90 240sx no start

[xekushnr]

After replacing a tire and checking my brakes the car will not start. I get a clicking noise which seems to be coming from the starter solenoid. My first reaction is then the battery. I took it out, got it tested and its fine. Almost 11 volts under load and 12.6 resting. I tried jumping the solenoid, and got lots of sparks but no start. Resistance on the cable seems good, but I couldnt get a continuous reading. It just kept jumping. The cable had about 0.2 ohms from what i saw between the jumping, which I believe is still in spec. Next Ive got to test the starter but I've got to pull it off. Any suggestions?

[Klits562]

is the starter clicking rapidly or just once?the cars not cranking right?make sure that just because the battery is at the right power level, that the power is actually getting to the starter.

[ChristianKustomz]

I agree. If you want to do a quick test to see if your starter is functioning correctly you can take a 2' piece of wire (thicker is better 10 awg etc) or a pair of pliers, a screw driver etc and connect the two contact points on the starter. This is called a hard crank because you are manually causing the starter to work. If nothing happens or you get a clicking noise then it is your starter. However you need to make sure you are getting voltage "TO" your starter.

However as you said your getting a clicking noise so I am assuming your engine is not turning over. Check grounds too. These get corroded and cause issues all the time. I get many vehicles that will not work efficiently due to improper grounds or burned up power wires.

But good news is according to what you have stated, it does sound like the starter solenoid is malfunctioning.

[xekushnr]

It does click more than just once, very rapidly actually. I notice that when I step on the brakes while this is happening power cuts out completely. I have tried jumping the terminals on the solenoid and like I said it just sparks and I get no crank. Im going to check my grounds today after work. When the problem first started I checked for powere at the starter and it was getting juice.

[moso]

get your starter professionally tested, its probably bad. most of the time its "one click battery, multiple clicks starter"

[xekushnr]

Got to work today where i left the car and tried it again in the morning, same issue, no suprise. When my boss showed up he took a look at it and immediately thought it was the starter. I wasnt so sure, but he gave me one off the shelf and told me to give it a try. Free starter, I figured why the hell not.

On my 30 minute break i managed to lift the car and take the starter off. I was pretty suprised it was that quick, especially since the car is lowered and it took me 15 minutes just to lift the car. I bench tested the starter and it passed. Well, s***. I had to wait until the end of my shift to investigate more.

Once I got off I decided the next step (and what should have been the first step) was to test all the wires and cables to see if there are any issues. The positive cable tested fine for resistance, but I got some funky readings for the ground. I went back inside, grabbed a new cable and went out to test it. It started turning over right away, but it didnt catch. Looking under the hood I noticed I left the coil wire off, haha. Hooked that up and she fired right up. Dont overlook the little stuff guys. I had a feeling from the look of the cable that it might be bad and if I had just tested that first I would have saved a lot of time.

Cliffnotes: bad ground wire. I dont know why I needed all those words to get to that point. I guess I felt like giving the whole story since Im bored and waiting for my girlfriend to get off work. Oh well. Thanks for your help anyways guys.

[ChristianKustomz]

Any time. I am glad I was able to help you out. Feel free to contact me any time you run into a problem. I run ChristianKustomz and I help people with problems all the time so it's no biggy. I am just glad you got your wheels back roling again.