i have a 2002 maxima SE, im pretty much 90 to 95% done with the swap. everything is already in, i just need help with the electrical part of the swap. Im using the auto ecu. i just have a few questions, im pretty much stumped about the pnp switch so please can someone help

1) how can i get the pnp switch connected? i have the back up lamp sensor and pnp switch connected to a harness that has a femal connector output, does it connect to the positive terminal harness? because i see a couple connectors taped up

2) im still using auto motor mounts, can i connect the auto electric motor mount? i have read that someone that swapped a manual ecu fried their m/t ecu in seconds, just want to know if it would be fine

3) I know i need a vehicle speed sensor, but i have read that the 02-03's are read with the abs sensor. do i just leave that alone? or is their really a speed sensor on the tranny?

4) I know that the abs unit has to be relocated, i have the m/t abs bracket, but i ran into a problem. I looked at a friends car for reference a couple weeks ago and noticed that the abs unit for autos and manuals sit differently. for the autos they sit horizontally but manuals sit vertically. will i need to swap in the manual abs unit?

5) is their any thing else that im missing?

thanks, help would be greatly appreciated

 

1. Positive terminal harness? You mean like to the battery? ...no. IIRC the auto harness does not have the proper connectors for the 6MT (not that it should), so you'll have to either wire yourself up an adapter harness, or connect the wires directly.
2. You could plug them in if you want, no real need to though.
3. The 6MT 5.5 does not have a VSS.
4. Have you looked at them both to see if they're different or not? It may just be a difference in mounting brackets. However if it gets in the way, you're going to have to do something about it, obviously.
5. Without knowing every single detail of your swap, who knows.

 

1. ah man i guess im going to have to get M/T harness or how could i just connect the wires directly?
2. ill probably just leave them disconnected
4. yes i have looked at my friends car in person and compared the two, i would have him come over but hes in florida at the moment. i cant tell if it would get in the way but it sits real close to the shifter cables.
5. what other details do you need to know?

 

Cutting, splicing, and soldering.


As I said above, in order to tell you if there's anything missing, we'd have to know every detail about your swap. If you don't think there's anything missing, then there's no point.

 

I know i need to splice and solder. which wires would i have to splice in to, i have the fsm, i just dont know which wires need to be spliced to get the pnp harness connected


nothing else is missing just need help with the electrical portion of the swap, i havent cranked it yet because i dont want to risk messing up something

 

Well have you actually looked through the FSM?

The neutral switch wiring is easily found in EC, P1706.

The reverse light wiring is easily found in EL, under back up lamp.

Also, I do hope that you properly aligned the flywheel to the crank, or you're going to have to drop the trans all over again.

 

yes i properly alligned the clutch and flywheel and torqued them to the correct specs

i have found the wiring diagrams for both of them, i just dont know how to really read them, i can tell which ones are for the auto or manual application but i do not know which wires to splice into, i just dont want to splice into the wrong wire which is why i need a little guidance

 

The wire colors are listed right there on the diagrams, you just match up the wire color from the manual trans sensors to the proper wire color for the harness side of the automatic sensors.

 

oooohh took 10 min to figure out. so let me get this straight. in the pnp switch diagram for the auto female connector is f10 and for the manual female connector if f66(i have the manual female connector its been cut, recieved it with tranny). so i can just splice to green and white stripe wire 2nd wire on manual female connector, TO THE auto green and orange stripe wire;2nd wire on auto female connector? if this is correct then how would i get the other wires connected for the manual or auto female connector?

 

G/W to G/OR, B to B for the neutral sensor.
OR to OR, and G/W to G/W for the reverse sensor.

As far as pins 1 and 4, I don't know what's on those (and don't feel like looking it up). They may very well just be empty, as all you really need are 4 wires for both neutral and reverse sensors.

