1993 Nissan getting gas to the fuel rail but still won't start

Hi all, My mechanic friend and I are perplexed by this and just burned our afternoon playing around with the car trying to get it started. I pulled the car into a garage 8 months ago with a bad battery. When I pulled car in was just starting to overheat. I put a new battery in it and couldn't get it to charge at that time and as I had another car to drive and the person that was going to drive it went back to college it has sat since then.

Tried to start it today and it turns out I put the battery in backwards doh... So I fixed that and tried to jump start the car today as the battery was dead. It would turn over but it wouldn't fire up on a jump start.

  1. We put 7 gallons of gas and some stp gas treatment in the tank still won't start.
  2. Pulled off the hoses on the fuel pump under the back seat and figured out that there was gas coming out of the pump.
3.Pulled off the hose that comes out of the fuel filter, and saw that gas was coming out there. 4.We put a little bit of gas in the intake after pulling out the air filter and it fired up and ran smoothly for a few seconds. It seems like we are not getting gas from the hose coming off of the fuel filter into the cylinders. We did that several times.
  1. We also pulled one injector (which didn't seem all that dirty) and put it back on, and the car tried to fire up then but didn't really run like it only had a little gas in one cylinder maybe...I dunno? It was running fine (except that it overheated but only for maybe a minute or two) when I put it in the garage originally at that time there seemed to be enought coolant in it too so I tend to think I didn't burn up the engine and warp something. I am having trouble convincing myself that all 4 of the fuel injectors went bad from sitting around all at the same time.

Do any of you knowledgable Nissan wizards have any ideas offhand what might be wrong with it. Or some more diagnostic tests I could do.

Thanks, Trey

Reply to
TreyBianchini
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You might have an electrical problem since the battery was connected in reverse. Do all the idiot lights (check engine, fasten seat belt etc) light up when you trun the key to the run position? Also, you might need a new ignition switch. Check the relays and fuses in the engine bay and interior.

Hope this helps.

CD

Reply to
codifus

I tend to agree, just touching the battery leads to the battery reversed could blow the ECU.

Reply to
SteveB

it might help to know what model 1993 Nissan we are dealing with

Reply to
NissTech

an engine that will run with gas added thru the air intake, suggests that valve timing is correct and ignition is working properly.

  1. suggest putting a fuel pressure guage between fuel filter and fuel rail, to confirm proper fuel pressure at injectors.
  2. use a noid light to determ> 3.Pulled off the hose that comes out of the fuel filter, and saw that
Reply to
nucleus

Thanks, Would insufficient fuel pressure mean that I needed a new fuel pump/and or filter.

I take it the ECM is what sends power to the injectors to tell them to inject fuel?

The car is an Altima sorry. Thanks again, Trey

Reply to
TreyBianchini

Yes, the ECM is the brain that controls ignition, fuel injection, etc.

If you do not get fuel to the cylinders you can have two problems:

- Injectors not working, likely since you connected the batery backwards. One of the procedures I have seen to test inyectors, is to remove the camshaft angle sensor or distributor (if the sensor is inside the distributor), and with the ignition switch on, turning the sensor should allow you to hear the injectors click. If they don't you may have a blown fuse or a defective ECM.

- Insufficient fuel pressure. Low pressure would mean a defective pump, clogged filter, or defective pressure regulator (this last one unlikely to prevent the car from running).

You can check carfiche.com and look at a catalog for a car around your model year (yours is not in the list, perhaps the 240sx or the maxima), for you to get general ideas on how to diagnose the problem.

Good luck

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Reply to
AS

it could; however, other possibilities include a clogged fuel pickup (in the tank) or a clogged fuel line, somewhere.

the ECM sends the pulse to tell each injector when to spit a tad of fuel into the right place. if the pulse IS NOT there, it does not mean the ECM is bad, it could be a wiring problem. see my post

94 Sentra "cranks but won't start", rare solution to wiring problem
Reply to
nucleus

replace the distributor

with a factory OEM part ... NOT AFTERMARKET

Reply to
NissTech

Is the check engine light on? You can pull the codes without a scanner on that altima.

If the check engine light is on follow these steps:

The Car's computer is usually buried in the dash behind and under the radio/climate control etc. If your foot is on the accelerator pedal, just twisting it to the right would pretty much touch the car's computer, covered by a plastic covering. Remove the plastic cover. With that cover removed you should see a screw. You can use that screw to put the car computer (ECU) in diagnostic mode.

Putting the ECU into diag mode:

  1. Turn the key to the run position, all LEDs lit but don't start.
  2. Turn the screw all the way to the right (clockwise.)
  3. This part is tricky because you have to try to position yourself on the floor by the car's computer as well as be able to watch the check engine light. if you can get 2 people that would be even better. Now, once the screw for the ECU is turned all the way to the right, slowly turn the screw back (anti-clockwise) while you are watching your check engine LED. At some point while you're turning the screw, the LED should start flashing in a morse code like pattern. You will see slow flashes followed by a set of fast flashes. For example if you see 7 slow flashes followed by 10 fast flashes the code you are reading is 0710. The ECU might have stored several codes like 0710, 0505, etc, so watch the flashing for a while until you see it repeating itself, then you'll know you got all the codes.

Once you are done reading the codes, be sure to turn the screw all the way back to normal mode.

Post the code up here and someone or myself can tell you what the code means.

CD

Reply to
Codifus

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