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2002 xterra hard to start

2K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  NEXinthesky 
#1 · (Edited)
the engine runs great, no smoke, oil/coolant are clean, lots of power but for some reason it takes like 10 -20 seconds of cranking over to fire up. ive checked all the plugs (NGK), replaced the rotor, distributor bearing, checked tps voltage/function, tryed turning the key "on" and waiting 5 seconds and nothing seems to make any difference. theres also a bit of a rough idle going on too. i keep reading over and over in all different forums of people haveing this problem, but nobody seems to post if they actually got it fixed or not.... any help would be greatly appreciated.
also, its the 3.3l N/A engine
 
#3 ·
i am assuming you are talking about the fuel filter? its on my to-do list tomorow for sure, but i dont see how that would only affect the start up and idle, but not regular driveing or high rpms? i am also going to try running a can of sea foam though the engine and fuel system to see if that improves anything. is there any other things i should check/replace to try and fix this? i dont have a code reader(yet) and the SES light is not on. but the starting issue is getting pretty embarrassing... i really gota fix this problem soon...
 
#5 ·
replaced the fuel filter, and ran some sea foam though it and it does seem like its idleing alot better. it does take significantly less time to start it now, but it still takes about 5 seconds of cranking till it fires up, and its a bit of a slow chug till the rpm's get up there. when i dumped out the fuel filter, alot of brown crap came out the entry side, i was pretty surprised.
 
#7 ·
ok, let it sit for a few hours and went to go start it up and its back to its old tricks again. 10-20 seconds of cranking before a really slow chug up to idle speed. i hear the pump primeing when i turn the key to "on", and it clicks off after 5 seconds. also theres a smell of gas after it does start to fire up. none of the injectors are leaking, its probly comeing out of the tail pipe. however the unstable idle seems to be gone now.... could it be the check valve bleeding off the pressure? or the crank sensor mabey?
 
#9 ·
The problem was either the sloppy loose timing belt, fuel regulator or injector seals/filters. its all fixed up now and everything runs great! thanks for all the help guys! dont trust those chinese knock off distributors as dejablue has pointed out. they are total garbage.
Yea I was surprised at the difference a new tight and properly aligned timing belt job can do for performance. When you are off a couple of notches, the combustion process takes a dive. Good clean injectors and a healthy ignition and electrical system make all the difference as well.

Cheap in the short term is more expensive in the long term.
 
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