I have been given a 1990 Nissan Maxima with 137000 miles that will not start. I am trying to isolate the problem and would appreciate the help of any and all. I am a fairly ignorant, but adventuresome novice. My experience with cars is mainly keeping my 1985 Toyaota Camry (249000 miles) running. I am pretty good at repair, but troubleshooting is not my strong point.
It's an SE--VG30E SOHC V6, manual transmission.
This is what I know:
The car had been running fine. It died abruptly and has not been started since.
The starter cranks the engine fine, but there is no firing whatsoever.
The person from whom I received the car suspected that there was no ignition, and checked out a number of things prior to giving it to me, but at the time said he suspected the ECU.
Since I have had the car I have done the following:
1. I have tried to read the codes on the ECU, but cannot get any lights at all. I tried to follow the procedure to put it into Mode 3, but I get no flashing lights at all.
2. I listened for both fuel pump and injectors with the ignition turned on and can hear nothing. I ohmed the fuel pump relay and it seemed OK.
3. I followed Diagnostic Procedure 22-Main power supply and ground circuit on p. 4-51 of the Chilton manual with following results:
(A) voltage between ECU harness terminal 16 and ground is supposed to yield 1 V--I got 12V.
(B) voltage between terminals 49/59 and ground is supposed to read 12V, but I got nothing.
(C) the harness continuity between the SMJ (does anyone know what SMJ stands for?) connector and the battery was OK.
(C) I checked the ECCS relay--both by ohming the lugs and by applying voltage to make sure it worked. It was fine. I checked the fusible link, which was also fine. The book then says to check out joint connectors E50 & E52, but I have been unable to locate either.
My questions:
Am I barking up the wrong tree here? Is there another, perhaps more likely problem?
Does the ECU control the fuel pump, injectors, etc.; is it possible that the fuel pump not running is attributable to the ECU malfunctioning?
If I get no lights at all at the ECU, does that necessarily mean that it is bad? Is there another way to test the ECU?
Any other suggestions?
Thanks, I would really appreciate any help you could give.
It's an SE--VG30E SOHC V6, manual transmission.
This is what I know:
The car had been running fine. It died abruptly and has not been started since.
The starter cranks the engine fine, but there is no firing whatsoever.
The person from whom I received the car suspected that there was no ignition, and checked out a number of things prior to giving it to me, but at the time said he suspected the ECU.
Since I have had the car I have done the following:
1. I have tried to read the codes on the ECU, but cannot get any lights at all. I tried to follow the procedure to put it into Mode 3, but I get no flashing lights at all.
2. I listened for both fuel pump and injectors with the ignition turned on and can hear nothing. I ohmed the fuel pump relay and it seemed OK.
3. I followed Diagnostic Procedure 22-Main power supply and ground circuit on p. 4-51 of the Chilton manual with following results:
(A) voltage between ECU harness terminal 16 and ground is supposed to yield 1 V--I got 12V.
(B) voltage between terminals 49/59 and ground is supposed to read 12V, but I got nothing.
(C) the harness continuity between the SMJ (does anyone know what SMJ stands for?) connector and the battery was OK.
(C) I checked the ECCS relay--both by ohming the lugs and by applying voltage to make sure it worked. It was fine. I checked the fusible link, which was also fine. The book then says to check out joint connectors E50 & E52, but I have been unable to locate either.
My questions:
Am I barking up the wrong tree here? Is there another, perhaps more likely problem?
Does the ECU control the fuel pump, injectors, etc.; is it possible that the fuel pump not running is attributable to the ECU malfunctioning?
If I get no lights at all at the ECU, does that necessarily mean that it is bad? Is there another way to test the ECU?
Any other suggestions?
Thanks, I would really appreciate any help you could give.