When hot it wont start

90

Asked by Travis Apr 29, 2018 at 03:45 PM about the 2006 Nissan Quest 3.5 SE

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

When the car is cold it will start like a perfectly
running engine.  After you drive or run the car for
15 min or more and shut it off it will not start.  It
will take a while to cool down then it will start
perfectly.  I have changed cam shaft and crank
shaft sensors, spark plugs, fuel pump, valve timing
solenoids, idle selonoid, vacuum solenoid, throttle
body, cleaned maf sensor, ect, still no change to
starting other then the car runs a lot nicer.

17 Answers

7,445

Would check for any pending obd codes if not done already and do a compression test. Was there any water present in the spark plug holes when swapping them out? If so that would point you in the right direction.

9 people found this helpful.
90

No water in cylinders, compression is fine. No obd codes. Pretty sure is related to heat. Getting fuel, checked pressure, getting spark. Somthing is faulty when hot or being blocked is all im left to find. Possible ecm, last resort.

7 people found this helpful.
610

I have the same problem with my 05 Quest SL with 3.5L V6. First occurrence of any malfunction was when my wife tried to start the van it took a few tries to actually turn over. After starting it, she was driving for about 20 min. at speeds not exceeding 55mph. The van went into limp mode and she made it back home after another grueling 15 miles. I did not see any idiot lights and the engine was cool by the time I arrived home. I took it for a 3 mile test drive with no occurrence of the issue. The next day I drove to work about 5 miles away and it ran fine. On the way home at in 8 degree weather, the van completely shut off- no power steering, all lights light up, a few dings like when you first turn your car to the on position. I pull over and restart easily but the check engine light, slip and VDC off lights stay on till i get home about .25 miles later. I turn it off and think it over and google it. Then i try to restart...... I have strong crank but it will not start. I tried about 15 times for about 3-6 seconds at a time. then finally it started. Researched and learned that the crankshaft sensor goes bad sometimes... cool I switched it. No change. Then read about the camshaft sensor sometimes causing this.... changed it. No change. Then I reset the computer by pulling the negative overnight. About 5 hours later I test drove it. Cheehoooo, It drove about 7 miles got up to operational temp and returned me home. I turned it off and back on with no problems about 5 times. Then told my wife I was a Bad Axe. A few hours later I had to tell her that I actually suck at this because I went out to double check it. I ran the same road test and parked back in the driveway. The damn thing would not start back up for another 15-20 cranks. Im stuck. I have read about the fuel pump, but that doesn't explain why it starts at all. If its a bad fuel pump than it would be bad all the time, not just on cold start. So now I think sensor, engine coolant sensor, fuel relay...???????? I cant justify too much more money on this $1500 van, I'd rather just donate it to a homeless family than spend more than $500 more dollars on it.

21 people found this helpful.
610

Wow thank you for the help cargurus.com (sarcasm) The problem was, as indicated in other, better forums. The cam shaft went bad. I am a cheapo, so I bought the cheap crap off Amazon and thought it was reliable. NOT reliable at all. Just go buy the 75-100$ part. I havent had any other issues. I did write a long rant to Amazon and the seller and got my money back. I will never waste money on cheap car parts again. How horrible. Hope this help people in the future. reply if it does. Thanks. Good Luck

21 people found this helpful.
610

Oh yes one more thing. The reason this fails is because the sensors are basically built of a coil and magnet. If the coil gets a crack in the wire or small separation, then when its cold, there is enough contact to create a full circuit. However, when it is hot, the coil expands a little and the contact between the separated parts is not sufficient enough to complete the circuit.

19 people found this helpful.
60

Travis did you ever figure out the problem on your Nissan Quest ???

6 people found this helpful.
90

No not yet. Have replaced almost everything even the ecm and a reprogram. Sensors are all new three times over. It is parked once again. After the ecm was replaced worked great for 2 weeks then back to the sad sack of a quest it is. I will update after a few more fixes. Thanks

2 people found this helpful.
70

Im having the same issue with my 2002 quest. It doesn't want to turn on after it gets warm. I didn't have a check engine light on before, but today I replaced the crank shaft position sensor and the service engine soon light came on. It has 2 codes one indicates replacing crank shaft position sensor and the other is a knock sensor. Hopefully you get yours fixed so you can help me with mine. lol

7 people found this helpful.
60

There are three sensors. Crank and cam included. The one on the engine block towards the firewall was bad on mine. Make sure you buy parts from a reputable company like orieleys or autozone. I ordered a cheap one online and it didnt work. It’s located in front of the air intake and throttle body. It has a green connector. Looked up YouTube videos to figure it out. It runs like a champ now.

3 people found this helpful.
170

Travis did you solve the issue...? recently I faced similar issue...after driving 30mins ,my car suddenly stopped(nissan16) and couldn't start.(check engine light is on)but after few minutes it started again but stoped after running around one km.then I waited around 30mins and tried to start again and it worked...! But now I cannot drive morethan 15 mins continuously because it stops when engine get heated.But if I allow to cooldown for 20to 30mins It start again.uptonow I did and found following things. 1.checked the ignition coils and found spark leaks due to cracks in the ignition coils.(I didn't replaced the coils but mechanic repair them with silicone and said it need to be replaced) but he said spark leaks may not leads to stop the car while running but show some engine missing) This temporary repair seems fine but issue came again after few days :o 2.replaced the cam shaft sensor (several times) but problem exists....and now engine almost like to stop. During the traffic...(when I break with gear on D ) does nissan n 16 have 2 cam shaft sensor ? Or do I need to replace ignition coils or fuel pump ?

11 people found this helpful.
60

Same issue with a 2005 g35x. Replaced top many parts and sensors with no improvement. Very frustrating.

2 people found this helpful.
60

Travis, I see it was a while ago but if you solved your issue please share. Sounds exactly the same problem I have. Thanks.

1 people found this helpful.
170

My issue is solved(xversion)-In N 16 (bluebird sylphy),there are 2 cam shaft sensors (cam and crank I guess..)the mechanic said they both need to replace even if only one has fault. (they both must have balance to run the car..) I did it and problem didn't show up again.plus he covered the ignition coils with milling papers (I guess the spellings are correct.These papers used in morters ).It'll cover coils to prevent spark leaks.

6 people found this helpful.
60

I replaced all the sensors on my quest. Camshaft and crankshaft. This is a total of 3 sensors. Two of them look the same and one is different. I replaced them and the van has had no issues.

3 people found this helpful.
20

I had the same problem with a 2002nissan quest I took the cap off the distributor to replace rotor I saw some metal shaving the bearings t In distributor was coming apart was getting cought between pick up and reluctor first I blew it out worked fine for some time I replace it been perfect s I since

2 people found this helpful.
10

Same problem :new 4 coils-new sparks-new f injectors - new crank sensor When hot only CYL 1 fires...sometimes pushing full throttle it manged to start the rest of the cylinders Ricardo rictal@gmail.com

1 people found this helpful.
40

1998 nissan terrano start wen its cold but wont start wen its hot wat is the cause of it

4 people found this helpful.

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