2002 Nissan Sentra won't bump start?
 

I was driving my neighbor's 2002 Sentra GXE and I thought I'd show him some hypermiling techniques. I turned the ignition off and then tried to bump start it. After I gave it a bump with the clutch, I let the clutch out again, thinking it was running. But all I got was compression braking. I tried a few more bumps, then my neighbor told me to stop trying. :) It started fine with the key after this. Anybody else run into this on a Nissan or other vehicle?

Yup - seems to be a particular quirk with some vehicles:

EG: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...elp-21947.html

That's primarily a new Sentra thing. New being post 2000. At a low speed, it is able to be "bump" started. Anything above about 15-20 mph and it won't crank. I think it may be some sort of a safety device or something. Of course the Sentra 1.8 does create a good deal of compression. These are issues that didn't exist in the late '90s models. Check online forums and you will find that Sentra owners don't really have the option of EOC. One of the Frontiers I owned wouldn't allow a dramatic downshift (5th to 2nd). Nissan has been known for doing some things to save possible damage to the components, but wind up really become stupid or dangerous. Ask me sometime later about how I totaled my Frontier. :eek:

I wonder if the car behaves any differently depending on whether you kill the engine using the key vs. a DIY kill switch.

Come to think of it, I think it would act differently. There are a lot of wires on that ignition harness, and it wouldn't surprise me if they made that tie into the transaxle. Of course the designers don't intend on people like us :D

??? I never had any problems bump starting my 2002 Sentra SE-R over 20k miles of EOC P&G at all speeds. Did GasolineFumes key the ignition back on before attempting the bump starts?

I'm assuming I did. I seem to remember watching for the idiot lights to go out. Maybe the SE-R responds differently? This GXE also has some ECM issues and the CEL is on. It thinks there's a bad O2 sensor heater. Could something like that disable bump starting?

The SE-R just shoehorned a 2.5l engine in place of the 1.8 or 2.0. Since I had no problems bump starting mine, I suspect your neighbor's ECU/CEL issues are the reason you couldn't bump start his/hers.