Nissan Repair: 96 sentra gxe will not start, engine cranks, optical pickup

Question
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Followup To
Question -
hello sir
i drove my sentra everyday and its been driving real good. friday i came home from getting my check and parke it on the inclined driveway. hour later decided to clean it out so i drove it inside my garrage. erything was fine. cleaned it out turned it on again and was fine. i drove it to the curb and parked it. 3 hours later, i go into the car caus ei was going to meet some one for dinner and it kept crank u kno it wen rrr rrr rr but it didnt go vroom it just kept going rrr rrr rr rrr rr rr rr until i just turned of the car. i was pissed, but i tried it agian still no dice. so i checke dmy plugs seems nice i herd my starter going so i knew it wasnt the starter and i herd the fuel pump makin its noise. so i told a firend he said its prolly my battery caus ei told him lights came on erything came on, he siad battery might not b storng enough to get car going. i jumpe dit today with 2 different cars and no dice. so now im totally clueless and its very anoying caus ei have to support my family and go to work. im begging pleas ehelp me out!!:) thanx

ps starter is a new one i pu tit in 2 months ago
Answer -
Daniel,

If the engine cranks but does not fire shows the battery to be fine.  Since it was cranked so much it might need a recharge before you diagnose the rest of the problem.  If it does nto start then you are looking at spark or fuel.  You say you hear the fuel pump so lets look at spark.  Pull a wire and get a paper clip and plug it into the boot and hold it a quarter of an inch from the block and have someone crank it.  Keep from shocking yourself by holding only the boot and do not hold the wire too far from the block.  If there is no spark then you are looking at an ignition module or coil.  If yours has a distributor it could be oil on the pickup and to check this take the cover off the distributor and look for oil on the optical pickup.  If you do not have a distributor then it is the crank angle sensor.


hey im little nervous with the wire thing u did im very new to car repair but im willing to ge tmy car together so i can go to work. someone recommeded me to spray starter fluid in the car. should i do it and if so how do i do it in the air intake? and also if i do get a spark then u said its not the coil so where is the distributor and what does the optical pick up look like? or what does the crank sensor look like? thank u for all ur help if u need some money ill pay u i just REALLY need to get my car working ASAP
danny

Answer
Danny,

If you think the car is not getting fuel and you want to use startign fluid you will need to unscrew the hose clamp to the intake hose.  That is the black hose that goes from the filter box to the engine.  Just spray a small amount in at the throttle plates and then reconnect the hose before you start the car.  If the car starts up right away you have found your problem and the fuel system needs to be checked.  The fuel pump or fuel pump relay could be gone.  Do not attempt to start the car with the hose disconnected.