'97 Nissan Pathfinder just stopped running. NEED HELP!

[pearlxzildjian]

I was driving the other day and all of a sudden, my car stopped running. It felt like it does whenever you run out of gas. Anyways, I get someone to pull me home and my brother tells me that the engine isn't firing. It turns over, but it doesn't actually start. I have no idea what could do this, and the internet hasn't helped me out yet. We borrowed a diagnostics thing and it said the knock sensor failed or something. I looked up about replacing it but found it's cheaper to relocate it. Anyways, would the knock sensor have anything to do with the car not starting, or is there some other problem that anyone else knows about. Please help! I'm not very good with cars, and I have completely had to stop doing my job because I can't travel to where I work at. Any help is much appreciated. If this is in the wrong forum, please let me know and I will copy and paste it in to the right one.
Thanks!

[Towncivilian]

The knock sensor has no matter in starting the engine.

When you turn the ignition to "ON" (not start), do you hear the fuel pump prime? If you cycle the key ON -> OFF -> ON a few times and then attempt starting, does it start?

Is your fuel filter original? If so, change it. NAPA Gold 3023 is about $14 and made by Wix.

[pearlxzildjian]

The knock sensor has no matter in starting the engine.

When you turn the ignition to "ON" (not start), do you hear the fuel pump prime? If you cycle the key ON -> OFF -> ON a few times and then attempt starting, does it start?

Is your fuel filter original? If so, change it. NAPA Gold 3023 is about $14 and made by Wix.

For your first question, yes I can.
Second question, no it doesn't.
Third question, the fuel pump and fuel filter are brand new.

My brother said that's it's not sparking at all. He tried to get it to fire directly at the intake with some fuel on a rag and it still didn't spark.

[Towncivilian]

How's the distributor look under the cap? If there's any dust or dirt buildup on the LED, that can cause timing issues and a failed start I'd imagine. How many miles on this Pathfinder? Was the timing belt maintained at the correct interval? If you pinch the fuel hose at the fuel filter after priming the fuel pump, do you feel pressure? Check a fuel line in the engine bay if one is accessible - I don't know where one would be (never seen a VG33E). Page EC-25 of the factory service manual seems to have a diagram showing where a fuel hose is.

[pearlxzildjian]

How's the distributor look under the cap? If there's any dust or dirt buildup on the LED, that can cause timing issues and a failed start I'd imagine. How many miles on this Pathfinder? Was the timing belt maintained at the correct interval? If you pinch the fuel hose at the fuel filter after priming the fuel pump, do you feel pressure? Check a fuel line in the engine bay if one is accessible - I don't know where one would be (never seen a VG33E). Page EC-25 of the factory service manual seems to have a diagram showing where a fuel hose is.

I haven't looked under the cap but I'll update you when I can.

There's over 250k miles on it.

I have no idea about the timing belt.

I'll check the hose at the fuel filter as well.


Thanks for your help! I'll give you an update tomorrow.

[ARKQX33V6]

Towncivilian is right on the money, with the mileage the plugs, wires, distributor need a very close look at. A compressed air supply will help. The cap of the distributor must be clean. The slot windows above the LED and the LED power transistor must be clean. The advance timing mechanism may be stuck.

The fuel rail Towncivilian mentioned is a critical part of starting and should be examined, low fuel pressure will exacerbate starting.

Be sure to charge that battery to full, while testing things out, low voltage to the ignition system is a no no.

You need compression, fuel, spark and air in the correct amounts at the right time.

Test the timing try turning the motor to fire #1 and see if the ignition rotor is at # 1 as a primary testing, if good, pull at least 3 easy to reach plugs and see how wet or dry they are, their colour, the amount of fouling and test the gap size, if the gaps are too large all plugs need to be examined. If they have been installed for 60,000 miles replace them.

With a dry cotton cloth wipe down the ignition cables , any black colour come off, is so replace them

Take a close look into the throttle mouth, any black, clean with a good carburetor cleaner, check the TPS and switches and the throttle position and idle air valve it may be blocked and not allowing a start along with the recirc valve that hasn't been maintained and now carbon plugged.

Once you can get it to start and run do a complete tune up as to the book.

[pearlxzildjian]

Alright, I still haven't been able to do anything to it yet, but I thought I would at least post a video of what sound it's making:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_etjyoOHNHs[/youtube]
I bought some plug wires and spark plugs recently, but haven't been able to put them in yet because I don't have the right tools. Gonna have to go get those. Let me know if you've heard this before and if you can lead me in the right direction!

[Azndjay]

Battery ? alternator?

[Chuck Tribolet]

If the battery is good, and the alternator is dead, the truck will start and run for a while (several miles or more, depending
on electrical loads like lights and such). If the battery is dead, try a jump start.

A bad plug or wire won't make it stop running all at once.

Do what ARK said.

And what was the code about the knock sensor? And I don't think you can relocate the knock sensor, and I don' think
a bad knock sensor would make it not run.