Cranking trouble walkthrough

[Steinkrunk]

A couple of weeks ago i ran into a problem with my KA, IT WOULDNT CRANK!! So after hours of head scratching and a couple of days cursing the nissan gods, i finally solved my problems, and now i've decided to put together a little troubleshooting FAQ to help anyone in the same position.

The first thing to do is find the condition of your battery. Turn on the headlights and see if they're dim/not on at all. If you have a voltmeter, check the voltage of your battery and make sure its around/above 12.5 volts, if it's more than 1 volt lower, then charge your battery so it is fully charged. If this doesnt solve anything, then move to the next step.

The next thing to find out is if the ignition is working properly. When you turn the key to the start position the dummy lights should dim, if they do, thats a good sign. Another way to see if the ignition switch is send power to your starter is to open up the hood and find the starter. It's on the passenger side near the oil filter

This is what the starter looks like

When you find the starter, there should be three wires attached to the end, you can see them on the right side of the pic. Now find the one that is soldered on the end, the middle one in the pic. That wire should have a connector on it about 5 inches off of the starter.

This is the connector Unplug the connector and use a voltmeter to check for 12v at this wire when someone turns the key to start. If it doesnt read 12v, then your ignition switch is bad, and probably needs replacement(or not if your a DIY'er).If your doing this by yourself, you can skip this part, because i did and came up with the same conclusion later, it will save you time if you do this step tho.

If you have power at the wire, the next thing to test is the starter motor. Make sure to plug that connector back in and then find a pair of insulated pliers or a screwdriver. Now, MAKE SURE the car is in Neutral and the e-brake is up. After you make sure the car is in neutral and the parking brake is on, find your starter again and use that screwdriver/pair of pliers to connect the top and bottom posts on the end of the starter. Now, when you do this you should get some fireworks, but make sure the connection between the posts is good, and you should hear the starter motor winding up, it should sound like an electric motor, no grinding or clunking. If it doesnt spin/ sounds like crap then get that thing replaced! If not, move on to the next step!

Now, you are almost out of possiblities, but don't lose hope! This is the test to see if your solenoid is good or not. Now, with the car STILL in neutral and the e-brake on, go back to the starter with that trusty pair of pliers/ screwdriver. Now, disconnect that plug from the ignition wire again and then prepare for the fireworks again. Connect the soldered wire to the positive post (the bottom one) and that should bypass the ignition switch and send full power to the solenoid. This should make the engine crank, if not, that means the solenoid is crap and needs replacing. However, if the engine cranks like this, but doesnt while turning the key, that means a crap ignition switch. This is the way to check your ignition switch by yourself.

With me, it was a bad ignition switch, and since i was by myself it took me until the last step to find that out. You can get an ignition switch from any parts place for about 30 bucks, but if you dont want to fork over 30 bucks, there is another way around it! By using your current ignition switch and some electrical know-how you can wire in a push-button ignition. You can get a switch and push button from any parts store for about 15 bucks for both, and you wont have to wait 5 days for them to special order the nissan ignition switch from guam.

Well I've gotten you this far, now it's up to you to decide to buy the nissan part or do it yourself and make a trick ignition. Im putting together a write up for the psuh button ignition and should have it up in a couple of days. But, until then you can just use the wiring diagrams in the fsm and try it yourself.