93 Maxima-Won't start

[Ben91RS]

I've been working on a friend's 1993 Nissan Maxima with the VG30E engine and auto. tranny. I put in new spark plugs, fuel filter, V-belts, outer tie-rod ends, and rack and pinion boots over the course of a week (worked on it whenever I had some spare time). Everything went fine until I tried to fire it up. The car will not start. At first, it would crank over very, very slowly, but now it won't do anything. When I try to start it, the starter solenoid doesn't even click, and the dash lights just flicker repeatedly. Trying to jump-start the car yields the same result.

As far as what I have checked, it's a lot. The battery still has enough volts to start the car, it's right at 12.2 volts. All of the fuses are good, as well as the fusible links. I double-checked everything on the motor, making sure that I didn't leave off any connectors, checked the firing order, vacuum lines, etc. Both the positive and the negative battery cables are fine, I checked the resistance on them and they were both at around .1 to .2 ohms. I checked and cleaned all the grounds on the motor and the chassis, just to make sure. I also tried to start the car with the tranny in both park and neutral, and it made no difference. I even loosen the v-belts and turned the crank while watching the distributor rotor to make sure the timing belt didn't break.

I'm open to any suggestions or advice. The only thing I haven't tried yet is hammering on the starter. I appreciate any help.

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by Ben91RS

... Both the positive and the negative battery cables are fine, I checked the resistance on them and they were both at around .1 to .2 ohms. I checked and cleaned all the grounds on the motor and the chassis, just to make sure. ....

U can test resistance on batt cables; however, that 'knowledge' does not hlp at all if connections oxidized. Did u ckeck the main grounding under batt tray?

Healthy battery is 12.5V or more, your may be ok, maybe not, depends on history... Your dashlight flicker indicates nogood.

Open, give +12V direct to this Gray solenoid connector to see if starter ok (open wraps).

see: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/748507/5


.

[Ben91RS]

Originally Posted by Nahkapohjola

U can test resistance on batt cables; however, that 'knowledge' does not hlp at all if connections oxidized. Did u ckeck the main grounding under batt tray?

Yes, I completely removed the negative battery cable, cleaned up the connections, and reinstalled it. I cleaned up both grounds that it attached to, the ground under the battery tray and the ground on the engine block.

Open, give +12V direct to this Gray solenoid connector to see if starter ok (open wraps).

I will try that.


I appreciate all the help so far.

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by Ben91RS

Yes, I completely removed the negative battery cable, cleaned up the connections...

Ok. Whatever u did, starter should run independent.

Btw. Did u change timing belt?

What condition are ign plug wires & cap? Bosch plugs might be dead on arrival, hopefully u have NGK.

ECU is alive as its rightmost connector pin has batt voltage, ign on. Injectors should click when distributor is taken off and rotated, ign on.

[Ben91RS]

Btw. Did u change timing belt?

No, I did not.

What condition are ign plug wires & cap? Bosch plugs might be dead on arrival, hopefully u have NGK.

Plugs wires and distributor cap are fairly new and look fine. The new plugs I put in were Denso spark plugs.

ECU is alive as its rightmost connector pin has batt voltage, ign on. Injectors should click when distributor is taken off and rotated, ign on.

I'll try those 2 things as well. It's the righmost connector on the MAF sensor, right?


I could not find the connector that you posted on the positive battery cable. I cannot find a large gray connector, only a small one. Here is what mine looks like:
Upper part


Lower part


Is this the connector?

There is another gray connector just like this one but it's done near the starter. It goes from the side of the starter solenoid, to a gray connector, and then disappears in the battery cable wire loom.

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by Ben91RS

....
Is this the connector?

I think thats the loop. On my max the other end goes directly down to the starter solenoid, quite easy to verify that cable and color from the solenoid end.

...Oops did not read into the end: Open the shield partly to follow & verify that it goes to solenoid.

One could make a direct to the solenoid also, but I think its easier on this connector. Push wire in the connector and then touch the +12V terminal, should start. If not, use second batt. If not, starter has problems, take off and open or replace.

This connector is not actually big issue, just helps testing the starter.

[Ben91RS]

Push wire in the connector and then touch the +12V terminal, should start.

Should the ignition key be in the "run" position when I try this, or does it matter?


Sorry for all the questions, just want to make sure I fully understand before I try it.

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by Ben91RS

Should the ignition key be in the "run" position when I try this, or does it matter?


Sorry for all the questions, just want to make sure I fully understand before I try it.

Does not matter as ign is bypassed (one reason for this tst). Expect some real small sparks. +12V is never dangerous.

Only danger is if one drops steelwrench on battery poles -be careful!- then the battery will explode and spew toxics on u face, lose sight... Suggest u get similar pole-shield I have, just for the future.

MAF connector has letters from A-F? the last one is empty, so its E? , anyways last one that has +12V. Just put multimeter pin in and test that u have +12V there.

But starter has to work first.

[Ben91RS]

I tried putting 12v to both gray connectors (the one I have pictured as well as one I found down near the solenoid) on my positive battery cable, and nothing happened either time.

But, I'm starting to think something else might be wrong. Any time I try to start the car, it gets worse. Now almost none of the electronics work, no horn, power locks don't work, and the dash lights only work about half the time. It would seem that the battery is drained, but my multimeter shows that it has 11.8v. I'm starting to think I need to try a new battery, and just see what happens. What do you think?

[Ben91RS]

Oh, there is one more thing I forgot to mention before. While I was double-checking everything, I came across a disconnected line towards the back of the motor, but I could not find a connector for it. After seeing that it came out of the transmission, I started thinking that it might be the overflow for the transmission possibly? Do you happen to know where this hose is supposed to go, if anything?

[mobil_12]

your battery is wasted man!! you can have a fully charged battery (12.6v) and still have a dead cell and fail a load test. its all about the amps bro!!

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by Ben91RS

Oh, there is one more thing I forgot to mention before. While I was double-checking everything,...

Its tranny breather tube. Any thing that warms, expands. (Ice/Water exception) The expanded warm oil would burst the seals if no expansion route.

Try another batt.

[Ben91RS]

Well, it was the battery! I put in a brand new one, and the car fired right up. Can't believe it took me 3 days to figure that out.


Thanks for the help, everyone. Nahkapohjola, that's a great website you have. It helped me out a lot.