Starter cranks for 5-10 seconds?
 

Car has been trouble free for the six months that I've had it, but oddly enough in the exact same spot twice in the last few weeks when I've hit the starter it took 5-10 seconds of cranking before it started. Motor was warm, had been sitting for about an hour.

Under warranty, so no reason to self diagnose, but curious as to what it might be before I drop it off only to have the issue not replicated.

If nobody comes up with a better idea, I'd check the air filters and then try cleaning the MAFs.

Bought the car with 21k a S immediately added K and N drop ins. I'm now at 25k. Would the MAFs be dirty?

Check and clean the maf's anyway, its super easy, all you need is a screwdriver and a can of maf cleaner. Ive heard tell of people gunking them up by way over oiling their K&N's.

Could be - especially if you have oiled filters. Even with dry filters, the MAFs can get dirty in 25k miles. May not be your problem but cleaning the MAFs is cheap (can of cleaner and a screwdriver) and easy (two screws per MAF, no gasket, about 5 minutes per side).

The filters are brand new and factory oiled, but sounds like it's worth ten minutes of my time.

So......

Dropped her off at the stealership.

They called a few days later: needs a fuel pump. Makes sense I suppose, and since its under warranty who am I to care?

Pick it up today and drive it home.

Park her in the garage.

Work on motorcycles.

Move her out of the garage to wash her.

****.

Its not 5 - 10 seconds now. Its 15 seconds.

Rarely does a shop make your car WORSE post repair, but I suppose I'll be sending her back on Monday.

Irritating.....

Well i was going to say "fuel pump", but since it was changed, now i would say bad gas?

If the dealer can't fix it this go around, I'd try another dealer. Your warranty is with Nissan, not the dealer.

yeah....probably the best route. Just hate it, because the other stealership is across town and I'm a busy/lazy SOB.

If you've been buying your gas at the same place lately (something a busy/lazy SOB is likely to do heehee), then DOOMMONKEY777 may be on to something. Run the tank as low as you dare and then fillup at another gas station.

I've seen a thread with people having similar issues after letting the Z sit for an hour or two after being warm. Try doing a search and finding the thread, some people solved it (I think?) and one guy ended up having Nissan buy the car back. Could be some good info in there for you if the issue seems to be the same one they're having

Well that's encouraging. I must have used the wrong key words when I first searched. Warm start appears to be a tough journey, with some folks fighting it for years.


My first world problems have begun:

Stealer calls today. "We can't replicate the issue. Been trying all day. Tested all of your fuel components and drove/sat the thing multiple times".

"Humor me. Drive it for ten minutes and I'll be there in an hour"

"We'll try. I don't know if anyone is still here"

I go to this **** show. Car has been sitting for an hour and 15 minutes.

I hit the starter. 10 seconds.

"Well, yeah I guess you have a long start issue. But we can't replicate it".

"You just saw it replicated"

Handed him the keys. Fucker better be fixed tomorrow.

No dice. They have an engineer coming out on the 6th.

Frustrating.

I hate to be "that" guy but did they check the battery? lol

I vote for bad gas too. Or spark not being sent. Maybe bad intake air temp sensor. You guys with cold air intakes, is there a sensor in the air-box that needs to be moved or jumpered? That one usually needs to be inside some range before the engine gets gas or spark.

Check valve possibly? Or bad gas?

Battery was my first thought, but it came back fine. Have gone through a few tanks of gas, so I assume that isn't the case.

Dropping it off tonight so that the engineer can diagnose it when he visits next week. As I drop it off I'll be picking up my daily driver (Maxima) which is getting a new AC compressor. Bad week for myself and Nissans!

I had the similar issue, but with mine it was warm starts. I cleaned the maf's and seemed to go away for now.

I'm thinking that you have a fuel system problem. It may be that the new fuel pump is also bad. Crap like that has happened before. If the fuel pump regulator is bad (integrated into the fuel pump assembly) it will let the fuel pressure drop to zero. When you try to start the car the fuel pump gets a short burst of power and then waits until the engine is being turned by the starter then it goes to full run mode. So while the engine is spinning over the fuel pump is running and trying to build pressure but the engine is consuming fuel to try and start. Eventually the fuel pump will catch up and the engine will start. Two problems that can cause this is a bad check valve or a bad regulator. Installing a fuel pressure gauge will test this. The pressure in the fuel system should be around 50-53 PSI and should remain at that level for days after the engine has been shut off. Nissan should be able to test this.

Picked it up today with a new ECU, crank sensor and cam sensors.

started it up 90 minutes later.

no dice.......

Still haven't found the problem after all of that?

Mine is doing it after replacing the fuel pump (motor only) and only when hot. Of course it was worse with the bad fuel pump. Paper filters MAFs cleaned.

I had similar issues, took out the lines and fuel pump assembly.Ended up having a small tear in one of my soft lines. Replaced with with ptfe hard lines and problem went away

Interesting as I just had the hat out to replace the pump motor and line that comes off of it. The other line didn't have a tear. I don't really care about the extended cranking mechanically just the audible annoyance.

Replaced the entire fuel pump assembly and my long hot cranking issue stopped. The fuel pressure regulator was probably on its way out.