ericdwong

...I'm still trying to start it without the transmission in place. But the car just wont kick over.
The situation is, the starter is cranking fine and sounds just like it did normally. So this rules out the electrical and the starter motor itself. The car just wont kick over. The crankshaft is spinning. The car also will make a tremendously bad smell of unburnt fuel in the garage after trying to kick it over. This tells me it is getting gas. I'm going to make a confusing list for you to follow:

What is not connected:
back up light switch
speedometer sensor
air conditioning compressor (belt and electrical)
alternator
exhaust pipes and O2 sensors (yes I plan to open header it)
no clutch
only 1/2 the transmission is there

The obvious has been looked over:
The flywheel is in place
The starter motor is working fine, and I can see the crank spinning
The crankshaft position sensor (both of them) are both checked and operational (with ohm meter as well).

What is odd:
When I am cranking the tachometer is "cranking" with the engine between 2000-3000 RPM
After I am finished cranking, there is a fast clicking sound in the engine compartment thats probbly a relay. Sounds like a turn signal with a blown bulb.
When I am cranking- occasionally the starter sounds like it encouters a "difficult spot" in the motor. The lights in the car will dim further and the starter motor sounds like its choking.
Then the CEL came on, and I pulled a 0407 code. This is the crankshaft position sensor code. I checked it and it tests good. It is probably because of the irregular cranking of the motor.

What I've tried:
Starting it normally
starting it with fuel pump fuse removed
starting it wide open throttle

What has been done since the last time it started:
Replaced rear main seal
removed both oil pans
transmission out of car
drained oil and refilled with Mobil 1 synthetic.

I dont want to put it all back together yet only to find out it doesnt start. Theres gotta be something I'm missing. Help!

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Bet ya you've got a bad ground circut someplace. The Alternator has a ground point, is that hooked up? You may need to have some heavy duty grounding wires attached to the block to get it to fire up. Isn't one of the major ground point on the tranny? And if the tranny isn't on the car, where's that ground?

EDIT: How did you get that other crank sensor to see the fly wheel with the tranny out?

ericdwong

The alternator is "disconnected" because the belt is off of it. The big ground is actually on the engine block, not the tranny, so thats grounded as well. I wish it was that easy. This is frustrating.

The POS crank position sensor is attached cause 1/2 of my tranny is there. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ewong61/max/DSCF0093.JPG is a pic.

cbr2

iTrader: (1)

Everything is hooked up that is suppose to be...
(It would not crank if the ground was not attached)
I would be willing to bet that something is disconnected..
all those little wires that are part of the + pole are VERY important.. make sure one is NOT broken off ( i have seen this before) Also the harness that runs over the tranny and to the plugs that are on the drivers fender well area are important too... One might be slightly disconnected...
IM me if you still need direction: AOL-IM: rodoski

ericdwong

I might be on to something- I retested the front crank position sensor (POS) and it may not be working right although it looks OK. Briguymax informed me that he forgot to install his before and the car would crank but not start. Anyway according to the FSM, its supposed to have 5 volts when theres metal near it. And 0 volts when there is nothing. Doing the place a metal wrench/screwdriver-near-the-tip-while-multimeter-is-connected test yielded 1 or some puny amount of volts with the wrench at the tip.

If I disconnect the sensor from the harness, the wire reads a full 5 volts. Something must be up.

So for now, I must wait until my friend with a 98 max calls me back, so I can swap sensors and see what happens.

Lime

Hey, Eric, when you've got some fre time wanna come over and help me put in cams? just kidding. Man, you should work at a dealership or something; you must know that car inside and out now. Do you dream about VQ's?

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Your onto something with that crank sensor. If that puppy suddenly fails, over night lets say, It doesn't set a CEL under the no start condition.

We learned that out the hard why on my buddies I30.

David Bost

Back to basics time. Do you have fire at the plugs? I think that the reason that there is a slight hesitation during the cranking cycle is because your engine is hopelessly flooded. What you are smelling is evidence that the injectors are pouring in plenty of fuel, there may be no spark to ignite it. Check your secondary (and primary) ignition system top to toe, and you may find your problem.

ericdwong

OK well I was finally able to borrow a CPS sensor. Indeed my sensor is faulty. When I used my friends, it did exactly what it was supposed to, 5 volts when metal is near and 0 when it is away, so this is yet something I need to get. I then tried my friends sensor in the car and it still would not start up.

I figured out what the clicky clicky noise was, it is the fuel injectors firing. They're firing in sequence and I can feel the relays clicking on the front fuel rail. I find it odd that the computer doesnt realize that the motor is off, but still fires the fuel injectors. And then I can smell an ungodly amount of unburnt gas in the air, so this leaves me to believe that the car is probably extremely flooded. Doing the WOT while starting method hasnt worked either. So its probably so flooded that method doesnt work. I'm going to pull the plugs to see if they're saturated in gasoline.