 

o now i know it clearly, the ones i mentioned were ecu wires just for positive and the black wires you have mentioned were for ground on the same connectors, which are also on the diagram. i just thought they were just one big link of connectors for some reason

yes your right the manual female connector has 4 out of 6 prongs in it

i think its clear to me now, thank you very much i really appreciate it

i'll keep you updated

 

alright here is the update i have tried firing it up today but it just does not want to crank, it had some electrical noise. i thought it was my battery so i used the battery from my sisters g35. there was some progress, the engine was hesitating to crank.

im not sure if its the starter or some other electrical issue i missed.

am i suppose to jump the pnp switch?

here is a video of how it sounds like, struggling to crank up

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5-19-25-22.flv

 

picked up a battery and cleaned ckps sensor, still didnt start. im thinking starter, new ckps, or starter is not making a good contact with the flywheel. does any one have an input?

 

If the starter is cranking and the motor is turning over then you can rule out the starter as an issue as well as the battery (although it will get too low after excessive cranking).
I dont know what kind of electrical **** you messed with but just focus on everything you have recently removed that has to do with engine control. The crank sensor needs to line up with the teeth on the flywheel, obviously.

 

The only electrical thing i messed with is the pnp harness, i already spliced into that, i know for sure i had done that correctly. I never messed with the negative terminal, its grounded in the same place when i had the auto tranny. i double checked if the positive terminal was connected to the right bolt on the starter. i know tha the crank sensor needs to line up with the teeth, i dont know if its suppose to be in a specific angle or i just need a new one. That half rubber grommet was on the right side of the crank sensor on the auto tranny so i put it in the same position on the manual tranny

the fidanza flywheel is alligned properly by putting it on the fwd pin. bolted on in star pattern and torqued in star pattern, i took my time on this and did it carefully, clutch disk and pressure plate alligned dead center with clutch allignment tool.

 

Is the flywheel meant for a FWD application or something RWD? There's more to it than just the dowel placement.

 

its for a fwd application part #143951 NIS18FWD

 

Your problem is not with the starter. It is cranking, therefore it is doing its job. If you only messed with transmission-related things during the swap then your issue is most likely something you've unplugged or improperly replaced.

As far as I know the crank sensor only mounts one way. Take some pictures to show your flywheel alignment in the crank sensor hole, etc.

Also, sometimes cars are just really hard to start for the first time in awhile. Do you try opening the throttle a little while you are cranking? Make sure the car is in neutral, I know you're not used to stick yet.

 

this morning i went and got a code scanner, i had 3 codes
p0740
p0745
p1800(i have had this code since i installed the 350z plenum so i dont think its that)

im not sure if those other two codes(p0740,p0745) are normal since im using the auto harness and auto ecu

i will try opening the throttle a little. lol yes i have made sure it was in neutral

here is the pic

 

alright i got a little more progress, i had a cousin turn the key while i messed with the throttle butterfly valve. once i let go of the butterfly valve, it started up, but not quickly, i heard possibly some little grinding with the starter and flywheel, then the car died. i have two videos, one of them with me *****in at my cousin. not sure if car needs to build up pressure again or what

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v6...6-12-29-43.flv

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v6...6-12-28-45.flv


ahh **** i realized i didnt have the crank sensor connected on the tranny when i recorded the video

 

i put the crank sensor back in the tranny and bolted it up and tried again and opening throttle, now i went a step backward, engine wont turn on like it did with the crank sensor not bolted up to the tranny

 

Okay, if that is the timing ring gear for the flywheel, then i guess its lined up correctly. So half of the crank sensor hole is part of the bellhousing of the tranny, and the other half is the engine block. Well it looks like maybe the surface across both the tranny and engine right there is not flush (flat). The problem MAY be that where the sensor mounts it is simply not close enough to the flywheel ring gear. I know on 4th gen swaps people have had to grind down the "raised" surface of the engine block where the sensor mounts to bring it closer. Its a simple concept, just a little tricky to explain.

someone needs to confirm this before you do anything though, as I'm not sure that the surface isn't already flat, its hard to tell in the picture.

I think those codes are just for the auto tranny, I highly doubt they would keep you from starting the car.

