ok well here it is. Mods feel free to lock this thread if needed. I have seen alot of threads with the same title or similar to hard start when cold or hard start when hot.here are some things to do first before you start a new post starting with the basic cheapest routes and any one who has anything to add feel free.

1 Clean tb (throttle body)
2 Clean IACV (air idel control valve) its to the right of tb with different color plugs on it. there is a write up in the stickys on how to remove and clean
3 Clean maf (mass air flow sensor) clean and check wire harness
4check and clean all engine to chassis grounds
5 check ects (engine coolant tempature sensor)
6 check crank senors (ref) an (pos)
7 check cam sensor ( its on the timing chain cover colse to the front of the engine next to the motor mount)
8 check ignition harness remove the covers around the steering wheel and the two philips head screws and pull it off and check for wear or play in the slot
10 check fpr (fuel pressure regulator) its location is were the fuel line from the fuel filter meets the fuel rail
those are the things i can come up with off the top of my head. deff check obvious things first like fuel filter, fuses, fuel pump, plugs and coills.

i will tell you a bad knock sensor will not cause a hard start problem

some one has a copy of the fsm on here hopefully they chime in and post it for the resistence in sensors

im just seein a ton of threads all about the same thing if u have something to add feel free

 

Ahh, I see you have beaten me to this posting.. Good advice but I think I tried something similar to this and even asked the mods to have a sticky on this issue but it seems like these threads will be neverending...

 

yes it seems maybe it will get lost but at least i tried every other day i see the similar posts

 

starter also,had this problem with hard starts and even harder re-starts
check for corrosion on your terminals..(S,B & M)

 

Everyone Should Have A Copy Of The FSM By Now. Its In My Sig!

That means you should download it

 

thank you i have downloaded it

 

i have had it for a while .

Luke good work on the thread.

 

yo cash i had it on my laptop but in the move it got broke you get them springs and struts yet

 

naw bro..still waitin on the tax check. My girl trying fervently to talk me out if
lol.

my boy got teins..told me to lower it on the tokicos. He sd droppin it too low on mass roads is suicide

 

This should have its own thread "slow start". Hard start kinda implies cranking is not a problem. Although a high amp draw starter can sap enough energy to kill the ignition system.

 

i agree i have read a few people saying that there starters were causing a hard start though

 

i just moved from nyc to north shore ma. don't go too low, i have kyb agx adjustables with h&r springs and when i have my sawblades on (for winter) its too low on some spots.

I tried to pull into a car wash the other day and my car was too low. stupid lady said she pulls corvettes in and out all day. i replied, well this aint no corvette

 

add w/ the above:

check battery
check battery terminals
add ground wires
check coil packs
check every wire in engine bay
check ecu
temps sensor next to ects

http://www.lyberty.com/car/Maxima_A3.../NTB97-057.pdf
http://www.jatan.net/tsbs/044578.pdf


and this one for MOST maxima TSB: http://maxima.theowensfamily.com/tsb...Years&tsb=none

that should get everyone going

 

I just figured I'd add my two cents to this topic. I've got a 99 Maxima GXE with 142k miles on it.

My car doesn't always start on the first try...

I have a new starter, new alternator, new alternator belt...

The dealer mentioned the key chamber or sensor or harness etc (behind the key hole where you turn it on) might be worn out. An older gentleman whom I trust asked me if I had anything extra on my key chain, because he said too much weight on your key chain will eventually wear out the key hole and stuff inside.

Once he told me that I did take off anything extra on my keychain and also started to try turning the key with different techniques. HA. I don't know if I'm just playing mind tricks on myself but there seemed to be a correlation of where or how hard i pushed in the key and whether it would start on the first try, or if it would take two or three tries.

There is play on the key.. it moves around a little bit in all directions.

Is this something others have seen too?

For what it's worth that's my situation.

 

DAmn son, H&R drop only 1.4" in the front. Thats not even low!! The tokico blues is the same drop. Ugh

 

Ignition switch is goin my friend. Replace and u good.

