Titan won't start - sputters and dies...

brettf · 08-02-2007, 11:52 AM

Soo.... my truck after sitting for only a few (5 or 6?) days now won't run. I started it the first time and thought to let it run for a minute before driving. It ran for 20 seconds or so before dying. Now it turns over but sputters to death when I try to start. Battery seems fine (fully charged), no issues with oil or anything else obvious, ScanGuageII not picking up any fault codes....

I've been having issues with my battery for a while now. Do you car/truck guys think that a battery or other electronic (alternator?) issue could cause this kind of behavior? The lights, radio (checked it), and indicators all light up. The battery was charged on one of those charging units. I've had to jump start it a few times recently, so it is probably time (overdue actually) for a new, quality battery regardless of what this issue turns out to be? (stock battery - three years and 76K miles)

Any thoughts or magic bullets for me? Having it towed to a nearby mechanic tonight...

Brett

EDIT: maybe a dumb thought, but my truck came with two keys. I had left the one I normally use elsewhere and started it with the "other" key which is black and somehow different. Maybe the valet key or something like that. Could this key immobilize the truck somehow? I did get my normal key and try that... the result was the same, however.

Wiscdave · 08-02-2007, 12:20 PM

sounds like an alternator to me. How many miles on the truck? Vapor lock, undo the gas cap and put it back on...

**walleeme** · 08-02-2007, 01:14 PM

It's not the key.
Is the truck out of gas?
Is the battery 3 years old?

brettf · 08-02-2007, 03:09 PM

battery is three years old like a lot of the others on the board having issues... could be it, but it does turn over and everything electrical seems to work with full power. the plug-in charger i have shows a good charge and the same thing occurs when hooked up.

not vapor locked. pulled cap, let sit, put back in. same result.

it is gassed up too. would be like me to overlook though

whatever. whenever i or a mechanic figures it out, i'll post here...

**P's Titan** · 08-02-2007, 03:36 PM

IIRC if they key is not right the truck wont start..

let us know what you find out

Soljah · 08-02-2007, 03:55 PM

Spray some carburetor cleaner into the throttle body and try cranking it. Sounds like your not getting any fuel into the cylinders.

baseballfanz · 08-02-2007, 03:55 PM

Probably the battery or the alternator, all your keys have the transponder chip in it, only different is the valet will not let you open the center console or side storage box.

brettf · 08-02-2007, 07:22 PM

well, nothing of substance to report really. swapped out batteries with a yellow-top optima we have in another vehicle here. checked charges, no start on that...

i can smell fuel... throttle body sprayed already. no change... edit: the last time I tried to turn it over, a lot of spray came out of the exhaust. smelled of gas from that end. probably not new - I just never smelled.

AAA towing en route. i'll update when i know something (monday?)...

edit: a HUGE chevy tow truck came and manhandled my truck like it was a honda civic... ugh.

brettf · 08-03-2007, 06:49 PM

Well. I got the truck to a nearby mechanic that has done us well in the past. They looked at it this afternoon, put in a new battery and like magic, all was well.

I pick it up, starts right up, drive it around and start and stop it for 20 minutes at a time while I run errands to check it out. Everything is golden.

Until I park it at the house, do some work for 1/2 hour or so and then go to get back in the truck. Fire it up, and it doesn't run. Wonderful.

This time the truck always "starts" but is barely running and is just sputtering. Nervous needles, all the indicator lights on the dash doing a disco dance, and the truck is hopping up and down.... and I smell a lot of fuel again.

Interesting. Well, I may look at it some more, but since I paid a mechanic for a new battery and a very small labor charge, I'm taking it back for them to fix. Again. Sweet.

It seemed like the battery wasn't the issue, but maybe it was one of the issues or something. We'll see.

I'll continue to update in case anyone is interested.

sudden urge · 08-03-2007, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brettf

Well. I got the truck to a nearby mechanic that has done us well in the past. They looked at it this afternoon, put in a new battery and like magic, all was well.

I pick it up, starts right up, drive it around and start and stop it for 20 minutes at a time while I run errands to check it out. Everything is golden.

Until I park it at the house, do some work for 1/2 hour or so and then go to get back in the truck. Fire it up, and it doesn't run. Wonderful.

This time the truck always "starts" but is barely running and is just sputtering. Nervous needles, all the indicator lights on the dash doing a disco dance, and the truck is hopping up and down.... and I smell a lot of fuel again.

Interesting. Well, I may look at it some more, but since I paid a mechanic for a new battery and a very small labor charge, I'm taking it back for them to fix. Again. Sweet.

It seemed like the battery wasn't the issue, but maybe it was one of the issues or something. We'll see.

I'll continue to update in case anyone is interested.