 

i have read about the surface being grinded too for the 4th gen, im thinking that i have to grind mine down also since i have the fidanza flywheel and it has a smaller ring gear. i have also read about grinding the bolt holes for the starter to have a better contact with the flywheel. people have had horrible grinding, which caused damage to the flywheel teeth. im thinking this makes sense since the ring gear on the fidanza is a little smaller than stock

 

its possible, but I'd wait for confirmation before you go through with it. or find some threads of others who have done the swap and see if they say anything about it. Does the aftermarket flywheel cause problems for everybody? or just people who do the conversion?

 

yes alot of people have problems with the fidanza flywheel, i havent really read anything about having crank sensor issues with the fidanza, but many have said the timing gear is a little smaller, which the starter barely makes contact with the flywheel teeth. they had to grind down a millimeter or two so the starter gear can sit flush with the flywheel teeth. but some didnt care about the grinding, so then a couple months down the road the teeth on their flywheel is worn all the way down

here is a thread about it on 5.5 gen
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...-flywheel.html

theres also other threads with the similar problem

 

The "timing ring" and the "ring gear" are two different things. The starter engages with the ring gear to crank the motor. This is the part that everybody was saying is too small in diameter and therefore becoming ruined by the starter. If that is the case with your flywheel, that is going to be a big problem in no time as it is going to strip it until there is nothing left. I wouldn't grind down the tranny housing at the starter mounting location or you are basically screwing yourself if you ever wanted to go back to a stock flywheel or another aftermarket flywheel that is the CORRECT size. I would call fidanza and make them give me one that is worth a **** if it was me. Obviously they changed their design as someone stated in the thread, so they know they screwed up.



The timing ring is what the CKPS reads and it has little teeth as well, although it looks different than the 4th gen ones. In this picture the timing ring appears to be what the guy's hand is touching. It has very shallow cuts in it, every inche or so, that is what the sensor reads.

 

thats what i meant to say pardon my ignorance and the confusion. i know its not worth grinding the starter housing. dropping the tranny is a pita for me. someone has grinded the starter housing and hasn't had any problems ever since. i know im acting a little stubborn about it, its been almost two months, im eager to get this thing running

 

well, its your call.

 

alright i have grinded the starter body on the right side, grinded the bolt holes on starter on the left side. i really didnt want to grind down the starter housing on the right side but i did a little. tried to start it up but still same problem, maybe wasnt grinded down enough. i took out the crank sensor again and started it up, i had the same results as in the 2 videos i posted earlier. i just dont understand why their is more progress when the crankshaft sensor isn't bolted on. could that sensor just go bad, or does it have to throw a REF or POS code?

im done for tonight, gonna tackle this tomorrow

probably will go get a crank position sensor tomorrow

 

If the starter is engaging the flywheel and turning the motor over then the starter is not related to your problem. I was just saying that eventually it is going to destroy your flywheel to leave it like that. But as long as the timing ring is in the right position (not sure what was going on with the spacers you mentioned earlier) and as long as the crank sensor is in the right position, close enough to the timing ring etc, it "should" start or you have a different problem.

when you say you are unbolting the crank sensor do you mean that you are unplugging the sensor? or are you just leaving it hanging? A sensor can be bad without throwing a code but I think that would be almost too coincidental that it just went bad during the swap.

 

im just leaving the sensor hanging. i guess the magnet in the sensor is messed up by struggling to read the timing ring. ill pick one up tomorrow, i kinda doubt that nissan would have them in stock and they would have to get it ordered. i would go to advance or autozone but i wrather use a genuine nissan part for this kind of situation, but depending where it is located i know that advance or autozone would have it shipped to the store in a few hrs

spacers? you mean the grommet? if you meant the grommet, its just a black rubber thing that sits flushed on the right side of the sensor to make a perfect circle around the sensor. as you can see on the crankshaft sensor hole picture on top. the bellhousing half does not look even with the engine half, so a rubber grommet goes on their to make it look even, a snug fit and angling the sensor in the correct position

i dont know how close the sensor has to be to the timing ring, but i think the timing ring and sensor sit fine. ill just replace the sensor

 

oh nevermind, forget I said anything about a spacer. I read something about flywheel/clutch alignment and thought I heard something about a spacer.

anyways. I really wouldnt worry about getting a genuine nissan sensor. They are going to rape you at the dealership, I'm looking online and the discounted nissan website wants 125 for it. Rockauto.com has aftermarket ones for cheaper although they still look like they are around 60-80 bucks. Either way, you can always return it if it doesnt solve your problem and get your money back.

