the car has 168,000 miles on it
The battery has been recharged
half a tank of mid-grade fuel left in the tank (meaning half used) (I always put premium but I let my bro borrow it to go get parts for his car and I told him to fill it up and he put in mid-grade, in which as a result he's walking around with a busted lip)
What happens:
When I turn the key to start, on the passenger side I hear a faint deep gear winding buzzing noise (not a clicking noise) for a few seconds then nothing.
also I noticed a disconnected wire connection on the driver side under the Air Intake but right beside the spark plug panel of the spark plug panel, its one of ends to a split connection
when the key is turned to "on" position, the car makes another faint awkward hard to describe noise from drivers side for around 1-2 seconds
[img]20141201_100720.jpg[/img]
[img]sdagfdsg.jpg[/img]

the mid grade gas should have nothing to do with starting your car. Ive ran mine on 87 in a pinch a few times. Not 100% but sounds like either your ignitor or CAS are disconnected. The CAS is the only thing i think plugs in under the intake, the ignitor is close but still visible with the intake on and im pretty sure if it was not connected your car would not start. Not sure how you were running the car before with either them disconnected, if you did it must have ran like absolute crap.

I would say the car was running like crap(not that I know what running good feels like in the 1994 q45 due to this issue, and the way it was running when it was "crap" was still impressive) , here is a picture of the wire

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/inde ... 225AAhZOX4

Hard to tell what that wire is from the low res photo.
on my 94 there is a braided ground wire near that location. one end of the ground attaches to the strut tower, the other end bolts to the head near the exh mani.
if your ground is loose, i doubt that it would cause your issue (the ground should of course be there, but to affect starting you would have to have NO incidental ground between the engine and the chassis and that would be unusual). Prove it by connecting a jumper wire from your engine bare metal to the chassis.

94Q45Beast wrote: when the key is turned to "on" position, the car makes another faint awkward hard to describe noise from drivers side for around 1-2 seconds
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your G50 is equipped with TCS (see the black motor casing to the left of the snorkel (partially out of the picture frame) in your yahoo photo). Hold your hand on that motor when you turn the key on and see if you feel a 2-way actuation. That would be the TCS secondary throttle plate self check and is normal.

this is not my Q in the pic but it shows the wire im talking about in the red, now how will that wire affect the process of starting the car. if it doesn't then can one of you Q experts give your thoughts. ( I haven't plugged it in yet, I will when I get home)
in my Q, the green circle is comprised of a metal part, I can't see the ignitor pack

idk why the pics arn't showing

http://postimg.org/image/v05mb9c79/

http://postimg.org/image/me2cqo079/

http://postimg.org/image/qbpmg2n0l/

The reason you cant see the ignitor in the first pic is because there is an aluminum housing for bypass air covering it. but the ignitor is there its just buried.
The 2-wire connector you circled in red is not connected to anything in normal service.
i trust that the third picture is not your car, because that shows one of the ignitor connectors partially demated--and that could certainly cause a crank but no fire.

then according to my symptoms of the car not starting or making any noise from the ones I listed earlier, what could be the problem

...gee, i think you are getting some good info here, without offering much to go on.
to be clear, you are saying that the engine is not spinning when you turn the key (no crank)?
what does the battery voltage read under the following conditions: key off. key ON. key to start.
What does the current draw from the battery (ammeter) say under same conditions: key off, key ON, key start?

and I thank you for that and anyone who give their thoughts on the matter, I'll post the specs as soon as I can

I had the battery voltage tested from "off" to "on" to "start", everything was the way it should be there
but I had a hunch that the problem could be my starter relay fuse so I took it out, and try starting the car to see if anything different happened (to see if the problem was the relay, if it was good something different should happen due to its removal) - same symptoms, so I will replace the starter relay as soon as I can to see if that really was the problem, but at this point I am really scared that the engine could be locked up.

now I switched the relay with one of the 2 relays below the battery, and same symptoms,
but now when I turned the key to "start", I heard a click noise (just one click when I turn the key) from the steering wheel console area

Lunch break at work, so this will be quick.
Data with numbers is important to aid diagnosis. I don't know what where it should be means. You are doing well to look at things like the blue starter relay. The ones under your battery may or may not be good.
If you don't see 200 ish amps from the battery (maybe more) when you turn the key to start then juice is either not getting to the starter, or it is just freewheeling the starter (you would hear starter spin, but not engage the flywheel).

Like Jay said, I think the first place to check is the starter relay mounted on the passenger side.

What I would do in this case, is measure voltage at the starter while your cranking. That will determine if your starter is getting power, which means everything else in the circuit is working. I'd say it's equally as likely that the starter or starter relay could have failed. IF you have no voltage at the starter when you're cranking (have a helper help you), then you know the relay is bad. IF you have voltage, means the starter is probably bad.

thank you all, I will do that as soon as possible and give an update.

since my volt meter is suddenly missing, I'm going to hot wire the starter, if it starts then its the relay that's dead, if it doesn't start then its the starter. correct me if i'm wrong please. Thank You

ps. I can't believe Kelley Blue Book is estemating my 94 Q45 to me worth 1700 dollars. I might as well keep it as one of those collectors car. and the new 2015 Inifiniti Q70 5.6L engine really feels like a modern Q45

94Q45Beast wrote:since my volt meter is suddenly missing, I'm going to hot wire the starter, if it starts then its the relay that's dead, if it doesn't start then its the starter. correct me if i'm wrong please. Thank You

Voltmeter is good, but you may also need an ammeter to nail what is going on. if it hot wire starts, then something is keeping current from getting to the starter. relay, cabling, ignition switch, etc.

btw, just putting the hot on the big starter terminal won't cut it.
you also need to trigger the solenoid simultaneously.

finding the starter is soooooo hard, i know its on the passenger side, the Manuel is completely blank, i'm changing my course of action, I am removing the starter and getting it tested at auto zone while I buy a new voltmeter (might as well get it tested if I'm going to go there for a new voltmeter and a long socket wrench for the sparkplugs). I might also get the alternator checked while i'm at it.

you'll spend hours removing the alternator. don't do it at this point. solve the starting issue first.
look for jed coop thread on starter. remove the heat shield over the rack boot. use a 3/8 ratchet with a very long skinny handle (I use a piece of sch 40 PVC slid over the end for leverage). Top bolt is straight shot with a 3 or 6 inch extension (don't recall offhand) on the long handle ratchet, Wobblies and an assortment of extension bits are your friend for the lower bolt.


EDIT: Added Top/Bottom bolt descriptions.

you would gain one advantage on the lower starter bolt if you do remove the alternator, but I still wouldn't do it.
extensions will be sliding thru places you think are impossible, but it can be done.

Ill update as soon as I can

Tanks again everyone

thank you for the info, i'll look up the thread and take a look, I won't remove the alternator in this case, I'll do as Dr.Jay prescribes. I will update as soon as I'm done with it.

Thanks again.

I don't see it mentioned earlier, but that loose connection near the ignitor is nothing to worry about. It's an alternate test site for a timing light.

I have had a situation once where the battery terminal was loose enough that it would make good contact for accessories (radio, fan, etc worked fine) but wasn't making good enough contact to power the starter. You could turn the key on and the dash would do it's usual light-on check, the radio would come on, etc - but as soon as I moved the key to start there wasn't even a click... just everything went dead.

Good luck!

Heath

that bottom bolt is really giving problems. I need the smallest shortest narrowest and low profile ratchet, time to go to sears. its taking longer than I thought. lol. top bolt was easier, I am thinking about removing the sway bar to get more room for the bottom bolt though. i'll figure it out. also I ended up using db autotech's method of removing the starter.

guide-replacing-starter-motor-pics-writeup-t579296.html

stay with it. Done this twice --1x each G50--be glad you don't have an FGY33, you need to drop the rack to get the starter out!
not sure removing the sway bar will help with access, but it is pretty straight forward to remove. Tip: the sway bar bushing cups need to be torqued to 34 ft-lb. Too much and you'll bust them off, but too little and they click when the wheel turns.
db's method is a good one. He used the same cheater bar approach for the upper bolt that I was describing. at some point on the lower bolt once free it may be easier to support the starter with one hand and wiggle the lower bolt CCW with your fingers.
make sure you match up the casing precisely at your local parts house. make them source you a new one if not exact--i rebuild my own genuine nissan cores so I know they will fit. db thoroughly checked that out as you see in his pix.

I changed the starter with the solenoid that's on the back of it (i'll post how I did it later), and same problems, now i'll run to auto zone and pick up a new starter relay, I hope the relay is the problem. otherwise i'll physically cry if the engine is locked up.
btw: changing the starter on my Q was one of the craziest and hardest jobs iv done on a car (not bad for a 18 year old)
also I didn't use a ratchet+socket for the lower bolt, I'll explain later.

Thank you everyone who gave their thoughts, especially Dr.Jay (if you don't mind me calling you doctor)

94Q45Beast wrote: Thank you everyone who gave their thoughts, especially Dr.Jay (if you don't mind me calling you doctor)

Julius Erving? (The original Dr. J) Well, I'm not a PhD or an M.D. but I'm honored. Just don't ask me to "dunk"--LOL.

Did you bench check the starter first? They have been known to be bad out of the box. what are the symptoms now vs. before? If you got that volt meter, you can at least start by measuring the battery voltage when you turn key to start. comparing this before and after the relay changeout may also indicate how effective is the old vs. new relay. the nissan number for the relay is NISS#25230-89981 if you want to 2x check that against the generic.

BUT, if you really think your engine is seized (Usually there would be *some* indication before it locks up--like serious internal knocking) then i suggest you turn the motor over by hand (wrench) and verify that first.

I changed the relay and the car started perfectly, but when changing the starter I had to remove to 16 or 17 mm bolts that connect the sway bar to the car frame and I let it swing down a little (still attached at each end behind the rotor (the point where its swinging from)) the new issue is that it will not align back up to bolt back in place. any thoughts?

glad to hear the big issue is solved!
those bolts are the ones that I said go to 34 lb-ft on.
suggested method is: undo the 14? mm nuts for the sway bar end links at the underside of the lower control arms. that way nothing is fighting when you install the bushing brackets.
then put the car back on the ground and re-attach the end link nuts. those would go to about 20 lb-ft.