Hello car genius people!!! So I have a 2006 nissan altima that has transmission slipping. I was driving then all of a sudden the car lost power slowly and eventually shut off. The previous owner told me that when the car gets to a certain temperature, the car will die and would have to wait till the car cools down and then the car will start back up. well that wasnt the case for me rightnow. the car cranks but no start. when i checked the ignition, there is power and spark. I replaced the crank sensor and cam sensors and still crank no start. checked the fuel pump and there is power to the pump and can hear it start pump when i turn the key. checked the fuel relay and was good also. when i spray starter fluid in the intake, it sounds like it will start for a second and then just cranks. Please someone help me get this car started.
Is there a check engine light? What are the error codes?
How many miles on the engine?
Given what you have done to try to diagnose it… I will suggest maybe the timing chain jumped a tooth or 2. Error codes might shed more light on that.
Next thing I would check is to see if the fuel injectors are being fired.
I would also check the fuel pressure even though you can hear it run, does not mean it is pumping enough pressure. Might also do a dry/wet compression test…
Make sure no corrosion around the cam/crank sensor plugs, might even do a wiggle test on the harness around and close to the cam/crank connectors…
Also check for corrosion around the battery grounds etc around the engine compartment…
You didn’t pay much for this car. Did you?
It looks great. Cuz it was sitting. A lot.
Well, having power at the fuel pump, and hearing the pump running does not guarantee that it is pumping properly, or that the fuel rail has proper pressure. I replaced a fuel pump which appeared to run, but barely had any pressure, and the first replacement which I bought ran, but the pressure was lower than spec. A fuel pressure gauge will tell you what you need to know.
If there is fuel pressure, but the engine won’t run, however it does run briefly when you add starting fluid to the intake, then it stands to reason that this is a fuel problem, and either the wiring harness or PCM are defective. It could be an issue with the security system, is the security light coming on at startup and going out as expected?
I would start by pulling the spark plugs to see if they’re wet with fuel. If they are, dry them off. I would also pull the fuel pump fuse and then crank the engine over a few times to dry out the cylinders. Then replace the fuse and plugs and try to fire it up.
Does the engine sound like this when trying to start it?
Tester
It does sound like some sort of fueling issue. Fuel pumps, fuel pump relays can both conk out if they get too hot, then can start working again after they’ve cooled down. Just curious, why did you replace the crank and cam sensor after you’d already determined you had spark? Was there another symptom you haven’t yet told us about?