GXE will not start

I'm posting this for my brother-in-law. He's got a Nissan Sentra GXE, I think it's a 98, it's the light green color and there's a wind spoiler on the lift gate. It's been a great car but he's had this problem happen to him three times. Each about 6 months apart and oddly enough, it usually happens a few days after he changes the oil.

Each time it's happened he's driven about 10 or 15 miles, the car sits for awhile (4-6 hours), then he gets in to start it to go home, and the starter turns over, and it sounds like it wants to start but it doesn't. It just keeps turning over. He drives it a lot and most of the time it works fine.

The first time it happened he took it to David Early, they said it was the distributor cap and the spark plug wires and needed a tune up ($300.00).

The second time, he took it to a Nissan Dealership and they said it was way flooded and they had to change the oil because it was full of gas ($250.00).

Yesterday it happened again, he checked the spark plug and it was fine. He disconnected the battery and tried it again and he even tried holding down the gas pedal to the floor and cranking it for 30-40 seconds to clear it out if it was flooded. The spark plugs look fine and they do have spark. Nothing worked, it just turns over, sputters a little but won't start, and the battery has run dead.

We've tested the fuel pump and it seems to be running, I don't think it's the distributor cap, and I don't see how it could be flooded that bad. He's tired of paying all this money to the mechanics when it keeps happening over and over again. I'm not even sure if the mechanics are fixing it, they're probably just reseting the computer or something, is this possible?

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Rhino.

I had the same problem - and accompanying mechanics "guess work"/expenses as well - with my '95 GLE.

I eventually fixed the problem myself. It was a $3.50 repair - The PCV Valve needed to be replaced. I'm 99.9% sure this is what your problem is. Almost identical storyline as mine.

Haven't had a problem starting her since. And I'm kicking myself for not spending more time under the hood trying to figure out the problem.

Let me know if you know anyone who can help me with my oil leak/how to get the oil pan off without taking down the exhaust.
Muchas Gracias,
DJS

I have a 97 sentra gxe. I have 178,000 miles on my. Try buying B12 carb cleaner and clean out the trottle body. This might help. He might have too much carbon buillt up. It will be hard to start at first, but it will start. He might also have a weak battery or a bad connection. Try this out and let me know what happens.

Hi DJS , I have similar problem as Rhino , i want to know how to replace PCV Valve ?

Pl let me know so that I can also fix my car problem