Nissan - Sentra :: 2002 - Hard To Start In The Morning / Tiny Leaks In Injectors
Aug 20, 2011
I have a 2002 Nissan Sentra has great difficulty starting first thing in the morning if it has not been driven for a day or two. Once I finally get it started, it runs fine all day. My mechanic has finally traced the problem, after keeping the car over the weekend. He says 3 or the 4 injectors have very tiny leaks and so a few drops of gas are leaking into wherever. They put something in the injectors they thought might solve the problem, but I won't know until I leave it for several days and then need to start it.
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The car has 96xxx miles and doesn't like to turn over when it sits for more than about 6 hours, it is worse the colder it is. Once the car starts it will fire right up every time you start it as long as it doesn't sit for more than about 6 hours. It doesn't make any strange noises while starting just the normal vum vum vum vum VUM vum vum VUM VUM vum vum etc until it finally catches. I should also add that upon starting (and this only happens when it hard starts) it will idle at around 1500rpm while in the park. The shift to reverse it drops to about 1000, shift back to park it goes back to 1500. I have already replaced the fuel pump, 02 sensors, MAF, and the camshaft position sensor. I took it to a shop once, they could not figure out the problem but claimed it was a common problem with Nissans of that period and if I primed the fuel pump by turning the key to the ACC point for about a minute and pressing the gas a little bit when I tried to start it that it would start. That does not work.
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I've been driving my daughter's Nissan for the past week, trying to figure out what's going on.
Car has about 124K miles. Automatic transmission. Two things happening, neither with total consistency:
(1) Sometimes, primarily from a cold start, car will not shift gears. You'll go past the speed and RPMs where you would have expected the gear to shift, but engine whines on. When you let off the gas, it then shifts. Same from 2nd to 3rd. While in this mode, would not seem to stay in 4th - would briefly shift in (for about a second) , then return to 3rd.
(2) Other item - more frequently, primarily from a warm start, but also from a cold start - car shifts gears at proper time, but there is a distinctive "jolt" as it shifts from 1st to 2nd; not really noticeable in higher gears and the "jolt" can vary in intensity. Almost feels like a broken motor mount, but don't think that's it.
Doesn't happen with scenario (1) described above. Also, while in this mode, I noticed, while highway driving, that if I was at the bottom of a long hill, going 60 and floored it, there would be no power surge. It was not downshifting into 3rd like it should. I would have a long and slow acceleration , with the tachometer holding steady at about 2700 RPMs, not climbing as you would expect.
But, if I was going about 50, then you would get normal hill climb acceleration.My mechanic - whom I've dealt with for a long time and trust - had wanted me to drive it awhile and see what was happening before bringing it in. When describing these symptoms to him, his reaction was "Hmmm - doesn't sound good" but without the quick diagnosis I'm accustomed to from him.
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I own a 2002 Maxima with 102,000 miles. For a while, the car has been making a rattling noise while I am driving and pressing on the gas pedal. The noise occurs frequently whether starting from stopped position or accelerating while driving. The engine has checked out fine and a suggestion was made that I use better gas. I filled up at Chevron with '89, which is the grade I have always used but at discount gas stations. The noise however continues. What may be causing the rattling, clicking, tinny noise?
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The first time I turned on the AC this year, the car ran like normal for about 5 minutes. After that, I was coming to a stop light, I put the car in neutral, and it shut off. I could only get the car running again after I turned off the air. Then it would shutter very hard while idling. So far I have change the fuel filter and put cleaning stuff in the gas tank to clean the fuel injectors. When I tried running it again, it ran for about 10 minutes and stalled again. The car is a 1996 Nissan sentra. Check engine light doesn't come on, and the car has had regular oil changes. There is 191,000 miles on it.
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I have a 2002 Nissan Sentra. In Nov. 2010 had inspection done and replaced upper radiator hose at that time. Right after that, I had no heat and the temperature gauge would go up to hot but then come right back down. Brought it back to mechanic, changed thermostat and both things ok only part way home. Started riding with coworker only driving to her house 7 miles away and still temperature gauge up and down, stopped driving completely in Feb. Just brought it to dealer who replaced thermostat and worked fine all the way home and then started all over again the next day. Seems to happen faster at higher speed but will eventually do it in any driving conditions. Today service engine soon light came on. Obviously not thermostat problem. Could it be water pump? Dealer did pressure test and that came back fine so no head gasket problem although don't have a lot of faith in that since problem still exists and they thought thermostat would fix it.
