Thanks for your response. I have to plead ignorance here- I have no idea what the crank angle sensor is all about. I did, however, google it (here on this group and elsewhere), and noticed that often when the crank angle sensor was suspected, the car wouldn't start reliably. My Maxima starts right up, even when I was experiencing the difficulties, it would still start.
Does anyone else feel that it might be a fuel problem? Any experiences with temperature-related power loss? Or replacing the fuel pressure regulator? Or with this crank angle sensor causing my symptoms?
Thanks again.