I dont know whether my starter is bad or solenoid, or its my ignition switch. I have a 1990 240sx s13. single cam. I tested the battery its 100% charged. when i turn then key all the lights work. Headlights, alarm, lights on cluster. door chime works. but when i try to start the car nothing happens just a single click. I thought it was the starter relay. i replaced it, same click noise so its not that. I tried hammering the starter and it didnt work, im not sure if i was doing it right. Someone at autozone told me to get my wire from my battery terminal and if it worked by holding it against the starter it was the starter but i never got around to doing it. I dont know how to know if its the starter or ignition switch, it starts by push starting.

If it's a manual (the whole push starting thing) it's possible it could be the clutch safety switch. Mine came loose some time ago and it just clicked when you tried to turn the engine over. If you get down there and adjust it to be a tad bit closer to the pedal, it may do the trick.

Yes is a manual and the starter does look new I got the car a few months ago. Can you explain how to adjust it? Thanks

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/240sx/1989/1989.pdf
FSM->CL->page 4-5
Ya gotta really get down there to see what it's doing/where it may be loose.

Yeah I read it. I've never done this before but ill give it a shot. Hopefully it works. If it is loose i don't know how it got loose. One day it was working fine then the next day it didn't want to start -_-

I have no clue how mine got loose. I honestly don't remember how I rigged mine up, it was something like 4 or 5 years ago, I think. But I really hope that was the issue; the dumbest, but cheapest to solve.

I need to remove the kick panel right? I tried it again and the click does sound like it's coming from the clutch area but under the hood it sounds like it's the relay. Does this give you any clue to what it could be? I won't be able to hey under the car until Monday ptobablly or else I would have tested the starter already

It's a pretty loud click, not entirely sure about that, I hadn't looked at the relay as the issue before, I really wouldn't have thought of the relay as the first thing to go. But if you are able to test the starter, that's probably for the best, it'd help narrow it down at least.

I'm gonna use a circuit tester to test my starter, ignition wire, and all my fuses it's an easy way to test it and I won't have to take out my starter for no reason. Lol I should have thought of this earlier

Make sure the main ground cable from the motor/battery/chassis is in good shape. I had an issue ears ago where mine was so badly corroded the car wouldn't start. Thought it was a bad starter solenoid, so I replaced it and the random non-starts kept happening. Replaced the main ground cable and never had another issue.

Hijacker wrote:Make sure the main ground cable from the motor/battery/chassis is in good shape. I had an issue ears ago where mine was so badly corroded the car wouldn't start. Thought it was a bad starter solenoid, so I replaced it and the random non-starts kept happening. Replaced the main ground cable and never had another issue.

If it were a bad ground would be battery still read 100% charged? Or could it still be a battery cable because I ruled out my battery already and the ground and terminal are clean but the ground can still be bad.

check your 75 amp fuse and check the bastard they call "the little white box" under the fuse panel. take the driver side kick panel off and see if there are any burn traces on the circuit board when you pop the case open. like i said before cali is a ways away for me to come help you out or i would..

Im having the same exact problem. So weird to see. I drove the car alll day yesterday. Tried to turn it on today. CLICK coming from kicker panel and in the engine bay relay box (RELAY: ACC DIFF OIL) by the intake filter. I have no idea what that relay is for. and idk exactly whats clicking in my driver side kicker panel.
I was gona try and buy the starter relay but i cant find it on my car (1990 SOHC 5 speed swaped) and i dont get it cause my 93 240sx has it but my 90 doesnt???
Not even sure what i should be looking at next lol.

But i got the battery fully charged at auto zone. bought 2 new terminals. my starter started right up befor so im not sure if its bad or not. all i hear is the 2 clicks coming from those 2 relays

Sideways570 wrote:check your 75 amp fuse and check the bastard they call "the little white box" under the fuse panel. take the driver side kick panel off and see if there are any burn traces on the circuit board when you pop the case open. like i said before cali is a ways away for me to come help you out or i would..

Alright. I wish someone that knew 240s were around to help me. My car has so many common s13 problems. I need a daily driver I thought I wouldn't mind a project car but I do. Thanks though

Fbomb19 wrote:Im having the same exact problem. So weird to see. I drove the car alll day yesterday. Tried to turn it on today. CLICK coming from kicker panel and in the engine bay relay box (RELAY: ACC DIFF OIL) by the intake filter. I have no idea what that relay is for. and idk exactly whats clicking in my driver side kicker panel.
I was gona try and buy the starter relay but i cant find it on my car (1990 SOHC 5 speed swaped) and i dont get it cause my 93 240sx has it but my 90 doesnt???
Not even sure what i should be looking at next lol.

But i got the battery fully charged at auto zone. bought 2 new terminals. my starter started right up befor so im not sure if its bad or not. all i hear is the 2 clicks coming from those 2 relays

I got the relay for starter or "ignition coil" from autozone for 13 bucks. Honestly this post should of been short I just haven't been able to take my starter out to test it. When I solve this problem ill let you know what it was

I would be very interested if you find a solution. My car's been this way since before I bought it.

You can wire a button to the underside of the dash or somewhere (that's how mine's done) that directly jumps the starter, and drive it fine. Just turn the key all the way as you press the button, or it will hesitate to start in some temp conditions, because it changes ignition and injection when you have the key in the starting position.

Both the relay behind the kick panel and the one under the hood have been replaced, in my case. I think it may be a bad hot wire or ground between there and the starter, but I haven't torn it all apart to find it, since I CAN start the car just fine.

(edit) did you buy the car like that? I've thought that it could be related to the fact that I think that my car once had a security system and maybe remote start installed, and they might not have pulled it out right. I was playing with it yesterday, and I think my relay (the one by the battery) is clicking, but running wires directly from it, it didn't seem that either the battery cable to it (white stripe), or the starter cable from it (yellow stripe) is connected, like there's a plug somewhere or something, or area that something rubbed through. Just an idea.

Problem solved it was the solenoid

Mines is ignition related. I replaced the terminals. new battery. i can jump the starter from the battery and it turns the car on fine. Its deff the ignition switch or one of the relays inbetween. maybe the ignition coil. idk. Ill get around to looking at em eventually.

Fbomb19 wrote:Mines is ignition related. I replaced the terminals. new battery. i can jump the starter from the battery and it turns the car on fine. Its deff the ignition switch or one of the relays inbetween. maybe the ignition coil. idk. Ill get around to looking at em eventually.

Oh. Buy a circuit tester from autos zone. Looks like a flat head with a light. To test all you relays one by one if they're all good ignition switch. It's 32 bucks here at I reliey auto parts