But what I still dont understand-why is the RPM/tach-o-meter jumping up to 2-3k rpm while the motor is cranking?

JAIMECBR900

This is absolutely unbelievable. This is exactly what is happening to my car right now. It has been to the dealer for a week and it stumped 3 "master" nissan techs there. I took it to a high performance shop where it has been for almost 2 weeks now. It has them stumped too.

My tach is jumping the exact same way. The car will eventually fire but very irratically. Sometimes just fine, then the next time not at all. When running, it runs absolutely perfect.

I have changed the ecu, both crank sensors, the cam sensor, the condenser, swapped out coil packs, changed plugs, disconnected the alarm, checked every relay and fuse in the entire car.

I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what is wrong. All my trouble started when I tried to hook up a Hyperground system. I suspect I arched something or shorted something out. I have ruled out the whole wire harness and ecu by either changing it out with a new one or because it runs absolutely perfect once it fires.

Please tell me when you find what is causing yours not to fire up, because it sounds identical to my problem. Please, please. I want my car back home where it belongs. I've been w/o it for 3 weeks now.

JAIMECBR900

Here's a link from when my car started acting like yours 3 wks ago.


http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ighlight=jaime

JAIMECBR900

Is your engine completely out of the car or just doing some swapping with it in the car? Reason is because if it is in the car still, that "ticking" noise you hear when you let off is probably not the injectors but it could be some of the sensors for the ecu. When you pull codes or reset the ecu, notice that it makes a bunch of "clicking" noises under the engine bay as you turn the screw on the ecu. The sounds come from the area of the MAF/intake, but not sure.

BTW, have you found out anything else? My car is doing the exact same thing as yours. I have changed out the sensors, ignition switch, ecu, plugs, coil packs, condenser, etc and still nothing. The guys at the shop say that our cars have some kind of "room" control relay/fuse somewhere inside the car that may be shorted out. I looked in the Haynes and found nothing. This "thing" is what they are looking for right now since everything else has not worked????? Please let me know ASAP if you get yours running and how you did it so I can try it on my car. You can email me too and i'll tell you all the stuff in detail that I've tried in case it will help you too.

ericdwong

I think the ticking is the injectors, cause if I put my hands on where the relay goes into the injectors on the fuel rail (or the front at least) I can feel the tickng and it ticks in sequence.

I havent found anything else out yet, only that my CPS is bad. I need to hunt one down in the junk yard.

So you are getting the tach moving while the engine is cranking too? I think its wierd alright.

JAIMECBR900

Yep. The tach jumps up and down crazy like it's getting voltage spikes or something. I think that it is something related to ground. Not because of the Hyperground I was trying to hookup when it went bad, but because it's the only thing I disconnected totally when it went bad. I removed the factory ground completely when I was trying to install the Hypergrounds. I didn't leave it removed, just took it out so I would have more room to connect the hypergrounds and then put the factory on top of the Hypers.

I have a gut feeling I either arched something that's not letting the coil packs fire or I left something stupid disconnected. I have checked every connection near that side of the car though and nothing is disconnected. Don't know. It's driving me nuts.

To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that noone would give me anything remotely decent for the car....I'm so frustrated I've contemplated buying a new one. I'm that frustrated. Let me know if you find anything else out. Email me right away, please. I'm paying an arm and a leg to people that are just as lost as I am.

maxger

Maybe you need the extra jucie from the alternator to allow the ignition coils to function properly. Get another battery and place it in a parallel circuit to boost the current or just get a boost from another car. Be careful though.

JAIMECBR900

bump.

ericdwong

Just my luck I could not find a CPS before christmas, so I have to wait to tomorow (dec 26) to order one which will take a few days to get here. I'm so fed up with this car, I'm seriously considering loosing it again. Its been sitting on jackstands forever.

JAIMECBR900

That's the thing, I changed both crank pos sensors and nothing. I even changed out the cam pos sensor, nothing either. The car starts, but very difficult to get it to and you have to like feather the throttle to get it to start eventhough you can smell the raw gas while cranking. Who knows...I'm like you, I'm damn near ready to just throw the towel in and buy me another one.

I'm going to take it to yet another mechanic (the 3rd one) and hopefully they'll find the problem. Let me know if you come up with a solution.

mlw27858

Did you ever find out what was wrong...please tell me there is an easy fix! thanks

creammotors

Having the same problem as everyone else. The only solution I read was loose ground wires. Has anyone fixed their cars?

Feldman

iTrader: (1)

i hope so since the post before you was almost 2 months ago and the one before that 6 years ago...

check and clean your grounds. From the sounds of it i would say bad connection somewhere or starter is about to kick it for good, but more likely a connection issue

Professor

iTrader: (4)

BCM.