I did the thread insert to cylinder #5 for my spark plug on Sunday since the head thread was stripped. Took me 4 hours with a trip to the store but it worked fine. Car drove well afterwards. I cleared the codes and the light is off.

Since I had the issue of the cylinder 5 popping the spark plug out, starting the vehicle has been hit or miss. It cranks and cranks and sometimes pops, etc. Sometimes it would start fine and other times (like today) would not start at all. Then the starter (I believe it was the starter - hard to see in the lighting) was smoking and would not do much except turn slowly (without affecting the RPMs). I had it towed to a local garage near work as i was already late.

I think i killed the starter. BUT I want to know what the root cause was. My concern when I had the cylinder 5 issue, was I also threw a code for the CPU (crankshaft pos sen (ref)). Could this be due to the cylinder 5 problem OR is it causing my non-starting issue. I hope to provide some assistance to the garage to keep my cost down.

Please provide some insight.

 

cranks and not starting could be intake leak, did it whistle? You included a lot of details, but not enough details to make a diagnosis.

Have you checked all your hoses near the TB, and IACV etc..etc...?

got spark?

 

What condition is cylinder five in during this? No matter what the answer, I don't think the ref. code would get thrown as related to that.

 

Well, the car would not start and I fried the starter. Unfortunately it was 45 miles from home so I had AAA bring it to a local place. I told them the history. They replaced the starter, and ran the CPU diagnostics and found a bad O2 sensor and the cam shaft position sensor. I also had them change the fuel filter while in the engine bay. Car started several times right up after that. It started right for me at the shop. Then today my wife went to start it and it took a few small cranks and then burped black smoke and started.

It runs well, idles well, etc, but am afraid something is going to keep happening periodically. They also said another O2 sensor was acting "lazy". They told me which one to change it in short order. I am not sure what a lazy sensor is. Slow voltage response or something?

Any other thoughts on what will make you need to crank to car several times to get it to start, burp some smoke, and then run well????

I do not want to get stuck again. I hate other people working on my car and I have no control.

 

Sorry, I ranted with little info.

All tubes, wires, harnesses = OK
No whistle on the intake. I did not remove it doing the spark threads in the head either.

 

Update and need for help. I think I may be seeing a pattern. If the car is cool (off approx. 1 hour or more) it seems to start well. If I turn it off for approx. 10 minutes and try to re-start then it just cranks and does not start. Plus when cranking it spits out some black smoke and smells gassy. It happened this morning approx. 1 hr from home. Car off for 10 minutes, go to crank it, no start (decent amount of smoke), leave car for 1.25 hr, turn key, starts right up.

Now the shop replaced an O2 sensor and the cam shaft position sensor. They also said another O2 sensor was acting lazy (not sure what they mean). My check engine light also came back on. I think I went approx. 100 miles since I reset the CPU. I originally had a crankshaft position sensor (ref) code.

Could the lazy O2 and crankshaft pos (ref) sensors cause what I think to be a rich (flooded?) start? I wish I had more info.

I am in Panera Bread waiting to go to another supplier meeting and will do so in 1.5 hours. I will crank it then as well.

Thoughts? I hate the random nature and need a reliable car!!!!

 

Ok, I got a code (just 1 now) that I have never had before. 0303 - "Front Left Heated O2 sensor". Can someone inform me which one this is exactly so i can look to replace it? Also, anyone have the Nissan Part# for this sensor? Could this be causing my random difficulty in starting the engine and black smoke when cranking?