I have a 2002 Nissan Maxima GLE. I had had problems with it misfiring. It said it was misfiring on cylinder 6. Put all new spark plugs on it, same problem. Put new ignition coils, still same problem. Had it checked by several mechanics. NONE of them could find why it wasn’t getting power. Then about 2 weeks ago I was driving it home & it died. Got it started & it drove less than a mile & died again. when it died that time, I suddenly had NO POWER to anything in the car. Lights don’t work, no horn, no radio, no beeping when key is inserted–NOTHING. if I let it sit for a day or two, it will start clicking & then interior lights will come on–until I put the key in it & turn it over. Then I am back to no power. It does not crank or anything when I turn the key over. I have had the battery checked and they said it is still good, had 100% charge–even after being off the car for over 24 hours.
I have been wondering if it is the ignition switch or starter… I would appreciate ANY help. Thanks!!
That implies a dead battery. That could be a bad battery, bad alternator (the battery is not being charged) or bad battery cables.
If the battery is good, then that limits this to the battery cables or possibly the ignition switch. If you have no lights, then it is not the starter.
has new battery connectors, and JUST got home from having battery checked–they said it has low charge, but that it was most likely from not being started in 2 weeks. Reinstalled it & am going to let it sit over night.
Would the ignition switch cause there to be NO power?
The battery cables could be corroded internally, and new connectors won’t fix that. Or, perhaps by “new battery connectors” you mean the cables were replaced?
It is just as important to check/clean/replace the ground side as it is the hot side cable.
The trouble you are having isn’t due to a starter problem. Power isn’t getting to the starter solenoid to allow the starter to run. Power from the battery usually comes from a smaller power wire tied somewhere from the main positive battery terminal or wire from it to a power/fuse distribution panel near the battery. That panel supplies power to the whole car. Make sure the fuses in there are getting full battery voltage to them when you try to start the engine. Use a test light probe or voltmeter to check the power with. Make sure the ground wires from the battery are making good clean contact. If the panel under the hood checks out okay then you need to check power to the ignition switch and the fuse panel inside the car.
Look for a cover panel near the battery. The cover will come off and expose the fuses. It usually isn’t real difficult to out how to remove the covers in order to get access to the fuses and relays. The dash fuse panel is most likely under the dash near the steering column. Your Owner’s Manual will show you the locations of the panels.
New cheap Chinese alternators have been known to fail, quickly. And u had issue to change alternator? U sure alt was really issue? Alt needs to be told to run and alt must respond. It might not due to bad wiring/plug issue.
Ok, we got it to start finally!! The positive battery cable was loose at the terminal (right beside the fusible link).
Now to find out why cylinder 6b has no fire… has a new spark plug & new ignition coil, the wires leading to the ignition coil have been checked out & are good. The fuel injector has been checked & is combusting. We are thinking possibly timing chain (it idles ROUGH!!) Any suggestions?
If one cylinder is not firing, that will cause rough idle and loss of power. If you know for certain that 6 is not firing, then that’s the whole problem now. The timing and the timing chain should have no involvement at all.
If the battery is ok and connections clean and tight, the electrical power problem is likely a fuse, fusible link, corroded connector, or the ignition switch. Unless someone has been doing some work on the electrical system in the recent past, in which case good idea to double check all that work first. An auto-electric tech should be able to pretty quickly discover what’s wrong with the electrical system. How much money to fix it, depends on what is wrong.
I doubt the misfire is related to the electrical system problem. It is more important to your wallet to fix the misfire. Every cycle you get a misfire happening, the engine pushes a full charge of gasoline directly into the cat, and that process will eventually, and sooner rather than later, ruin the cat.
I agree with kfenimore; check the compression. Once compression drops too low the fuel/air mix will not compress properly and a misfire can occur.
It’s always best to weed out mechanical issues at the start. That saves you from a lot of headaches and spending money on parts while attempting to cure something that is not easily curable.
I have had the compression checked on them–they are all combusting normally & wires leading to the ignition coils all checked out too.
There has been no electrical work done on it while I have had it. I have had it checked over for everything leading to that cylinder & 4 different mechanics cannot find a reason for it to be misfiring. Upon doing research, one came back & said that if a timing chain is not working properly, that is can indeed cause a car to misfire cylinders. Our other options are the ignition switch or the ECM.
If there are separate wires coming from the ECM that tie to the coils check the voltage and compare a working one to the bad one to see if there is a significant difference. If so then the ECM may have a problem. Make sure you don’t have a defective sparkplug also.
Now to find out why cylinder 6b has no fire
they are all combusting normally
This is conflicting information.
Cyl 6 cannot have no fire and normal combustion.
Let’s back up- what information do you have to indicate cylinder #6 is not firing?
said that if a timing chain is not working properly, that is can indeed cause a car to misfire cylinders.
Notice cylinders is plural. That is absolutely true. But a timing chain will not affect only one cylinder and not the rest.
4 different mechanics cannot find a reason for it to be misfiring
Count me as astounded that 4 “mechanics” cannot find the cause. It is quite simple to rule out all potential causes with the most rudimentary tools and a little knowledge. I would be curious what type of mechanics you are visiting…
Our other options are the ignition switch or the ECM.
You can forget about the ignition switch being a cause for the same reason the timing chain is not to blame.
The ECM should have been easily ruled out by one of the four mechanics as a first step in the process. A simple noid light on the associated injector and coil could tell you if the ECM is working…