 

also wanted to add:

i replaced my clutch and didnt have time to bolt the tranny to the bell housing because i had to go to work. my friend offered to bolt it up for me and add the gear oil. what a guy, right!?

i didnt think anything of it since he went from auto to 5spd himself. he did not fully clean the mating surfaces before bolting the tranny back up. this caused a bad ground which, in turn, is the reason for my hard start. i have had a hard start problem ever since i changed the clutch. i have also done EVERYTHING i have read about on the forums to try and fix the problem. nothing has worked.

i am going to clean the mating surfaces sometime in the next few weeks to see if it helps with the hard start problem i have been having. ill keep everyone posted...

 

this is totally off topic but...

i'm only low on my sawblades w/ my traction t/a 205 55 15s, and im no where near being slammed like some setups. when i have my 18s w/ lo profile tires on in the summer i have plenty of clearance. i wish i had the money to spend to be an inch lower, but with my tires, my setup and how i want the car to perform works very well. i only like the tas because they have decent traction in rain and snow and i got all 4 brand new, balanced and aligned for 200

youll be fine, or spend the extra 800 on a coilover setup and youll be able to adjust your dampness as well as height.

 

my cay will barely start now, it takes about 5 minutes to get going and i keep draining my battery and killing my starter so before i go ahead and unbolt the tranny, i decied to leave my car at a local shop to look at. they will look at my car mon or tues and i will post results.

 

I had the same kind of issue w my 97 5sp Max. In the end, it turned out to be one of the Crankshaft Position Sensors (the one on the driver's side front between the engine and transmission). It tested OK, but my shop put a scope on it and found that it was erratic. Replaced it over a year ago and everything has been fine since. You might want to try that before you pull the engine and transmission apart again.

 

thanks for the input, i will make sure they test that first. i didnt get a call today, they should call tomorrow with something -

 

My 96 SE likes me to try to start it a couple times before it even engages the starter. I bought a new starter but haven't installed it yet. Currently replacing the head gasket and one of the head bolt holes is stripped. Anybody have experience with repairing that very high torque bolt thread for the head?

 

also check your fuel injectors. if they are old and weak they could be staying open and leaking fuel into the cylinders after you shut off you engine, causing it to flood. or they could be dirty and plugged open causing the same issue.

 

wouldn't stuck open, leaky and/or dirty fuel injectors cause drive-ability issues and affect gas mileage?

i'll make sure the shop checks my fuel injectors as well

 

they will effect drive-ability and gas mileage as well. but if they leak, they will leak fuel into the cylinder(s) as well. that gas will then stay in your cylinder, that will cause the engine to be flooded before you even try to start your car.

 

i have an update and need some help!

when the crank sensors are unplugged the engine will crank evenly and smooth. once i plug the sensors back in, it will crank rough but not start. we have tested every wire in the engine bay and found a fault but i cant seem to figure out what exactly is going on. even if i jump the wire between the 2 signals, there is no continuity in the wire. How can there be no continuity in the wire if i am getting signals from both ends!????!?!??!?!?

 

sorry i cannot help u here maybe dennismilk will chime in he is a beast at the electrical side of things if not pm him

 

thanks, sending a pm to dennismilk now-

anyone else have an idea?

 

Swazey man,

U try adding a ground wire from the negative battery terminal to a bolt on the tranny housing?

U clean grounds on the top of the engine UIM? Those two bolts are the grounds for the crank sensors.

Off topic,

I dropped my max on the HRs and blues and the ride is too cool. YEAH@!

 

Yes, i've done all that. Grounds test fine. Still wont start and i am really confused as to how i am getting a signal to a sensor through a wire that doesnt seem to have continuity

glad to hear youre happy with the new suspension setup. byebye 4x4!

 

then u not gonna like my next suggestion man. U might have a short in the wiring. I wd splice those wires and run new wire from ECU to the crank sensor.

U sure the sensors good? Jus cleaning or wiping off the sensor doesnt fix it. If either has lost it magnetism, it wont work right and wiping and clean it off wont do anything. Jus have to replace it.

U check the harness too right? What about the sub-harness too? U got FSM right. Download it from fallenone's sig.

 

sensors tested fine, i put 3 new sensors in and found the same result.

all of my grounds also tested fine.

i'll did run a jumper wire from the wiring out of the ecu to the wiring out of the sensor. same result.

i checked all the wires. only found fault in the one in the pic

 

As I look at the diagram, I can interpret your comments several ways. To start with, I have never had to look at/check out (knock on wood) a crank sensor or a cam sensor. So I don't know exactly what the output should be.

