Yes I have searched...

I experience an intermittant hard start problem on my 2k AT. It started after I had changed out my fuel filter (filter only) in the fuel assembly. During this change of the filter I had dropped the fuel pump from about 2 feet off the ground onto some asphalt.

Here are the symptoms:

--Has trouble turning over when warm or cold; mostly when warm

--Engine cranks very slowly as if battery is dead or dying, or maybe starter going out?

--Will always turn over fine after I turn key to the "ON" positition for 5 or 10 seconds prior to starting

--Environment does not really matter; hot, cold, rainy, snow, etc.

--If car has been sitting in the garage a while and I put it on the battery tender there is no hard starting for about a week or so. Then it progressibly becomes worse.

Even without the car on the battery tender the hard starting comes and goes; it does consistently inconsistent.

The battery, alternator, belts, and starter were all replaced around 150K miles. I currently have 192K miles.

Based on my searching and my symptoms I believe I have a bad ground somewhere. Battery may possible not be charging fully at times, so alternator may be going.

Any other ideas? Thoughts? I haven't had time to look around and inspect anything as of yet. Would like some guidance before I do so as to not waste too much time.

Thanks!
Ryan

 

Wow! Thanks for the feedback everyone.

You either don't care or don't know...it is cool though. I think it was my battery as it finally died today. I'll see how it goes....

 

If you think it was a ground issue and given the age of the car, you should go ahead and do the Big 3 upgrade.

 

Big 3 upgrade? You mean a grounding kit?

 

http://forums.maxima.org/audio-elect...other-how.html

 

Before you go there why not perform some simple checks? It looks from your description like either battery or starter or alternator.

To check the battery:
remove fuel pump fuse and let it die to spend all the gas in the lines;
connect voltmeter to battery posts and start cranking; voltmeter should not go lower than 10.5 volts. Don't crank for long - just enough to get reading. You'd need someone to help with cranking.

To check charging circuit:
Put the fuse back, start the engine and bring it to 1k rpm. After about a minute battery voltage should come to 14.3-14.4V.

Come back and let us know what you observed.

 

Good feedback. I will check those items.

I did have a problem tonight in starting even after replacing the battery a few hours ago. This tells me it is definitely not the battery, but I will perform these checks and get back. I probably won't get to it until this weekend.

 

I really haven't had time to check into the voltage and charging, but the issue is definitely becoming worse. I had a hard starting problem 3 times yesterday and one time it seemed it would never start. This is both warm and cold. Yesterday I was doing shorter trips with 5 miles or less so that may be a factor.

I really don't have time to thoroughly check this out and money is kind of tight with a wedding coming up next month.

Any other thoughts? I am thinking this may be a sensor, like the camshaft position sensor, or something. Ugh...annoying as hell with no free time and not a lot of money to throw at it to diagnose.

 

Any MIL?

 

I have a 00' AT, I had the same intermittant problem as you.

To make a long story short, I've checked everything and couldn't find the issue. In addition, no codes.

One day, it really becomes from bad to worst and the car wouldn't start over. I found out it was the starter (it wasn't even cranking at that time). I changed it ($260) + labor (1.2hour) and everything is fine since that repair.

Hope it can helps,
-Ben

 

When you turn the power on for a few secs then the car starts fine it means the pump is starting to fail. GM pumps do this and it's a good warning sign b/c it will eventually just die.

Random and intermittent like foxy is the capacitor, I believe. I had the same problem.

 

Nope...sorry I should have mentioned that.

 

What capacitor?

I have to look at my options here because starter seems valid, as does fuel pump, so I have to start looking at cost and just start doing one replacement at a time.

 

Sorry, I mean starter solenoid haha.

I'm pretty sure it's the pump since you describe exactly how pumps act when they're going out.

 

Ok thanks. I'll check into pricing for the pump and starter and go from there. I'm sure the pump will be quite less than a starter.

Thanks!

 

You can get just the punp itself and swap it out in the housing. It's a 10 min job.

I reread your 1st post and missed something earlier. The thing that doesn't make any sense is the slow cranking. I mean it makes sense if it's the starter, but why would it work when you turn the key to on for a few secs. I am now thoroughly confused for sure LOL.

Maybe jump the starter (cross the solenoid connections) and see if it crank hard that way?

 

Yeah, I've actually done the fuel filter swap before so changing the pump shouldn't be too hard for me. I might as well change the filter since I have to disassemble the fuel housing anyways.

I think there are two issues going on where one is related to the fuel pump and the other is related to the charging system of the car. Last week when I rode my moto most of the time I left the car on a trickle charger. Over the weekend the hard starting issues I had did not exhibit the slow cranking.

Based on this I'm going to still do the voltage check test someone else described below and change out the fuel pump. If my voltage check is low on the charging of the battery then it is probably my alternator...ugh.