[imacitybilly]

My buddy has an 02 with the 1.8. It ran yesterday but wouldn't start today.
The engine will turn over fine but won't catch. We pulled the spark plugs and the engine was flooded, cleaned the plugs off and they did spark. He has fuel, he has spark, but it won't run. It will catch briefly if you try to start it with the gas pedal about half way down. It seems to me like it would be the throttle position sensor but I wanted another opinion.
I have no experience working with Nissan vehicles and this forum seems to be quite educational so I would like to know if anyone can help me figure this out. Thanks!

 

[cden1]

Could be the crank sensor. Check to see if it's throwing a code.

 

[i68k]

cam or crank sensor if you havent changed them yet. tps is possibility, the 2.5L have the common tps failures. if you guys keep cranking, your gonna need a jump or battery tender. were all the cylinders flooded or just one cylinder? are you sure it was gas, and not coolant?

 

[ten-sec Spec]

were all the cylinders flooded or just one cylinder? are you sure it was gas, and not coolant?

i was thinking same thing because mine did that when the head gasket went. coolant-gas mixture.

 

[imacitybilly]

Only checked one cylinder. I didn't notice if it had any coolant but there definitely was a lot of fuel on the plugs. How would you tell if it was the head gasket vs the tps?
I would check to see if it's throwing a code but I don't have a reader and obviously since it's not running I can't take it to the parts store to have them check it.
I talked to my dad, a master mechanic, and he thought if the tps hadn't already been replaced then that was likely the problem since a) it has spark b) it has fuel c) it was running fine the day before & d) it caught and turned over briefly when the gas was depressed half way.
He however worked for Ford/Mazda/Audi/Porsche and has little experience with Nissans so I figured I'd check with others who had the same car before putting a lot of $$ into the car.

 

[i68k]

you can do the pedal dance to pull your codes without a scanner.

normally the headgasket fails over a period of time, dont think it would completely fail overnight. have you changed the previously mentioned cam&crank position sensors yet, or either tps? did they make any difference? is it still flooding? try the pedal dance, see if you can pull the codes, it is a pita if you dont have a scanner. is your throttle body cable driven? do you have coils on the spark plugs, or just wires?

 

[imacitybilly]

Haven't had a chance to change anything, hoping to get to that this weekend. I'm pretty sure it's coils not just wires on his car. How do I do the pedal dance to pull the codes?

 

[i68k]

http://www.b15sentra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=76692

its on like the third post, it is similar to idle relearn.

 

[imacitybilly]

Thanks, I'll have to try that.

 

[Dwizzle]

Def check the crank sensors My 05 sentra did the same thing except i replaced the fuel pump before realizing it was a couple sensors... bye bye 500$!