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No Start - No Spark

21K views 36 replies 6 participants last post by  Dieselburb1 
#1 · (Edited)
Please Help!

2003 Nissan Xterra 3.3L

Been having issues with start/no start.

Took it to Nissan and they charged me $750.00 diagnosing a bad fuel pump that I had just put in myself, bit the bullet and said okay if that will fix the no starts.... they seemed confident that it would, it didn't.

So not trusting anyone, anymore, I decide to take off the upper plenum, fuel rail and the intake manifold, re-positioned the knock sensor, replaced fuel pressure regulator, fuel filter, Crank Shaft Sensor, EGR, EGR Back Pressure Transducer, replaced all vacuum hoses, complete new distributor, new spark plugs, new spark plug wires, new valve cover gaskets.

It remains as it last worked, no start, no spark.

Please see the 2 photo's. I have 2 wires one that I think that goes to the power review mirror on the windshield, what/where does it plug into? The other frayed wire, black with a blue stripe I cannot find where it came from. However, once the no spark condition occurred, just so happen that the radio stopped working???

Anyone have any ideas, before I give up???

Thanks
 

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#2 · (Edited)
The first wire plugs into a lug in the fuse box ,the second wire looks like from the speakers.Both have nothing to do with no start that i can see from here.
1) Pull the dist cap does the rotor turn when you crank it???
2) Turn the key on can you here the fuel pump under rear seat???
3) Is the key foe battery low ???
 
#3 ·
I will go out and check the dist.
Yes, I hear the fuel pump under the back seat.
My batter was dead, but I charged it to 80% charged this afternoon and put it back in the vehicle, but figured it was charged up enough, it turns over fine.

It's weird that the radio does not even power on anymore, just started about the same time as the permanent no start that I have now.
 
#6 ·
Not sure my last post made it, new on this site.

I did not get a key fob when I purchased the vehicle in '05, only received 1 key. I have had to reset the alarm from the driver side door by locking it then unlocking it for it to stop alarming. I will try that in the morning. I don't know if this vehicle was set up with keyless entry.
 
#7 ·
Tried the manual reset this morning by locking the driver door and unlocking twice with key, no luck.

Will check all fuses in fuse box today.

Is there any way to bypass the Security System all together?

Would I be able to even turn the engine over if the Ignition Relay were bad? The same with the Fuel Relay, if I hear the fuel pump come on, I am assuming that the Fuel Relay is okay??

One thing that I noticed that seems different, when I turn the key to hear if the fuel pump comes on in the rear under the seat, for a brief second I hear a static sound, then the pump starts.

Mechanical I am pretty good at, Electrical not so good, so please let me know if you have any other ideas of what to check for.

Thanks.
 
#9 ·
I was wrong, the hum & Static noise is under the hood.

When I turn the key on just before cranking, I noticed it was not under the back passenger seat by the fuel pump.

I did not think that I would get a code since it had not actually started up, but I scanned and got a P505, Idle Air Control Valve or Circuit Fault.

Before putting the upper intake (plenum) back on, I noticed a lot of green build up on the Idle Air Control Valve and tried to scrape it off with a small screw driver and washing it down with carb cleaner, could that have caused it to go bad? Or looking in my Haynes bible, it says if it is not the IAC valve, then have the PCM checked.

It looks like I would have to take the upper intake off again(oh crap) to replace the IAC valve?

I do not see an electrical connector for the IAC valve, do you know where it is?

Any ideas that you may have would be greatly appreciated. Just about ready to take it to Nissan, but really do not want to do that.

Thanks!
 
#12 ·
When you say "No Spark"...did you pull a plug, and see if it sparks when you crank it? (Screwdriver trick, etc...?)

I ask, because you are checking about everything but why there'd be no spark (Except plug/wires)....when that seems to be the main issue.

You say it "turns over", which to me, combined with "no spark" indicates that the engine is being cranked but that the plugs are not getting the juice too...so it turns but never catches.

You need to trace the continuity back to see where the juice got stopped on its way to the plug.

For example, if while cranking the plug doesn't spark, you then check the boot, the wire, and the distributor...and then whatever's feeding the distributor, and so forth back to the battery/alternator.

As the engine is getting juice, from that point forward to the plug is where your problem would be expected.

BUT

All of this assumes when you say "NO SPARK" that you in fact have no spark...so, confirm that a pulled plug is actually not sparking....so we know we're barking up the right tree.

>:D
 
#13 ·
Thanks TJ,

Well when I did my spark test, solo....I pulled the plug and grounded it on a piece of metal on the engine and I have a clear view since I have the hood removed and I see no fire when engine is turning over.

The plugs are all new, the wires, and the entire distributor(camshaft sensor) are all new. I did not get spark with the old ones before I replaced these, still no spark.

Could the Security System going haywire cause this? is there anyway to bypass it? It is the Factory Security System, I've tried to manually re-set, still nothing.

If you have more ideas, PLEASE send them to me. I'm gonna give it another week, then probably end up taking it to Nissan.

Thanks Again.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Yea I might be new here. Had the same issue where she wouldnt start. Not even crank. Then other times she would. Put my foot on the gas and she would slowly crank to start. Thought it was the fuel pump. But I was incorrect. It turned out to be a bad battery. Im no mechanic but would a bad battery disable the spark? Maybe try swapping it out idk. Does it even crank? Terminals clean? I usually also just lift the wires off the distributor slightly and look to see the spark jump there. Also possibly neutral switch/ignition switch? Lets just rebuild the whole truck!
 
