car wont start just click and its dead

[llama_of_doom]

91 240sx it wont start I connect the battery and tighten it down go inside all the electronics are working and the interior lights are on the head lights pop up and illuminate just fine but when I turn the key I dont hear the fuel pump prime, I know for sure its not turning on I am getting no fuel pressure. But more importantly I hear a loud click and all the electronics turn off and the car is completly dead. It will continue to do this unless I hook the car up with jumper cables to another car and try and jump start it. Only then will my car turn over but still the fuel pump is not turning on so I am not getting any fuel. What could be causing this electrical problem? my battery is fully charged and tightened down whatever is the cause of this electrical problem is also causing the fuel pump to not start, that is my theory. I grounded the car with many wires throughout the engine bay and I regrounded the starter. I dont know what else to try at this point....

[llama_of_doom]

So I'm thinking about going through the wiring harness and checking for a short before i go rip that apart can someone give me any advise for detecting a short?

[Acecool]

make sure you are getting power to the starter wire when the key is in start... if you are, then starter may be bad.

it is normal for electronics to turn off when the car is in start mode...

fuel pump might also be the issue but check why it is not turning over first.

Another thing you can do, is run a wire directly from the positive on the battery to the starter, it should crank over if the starter is good, but will not start unless the car is in the on position...

[locoluna825]

these 240s are reputable for there starters going out mines begun to give me problems i have to keep trying to start it by wiggling the key very fast to on postion and forcing the solenoid to finally touch and start the car. "tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick""tick".

[minianthunter]

i was having a similar issue with my car but it ended up that the battery wasn't getting a good connection with my terminals so when i replaced my terminals it went back to normal

[llama_of_doom]

yup thats what was wrong wiht mine I chnaged the terminals and the battery was shorting out so I changed that too. now its turning over I have fuel and spark but it still wont turn on. I'm running thin on ideas I'm going to try adjusting timing but other then that what could cause this I have fuel pressure, my injectors are firing and all are within spec when I checked it wiht the multi-meter, I am getting spark I have a new ignt coil, plugs, plug wires, and battery. Could a bad sensor be causing this thing from not turning on?

[Pirate_Freder]

so you got your fuel pump running? what was the problem with it?

[llama_of_doom]

I think the battery was shorting out and it burnt out my fuel pump I put in another one had laying around that the fuel pump turned on but after I got a new battery. anyway I still have a problem my car wont turn on but I deffinitly have spark, and fuel. I am thinking I have bad sensors and thats causing the car not to turn on what sensors should I be concerned about that could cause the car not to turn on? I checked my CAS, TPS, MAF and temp sensor. would any other sensors cause the car to not run? I think my CAS is fine but I'm not totally sure is there any way to test it? my TPS is something I'm also wondering about my car is a 91 with an ka24de out of a 95. I have a m/t the new engine from the 95 had a a/t I noticed there was another spot for a connector on the TPS from the 95 but in my service manual for a 91-94 s13 it showed another connector is that just something for an auto? also my temp sensor would that cause the car not to start? I am going to try swapping the other temp sensor from the other engine and see what happens. I was also thinking maybe my timing could be a bit off I followed this tech article to reset timing

http://www.nicoclub.com/articles.php?id=161707

I made sure that the distributor rotor was at cylinder #1 position at TDC is there something that I'm missing? I spin the crank pulley to the 2nd notch as in the walkthrough but should I spin it to the stock ka timing notch? the first notch all the way to the right? am I doing something wrong with timing that may cause the car to not be running?

any sensors that might not cause the car to run plz point them out to me the car has fuel and spark and compression it sounds like it wants to start but its almost as though its missfiring. All the spark plug wires are correct too... what could I be missing???

[dc1984]

i might be wrong, but im pretty sure that none of those sensors "should" keep the car from starting. they will cause crappy idles and car might run like doodoo, but it should still start.

u said that ur battery was shorting out and u think it burned out ur old fuel pump, thats what ur fuel pump fuse is in place for. i would try checking ur ecu for any error codes. see if that turns up anything.

let us know what happens

[Acecool]

If you have fuel and spark, air is usually a given and it should try to start up..

Check your mass air flow sensor, it could be the connection becoming corroded, clean it up and try it.

[llama_of_doom]

I dont have any error codes and my maf is clean and seems fine. my ecu works because I got the codes for the sensors when I unplugged them then it went away when I connected the sensors again. my car tries to start up it there is smoke comming from the exhaust side of the engine so it looks like its burning the fuel its getting and it is turning over. If those sensors wouldnt cause it from starting then what else?

I reset timing just as I described in my last post but thats all I can think of that would be wrong at this point...

[Acecool]

Quick question to you... Do your electronics turn on when the key is in the ON mode?

[llama_of_doom]

yes all my electronics work but my problem has sort of progressed I dont so much have an electrical short anymore but my car still will not start. I posted on 240sxforums and someone agreed that a temp sensor would cause the car not to start which is what my friend has been telling me. I think I might start swapping out some sensors with what is on the old engine perhaps that will do something

[del82]

This may sound dumb to you, but have you had the battery checked for a short? Best to know, rather than assume things are good. Your initial explanation sounds like a battery short, you'll have power till you try to use a lot of it, then the battery shorts and you have no power at all. I'd have it tested on a load machine rather than the little digital one. Most Advance Autos and Auto Zones have them, and they'll test em for free.

[tercel drifter]

check your battery, i bet its dead by now. don't know if its the case but my return from my alt. to bat. broke loose on me the other day. same symtoms

[llama_of_doom]

if you read on from my first post my problem has progressed it did turn out to be a short in the battery but I am at a point where I no longer have an electrical problem there is something else wrong. The battery is new and fully charged, its not the problem at this point.

[del82]

Works for me, I just looked at the thread too late (=

[gtd65]

i was having a similar issue with my car but it ended up that the battery wasn't getting a good connection with my terminals so when i replaced my terminals it went back to normal

Thats what was wrong with mine as well - the red connector block was the actual culprit!





Fixed connections....



All exposed cables were subsequantly taped up - job done
Modified by gtd65 at 11:14 AM 4/21/2009

[llama_of_doom]

I appreciate the detailed replay but my car's engine is turning over it. Not having enough juice doesn't seem to be my problem anymore it will just crank and crank and the engine will turn over and the car will make an attempt to turn on but it just wont. I think I'm going to take a short video of what I'm talking about. The timing has been reset properly it is sparking, and its getting fuel, and my fuel injectors are firing but my car just wont start. I have compression the whole damn car shakes on the jacks with all of the cranking. I did a compression test awhile ago and the numbers were good I'll take one again I cant remember what they were. I also am getting NO codes form the ecu this is my current problem. Now this problem may be attributed to a bad sensor I'm really not sure it seems like that could be the only thing at this point. It really does just sound like the engines timing is off somehow because its detonating the fuel I'm getting smoke from burnt fuel but it wont start, its as though its firing out of order really badly. But again I have no codes and I reset timing properly according to the faq on this site.

[junjun0134x]

this may sound dumb but i had the same problem and replaced most of the same things and check the same things and it still didnt start i had a mechanic i know even come over and it took him a while but he got it started aperently the cylinders were flooded (sumhow) and all he did was hold it at WOT and cranked it for a while to air out the fuel (idk if it has flood mode like others cars) but somehow thats what it was i just didnt know how it was that when i had tried that earlier and nothing but maybe i didnt do it enough...oh and this is on a 93

[llama_of_doom]

no its not flooded even if I tried starting it with the throttle down so it would cut off fuel but that didnt do much. I also have been stuck with this problem for months now so its not like it could be flooded for months.