Good Luck
 

This has been the most frustrating experience I've ever been through (car wise) in my life. For anyone that ever has to deal with Nissan Consumer Affairs - be prepared for a whirlwind of B.S., false promises, no communication and tons of red-tape and frustration. My "file" has been passed on to 5 different Consumer Affairs Specialists (that title is a joke) - each time having to run through the details of the "issue" I've been experiencing. 23 pages and counting. If it weren't so frustrating - it would be comical. They take down your information and hope you just go away I think - they try to frustrate you to the point where you just give-up. I have made a formal request that Nissan buy back the car - that in itself will probably take the year that I have left on my lease. Then I'm finished with Nissan for life!! Good luck to the rest of you -- you're going to need it if you have any issues :)

For what it's worth, here is a video of my hard start problem:

I cant figure out how to embed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGpdqrRNR2s

Djpheer,

Wow - identical issue. I wonder what the similarities are between our cars? Build date etc. How long have you been experiencing this? Has your dealers service department tried troubleshooting this for you yet? Keep me posted.

Well, its a 2009 base model, 6MT, and I have 23,000 miles on the car right now and it's been doing it since 10,000. I haven't gone to the dealer yet because the other people I have seen with the problem haven't gotten it fixed quickly (or at all) and I can't afford to be without my car for a long period of time since it's my daily driver. I will bring it in sometime before the warranty expires though for sure. The car runs fine otherwise, pulls hard, etc. Just this one annoying issue.

Did the dealer change out the Crankshaft positioning
sensor as a potential fix yet? Someone mentioned that in this thread and the more I read about it and what it does on cars in general, it does seem like a possible culprit.

Check out this thread:

325is hard start after sitting for 1-2h - Bimmerforums - The Ultimate BMW Forum

Another usefull thread to check

BMW Hard Starting When Warm – Engine Temperature Sensor | BMW Tech Tips, How-tos and News - Bavarian Autosport Blog

I was dumb and started a new thread. Someone pointed me here on that one.

I am experiencing the SAME exact issue. Nissan had the car for 3 days because it was stalling after starting it when it sat over night. Did something with injectors and the stalling after overnight start went away. I now have this problem of rough start when I go to start after it sits for 2 or so hours.

Any word on this from you guys? I am cautious about taking it to my stealership because of not so good experiences in the past.

I have an 09' with 11,000 miles on it.

Welcome to hell buddy :) I've been living the Nissan dream for over a year now. No - there has been no solution in my case. Nissan has no idea, and has apparently given up. Good luck.

Gosh man....I am NOT looking forward to this process with the dealership..haven't taken it to them yet because I needed evidence. Which is what I am going to use your video for.

Did they try to replace the engine temperature sensor as suggested in the BMW article?

Nope - I just received word from Nissan (via telephone) that they have denied my request to relinquish me from the remainder of my lease; due to (get this) insufficient time/opportunity for them to correct the problem. It's only been a year? And 12 trips to the service department, and 8 or 9 parts replaced. Wonder what their definition of "sufficient" is? Anyways, they have assigned someone called a DTS (Dealer Technical Specialist) to me. He is the one that installed the data monitoring computer and has been analyzing the data they retrieved from my driving the car for 10 days with this device installed. He is supposed to be some kind of master technician that travels around the country solving problems...kinda like "House" the doctor I guess?? So - I'm now waiting on him. I took the video origionally because my service department kept telling me they "...could not duplicate the issue..." I've got about 15 more videos.

Man that is SO disappointing. Even after the videos you have for proof. I am afraid to take mine in because I don't want to be without the Z for a month.
:shakes head:

Wow, what a coincidence that I found this thread. I'm currently having the EXACT SAME ISSUE on my 1997 Nissan Maxima. Of course, one would expect such issues on an older car with >100K miles, not on a newer 370Z. But my course of action has been nearly identifical. First we thought it was a starter issue but it wasn't. Then we saw that fuel pressure was dropping when starting the car so my guy recommended a fuel pump replacement. Luckily it didn't cost me much in labor because in my Maxima the fuel pump is really easy to get to via an access panel under the back seat. I also had the strong smell of gasoline in my car for a few days after they did the replacement and I was assured this was normal, and just due to some gas splashing during the replacement.

So then I drove around for a few weeks and the issue seemed to mostly be gone. It didn't start 100% normal like I've been used to for years, but it also didn't have to crank for 10+ seconds to start. This seemed consistent whether or not I was cold starting or starting after a 15+ minute break.

Well guess what, now the issue is coming back. And just like everyone else that is having this issue, it mostly affects my starts when I leave the car for 15 minutes to a few hours and come back. When I start it in the morning it starts much easier and quicker, although not perfect.

I'm going back to my guy and letting him know everything that has happened but so far I don't have a fix either. If I find out anything I'll post here because who knows, it might be relevant.

