Emergency help is needed; car won't start

[supersnake83]

Hi everyone,

I left work tonight at 11:15pm and found that my car won't start. It does crank, it gets full power, but it won't start.

I poped the hood and checked to see if any of the fuses on the engine were blown. All were o.k.

I checked in on the driver side kick-panel, all were o.k.

I do have a remote start that was professionally installed and it worked correctly since I had it installed, three weeks ago, so I doubt that it could be that.

Any ideas on what it could be. I do live in the Northeast USA (Philadelpiha, PA) and today was the only day in a long time that the car was parked for more than 10 hours. It dropped to 18 degrees tonight.

Could it be: Fuelpump? Too cold? Relay of some sort? Frozen gas line? Starter? Spark Plugs? O2 sensor?

Please help. Any replies would be great.

Thanks,

Geoff.

[DominickJ30]

Put the gas pedal to the floor and try to crank the car for about 10 seconds or so, as soon as you feel it catch on let go of the gas pedal.

If its flooded like I think that should clear the problem.

If that doesnt work then try taking out the injector fuse and turning the car over.

[elan]

Frozen gas lines unlikely, 18F is pretty warm for these cars. In Siberia we have JDM Nissans and Toyotas staring at -20F. My car and my boss's J30 were parked outside for 3 years at it went down to -2F in NY and they were starting alright.Are you sure your coolant is good enough not to freeze at this temperature ? If it's standard 50/50 it should be ok , but if by any chance you have too much water ...

Does it give any signals of life at all? I would probably try to eliminate this remote starter first. May be some fuses in there. Also remember that these cars have a theft protection system which cut the ignition if it detects that the car was broken into. Check this thing too. Though I believe it suppose to cut the starter too.

What we were doing on the old cars with the distributor was - taking one spark plug out, cranking it for a little bit then smell the hole to see if the gas is coming into the cylinder. At the same time, ground the spark plug crank it and check if the spark is fired. In this cars as I understand most problems can be read through the computer and as all plugs have individual coils this methods would not work exactly like this

As an extreme case when we were deep in the woods one of the methods to check if the gas pump is ok were unbolting the fuel line enough to see if the gas line has pressure. i would not recommend it here as you can get the gas all over the engine bay which is dangerous. You can connect the gas pressure gauge though and see the pressure.


Modified by elan at 11:14 PM 2/8/2007

[supersnake83]

Hi,

It actually cranks and the car gets power. I am not using the remote start to start the car, I am using the key.

As for putting the pedal to the floor, I tried that, just not for 10 seconds and then starting. I will try that.

I know it the FSM it states that the fuel pump can be checked with a voltmeter to see if it gets the correct amount of ohms to see if it is powering on. I am going to try the injector fuse if it still doesn't start.

I'll let you know.

Thanks,

Geoff.

[J30Guy612]

Keep us posted after trying pressing the gas pedal to the floor for 10 seconds, then starting.

Also in my J30 I can hear the fuel pump if I listen VERY closely, no music, windows up, etc. You may want to turn the key to the "ON" position, and you should hear a slight whirring from behind the rear seats (you may actually have to climb back there to hear it). This will also tell you if it's receiving power or not if you don't have access to a volt meter.

If both of these options don't provide any help, it might be worth it to check the ECU codes. There is a sticky at the top of this forum about how to check the ECU codes. Basically remove the passeneger side kick panel (right side near where the passenger's feet would be), 3 bolts that hold the ECU in, and then check the codes via the instructions at the top of the forum.

I would rule out the freezing gas, I don't see that being the problem.

However, if it's cranking and it's not turning over, in my experience with other cars, thats usually fuel related. If you can determine it's getting power, and it is then you might want to check the fuel pressure.

I know I didn't have one handy, and this picture is a simple fuel pressure setup you can make if you have a decent sized Ace hardware of plumbing supply store in your area:



Lastly, has the car done ANYTHING like this since the remote starter was installed? If it hasn't acted up once, and worked fine for 3 weeks, then the wiring is probably fine, just want to bring that up as well. If you've had any problems since the remote starter was installed, you may want to look into this as well.

Basically:

Try gas pedal to the floor

Try the injector fuse

Listen for fuel pump getting power

Check ECU codes

Check fuel pressure

Those are all the things that I can think of to help you narrow down the problem, there might be an easier way, just my two cents. Also, check out the Trouble Diagnosis section in the FSM, there is probably a section about the exact problem your having.

Good luck, I'll be checking back to see how you make out!

Hopefully it's something simple

[supersnake83]

Everyone,

You have been a really big help. I tried the pedal to the floor for 10 sec. and it didn't work. The injector fuse didn't help either; but I think I figured out what is wrong. I checked the fuel pump to see if it was getting the correct ohms, it was getting .5 ohms. The FSM notes .6. I beleive that is still o.k. because I probably did not have a good connection to the pins.

However, the problem is that the harness is burned on one of the female connectors. In the FSM it looks to be connector a. I already tried ordering from Infiniti of Scottsdale and Joe said that Infiniti does not supply the connectors. He gave me the name of a company that makes them: Kent Moore.

I am going to a salvage yard to see if they have any J's in their inventory.

Please let me know if the fuel pump itself could have caused the connector burn or if this is just a type of normal wear; or what could have caused the harness to burn.

Thanks everyone,

Geoff.

[Ebbtide]

Can you check the voltage to the harness?

[supersnake83]

O.k. everyone,

I got a harness from the junkyard, and I lucked out. I was only charged a dollar for it. It did fix the problem. And no, there is no way to check the harness based on the FSM.

I wanted to use wire butts to crimp the wires to make a more secure stay, but I didn't have the right size; I just used electrical tape. If I have anymore problems, I will let you know.

Again, thanks all for your input and help. Being without my car is really painful.

Thanks,

Geoff.

[infinitij30car1993]

Hey supersnake83which connector hardness was burned out u r talking about? I might have the same problem as yours . can u email me to let me know thanks

[email protected]

[supersnake83]

Infinitij301993,

If you open the trunk and behind the lining in the back of the trunk, you will see the fuel tank and a connecting harness connected to the fuel pump. It is the only one connected to the fuel tank.

When I disconnected mine, I saw a burn mark on one of the two front of the five female connector pins. That was my problem. The harness burned/overheated or something unusaual happened.

I got a replacement from the junkyard and I was lucky that it was a clean one.

See if there are any salvage yards in your area; if there are, and if they carry foreign cars, see if they have any J's or Q's (I believe they used the same tank setup in the early 1990's).

On the salvage J, cut the wires where they meet the others, about 7 inches, so you can have enough extra for when you strip the wires.

Wire the same colors together and it should work. If this is your problem, when reconnecting the wires, use wire butts so it can be a more secure and professional finish.

I hope this helped,

Geoff.