Craig Mack

Ever since I got my conversion a couple weird things have been happening. One day as I left the gas station my radio wouldn't work. So at a stop light I turn off the car (battery still on) and try to turn on the radio. Wouldn't work. So I start her up and just go home..I stop inside my neighborhood on the side of the road to give it another shot. (battery still on)...well the radio finally turns on and the car starts w/o any problems...I think some wires got mis-matched...I think now my radio has to be turned on always in order for it to start with the car. (Radio is a PioPremier DEH-P730)

Now, a week or 2 later, my car won't start..in the morning it started up..on the way home from school it started up...but when I got home and came back out to get going again, it wouldn't crank. Battery works (AC, windows, stereo, ect.) but the car won't crank. I tried starting in N and in gear, doesn't work...It can't be the starter becuase it was working fine all those other times...I think we used my starter and not the donor cars and I know mine was perfect.

So...any idea's guys?

ericdwong

I have a factory 5 speed, but I can try to help. How was the park-neutral safety switch bypassed (the switch that makes sure the car when an auto only starts in N or P) in the conversion? I do not believe it would matter which gear you are in with the stick transmission as the stick transmission's neutral safety switch's equivalent is the clutch inhibiter relay circuit (car will only start with clutch fully depressed). I do not know the details of your install, but I would suspect this system first.

Questions are..
1) Can you start the car with/without clutch depressed?
2) How was the auto's park/neutral safety switch bypassed?
3) How was the clutch transmission's clutch inhibiter relay wired?
4) are you sure it is not the battery going bad? When I experience a bad battery the car will still run, but the radio will shut off.

Craig Mack

WTF. My car now starts up again fine! Just to make sure I turned the car off and started it again...started with no hesitation. But I will most likely incounter some more freaky future problems, and everything isn't 100% right with some things, so i'll go ahead and address Eric's Q's.


1)Car only starts with clutch depressed just like a normal 5spd.

2)I don't know. Chaz f#cked up some of my wiring so my reverse lights come on when i'm in neutral, and my cruise control doesn't work. See #3.

3)Again, I don't know..Cbr2 did all the wiring.. I know we had some problems and had to switch around some wiring...some of it got caught in the manual tranny when we put it in (NEVER put a tranny in at night) but we got them out the next day.. I'll get him to respond here asap.

4)I am positive..I can turn on everything with my car off. My car now starts up again fine! Very strange.. But I don't want to ignore this becuase I know something weird will happen again. I'll let him take it from here...

Also as a side note: When I start the car, the O/D switch blinks about 13 times. I think it's something to do with the AUTO ECU, and doubt it's related to this..just thought i'd throw that out though.

Thanks Eric for trying to help.

cbr2

iTrader: (1)

only can be 2 things..
1.) the starter.. you can test this by keeping a stick in the car. when it won't start tap the starter w/ the stick.. if it works there you go... (this has happened to me in my infiniti)

2.) the switch on the pedal is not good.. doubtful but again taking the switch out and wiring the 2 wires together would bypass it.. If you do this then the cruise WON'T ever work..

And damn it.. For the 100th damn time.. it is only a 4 wire connector.. swap the damn wires... The thing is a complete manual operation.. the harness has NOTHING to do w/ crap.. except the reverse lights.

see5

JUDE

iTrader: (7)

What about the Alternator? Try disconnecting the battery after you've started the car. If the car dies, then its the Alternator.

Craig Mack

interesting...but I don't think the alternator has anything to do with the car starting up. I think it's purely battery.

emax02

iTrader: (1)

If the battery is charged it's not the alternator.

Craig I know nothing about the wiring but the wires are probably either connected or not. The starter on the other hand can act very strange when it's on it's way out. It can work perfectly one minute and then do nothing the next. In the future do what the other guy said and tap your starter and see if that gets the car to start. ohh yeah a crank postition senso could be to blame for this too, I recommend you test them with a voltmeter.

cbr2

iTrader: (1)

Actually the battery is a good call.. Craig we had your battery disconnected.. are both wires on all the way tight?? One might be slightly loose this will cause this too.

JR_Anders

Did you have the clutch fully depressed? Could be a simple fix to a simple problem. I'm just saying this cuz it happened to a co-worker yesterday, they came in to work after leaving saying the car wouldn't start. I went out there and started it right up, they looked so embarrassed when they said they forgot to push in the clutch

Craig Mack

Yes I had the clutch in all the way..

Chaz, that was the first thing I checked..both negitive and positive wires are on tight. If indeed it is my starter going, im gonna f#ck Nissan up..it only has like 5,000 miles on it. They probubly gave me an old used one from some other sap's maxima.

Frank Fontaine

Wow, all these symptomes remind me of when me and a buddy swapped a motor for someone who had a 6-cyl Volvo. We thought we were the **** since it was a cakewalk doing a 4-cyl. Believe me, it's not as simple as swapping 4-wires until voila the car runs perfectly. Could be so many things. Hopefully you can restore the auto when it comes time to sell the car. You got so many things going on, but hopefully someone else who has done the swap has encountered the exact same things as you. A car that leaves you stranded is not cool, ask my buddy with his brand-new Sentra. 17" rims and fancy Spec V badges didn't do him a lick of good on the MA Turnpike. Crank sensor on a new car, c'mon now.