I can't believe nobody has tried the engine temperature sensor fix as suggested in the BMW article posted here. Had it happen to me yesterday, with a guy who wanted to hear the car standing right behind it. Start it up and it cranks for 8 seconds before turning over...so embarrassing

Well I have an update on my situation. Yesterday in the middle of the day I drove to an appointment and 20 minutes later I came out and tried starting the Maxima. It cranked for a few seconds and then kind of died, and after that it made no noise when trying to start. Battery checked good, although there was a good amount of corrosion on the cables, so I cleaned that up first.

I took out the starter and tried cranking and the thing didn't budge, it seems to be completely dead. I also hooked the starter up to another car/battery with jumper cables and it wouldn't start moving so I'm going to order a new one and see if this fixes the problem. My gut tells me the dead starter is just a symptom of my rough starting for the past month and there might be something else wrong, but I don't know yet.

You've probably just been taxing the starter with all the excessive cranking and so it wore out prematurely. If the starter was the issue in the first then you would of had a slow crank speed, but from your description it sounded like the crank speed was fine, it was just the engine that wasn't firing.

It could be a bad sensor as hansoac suggested. If the ECU is getting bad data then it will miscalculate the fuel mixture making the engine hard to start. I had a similar issue with a 2001 Dodge. It would always start but it would run rough for serveral minutes after a "warm" start like this. First thing in the morning it would fire right up and run fine.

Finally figured it out. It was a bad starter. More specifically, the solenoid was getting stuck and I was able to test it by knocking the solenoid loose with a wrench while cranking. Replaced the starter and now it starts immediately. Drove it around today and had no problems.

So now - New Flywheel and Crankshaft Position Sensor
 

Well - Nissan's latest attempt at a solution to this hard start problem is replacing the flywheel and crankshaft position sensor. This is a recommendation of the Nissan tech that flew out to look at the car. I'll let you know what happens. I hate owning this car; it has consumed WAY too much of my time :(

Oh and BTW -- I would have no problem having Nissan replace the temperature sensor. Unfortunately I am at the mercy of Nissan's techs at this time. I don't think they are going to listen to me - they have not so far.

Crankshaft position sensor sounds like a winner to me. If they do fix it though i wish they would do one at a time instead of both of these so we would know which one is the fix if it works.

man bclarke..i do feel bad for you!! Sucks you have had such a terrible experience. I still have yet to take it to Nissan to get it fixed. I am afraid to go through what you are going through. PLEASE keep us informed as to what the fix is..I want to get the car to them before my warranty runs out!!
Thanks again for all the input so far...it is much appreciated.!

How did the flywheel and CPS go?

Sorry - I've been out of town. Nissan decided not to perform the repair(s). I received a telephone call from Nissan Arbitration - they are changing their previous decision and are now offering me a 2011 370Z Touring to replace my 2009 370Z Touring. No lease extension, no change in lease payment - just an outright swap for a new comparable vehicle. We are discussing the details of the vehicle swap out. I'll let you know how things turn out. I'm quite surprised by this turn of events. I wrote a letter to the Nissan CEO and Google’d a few of the Nissan Execs. I mailed 5 letters -- Apparently my letter got someone’s attention. They 'may' just retain me as a customer.

Wow. Great news for you, horrible news for the rest of us. LOL

Buyback
 

Thought I'd let everyone know that Nissan decided to buyback the vehicle, and refunded me all of the $$ I spent from the time I reported the issue. They subtracted reasonable use fees (1/2 of the standard mileage rate .51/mile); I turned in the vehicle, they handed me a check for $19K + and that was it. They never did solve the issue. So, good luck to everyone. I'll be leaving the forum.

-Bob

Just another possible source...
Toyota Tacoma with 242k miles has same issue. Need to pop the hood and let it cool for about 15minutes to get it to start. Z seems to retain heat in the engine compartment way better than the Tacoma since the Z's engine compartment is really packed. Haven't fixed it yet but the forums point to the:

Coil
Distributor
Air flow sensor
Air Filter Temp Sensor
Engine coolant sensor
Fuel Pump

Just mention it since the problem seems similar. My guess on mine is it's probably the coil getting old and breaking down slowly over the past 15 years. Just living with it for now since I have a work around (wait with the hood open until it cools down far enough to start)

For the Z, I'd look for anything with a self-resetting thermal fuse in it. Gets too hot and the component won't work till it cools off again. There's usually hysterysis in these fuses so it takes a cooler temp to reset them after they activate.

This was the first thread that led me to this board. My girlfriend's 370 exhibits this behavior. I'm thinking dribbling fuel injectors. If you floor the accelerator while starting (kills the injectors to clear a flooding issue) the car will actually crank and run for about 1 second on residual fuel in the cylinder. If you continue to hold the accelerator on recrank, you get nothing the second time around. It just spins. If on the third crank, you release the accelerator, the engine cranks as if it were cold.

