I have an 05 coupe (now out of warranty!) which used to be a daily driver until I got an another car about a year ago. Now the time is split about 40/60 g/other car as far as driving goes. I usually drive it every other day or every second day. I live in Texas, so no freezing weather right now and no extreme heat, either. I had my battery replaced earlier this year at the dealer. A little over a month ago, I didn't drive my car for about 2 weeks because it was raining so much and I didn't want to keep washing my car. The first sunny day, I took my G out to do some errands. I made two stops and at the second stop, the car would not start. It turned, but didn't catch. I tried jump starting it even though I knew it probably wasn't the battery and that didn't work. I had it towed to the dealer where they spent two days on it. They said it wasn't the key (I guess they checked) and said they had no diagnostic codes to go by so they had to figure it out old-school. They finally chalked it up to a bad fuel pump and replaced it under the powertrain warranty (whew!).

The next day, I drove the car around to do errands stopping at many places and the car started and ran fine. The day after, I left for a three week trip and left the car sitting in the garage. The day after I get back, I try to start the car and get the exact same result. It cranks, but won't catch. I am waiting to have it towed to the dealer, but obviously, the dealer doesn't really know what is going on with the car. Any ideas I can throw at them? I don't enjoy throwing hundreds of dollars around at solutions that really aren't. Thanks.

 

good luck with it bro, sorry it just ran out of warranty. it sux, but it's always like that. Something breaks down after the warranty expires.

 

Do you have two keys? Have you tried the other key?

I know you said they tested it, but those sound like the same symptoms you get when the key isn't registered with the car.

 

Sure did. Even tried the other spare key that didn't come with a keyfob. All of them didn't work. Any other suggestions?

 

The good news is if it's the same problem the dealer's recent work will still be warranted.

It sounds like either a fuel or spark related situation. If it cranks it's not the alternator or battery. If it does not even try to start it's probably not a spark plug. A simple fuel pressure check will tell if it's the fuel pump. If that's not the problem they can start to diagnose the issue.

 

any of your friend have osiris or an obd scanner?

 

Auto or manual?

 

Automatic

 

On a 2005:

ECM would cause different types of failures but I think normally would toss a code. Fuel pump relay could do it and would mimic a fuel pump failure and not energize the Ignition relay nor the injectors. The Ignition relay could do it by not energizing the ECM relay. The ECM relay could do it by not energizing the ignition coils.

Not sure on the 05 however on the 08 many of these relays are common types for many other functions of the car not so critical for example the a/c relay (avoid the coolant fans which are different) so you may be able to figure this out by swapping relays if it is in fact a relay. Don't know if I would mention it later on at the dealer that you have been swapping relays.

Take your pick if you decide to try this but swap only one out at a time and then restore the original before moving to the next. Keep track of what works if you happen upon it and then decide what you want to do which may be to go to Nissan and buy one outright if you want to avoid the dealer. The relays on my car are well numbered, not sure about yours.

One thing to watch for. On some of these they may be plastic hold down ears, try not to break them. Typically not a big deal from what I see but best to avoid a possible problem in any case.

 

Sounds like a timing issue. If you got fuel, air and spark it should fire up. Might wanna check all your belts. You say your battery is good so thats out of the way. You got new fuel pump so thats out of the way too.

 

Fuel pressure regulator maybe?

I know when one of my walbro fuel pumps had an issue it would not hold pressure between the time the key was turned and the starter started to crank so it had to crank ~3x as long before it started. But in that case the fuel pump was making it back up after it got going.

I would still check fuel pressure to see if the pump is bad. It's possible the same problem came back.

 

There is a fuse under the drivers side kick panel that can exibit these symptoms if not secure or blown. Its the top left labeled as IGNITION. 10A fuse.

 

Good call.

Also the ECU fuse (behind the battery in IPDM), top left I belive, will do the same thing.

 

Not sure if something like this applies to an 05 but it sounds like the start of some problems a couple of others have had when they got water into their IPDM. Maybe it would be worth your while to look at it to see if there is anything to this prior to it going out as it can be a little bit spendy to replace it. You did state it has been raining. If nothing else maybe the moisture is affecting something.