cold has it been getting for you lately?

Do you have and plug in your Block Heater?

Are you using regular winter grade Oil or Summer or are you using Synthetic Oil?

 

We are talking -20 degrees centigrade very cold. I have to have one foot on the pedal and with the other give it gas. This is actually listed as a procedure for cold start in the manual. It just seems odd to me.

 

We have been blessed with -30 to -35'C this winter.

My 04 Maxima with Amsoil 10W-30 Synthetic Oil starts fine when temp is warmer than -25'C (1st Crank) when it is -30'C it takes 2 or 3 cranks but never needs feathering and does go into high idle for a couple of minutes.

When temp is below -30'C and they forecast a -40 to -45'C with windchill is when I plug in my Block heater and then it starts with one crank of Starter.

But in your case you need to feather the Pedal so not really sure what the issue might be but these would be some things to consider looking at.

1) Low Fuel cranking Pressure
2) Poor Gas
3) Low cranking voltage ( should be 10V or Higher when cranking)
4) High idle circuit not working properly (should idle at 1200+ RPM in cold weather)

 

I live in Minnesota and never had problems starting my 13 Maxima with anything other than a foot on the brake.

The temperatures were as low as -10 Fahrenheit here last winter and the car had sat outside for 8 hours while I was at work.

The only thing I ever noticed was a winding sound that lasted maybe 3 sesonds when you started the car in extreme cold that turned out to be a bad power steering pump

 

Ahh ya I'm just outside of Toronto and been having similar temps. Haven't had to do this type of procedure myself.

 

Ya its really odd, I replaced the battery with an optima red top, still the same issue. This is what it says in the manual.

-If the engine is very hard to start in extremely cold weather or when restarting, depress the accelerator pedal a little (approximately 1/3 to the floor) and while holding, crank the engine. Release the accelerator pedal when the engine starts.

Section 5-11

I have a new battery, I'm hoping maybe its the fuel but I think I might have to pay a visit to the stealership.

 

Well I took it to the dealership last night so they could start it this morning. There is a TSB for a hard start in cold temperatures where they reprogram the ECU. I am skeptical but I guess ill know for sure tomorrow morning.

 

Would be curious as to the nature of "hard to start" that you are experiencing. What exactly is happening?

A few months ago I pushed the start button like I always do, and the engine turned over and started to run for just a second - then hiccuped. Several more attempts resulted in the engine cranking for about 5 seconds, then shutting down. So - knowing it was flooded, I tried what we did in the old days. I held the brake with my left foot, and held the accelerator pedal to the floor, then pushed the start button. It started amazingly smoothly, with no billowing of smoke.

It was an isolated experience, and has not happened again. I have since started in -20F (-29C) with no issues at all.

 

Exactly the same as what you experienced but it happens every morning for the last week.

 

Been starting my 14' in sub zero temperatures for past 4-5 weeks without an issue. Except a whine noise coming from I think the CVT for about 5 seconds. Probably till the oil circulates.

 

Well it seems updating the ECU according to a TSB did the trick. Go figure.

 

Where can we see tsb's?

 

Feather the gas pedal is a normal thing on fuel injected vehicles on a cold morning. Two things contribute to this that is temperature change and fuel delivery. The ECU as you know has LTFT and STFT (fuel trims) when you shut the car off for the day all the STFT are calculated into the LTFT so when you start the car next the ECU remembered the last conditions it was in as to adjust the fuel accordingly. However, when the temps change to an extreme the car tries to start with fuel trims that may not be optimal for the present condition.

Second condition fuel delivery, when you let your vehicle sit for a good while the fuel lines aren't pressurized because they slowly bleed the pressure present in the line. This bleeding is also calculated during starting a vehicle, the ECM/ECU will prime the lines for a clean start, but sometimes the pressure bleeds out even past the fuel pump so a quick prime won't always pressurize the pump and lines fully. This condition only happens to a vehicle usually if you have bigger engine with bigger fuel demands or leave it at an airport for a month while you take a trip to Mexico.

Either way if its a condition that occurs often Manufactures will tweak the programing to adjust for temps and or fuel pump priming. I wouldn't worry about it if your car does it when its cold I would worry if it did it every day.

Sorry for the novel but believe it or not this problem isn't just exclusive to Nissans. Many manufactures have the same kind of issues. I'm just happy I don't have to use a oil heater or carb starter fluid anymore when its freezing outside.

 

This is interesting as I had to drop my car off at the dealer the other day because I was having a starting issue. I went to start car and it started fine but the check engine light appeared. I shut the car off and tried to start it again but it kept on turning but wouldn't start. On the 4th or 5th attempt it finally started, I quickly drove to the auto parts store thinking the battery was on its way out but they said the battery fine and they read the code for the CEL which came back as P0101.

I ended up dropping it off at the Nissan dealer and determined it was an issue with the MAF sensor but when they went to test it the sensor was fine, they said there was an update available to the ECU that would solve this issue which they did. I've only had it back for 2 days but it seems to be fine now. Im not sure if there was a TSB they followed or what the update was. I should note that the car was sitting for 3 days when I first started it.

 

Sounds about right there. The MAF sensor meters the air coming in letting the ECM/ECU know how much fuel to mix with the metered air that passed by. The MAF also serves as a air temperature sensor also letting the ECM/ECU the air temperature. Most modern vehicles will pull ignition and cam timing for hot air temperatures and add timing for cold air. Atmosphere density can also be determined with equations ran by the ECM/ECU. Needless to say it doesn't surprise me that the ECM/ECU gave such a code to indicate MAF sensor problems. The MAF sensor is vital for the operation of our vehicles.

A modern practice of boosted vehicles is MAF signal manipulation to either add or take away fuel and timing. Some will even add in a MAP sensor to get an actual atmospheric pressure/density reading rather than letting the MAF calculate it. I still own a built Scion TC which uses a prototype hybrid ECM/ECU parallel module. I basically modify the ECU signals to let it extend the fuel trims and timing for boost.

That all being said. When temps are lower or higher than usual my MAF will register an error. I can see exactly why on my laptop and will usually just extend the temperature range on my custom MAP to compensate for that. I can only imagine the dealerships do the same thing. They probably do a lot of MAF cleaning on cars that are in dusty environments as well. Glad to hear that your car is running like a champ now.

 

I had that whine noise on cold start..................it was a bad power steering pump

 

Really? I have this every morning when I start my car, every morning that it's 10 or below...

 

Your pump is starving for fluid. There is another power steering thread going, I guess pumps are back ordered for weeks so you may want o get on the wait list before it fails




I let the dealer listen and he told me it was normal so I said would you by a car that sounds like that and 5 minutes later he was ordering the pump


http://assets.clickmotive.com/custom...e/column89.pdf