Real Fiero Tech

My uncles 1998 Nissan Maxima V6 is having a weird intermittent starting problem. It won't start sometimes, no click, no crank, no nothing. So he'll leave it for a couple of hours, then it will start again. One time I sat there and hit the START with the key a bunch of times and it finally started to crank. I pulled the starter and had autozone test, they ran it 10 times to see if it was an intermittent failure. It tested good everytime. It sounded good, the extension was good, seemed perfect. So I cleaned all the connections and gave it back to my uncle. Started perfectly for 2-3 days, then it stopped starting consistently again. I replaced both starter related relays because I was at the junkyard and they were $3. I worked good for a couple days, then he started having the intermittent problems again.

Any ideas?

The guy at autozone suggested the switch in the column.

Why are all your vehicles failing just as winter arrives? In this case, I'd agree with the ign. sw. next

What other cars failed? The F250 is mine, and I bought it two weeks ago, knowing the gauges didn't work, it runs and drives fine. My 88 runs and drives, my wrangler runs and drives, my dakota is being daily'ed by my uncle, and 87 runs and drives, hell even my 84 runs and drives... what isn't working?

Oh. I musta been hallucinating.

Has anyone had the starter switch in the column fail before?

Any ideas?

Gotta get it fixed, want my dak back haha.

I had the same problem on my old Intrepid. Check the posts on the battery and give them a good clean. Also check the ground cable where it connects to the motor or wherever they grounded the battery to. I had to replace my battery cables to cure my starting problem, after that it was fine.

Sometimes it would start perfectly, other times it would have no power at all. Hopefully your problem is that easy.

Thanks man, I'll give that a shot on Wednesday when I've got the day off.

Well the ground cable looked gross, but it is a dealer only item, it uses a second ground in the middle, so one cable touches the engine, to the frame, to the battery. So I cleaned it up as best I could. I added a ground strap from the battery to the chassis, and then from the chassis to the engine block.

Still no dice

I went and bought the starter switch

Nothing

Listening in on the few times it did start it sounds like the starter is retracting late, like there is a little grind. Also if you try to start it and it doesn't start I am pretty sure I am hearing the drive gear pop out, but then obviously not crank. Tomorrow I am going to go ahead and buy him a new starter unless you guys can think of anything else.