So i have been having intermittent starter issues with what i believed to be my solenoid going bad for a few months now. it would click while turning the key to start every time for about 3 cycles and then it would crank right up. not the fast battery is dead click just one solid click from the solenoid. after getting to DE from south GA the temp difference is big. much colder here (i hate the cold). On colder mornings usually 50 degrees or lower when i go out to the car i will turn the key to acc. and everything will power up normal. fuel pump primes, dash lights and all work. but when i turn the key in this colder weather i get nothing no click no attempt to rotate, nothing. my battery voltage is monitored on my turbo timer at 11.9 ish volts and will drop when i turn the key but nothing happens. i will come home from work when it is warmer and the car will start like it usually does. so upon getting settled in here at my new place in DE i pulled the starter and got it completely rebuilt locally. new everything. i installed it today (54 degrees and rainy out) and its doing the same thing. no click, nothing. So i started to dig into the problem of wiring. i also tried to start the car with a jumper cable on the battery from my truck while it was charging the car. i have the battery in the trunk with double alt battery cable to the starter. the battery is a 1000cca battery and is 2 weeks old. the alternator is a brand new as of a week ago nissan quest unit 110 amps i believe. so i believe my charging and battery system to be sufficient for the task. now the wiring i have checked. i took my power probe and checked to see that i do have battery voltage at the hot terminal on the starter. and i made sure the signal wire was connected. it used to be an auto car so it doesnt have a starter relay just the inhibitor bypass. that is still good as well. i removed the signal wire and gave battery power to the signal wire terminal on the starter and could hear a small click as if it was attempting to start but it wouldnt crank over. i have removed and reinstalled the starter to see if maybe it got in a bind on install. no change there. i checked to make sure where the starter and the trans mate up that there was no paint there tp block grounding. i want to say its the starter being bad somehow but the guy bench tested it before i got it back from him with good results. maybe i am missing something here. hopefulyl someone has an idea. its in an s13 rwd ca18det btw

small update. i have now had someone sit in the car and turn the key and i have battery voltage to the signal wire when the key is turned.

My s13 does the same thing every so often. It was also an auto the has had the 5-speed swap done to it. I just firgured that my starter was on its way out but maybe I should look into the wiring some more.

so i may have a lead on this. i jumped the two terminals on the starter and the motor spun over fine. so i believe the problem is in the solenoid. gonna wait till the starter shop opens tomm and see what he says

Good luck, keep us updated. I will say that it sounds like a bad starter though. It's easy for a starter to turn with no load on it. It's totally different when trying to turn a motor over.

ok i think this should be all sorted now. i got the starter repair shop to put another new solenoid on it and it starts right up now everytime...for now. so the solenoid did in fact end up being the culprit. i also now have a part number for the solenoid. this part number is from WAI, an electrics retailer. idk if you have to have a business account with them or not but maybe if you called and asked nicely they would sell you one. on my solenoid it has the part number BB14D printed on it. right below that number it says 12V which i assume is 12 volts. so maybe next time your solenoid dies and your car just clicks you can call up WAI and ask them about that part number and fix the problem yourself. If for some reason the repairman got mixed up and told me the wrong supplier i know his other supplier was J&N, so you might could try them if WAI doesnt work. Hope this helps!

Thank you for the update