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My 2002 Nissan Sentra's check engine light keeps coming on. It came on about three weeks ago, and our mechanic replaced an oxygen sensor. Two or three days later, it came back on. He figured the first sensor was faulty, and replaced it with another. The light came on as I was driving away from the place. The mechanic replaced some of the wires. And now, a week after that, the light came on again.
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I live in CA and recently my car passed the smog test, but failed inspection because the check engine light on the board was on. When the diagnostic test was done, it said there's a problem with the catalytic converter. It's so frustrating because the car's emissions are within limits. , I was thinking... Is there a way to get the catalytic converter to run cleaner without replacing it? If it can run long enough to pass the diagnostic test, my car could pass inspection.
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My friend told me for the past year she has been having trouble with her sentra. she has taken it to the dealer & they could not figure out whats going on. So here is what she described to me. '02 nissan sentra exe with 54k miles. when she gets to a stop light/sign and the car is at idle, it stalls. she said it stalls when slowly going in reverse out of her driveway and when she slows down to pull into her driveway. the check engine light has never turned on and the car starts back up again right away. What is going on?
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I have a 98 Nissan Sentra every now and then when I get in it to start it I get nothing but if I hold it or turn it to the off position a few times it will start, what this could be....
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I have a 2005 Nissan Sentra with 74,000 miles on it, and it has had trouble starting for 2 or 3 years. When it started, I would turn the key and the car would almost, but not quite, start, and simply turning it off and trying again would work immediately. I had the battery replaced and the spark plugs at ~50,000 miles to no avail. About a month ago, I started my car and it had a really rough idle for about 15 - 30 seconds and the check engine light came on (registered an emission issue), but it ran fine. I had to get a routine oil change and emissions test anyway and they checked the spark plugs as a first measure. They all had some wear, but one was almost worn down to nothing, which the mechanic said was a result of the spark plugs (autolites?) so they replaced them with the Nissan recommended NGK kind. The next day my car didn't start the first immediately, but on second try worked. A week later I noticed my car sometimes rumbling on idle right after start again, so they replaced the fuel filter and the fuel pump. Didn't work, I still have a rumble about 30% of the time when I start, and just two days ago the check engine light came back on (I haven't had time to get it diagnosed yet). Without knowing much about cars, it feels like the engine isn't getting enough fuel or something. Could it be dirty/clogged fuel injectors? Should I be worried that my spark plugs were worn down after just 25,000 miles?
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The timing chain on my 94 Nissan Sentra XE 1.6L has jumped. The car will not start and when you do try and start it just lopes and then sounds like it wants to start and goes back to loping. BTW, it has 249K on it. I have removed the front cam shaft cover. The chain is intact and looks good, but can be depressed with the finger. Upon closer inspection the chain has cut a very noticeable groove into the tensioner. There is also a noticeable groove in the upper chain guide. The question here is, can I just replace the tensioner and the guides (there are two of them), without changing out the chain. One other question I have is there a possibility that I could have damaged a valve after trying to trying to start the car with the jumped chain. Someone told my that this possible, but I have also read on the NIssan Forums that damaging/bending a valve would occur only if the chain had actually broke and I tried to start it or manually (by hand) advancing the crankshaft will attempt to get to TDC?
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I have a 99 Nissan Sentra. It does not start when parked under the sun or when the weather is hot. It starts great in the morning when it is cool. The battery is new. When the car does not start, the lights come on OK (engine check light et al.), but there is no sound, no clicking ( that I can hear), no nothing happens. I heard from a mechanic that I need to change the distributor; another said that it is the starter.
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I have Nissan Sentra 2005 1.8S. I was on the road this week and stop at the gas station to get gas and after that, the car won't just start. All the indicators at the dashboard lights up, horn is working, battery is new and alternator is working. But there was no click sound, the car just start for me so I have to get it towed.