I dont know why the car would start with the sensor removed but not when it is mounted. But, if that sensor's placement is the difference in the car starting up or not starting up then I'd say you may have found the cause of the issue. The sensor does need to be pretty close to the flywheel teeth though. That is my best guess at this point, that it is not close enough or something. If the engine-side half of the sensor hole is sitting higher than the tranny housing, that may be telling you that on a manual car that sensor sits maybe a millimeter or so closer to the flywheel.

 

Alright well today I went to advance auto parts, I got the part for $92. I had to wait a few hrs so the sensor could be shipped to the store, when I got home and tried to connect the sensor the plug was a little bigger I was thinking "wtf...." so I went back to advance. We checked if it was the right year maxima. It was, but then when we looked up 2003 maxima and the crank sensor for a 2003 was the one I needed but for some reason the 2002 year was different. For future reference for anyone if you need the crankshaft sensor for a 2002 just order the 2003 year, at advance auto parts.

Now I have to wait for it to be shipped to their store, which will arrive tomorrow morning but I can't get my hands on it until I get off work

 

ok i replaced the sensor. still the same damn problem.

the only electrical things i have touched are the pnp and reverse lamp switches, i doubled chekced those connections and everything was connected correctly.

im not sure if the abs bracket has anything to do with it because that is not connected since auto and manual abs units are positioned different and dont exactly fit right. i read about how the vss is built in the 02 03 maxima abs unit, but pmohr said their isnt a vss. im not sure if it matters since the rpm needle jumps up and down when struggling to turn on

this is really frustrating..

 

Wait so...you have disabled your Anti-lock Brakes to do this transmission swap?!?

Anyways. I don't see how ABS would prevent your car from starting. You are examining everything except the most logical aspect of the problem. Swaps like this require understanding of at least the basic concepts of how these systems work and with an FSM, I don't really see any reason not to.

I dont know what threads and procedures you are mimicking, but do any of them say anything about having to level the mounting surface of the crank sensor? Have you measured the diameter of the timing gear on the flexplate from the auto transmission and the timing gear on the flywheel to confirm that they are identical before assuming they are? Clearly they made tranny-specific motor blocks, right?, lets not ignore that.

 

i didnt disable the abs. i just dont have the abs support bracket on since the auto and manual abs unit is positioned differently i think i have to modify the bracket in some way. but i looked around on the 5 speed swap and fidanza threads im not a 100% sure but maybe it has to do with the timing ring or gear

no i didnt get the diameter measured, i was prepared for the swap but i guess not a 100% prepared. the closest possibility i can think of is auto timing ring is different manual and possibly the timing gear is not right since it is smaller and a tooth or 2 less than stock

 

when you did your 5 speed swap did you transfer any auto timing on to your flywheel?

 

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...on-update.html

ask that guy if he used an aftermarket flywheel. I'm not going to repeat myself regarding the sensor mounting surface again.

 

got the car towed to the mechanic in the afternoon, because i couldnt afford the time to take out the tranny and i didnt have help.

I pm'ed NYC2K2MAXx since he did the swap awhile back. he said to reuse the auto pnp harness and switch, mess with the switch to get it into neutral and the car would start with the auto ecu. he said he was gauranteed it would work. so im going to the mechanic early tomorrow, hopefully they haven't started on the car yet so i could slap the pnp switch on. i'll keep who ever cares updated

 

didnt start up. re-connected auto harness pnp and reverse wires. put the auto pnp switch in neutral position and it cranked but didnt start up...