Horrors - I had to read the FSM!

Since this is a transducer, its output is going to be a pulse, not a steady voltage. That makes it kind of like AC (alternating current). Having your meter on DC (direct current), the reading you get will not be anything like what the signal truly is. Put the meter on AC volts and you will probably get a better reading, but still not accurate. And how good of a meter you have (frequency response) will make a difference. The proper tool is an oscilloscope.

To read the signal, you obviously have to put one of the meter's leads on the signal and the other to ground. But ground is not always ground. There is earth ground (or chassis ground) and logic ground. In the case of the CPS, this signal goes to the ECCS that is a computer of sorts. You need to use logic ground for this. I don't know if you caught it, but the FSM says to use the ECCS ground, specifically pin 25.

If you can detect the signal at the ECCS, erratic as it may be, I would think you have continuity. Then I have to ask "How sure are you that you are checking continuity on the correct wire?" If you ran another wire and had the same "no continuity" results, I have to think that you are not doing the continuity thing correctly, that you're not on the pins you think you are.

I'm trying to apply logic to this but I'm struggling. Since you have changed the sensor(s) without any luck, try checking the white wire to ground, like maybe it is pinched somewhere. It's a long shot.

 

Dennis, thanks for the response and input.

i will check the white wire to ground on pin 25 - havent tried that yet.

when i test pin 49, i get a signal but when i test the white wire there is no continuity. i know, it does not make logical sense but for some reason it is happening.

i agree, it is a long shot but its the only shot ive got. ill post an update monday

 

i have been lurking the threads and came across one that has given me hope and it should be stickied. if i add a few more grounding wires, clean all the bolts and my car starts, it should DEF be stickied: http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...verything.html

cant get to my car till monday. i have been thinking and really think its a grounding issue. im not gonna hold my breath but i will cross my fingers. wish me luck!

 

good luck with it let us know

 

Awesome thank you for this since I am having issues since I purchased my Maxima a month ago. *thumbs up*!

 

got the car started today! GOT MY F'IN CAR STARTED TODAY!!!!! instead of just cranking and cranking it finally turned over. first time in almost 3 weeks. it still takes about 5-10 seconds to start but it starts! i didnt change the placement of the grounds yet, ill do that tomorrow.

what i did was completely grind down the engine ground. i had a friend try to start the car and nothing. i was jiggling the ckps pos sensor and it started! i have tested EVERY wire in the engine bay and know it was not because of a loose or broken wire.

this is what i think is going on: i have a frankencar ram air intake. my stock intake snorkel is gone so my map/baro (could be wrong, i looked at it quick) sensor hangs down close to the ckps pos sensor and the tranny gound wire i put in. i also have a 4ga wire for my amp that runs near those wires as well and a ground wire from starter bolt going to engine ground, all close in proximity.

when i moved the ckps pos sensor out of the way of the other wires, the car started. i think i am having some kind of magnetic/electronic interference that is throwing all the sensors off and causing the hard starts. i have also read that the coil packs, when they start to go, can cause radio interference and throw sensors off. anyone hear of this? i have 160k and still on stock coils.

tomorrow i am going to move everything away from one another, making sure my ground wires arent too close to the sensors and add a ground to the bottom bolt on the tranny.

when the car started, it ran incredibly rich. do i possibly have something else going on here?

 

There are 2 kinds of electrical interference that can happen - RFI (radio frequency interference) & EMI (electromagnetic interference). They both could interfere with sensors but for that to happen, the interference would have to be similiar to the sensor signal in amplitude (power level) and frequency. Supposedly this shouldn't happen to the ckps pos sensor because the wire carrying this signal is shielded. Note the word supposedly.

Ground wires should not have any EMI or RFI radiating from them, at least if they are properly terminated to ground. If the wires aren't grounded, then its an antenna, not a ground wire. Lastly, if wires are run parallel next to each other (like a wire harness does), this allows any interference from one wire to be picked up by another wire, called induction. If you have a wire carrying a signal that could radiate into other wires, you either you shield it such as the ckps sensor is or it has to cross the other wires at a 90 degreee angle.

The above stuff (bs?) is theory. You've probably heard that theory and reality don't always mix. With all the things you have found, I hope that puts an end to your problem.

 

got it