Hello from Oregon

[darkmedievalcheeseburger]

Greetings everyone, I'm here to learn and share progress on our Maxima projects. My girlfriend owns three total, 2 diesel 5 speed and one diesel automatic. One of the diesel 5 speeds is strictly a parts car at this point, the other is a daily driver, and the brown automatic pictured below is our project. Purchased in Portland, OR for $987.65 last year we were a bit overzealous in trying to drive it home with a charging issue. About 30 minutes in the car tapped out.

We've had the alternator rebuilt, it was fried. It also received a new battery. The next issue was that it would not start without a the help of starting fluid (used very conservatively). I've gathered that glow plugs are a possible culprit and have checked all fuses and relays.

The initial goal is to just get the car roadworthy, beyond the engine related issue of not starting the brakes need attention. The pedal moves only a little bit and you have to stand on it to get the car to stop.

I have no background with diesel engines. My experience was limited to my short career as a UPS driver and nothing more. I'm here to learn and the FAQ section for this engine has already been helpful. I miss the days of active forums so here I am doing what I can to rectify that. As far as non-diesel powered cars I currently own 4 second Corollas and a 1984 Toyota Cressida which I am swapping in a Toyota 1ggeu.

[darkmedievalcheeseburger]

Apologies to admin, looks like this should have been posted in the "User Rig" section

[nissan_nerd]

Keep using starter fluid if you want to ruin your engine.

Do the wire mod. Run some 10 gauge wire from the positive terminal to glow relay #1 (passenger strut tower). There are two thick wires connected to it; a white and a white black wire. Disconnect the white/black wire and hook up the bypass wire from the battery. My car starts with one click right after the glow light turns off. Be warned that you are basically bypassing the after glow system since that white/black wire is tied into the 0.5 ohm drop resistor.

Make sure your fusible links are good (most likely melting after 40 years). Also change the coolant temp sensor as it’s important for glow operation. I used one from a 280z.

[asavage]

Adding to what nissan_nerd said, read the first post of this '83 Maxima Diesel I bought 16 years ago: https://nissandiesel.dyndns.org/viewtop ... 265#p11265

Then, as that same car has been again sitting in my friend's yard for several years ("ran when parked"), please try to find a new home for it:
https://nissandiesel.dyndns.org/viewtopic.php?t=3863

[Duaneclark]

Thanks very much for this posting, nice to see some activity.. I've found failure of the glow plug relay, (Pass side, towards rear of eng comp) is often the problem. This is available as snow mobile starter relays, just match up the appearance of both parts, they're identical. Also bad connections, even right at the battery. Glow plugs can be bad, they're easy to replace, take your time. I've noticed over the years that the Pacific Northwest had large sales of Maxima's when new, many of those have migrated across the country.