Alrighty in advance thanks for the help guys. Here's the deal: My car has been having really bad starting sessions lately. It cranks and cranks and cranks but doesn't start, and when I'm cranking it also makes a horrible grinding sound (like the engine is already on and you try to turn the key). Eventually it does turn on, and from there out, it runs beautifully. Brand new starter in there, I grounded the hell out of my car, (the starter/tranny trick included) checked sparks, coils, and the only code I'm pulling is it pops up as a 0505 (clear) So this originally led me to belive it was something electrical, but I spent an entire day checking all my electrical work in my car and there were no apparent surges or anything of the sort, everything seemed to check out. Now since the weather has gotten nicer out, I've had my windows open a couple times, and when my car finally starts I smell gas...which makes me think it has something to do with my fuel system. So, here's my thoughts: either the ECTS or FPR. The only thing that's bugging me is that it doesn't really seem to matter if the engine is warm or not, though most of the time it does start BETTER and the ratio is better when it is warm, but there are still occasions where I crank it forever. So any help or ideas on this very embarassing problem would be great. Thanks!

 

I hope you figure this out, i've been having the same problem on my 99' and I was gonna replace the starter so... thank you for the heads up.

Kevin

 

have you checked the injectors?

 

How many miles? What model year?

 

That's happenin to me except without the grindin and the gas smell

 

97 SE with 209K on it, I have not pulled the injectors out and looked no, what should I be looking for?

Brandnew, have you tried grounding your starter and tranny yet?

 

A faulty ECTS signal would cause it to go uber rich and uber lean at times. My friend's max did the same thing as yours, with the occational sputtering and turning off WHILE DRIVING. Changed that sensor, reset the ECU, problem was gone. They keep it in stock at the Autozones in my area.

Its very unlikely that a stock VQ FPR would go bad. However, I would change the fuel filter, even if its not a cause, its good amintenance to do so. An extremely clogged filter could casue hesitation and starting problems. I doubt thats the culprit, but do it anyways.

Go try out the ECTS and see what happens. It was like <$33 from Autozone

 

awesome I will go try that ASAP. I forgot to mention that I did just change my fuel filter a few weeks ago. Thanks for the input!

 

The grinding noise is the starter gears, the lube dries up in the cheap aftermarket starters. You can take the starter apart and put in a synthetic grease or buy one from nissan. Good luck solving your more immediate problem...

 

If it's not the starter, you can also check the crank position sensor(s). Also.. and this is just a hunch, but make sure you have all the teeth on you crankshaft pulley. I am assuming you don't have an aftermarket or UDP.

Make sure it's got 2 teeth then one then another one. If so, then ignore my hunch. Also check to make sure there is nothing wrong with the sensor or the wires grounding out, etc.

 

its definatly the starter. if its a new one you got and its not from a nissan dealer, then its prolly a refab. which meens it might have been screwwed when you got it. if you did get from some store (advance,ect.) you might have a warranty. but you have the exact same symptoms i had and with a new starter, mine was fixed. the flooding is just from the motor turing and the injectors working. mine did the same gas smell and the car even ran worse when it was hard to start and would run better when it started good. true for urs too?

 

"Paragraphs.." Learn it and get more answers from ppl with more knowledge.

 

You know I haven't really payed any attention to it, I dunno if it runs better when it starts correctly...I'll see over the next week. I know when it has a bad start it runs with high RPMs for awhile, but after a couple minutes will go back to normal. I'm going to check all the above suggestions, thanks all of you for your input, I'll get back as soon as I make some progress.

 

You know what it's great that you know what your talking about, and I respect you for that, but that doesn't give you a right to be a ****. I really didn't see any needs for paragraphs, other than to make it look more appealing to the lazy people who don't like to read anything with more than two sentences in it. If you "higher up" people are too cocky to look past the fact I didn't hit the enter button a couple times when I was writing, then I don't want your help. I'd rather learn it myself then be looked down upon and treated like a ****. "Respect.." learn what it's really about. Oh I'm sorry...should I have broken this up into paragraphs for you?

 

YES. It's painful on the eyes to seperate, not because it has anything to do with being lazy dude.