Hello all, I'm really hoping to get some help here. A little history on the car: it's about 95000 miles. The car sat about a year due to transmission issues until August of this year when a friend that works on cars put in a new transmission valve body. The maxima has days where it will start and others where it won't. I've changed both the battery in the key fob as well as the car battery. On days where the car won't start, all I can do is lock, unlock, open the trunk and set off the alarm. The dash shows the yellow key and red car symbol. I can't put the car into ACC mode or turn it on. I removed the fuse for the steering lock a few years ago. I've tried putting the key fob into the key slot. If you guys need any more information to troubleshoot, please say so. Thanks for any input in advance.

 

Five bucks says you have a grounding issue. When he detached the transmission, he forgot to lightly sand the bell housing prior to reassembly. I would try a simple test to confirm. Add two grounds, one from each side of the transmission bell housing to your battery. Any gauge wire will do. Report back your findings.

Might be a bad starter issue too. Grab a long pipe and tap the starter a few times and see if the car starts right up.

 

Thank you for your response! I'll try this and let you know the results.

 

It's been a while! So, I was recently able to get the Maxima looked at and it appears that the issue is with the steering wheel lock. My buddy tested everything else out before smacking the box to the steering wheel lock and the car freaking started up! He said that it looks like it might have been tampered with or replaced at some point. Ever since then, the car has been starting up regularly.