Oppo, You're My Only Hope

"TylerJ" (TylerJ) 10/24/2016 at 21:00 • Filed to: advice, broke, nissan, altima, won't start, won't crank

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My nephew’s ‘08 Altima 3.5 SE sedan won’t try to crank. The two issues that come up when I google it are the brake switch and the steering lock controller. The brake lights do turn on when the pedal is pressed so that isn’t it and the steering does lock (when it is off) so I assume that means that isn’t what is keeping it from starting.

It will go to the On setting (it is a push button start) and the dash will light up, but the car won’t try to turn over. All the electronics turn on and the fans will blow air. I did hook up a bluetooth OBDII scanner to it to see if it was throwing any codes, but it said it couldn’t connect to the ECU. So I checked the fuses/ relays. Ignition, steering lock, engine cont, alternator, push button and all checked out.

The fob locks and unlocks the car and I also put it in the little dock thing. My dad put a new battery in the fob and reprogrammed it today. We did unhook the battery for at least 15 minutes and also had it on a charger. We also cleaned the battery terminals to make sure it had a good connection.

We did not put a multimeter on the battery and see what voltage we’d get from it nor did we see if we could find a fuse labelled TiP (this was suggested on the MechanicAdvice IRC) to see if it was blown.

This really has my dad and I scratching our heads. Usually we can figure out this stuff between the two of us.

EDIT: After 2 more days of not finding anything even with all the suggestions here, we finally broke down and took it to the local Nissan dealership. It was the ECU.

bob and john > TylerJ 10/24/2016 at 21:03

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starter motor and/or relay good?

crowmolly > TylerJ 10/24/2016 at 21:04

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Auto trans? Try moving the shifter all the way down and then back up into P. Maybe a starter interrupt on there?

TylerJ > crowmolly 10/24/2016 at 21:09

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It has a CVT. I’ll have to try that when I’m back near it tomorrow.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > TylerJ 10/24/2016 at 21:11

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So when you hold the start button, the electronics come on but the engine does nothing? or is it trying to crank, just not turn over?

TylerJ > bob and john 10/24/2016 at 21:14

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The relay in the fuse box was good. I honestly don’t know how to see if the starter motor is good or not. I’ll have to check that out. These instructions seem alright: How to Test the Starter Motor I’ve never worked on one before.

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > TylerJ 10/24/2016 at 21:14

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I’d get a multi meter and start probing, like aliens visiting earth. Obviously start with the starter. If it gets 0 volts then your issue is somewhere in the ignition harness system/whatever (turn-key system not your regular ignition).

I had a similar problem with this recently with my Integra. It might be some kind of main relay that isn’t a normal relay. It’s a circuit board that contains multiple relays and gives power to starter, fuel pump, and ignition at startup. You may have something like that. If you have something similar to it, you’ll test it by supplying power to certain pins while checking continuity across another set of pins.

TylerJ > jvirgs drives a Subaru 10/24/2016 at 21:14

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Electronics come on, but the engine does nothing.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > TylerJ 10/24/2016 at 21:17

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could be something with the starter button, but otherwise I got nothing. That sounds like a take to a dealer/mechanic issue to me. Goddamn electronics.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > TylerJ 10/24/2016 at 21:28

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My first action would be to make sure the battery cables are good, clean, and tight, on both the battery and the starter. Then I would attempt to short the starter solenoid (with the key in, or vehicle on, or whatever, but NOT IN GEAR) to see whether the problem was the starter or not... but then, I don’t know if that’s a good idea with a modern car. But if the starter’s good, then it becomes a game of seeing where the signal for it to crank over stops. I suspect in this case I would just end up swearing at whatever anti-theft system is in place.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > TylerJ 10/25/2016 at 09:18

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I second crowmolly’s suggestion. It sounds like a safety switch isn’t being made. With the push button start you likely need to have your foot on the brake, and definitely need to have the transmission in park. It may be one of those things where the lever looks like it’s in park but didn’t make the park indicator switch for some reason. Moving the shift lever out of park and all the way back into park should fix that.

Next thing to check is the switch on the brake pedal. I’m not sure what it looks like on your car, but I had to fix some of the wiring coming out of the switch on my truck brake pedal once. The wires that switched the brake lights broke right at the switch, but all the other wires were fine. The brake pedal switch likely has multiple leads coming out of it, so just because the brake lights come on doesn’t mean that one of the other leads isn’t broken.

TylerJ > crowmolly 10/27/2016 at 18:50

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After 2 more days of not finding anything even with all the suggestions here, we finally broke down and took it to the local Nissan dealership. It was the ECU.

Thanks for your help though!

TylerJ > jvirgs drives a Subaru 10/27/2016 at 18:50

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After 2 more days of not finding anything even with all the suggestions here, we finally broke down and took it to the local Nissan dealership. It was the ECU.

Thanks for your help though!

TylerJ > bob and john 10/27/2016 at 18:50

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After 2 more days of not finding anything even with all the suggestions here, we finally broke down and took it to the local Nissan dealership. It was the ECU.

Thanks for your help though!

TylerJ > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 10/27/2016 at 18:50

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After 2 more days of not finding anything even with all the suggestions here, we finally broke down and took it to the local Nissan dealership. It was the ECU.

Thanks for your help though!