repair What next?!?!?!

[NotChetHanks]

Okay, a friend of mine had her 2000 Nissan Altima die on her the other day. I tried to help her fix it but nothing seems to work. The car will crank but not turn over. It just keeps cranking and cranking. We replaced the spark plugs and wires, the distributor, crank sensor and the battery but nothing seems to work it just keeps cranking. What else could it be? Any help is appreacited!

[mduren2445]

ignition coil

[NotChetHanks]

Supposedly this car doesn't have an ignition coil. :(

[Maverick2k2]

fuel pump working?

[mduren2445]

go to your favorite auto parts sites and look up exact make, model and engine and look for ignition coil and it will show you the part to look for

[NotChetHanks]

fuel pump working?

As far as I know yes but I will check again.

go to your favorite auto parts sites and look up exact make, model and engine and look for ignition coil and it will show you the part to look for

Okay cool

[sc302 Veteran]

get codes out of the car, it should help with a diagnostics.

probably coil pack. every car has a coil, whether it be on each plug, going back to a pack or a coil attached to a cap and rotor. Trace the wires from the cylinders back, there is a coil pack sitting on the drivers side of the engine.

3 things a engine needs to function, air, fuel and spark. One of the three things needed to work isn't working. Try some ether, if it starts up with ether you are getting spark then you can worry about fuel. do you hear the fuel pump priming when you turn the car on (not key on, engine start, but key on, engine on.) If the fuel pump doesn't prime you have a fuel pump issue, if you hear it prime that doesn't rule it out it just makes it a bit harder to troubleshoot. It could be a dirty sock in the tank or it could be a dirty fuel filter.

[kombolcha]

I'll place my bets on fuel pump as my car is starting to turn longer than it has to. I already checked the pressure and it's a little low so it's time for a replacement. Not bad considering I have 148k on it.

[saxondale.]

starter motor?

[sc302 Veteran]

starter motor?

If the car is cranking, how on earth can it be the starter motor? The whole point of a starter motor is to get the engine to crank/turn over.

[xendrome]

Yea could be the fuel pump or the prime of the fuel line. Try this, and let us know the results.

Turn the key on to the starting position, but do not all the way so that the engine cranks. Turn it off, repeat this 10 times.

After the 10th time, try to start it like normal, what happens?

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

If the car is cranking, how on earth can it be the starter motor? The whole point of a starter motor is to get the engine to crank/turn over.

Because the engine doesn't start and a starter motor is one crucial component in this process.

As the OP says:

The car will crank but not turn over. It just keeps cranking and cranking.

A faulty starter motor also produces cranking sound when it keeps failing to start an engine.

...

One way to check if the engine actually starts up or not even for a split second (if there's combustion there inside or not) is to watch/smell the exhaust pipe.

[nate.wages]

Could be the cam position sensor or ignition coil, it looks like they're both housed in the base of the distributor (not the cap, but the other half that's bolted to the head). After looking around a bit it seems (to me) like the cam sensor is a fairly common failure on those particular cars.

Edit: I also found something relating to programmable ignition keys. So, if the car has chipped keys and the owner recently lost a key and switched to a backup, that could be a problem.