So.. a little history, wanted a decent daily to keep miles and additional wear, door dings, etc., off of my other vehicle. Bought a ‘99 SE off of this guy last week, said it had been sitting a few months, he had given up on fixing it (more to the story, who knows?).. He had 2 other Maxima’s in his garage both 5th Gen, one was a parts car, plus an older Camry he was working on. Figured he knew something about cars? Anyhow, he said he replaced the battery and it still wouldn’t turn over. It was a good deal only 119K miles (ran a CarFax to confirm) on it so I bit.

Long story short, figured it might be the starter thanks to the posts I read on this site! Thanks all! Removed the starter and turns out the wire from the solenoid had broken off so no contact. I did however had the starter checked out just in case it was something else, but it was dead. Bought another, replaced it and boom car cranked!

It ran but not after some initial stumbling and lots of fuel smell.. maybe from sitting and no fuel initially? I put in just under 2 gallons. Then turned the key to shut it off as figured old oil, old tranny fluid didn’t want to introduce any other possible scenarios, but it kept running! I completely removed the key from the ignition and it still ran!? I had to remove one of the battery cables (positive if that matters) for it to stop!

Any clues? I suspect previous owner had some ground or electrical issues and bypassed the key turnoff? Or do I have a faulty ignition switch or something more significant? By the way, I will run my scanner just to see if any codes just because and will update that tomorrow. But again, what do you guys think?

 

Check the ECM relay.

 

Thanks, will take a look. Can I swap with another to determine if bad, which relay to swap? Don’t have a tester..

 

Is it the EGI relay in the box ahead of the battery? Also checked in the fuse box on both the Eng Control 1 and 2 fuses they’re fine. Looked online for the ECM under the dash and not much to see there other than to possibly reset it? But no check light and no codes..

 

This might help.

https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...ort-power.html

 

Just something I recommend next time your car doesnt shut off with the key, pull your fuel pump fuse first. Engine cuts off, no spike of voltage from the alternator. Less chances of frying something this way.

 

Thanks for the tip! Although, I know I still have to figure out why it won't shut off? One point of fact, if I start the car and immediately turn it off with key it will turn off.

 

You may have 2 things going on. 1 - you have a leaking fuel injector, maybe more, causing the fuel smell.

2 - in order to keep running, that means that the power to the ECU was still on and the ECU was telling the ignition coils to fire. You proved this when you disconnected the battery cable and the engine stopped. My first guess is that the ignition switch is messed up. If you start the car again, after you turn the key off, check to see if other things still work, radio, windshield wipers, blower motor for heater a/c. etc. If yes, the ignition switch has a problem.

If none of the accessories work, then it is even more weird. Maybe one of the relays that power the ECU has burned contacts and won't de-energize, keeping the ECU live. Not sure about this.

 

Hi.. Will start it up again and report back. Hopefully, a “simple” ignition switch issue.. Thanks!