Cellar car issue
 

I think it's amusing to put this in Meta.

Need advice.

On Monday afternoon the car wouldn't start. It cranked well, but would not catch. J reminded me that we have an auto plan now, so all I have to do is call them and have them take it to my mechanic. I figured I would have one more go at it that night, but then I forgot.

On Tuesday afternoon I remembered, and I went out to try it. It still cranked well, and coughed a few times as if it was gonna catch. So I kept cranking it, and after about a minute, it started.

I was thinking I'd put it at the curb so that it could be towed easily, because clearly something is up, but then I realized J's daughter was parked behind me, and there was a smell of gas like I flooded it badly, and so I just decided to shut it off and move it out later.

Then I got distracted researching it on the net, and learned that a new starter is like $100 and that it's not too terribly hard to replace it. Then I couldn't be convinced it was the starter... well, Wednesday I went back out and tried to start it again, and damn if it didn't just start right up, BAM, like she has always done.

WTF, now I have to figure out whether to just put it off, or get a starter, or take it to the mechanic and have them do better diagnosis. So I didn't do anything yesterday, but today I had errands to run, and the car started up BAM every time.

Should I just figure that there was some sort of intermittent problem that will never happen again, and if it does I can just crank the car for two minutes until it does start? Should I order a starter and try to replace it myself? (What if I fuck up?) Or should I just take it to a pro? Remember when answering that I still have no available cash at all. Thank you.

When you say "starter" are you talking about the starter motor? Because if it "cranks well" it sounds like the starter motor is just fine.

Or are you talking about the coil?

If it's cranking, it's not the starter. :headshake
Basically, fuel, spark, & timing are the three ingredients.

Yeah, it's not the starter or it wouldn't crank.

Fuel lines gummed up?

Does the distributor cap look OK?

It's either fuel or electricity that's the problem.

Or freezing up, ie water in the fuel.

may have had a clogged fuel pump


put some STP in thar

cap/rotor? If they are fugged up ...

My Saturn had that problem in cold weather. It turned out to be a faulty temperature sensor.

Bet tw's Honda never had that problem.

I don't think it was froze; it was inside the garage, where the temps are always like 10 degrees F higher, and we barely got below freezing this week.

Was it raining there on Monday? Or below freezing? It was warm and sunny in DC, but had rained on Sunday.

Rain could point to electrical problems with the distributor cap and rotor and/or spark plug wires.

Previous recent cold temperatures, coupled with a low level of gas in the tank could mean water condensed in there and messed up the fuel. Is the gas tank almost empty?

Edit: Screw it. I just saw it lives in the garage. I got nothin.

Cap rotor could simply be worn. That can make the starting sporadic or inconsistent. Just remove the top - 2 screws, I believe and take a look at it.
Should look like this:
http://www.mirage-performance.com/te...caprotor08.jpg

The problem is there are so many sensors and interlocks. Like it won't let the engine fire until the fuel pressure is up to a level that will let the calibrated fuel injectors provide a rich enough charge, or the oil pressure is sufficient.

I believe that car should be OBD-1 (On Board Diagnostics -1), so the best thing to do would be to check if any codes were set in the computer.
I don't know how Nissan works but American cars have method of reading the codes without a diagnostic analyzer.

GM, you short out the first two slots in the OBD connector under the dash. Some have a sequence of turning things like the key & brake lights on and off in a particular order. Your owners manual should tell if there is one for your car.

Then you count the flashes of the "check engine" light to get the numbers of the codes that are set, and look up the meaning of the numbers. Most of the information should be online.


edit, BTW, you can't sand the points with a matchbook striker anymore. :haha: