intermittent no start

[danshaz82]

like the title says, i have an intermittent no start. its a 93 kade swap with a brand new starter and a new alternator.

when i go to start the car, it wont start and i just hear the relay click. ill do that 2 or 3 times until it fires up. and when it does, its either a slow crank, or a normal crank.
but it doesnt happen every time. sometimes it fires right up real strong on the first try. other times its just a real slow crank on the first try.

i was told to check the grounds, but i havnt had enough time to really get into recently. but i have this weekend off work, so im hoping i can finally fix it.

i checked everything on the starter, and thats all good. same with the alternator. the only drain on the battery i have is the clock.

[PEZi]

Bring it to my garage.... 400lbs of useless crap later it'll work!

But yeah, the main ground would be my best guess off hand. Not letting the starter be fully grounded at all times, thus not allowing it to crank or crank slowly. If not that... bad relay!

[danshaz82]

if i take it to you, ill roll away with nothing but a frame, drivetrain and wheels haha
but ill check the grounds and relay tomorrow. ya think thats all it could be tho?

[PEZi]

If its something else, I'd be surprised. I had a similar problem, and ended up with 2 separate welding cables split from the negative post on the battery, one to the frame, one to the engine. If it ends up being the relay, a new relay is simple. If its something wrong in the ignition causing the problem, that's a whole new bundle of clusterf*ck, so start simple!

[Armstec_S13]

I had the same problem, turns out my negative cable wasn't making good contact on the battery post because it wasn't clean, see if using a wire brush on the battery post and on the cable helps

[shigun]

I'm actually experiencing the same thing, mine being what Armstec stated. Sometimes it will act as if there is no power, sometimes it will go to start and I just get a click click click, then start.

[Nashville91s13]

Mine started doing it so I threw a new starter on it....still doing it....

[danshaz82]

ill check everything tomorrow. ill report back to what i did and what happens.
im going to be checking all the grounds, the starter relay, the connections to the starter, and the battery terminals.

[Nashville91s13]

Is the relay in the box under the filter box or the one in front of the passenger shock tower?

[danshaz82]

from what i read, i believe this is it
someone please correct me if im wrong

It's the only one in there that looks like this:



Location:

[Nashville91s13]

Mine is still a slushbox, but that is correct on the 5 speed. Clutch engages that relay so you can start it. I know mine has one though cause I hear a relay click, but no starter. This is from my FSM:

[danshaz82]

mine was an auto to 5 speed swap, so i dont even need to engage the clutch to start it. im not sure why tho.
actually, could that have something to do with it? ive never had this problem before until recently tho.
but when i go to start it, i just hear the relay click too.

[Nashville91s13]

I'm not sure. Only 5 speeds are supposed to have that relay. I know you bypass the inhibitor switch when you 5 speed swap it, but I'm not sure if you're supposed to add that relay or what. That relay supposedly just keeps you from starting it without the clutch engaged so I don't know why you would add it and not use it. Interesting situation...

[Razi]

5 spd cars have a small button that gets pressed if you press the pedal down, but if you splice the wires together you can bypass that.

A previously auto car probably doesn't even have those wires.

[danshaz82]

well, mines has the plunger switch there.
heres a picture of it

[Razi]

Is the switch engaged somehow?

I'd remove the switch all together and splice those two together to see if that makes it start everytime.
Or, try to install so it gets pressed when you push in the clutch.

[danshaz82]

its not installed. its tucked up underneath the dash. ive tried holding it down and starting it, and it made no noticeable difference.
now if i were to splice them together, it would just be the two that are connected to the switch? what exactly would that do?

[breadbox]

eliminates the safety feature, aka you better make sure you are in neutral before starting.

That's it.

[danshaz82]

eliminates the safety feature, aka you better make sure you are in neutral before starting.

That's it.

i always do haha
but i cleaned the battery terminals and connections today as well as all the grounds.
but it didnt do anything. i still have the no start and just the clicking.

[badbob2121]

ignition switch?

[Nashville91s13]

Mine seems to do it more after I haven't driven it for a substancial amount of time and seems to fire right up if I have recently run it like after getting gas or running in Kroger or somewhere. I'm going to have my battery tested.

[Nashville91s13]

Mine seems to do it more after I haven't driven it for a substantial amount of time and seems to fire right up if I have recently run it like after getting gas or running in Kroger or somewhere. I'm going to have my battery tested.

[PEZi]

ignition switch?

Possible as well

but i cleaned the battery terminals and connections today as well as all the grounds.
but it didnt do anything. i still have the no start and just the clicking.

I remember reading about Nissans having this issue, still ground related. Even if the grounds are clean, they may not be substantial enough. NOT saying the ground IS the problem, but how is your current grounding set up?

[danshaz82]

Mine seems to do it more after I haven't driven it for a substancial amount of time and seems to fire right up if I have recently run it like after getting gas or running in Kroger or somewhere. I'm going to have my battery tested.

when i dont drive it for a few hours, itll do it. sometimes itll do in the morning, most of the time it doesnt tho.
but yeah, mine fires up if ive recently driven it too.

I remember reading about Nissans having this issue, still ground related. Even if the grounds are clean, they may not be substantial enough. NOT saying the ground IS the problem, but how is your current grounding set up?

that i know of, i have the ground from the negative batt terminal to the intake mani. i have the ground form the injectors right under the VC, and i have a ground on the end of the block on the exhaust side. those are all the ones i took off and cleaned.

[PEZi]

Well, the one in this case that wouldn't be cutting it is the one to the intake mani. You want the engine grounded, but moreso the block. When its going to the intake mani, you're only grounded to the block via the head bolts and the head gasket is acting like and insulator of sorts. For reference, the custom setup I did to correct mine is a splitter off of the negative post, with one 2GA cable going to the frame directly, and one going to the block and starter (bolted in using one of the starter bolts). Fixed mine. Will help any car in any situation... but will it fix your problem? No guarantee... but worth a try? If you can source the cable cheap enough, hell yes.

[danshaz82]

i just now went to start the car to pull it into the garage. first try i got the click and no start. then i decided to try holing down the clutch neutral safety switch
this guy

when i held it down, it fired right up. now im not sure if its cause of that switch being pressed, or just cause it decided to start on that try.
im gonna try holding that down every time i start to see if it makes a difference.

[samxini]

I would say ignition switch as well. I don't know how much time I spent trying to figure out why my car wouldn't start and it turned out to be the ignition switch.
Replaced that and now it starts first time.

[Nashville91s13]

Topped off my battery cells with distilled water and had the battery and starter tested...both good. After I topped it off it didn't act up at all leaving my house or leaving the parts store. Got home...turned it off...sat a few min and started it up again...no problem...we'll see if it does it again. I'll update regardless.

[danshaz82]

im starting to think its the ignition switch, cause its still doing it.

[PEZi]

Install push button!





NO KEYS.... PUSH TO START