Obviously, this is not how you want to start your car every time, but it js quite useful for diagnostic reasons. I've done this 3 times in the last 2 days, so I'm still diagnosing. The 1-2 hour window between attempts makes this a long diagnostic cycle.

Gear, did you ever correct the issue or bring it to dealer? I still haven't managed to get this fixed. :(

Dj,

I'm in the "diagnostic cycle" of Nissan and at their mercy. They have marked the dipstick to see if the level increases from fuel. Meanwhile, I'm killing the starter and possibly washing the oil and cylinder walls with fuel.

Honestly, my diagnostics seem solid from a truly technical standpoint, but I guess the techs are having trouble following me.

If you hold your pedal to the floor, does your car start and run for a sec and die?

Has anyone found a solution to this problem as yet? It's been going on for a month now for me and its starting to piss me off. I have the same problem as djpheer and bclarke.

If I startup my car in the morning, it starts just fine. After I work my 9 hr shift and then start my car up at work (getting ready to get back home), it feels like battery power is cut and the car wont start. A 2nd try with my left foot on the brakes and right foot revving the gas and it struggles to start, but it finally does start. This issue happens every so often, and I've taken it to the dealer as well. However, they have had a look at it twice and both times they reported no problems. It's frustrating trying to explain the problem to them, as the car usually seems to startup just fine when its at the dealer.

A real PITA situation to be in. I agree with bclarke about it being a real PITA to deal with but there has to be a fix to this problem. Any luck djpheer? Maybe, someone can steer us in the proper direction.

I had the same problem in my 2010 and it is the fuel sending unit. The z's are known for this problem I took mine to the dealership and it is under warranty so they replaced it and no problem since it is great.

[QUOTE=a355725;1455136]Has anyone found a solution to this problem as yet? It's been going on for a month now for me and its starting to piss me off. I have the same problem as djpheer and bclarke.

If I startup my car in the morning, it starts just fine. After I work my 9 hr shift and then start my car up at work (getting ready to get back home), it feels like battery power is cut and the car wont start. A 2nd try with my left foot on the brakes and right foot revving the gas and it struggles to start, but it finally does start. This issue happens every so often, and I've taken it to the dealer as well. However, they have had a look at it twice and both times they reported no problems. It's frustrating trying to explain the problem to them, as the car usually seems to startup just fine when its at the dealer.

A real PITA situation to be in. I agree with bclarke about it being a real PITA to deal with but there has to be a fix to this problem. Any luck djpheer? Maybe, someone can steer us in the proper direction.[/QUOTE

Your problem sounds a bit different from mine. Mine always starts its just rough. And after 9 hours it starts perfectly. Mine seems heat related.only occurs inthat 2 to 3 hour window after sitting. Fairlady can you be more specific? Whatfuel sending unit?

The fuel sending unit tells the engine and ecu that it is sending fuel from the fuels pump to the engine. These units are known to go bad and the dealership will replace them for free. If urs is bad the fuel will not be sent from the pump to the engine which will create the rough start or no start at all. This issue has been addressed by Nissan so it falls under warranty.

For you guys having trouble proving the problem to dealerships, why don't you video the turnover and show it to them?

It's not so much proving it its that they dont know how to fix it!

I think we are getting close with the engine temperature sensor. It HAS to be something with temps. My reasoning: On a hot summer day (75 or above), my car starts VERY roughly after it sits for 2 hours. Now that it is cold outside, my car starts up perfectly fine no matter how many or few hours it sits.

I am going to suggest the fuel sending unit to my dealership. Also, does anyone know how warranty's work? Mine is an 09 and has 16,000 miles on it. 2012 is approaching. Will they not do the warranty work because it is 3 yrs different, or is it 3 years from the exact manufacturing date?

I don't think the fuel sending unit "tells" the computer anything besides the fuel level. I believe the fuel pump and sending unit (fuel level) are together in the tank. It has been replaced on our car, for what it's worth, and it didn't change anything. It still has a long start, and if you hold the accel pedal to the floor (and one foot on the brake, obviously) before you hit the button and through a start cycle, it will start and die. On second attempt with the accel pedal released, it starts perfectly. I still lean towards leaky injectors.

As far as the dealership experiencing the phenomenon, the misses works at the dealership. They are well aware of it.

I've had the same issue, and as I've said over a year ago, it was due to fuel pressure loss. I had a leaky injector which leaked fuel into the combustion chamber and thus flooding it. Leaving it for a long time would evaporate the fuel and thus no hard starts.

hansoac did you ever get your issue fixed? If so, what was the finding? Thanks

Nope. Mainly because it has been in storage. I have been driving it lately but it will ONLY start rough when it is very hot outside. The weather is in the 40s-50s so it starts fine regardless.