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I am having issues with my 02 Nissan Sentra turning over when I am starting the car. First for some background my car has almost exactly 115k miles on it. I have noticed the problem is getting slowly worse and worse. What happens is when I turn the key the engine makes a slow grrrr and rev sound, then a slighty faster grrr and rev, followed by a faster one before it finally turns over. There have been instances before when I have have to give it a good two or three times before it would turn over at all. I am not sure what is causing the problem. I do have one idea is that recently my gas mileage has been going down so I added Techron from the auto shop before 2 of my last 3 fillups (I didn't on the last fill up since I was having the issues) Could that cause the problem? Other than that I am thinking maybe something with the battery (its a bit over 3 years old) or the spark plugs or fuel pump would be my best bet? I tried to take an audio recording of the issue but you have to really turn up the volume to hear the low lever grrr and revs before the car starts.
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My Nissan sentra will start on the coldest day, but now that it's getting warmer it sometimes won't start! Turn the key and I have power to everything, but engage the starter and nothing! Not even a click! Try and try and eventually it starts. What could cause this??
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I own a 1993 Nissan Sentra (2 Dr, SE, red:-). I've owned it for 17 years and has been a fantastic car. until March of this year when I had to replace the transmission at odometer reading of 121,xxx. Everything has been fine up until about a month ago when I returned to my car after working out at the gym...and it refused to start. No clicking, no hemming or hawwing, just nothing. The lights worked, the seat belt alarm worked, all dashboard lights worked. But absolutely no connection to anything. I tried moving the steering wheel, juggled the key, etc. but nothing.
So I called a tow truck. Thirty minutes later, he arrived, sat down in my driver's seat and magically, it started with no problems. It has happened again only once since that time, but I can never trust that she will start when I need to go to work, etc. I took it to a garage..they told me that they couldn't fix it or find anything wrong unless it was "in the throes" of not working. ...which is ridiculous because it could very possibly not start, have it towed, arrive at the garage, and she might start right up.
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I recently bought my Nissan Sentra from Carmax, and drove it cross-country from Maryland to New Mexico for a job. I noticed along the way that from a cold engine start, whenever I would reverse, shift to drive, and turn the wheel to straighten, I would hear a noise that sounds like pulling the parking brake coming from the tire area. The engine also makes a knocking noise when the accelerator is pressed, but gets better as the engine warms up (which I'm told is a gasket). Finally, when driving from a cold start and the transmission shifts from 1st to 2nd, I hear a metallic clunk that sounds like someone hitting a metal shaft.
Any thoughts/concerns? I've read something about a premature bearing failure, if that's relevant.
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My girlfriend's 2000 Nissan Sentra has about 130k on it. The car has a lot of issues to say the least. The catalytic converter needs to be replaced, the car barely passed inspection, and it periodically stalls out at stop lights and in traffic. Those issues aside, the car has been running well until this week. On monday, the car suddenly died when stopped at a light and the ABS and other lights all went on. Now the car only starts with a jump and will not stay running if the jumper cables are disconnected. Additionally, all of the electronics in the car are nor working. The radio will not work and the windows and power locks barely work.
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I have a 1996 Nissan Sentra GXE 1.6L automatic. It fails to start intermittently. It does not matter if the engine is hot or cold. It does not turn over and it seems the whole car has lost power (no engine warning lights, no power locks, etc).
I have taken the battery to be tested and it comes out "good." Once I put the battery back in, the car starts and power is restored to the entire car. The starter (1-month-old) and alternator (1-year-old) test out good also. I changed the inhibitor relay, but the problem occurred again 2 weeks later.
I also noticed one time when I attempted to jump the car with the negative jumper cable attached to the engine block of the dead car or to the negative battery terminal of the dead car, the car would just click (as though attempting to turn over). However, when I connected the jumper cable to the exposed part of the dead car's negative battery cable (right next to the battery cable connector), it starts.
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I have a 1993 Sentra XE 1.6 / Automatic, and having problems starting it.(Once in a while).. When I try starting, I turn the ignition all the way to start but there's no response. All the light on the dashboard panel is all lit up but nothing happens, no sound at all. I've changed the Neutral switch, the Starter, and Ignition relay(Grey square) which is located at the fuse box engine side.... sometimes it will start and the car runs fine...smooth as a whistle... then when I re-start it again, the same problem occurs...I have to wait for about an hour or so, then when I try starting it again, it will start... I'm afraid to drive the car on a long trip, I'm afraid it might not start at all.. What to do next.. by the way, the car battery is good...
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