I think it's your alternator and that can be checked easily. The truck will run fine for several hours with a newly charged battery, but will slowly die because the alternatoe is not recharging it at the proper rate.

brettf · 08-06-2007, 12:17 PM

latest news:

Got a call from the mechanic this morning who thinks the problem with the truck is the crankshaft sensor. Makes sense considering it has been running "rough" if you can even call it running before it sputters out...

sounds to me from internet sleuthing that the fuel pump among other things rely on input from the crankshaft sensor. Spark also plays into the mix as if the crankshaft sensor isn't able to figure out where top-dead-center is, then ignition will be off, fuel is off, and whatever else will become problems... or something...

Anyway, anyone else who happens to peruse this thread have this sensor go bad or go out?

**TitanBlue** · 08-06-2007, 03:06 PM

We have had them go bad on both our International Truck (2554 series) and on many of our GMC 2500 Pickups. Probably half at least, when they hit 150-200K, we run them to 300K if we can. Most people, I think, are not aware of this little device.

sudden urge · 08-06-2007, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brettf

latest news:

Got a call from the mechanic this morning who thinks the problem with the truck is the crankshaft sensor. Makes sense considering it has been running "rough" if you can even call it running before it sputters out...

sounds to me from internet sleuthing that the fuel pump among other things rely on input from the crankshaft sensor. Spark also plays into the mix as if the crankshaft sensor isn't able to figure out where top-dead-center is, then ignition will be off, fuel is off, and whatever else will become problems... or something...

Anyway, anyone else who happens to peruse this thread have this sensor go bad or go out?

If the crank position sensor goes bad, it will throw a code and warning light.

Mike04Titan · 08-09-2007, 12:47 PM

I am having very very similar issues with mine. Wouldn't start one day, tried the gas cap, started right up, got it home, went to the store, no start, tow it home, get it to run sort of, sputtering, acting like it was running on about 4-5 cylinders. next morning, starts right up, like a fool I head to work, get about 2 miles dies. tow it to the shop down the road due to no warranty (70,000 miles), code shows up for crank sensor, still doesn't run, further testing shows ecu might be problem, after replacement runs fine for 3 days, then intermittently won't start. Now back in shop. I forgot to mention the first time i got it to run I had messed with one of the coils so I thought I was onto something, when I unplugged that coil it continued to run sputtering, plugged it back in no change, unplugged different coil would not run at all. messed with the first coil again and it started right up. bought a new coil but that did no good. Get a call from the shop last night asking for the old coil as the truck now has one that started to balloon up and look like it was going to explode. I have had this truck since new and now that it is out of warranty it takes a crap. Anyhow sorry for the long crazy post but lets keep each other up to date and figure this damn thing out. Thanks

brettf · 08-14-2007, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike04Titan

I am having very very similar issues with mine. Wouldn't start one day, tried the gas cap, started right up, got it home, went to the store, no start, tow it home, get it to run sort of, sputtering, acting like it was running on about 4-5 cylinders. next morning, starts right up, like a fool I head to work, get about 2 miles dies. tow it to the shop down the road due to no warranty (70,000 miles), code shows up for crank sensor, still doesn't run, further testing shows ecu might be problem, after replacement runs fine for 3 days, then intermittently won't start. Now back in shop. I forgot to mention the first time i got it to run I had messed with one of the coils so I thought I was onto something, when I unplugged that coil it continued to run sputtering, plugged it back in no change, unplugged different coil would not run at all. messed with the first coil again and it started right up. bought a new coil but that did no good. Get a call from the shop last night asking for the old coil as the truck now has one that started to balloon up and look like it was going to explode. I have had this truck since new and now that it is out of warranty it takes a crap. Anyhow sorry for the long crazy post but lets keep each other up to date and figure this damn thing out. Thanks

Very interesting.

Well, here is the latest. After hearing that it is the crank shaft sensor (and wondering why I didn't get a code), the driveability guy at the shop takes it for a spin. It dies, they tow it back, and now they have a code for the cam shaft sensor. Wonderful. So they replace that sensor and get it back to me. I'm on my way.

I drive it for an hour solid doing some starts and stops. It dies under acceleration about 1 minute from my house. Takes a few tries to start it back up. It gets up and running and I park it at my house.

So the next morning I drive it to the dealer because I'm fed up with this... I figure they'll be able to figure it out plus I need to replace the radiator at this point (I tried some stop-leak stuff to plug my leaky radiator to no avail). I got the car back today with the radiator replaced but no changes for anything else. The techs weren't able to reproduce my problem with getting it to die under acceleration or not being able to get it to start and run smoothly. So I'm driving it around tonight to see if I can get something to happen. Also, another fun note, now my AC doesn't work. Hoping that this is a simple mistake or something, but I get nothing but HOT air. Not warm/cool/anything else... hot air like there is nothing related to AC working. GREAT!

Anyway, bottom line is that I don't have a fix for whatever the issue is aside from the replaced crank shaft sensor and the replaced cam shaft sensor. We'll see if I get more fun stuff to happen. I'll be calling the service dept tomorrow morning about the AC. I gotta love the stealership.