#15 ·
Thanks BK, all replies and Ideas greatly appreciated.

I too thought it was the fuel pump, changed it out myself, still didn't fix. It would start sporadically, then maybe 6 months later, then no start began to be more permanent. Had it towed to Nissan and they said, "you have a bad fuel pump", told them I just put one in a few months ago and they said something about the after market fuel pumps not getting along with Nissan's circuits(yeah, I bought it), went to pick it up $750.00 later, it cranked right up, got it home and 2 days later, same thing, crank but no start.

This going to sound weird......just thought about this, same thing happened about 2 years ago and some older guy took a screw and screwed it in between the battery post and the connector to get a tighter connection and it fired right up. I have new battery post connectors, battery is only a year old and the fit seems to be very tight, maybe I will give this a shot tonight.
 
#16 ·
If it cranks but doesn't catch, with no spark...the battery is at least normally, fine.

The dizzies are really whacky though, so it IS possible that the first one was bad, and the second one was the wrong one or a dead in the box one, etc.

There's a few versions, and they are typically not interchangeable for example.

Try a jump start with another rig as plan B just in case, as a battery or bad ground or other cable or strap for example, would be a nice break. You still need to check continuity...so, don't forget that part.

>:D
 
#17 ·
Got her started, but............Very Rough Idle, I am hoping resolving the P505 - Idle Air Control Valve will get it running back to normal.

Problem is I don't really know that I did to get it to fire.

1. Pulled all the fuses in the fuse box under dash left side, checked them out, all looked okay, put them back in.
2. Jiggled the wires from the ECM to the ECM Relay under dash center on floor board.
3. Put the original Negative Battery cable back on. Had purchased a new one and put it on during doing all this work.
4. Pulled the starter and had it tested, then placed back on vehicle.
5. Removed covers to the fuel pump connections, jiggled the connections.
6. Went over all of the engine electrical connections that I could reach to verify that they were snapped into the connectors.
7. Jiggled the wire to the crankshaft sensor.
8. Unplugged the Mass Air Flow Sensor electrical connection and plugged back in.

Next I will take off the Upper Manifold again to very I made all the electrical connections to the Idle Air Control Valve/Sensor, may go ahead and replace, but it is expensive, $175.00 at Autozone. Also going to adjust the Distributor once I get the P505 to go away and put a timing light on it to see if my timing is set correctly.

Anyone know if, the rough, very rough idle is due to the P505? It sounds like it is running off 3 cylinders until I rev the engine then it sounds okay??

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
#19 ·
No, I replaced the dist before I started doing any work on the X, hoping it would resolve the no start, thinking that it was the camshaft sensor on the dist that may have gone bad. I still have the original dist. think that I will put it back in today and see what happens.

One other thing that I did not try yesterday is to adjust the dist. Maybe I was off on my mark when I put it back in when putting everything back together, will try this before putting the original dist back in.

So, if I understand with the P505, it may idle rough or sluggish, but all 6 cylinders should fire?

Thanks!!
 
#20 · (Edited)
What is the casting number on old dist its at the top of the neck ? What is the number of the new dist ? There are at least 5 different dist and they are not interchangeable they must be match to ECM. There is one for California trucks,one for Canadian, one for east coast ,one for Texas all different ECM and all different dist for different emissions for different locations. Some times the new one wont even work some times for a few weeks and go dead .I am not a big fan of Ebays dist , i am sure some of them are ok, but this part is like Mass Air Sensor cheap is not good.
 
#23 ·
Finally gonna throw in the towel.

Did get it to start this afternoon and was able to adjust the timing, the P505 went away after I re-set the codes. The noise that I thought was a misfire was actually the EGR tube not screwed onto the EGR. Was able to start many times.........................

AND THEN....

The No spark, no start again and the P505 returns, that is where I am now once again.

So thanks to all who responded, I know when I have been beat and I have been beat.
 
#24 ·
Finally gonna throw in the towel.

Did get it to start this afternoon and was able to adjust the timing, the P505 went away after I re-set the codes. The noise that I thought was a misfire was actually the EGR tube not screwed onto the EGR. Was able to start many times.........................

AND THEN....

The No spark, no start again and the P505 returns, that is where I am now once again.

So thanks to all who responded, I know when I have been beat and I have been beat.


You should at least do what Dennis asked, and get the casting numbers.
 
#25 ·
If you will just work with us there are a lot of smart people on this site and each person has only little niche and some times it takes a little longer but we will get it running again but giving up is not going to help . Every one here is working for free to help you so tighten your belt up and dig in ,listen to what each member has to offer and your truck will back up and running .
 
#26 ·
Okay, took a few days off for stress relief. This is a second vehicle, so at least I am not in a bind for transportation.

Old Dist# on the neck: (kinda hard to read the first line, first 2 digits, think it is "DO"
DOT96-013422A
22100 7B001

New Dist#:
ADLG-NS60
13 1 0800 0000
Z-140700030

I exchanged the Fuel Pump Relay out this afternoon with one I got out of another 03 Xterra at the Junk Yard, still do not hear the fuel pump coming on under the back passenger seat. Took off the cover to the fuel pump and cleaned the 2 connections, still don't hear the fuel pump coming on.

I see another Relay on top of the ECM on the floorboard, did not get to that one today, maybe exchange it out to test it tomorrow.

I noticed today, that sometimes, the first time I try to start the vehicle, it sounds like it wants to start, then flood out and then it goes back to turning over but not even sounding like it wanted to start.

Still open for any ideas.

Thanks!
 
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