My engine went out at 140k and I decided to have a new one swapped in (VQ30 factory rebuild directly from Nissan). It came as a long block so it didn't have any of the accessories such as alternator, starter, etc. The place I got it installed it said everything is running fine but when you start the car, it doesn't start immediately and you have to crank it a couple times for it to turn on. I had the starter, alternator, and battery tested 2 weeks ago and they were all fine. Also, all of the spark plugs are brand new. From my understanding, during the swap, they had to swap over the manifolds, alternator, starter, cam and crank sensors, and the wiring harness I think. I wanted to see if anyone here would happen to know what I should ask them to check to fix the starting problem? Before my old engine died, there was no starting problem at all. The shop said it might be a bad coilpack, but usually a SES comes on for that. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I need to pick up the car today but want to see what the starting problem is so I can get them to fix it if they caused it. Thanks in advance.

 

Ground your starter to your transmission, i promise you this will work, search it.
Tell them to take a 6-8gauge wire and ground it from any of the Starter bolts, to a transmission bolt.

the reason its starting so terrible is our starters are grounded factory to the transmission bellhousing, but when you remove the transmission it breaks the ground due to oxidation of the housing. and thusly, bad starting. trust me.

 

Make sure the crank position and cam position sensors have good connections with the wiring harness.

Is it hard to start even when the engine is warm, or only when cold?

 

Good advice.

 

I'll definitely tell them to try that. I'm not sure if they removed the transmission to install the engine. Initially, they said they shouldn't need to but I haven't asked if they ended up doing that. Would that still cause a problem if they didn't remove the transmission? I'm pretty sure they did remove the starter though. Please let me know. Thanks for your help.

 

I'll have them check that as well. I'm not sure if it happens when its warm and cold, but I'll ask them when I call them here in a bit. Thanks for the help.

If anyone has more items to check, let me know and I will give them a big list all together. Thanks.

 

I would think they def would have to unbolt from transmission. Prolly didnt clean interface well. Yea grounding the tranny should help with starting.

 

Unless you bought a transmission along with the motor and it somehow came from the factory together, they swapped them, even minutes apart will make your starts slow.
and if they didnt then Stephen is most likely right.
but it never hurts to have another ground i have mine grounded even though i havent swapped yet.

 

It definitely didn't come with a transmission. I'm going to call them in a few minutes and will tell them to check those things. Thanks again.

 

The starting problem occurs when it is warm or cold. I've told them to check the starter as well as the cam/crank sensors. I don't know if they will look at the cam/crank sensors because they say no lights are coming on the dash and they let it run for a couple of hours to make sure it doesn't overheat. Any other ideas?

 

cam sensors wont give SEL's unless they are 100% busted, and then you would notice bad engine "stuff" stutter ect i believe. but a failing Cam sensor or one that is dirty or has metal stuck to it, bad starts.
tell them to reground the starter, then you can move on to them ohm'ing out the sensors.

 

They said they "checked" the ground and it was fine. They didn't try and re-ground it as suggested though. I'm not even sure if they tested it. I'll reground it myself this weekend and see if that helps. Then I'll look at the cam sensor if that doesn't work. Is there a way to test the cam sensor with a volt meter or something? Thanks for the help. I wish the shop would be just as helpful.

 

this is where i grounded mine one of the tranny bolts right to the neg terminal

 

Did you ground the negative terminal of the starter or the battery? What type of wire did you use there?

 

the cable you see goes to the neg terminal of the battery i got a 4 foot "ground cable" from walmart both ends have a hole in it so you can just put the bolt through it

 

ill take a picture in the morning on my starter, but its very simple, any bolt on starter, to any bolt on tranny.
i chose, as i said in my previous post, a 6g wire 2 feet long and used that, but that walmart one might be good for convenience.

I cant find any specs on the internet about testing the CPS. but if you PM your email to me i can send you a copy of the FSM and it will tell you everything, i just found it but its to much to type.

 

Thanks Handson. Bigger problem today. I was out eating and when I returned to my car, it wouldn't start. The lights and everything work and I tried to jump start it but that didn't work. There is no noise when turning the key at all. I didn't have a chance to reground the starter yet, but would that cause the car to die like that if the ground wasn't very strong? Any additional suggestions? Could the starter be bad alltogether? They may have damaged it somehow when reinstalling. I'm having it towed back to the place that installed the engine so I want to give them as many suggestions as possible to fix and diagnose the problem. I told them about regrounding the starter and to check the cam and crank sensors, even though they keep on telling me the car wouldn't start at all if those weren't connected properly. Hopefully they finally listen and will check them. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

my .02:

if your car started fine before the swap, and the only thing different now is the new engine, then something done during the swap is your problem.

keep in mind you need 4 things to start your car: air, fuel, spark, and compression.

you need to ground the tranny/starter as mentioned above, before you try and diagnose any further. once you do that, look at your issue again. are you getting any response from the car when you turn the key? if not, you can point to a number of things. starter, for one: the starter is either locked up or not getting juice. spark: check the connection on your ignition coils, for one. then move on to pretty much every wire connected to the battery. if you are getting a response, then we have to know what kind of response.

it's a tough job. that's why you have a respectable mechanic (hard to find, i know) take care of your work if you don't know how to yourself. i've found that to trust a friend of a friend, a backyard mechanic, or any other way to get a "good deal" is usually to ask for trouble. sad but true, you really do get what you pay for when it comes to cars.

good luck.

 

no crank at all sounds like when my starter went bad, on day it just started to start terrible, then a week later, bunk when i tried to start it, go get that thing tested, just because it test fine 2 weeks ago does not mean it wasnt failing.
You might have blown the starter from trying to start it for so long each time

Cant fix a problem? go back to the basics.

So i advise in this order, ground it, after that get it tested. if its perfectly fine then you have a whole new can of worms.

Im selling a 1k used starter btw. pm me if you want it for cheap im trying to get rid of the thing.

tyler everytime i see you sig i have a desire to PM you about your mods lol, get those Cams in!

 

^^ careful about "testing" the starter. i took a locked up starter to orly's and it tested good, but obviously was not good. what they test for is whether or not the thing is holding current or not. they don't test the gear or anything else for that matter.

haha, thanks. i gotta save up some bread for the adapters and valve springs. after that, it's all downhill. also, i badly need to fix my height, at least on the front. 4x4 status FTL.

 

if all else fails he can just take the starter out of the motor and have somebody watch it as he turns the key.