Thread: hard starting
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Old 06-12-2019, 07:57 PM
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smj999smj smj999smj is offline
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Location: Prospect, VA
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I can't say it's the same as "your" problem, but back in the early 2000's I had a 2000 Maxima that would almost refuse to start anytime the temperature dropped to around 32 degrees F. or below. It cranked and cranked and cranked, but wouldn't fire up. Once it started, it ran perfectly. Any time when it was first started in the morning and the temps were above freezing, it would start and run perfectly. Once it started, I could not duplicate it until the next morning and, again, it had to be freezing or below. After a month of working on and off the vehicle and working with Nissan's technical hotline, we found out the problem was a leaking intake plenum gasket. When it got cold enough, the rubber gasket would shrink and create an unmetered air leak, causing the engine to be too lean to start in the cold. Nissan actually had updated the gasket and made it thicker, superceding the part number, as well, and never released any info to anyone about it, according to the hotline tech. After the gasket was replaced, it started fine all the time. The Nissan hotline tech made the assumption that once the vehicle was started, the plenum gasket expanded due to the engine heat and created a proper seal.
Now, at this time a year, i doubt you are dealing with freezing temps unless you live at the north or south pole or on top of a very high mountain! However, keep in mind the Maxima I had was only a year or two old when I worked on it and yours is 19 years old. Perhaps the gasket is a bit deteriorated after all of this years and not sealing 100% until it's heated up? It's just something to think about and consider replacing when you've tried everything else. Otherwise, you'll likely need a scan tool that can do live data streaming to observe what's going on. I would also install a fuel pressure gauge to monitor the fuel pressure when the problem occurs and a timing light to see if it's sparking (my timing light will clamp around one of the coil pack harnesses and flash when it fires a spark). The fact that it only does it on morning start-ups can make it really difficult to diagnose, as you already know.
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