Ok guys so my car died. 94 Nissan Altima 5spd. I took the starter and the battery to get checked, (starter was tested multiple times) both checked out good. Got them back on and looked for other problems. Found that the fuse for starter inside car under dash wasn't getting power. Replaced it and then wired the clutch switch together and it started getting power. Now when I turn the key the starter at least clicks. But its still not turning over. The head lights are on and when I try to start it they don't dim. Also I THINK I successfully jumped the starter and it didn't do anything. On another note while I was in there messing around I found a random ground (It ground to the wall under the battery) That isn't connected to anything where does it plug in? I can take pictures if needed. Also if anyone can tell me the order of the wires that plug into the distributor from top to bottom mine fell apart today but I am about 90% sure I got all four plugged into the right spots. ANY AND ALL HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Whoo, TJ. You got a mess! OK, let's start with the ground. That'll stop everything. Start searching to see where that wire *should* be connected. If I understand you correctly, it's connected to the body (metal) near the battery tray? The other end could be anywhere - engine block, negative battery terminal, etc.

The good news is you can never have too many good grounds, so make sure there's a ground from the engine to the body, and one from the negative terminal to the body, and from the negative terminal to the engine (basically a triangle).

Let's have you pull down the FSM for your car next - Here's the link: www.nissanservicemanual.com You'll find the distributor order in there (90% isn't good enough!)

Keep us posted man!

Thanks for the fast response, I checked everywhere while I was under the car that I could while trying to move as fast as possible to beat sun down. I will try and find pics of an engine bay or look while at pull apart getting the pig tail for the distributor, I found this on a different forum, top to bottom
dk blue or black
red-orange
Yel-brown
blue-green
Can anyone confirm? That is how mine are poorly plugged back in luckily lol. On a side note I noticed when something metal touches one of these plugs the cars fans turn on and I don't think this happens when I turn my key (The other normal stuff happens like dash lights and the annoying little bell chime). Is it safe to try and hand turn the motor, it has 224,000 miles. A friend mentioned doing that to make sure it isn't locked up.

You can't go wrong cranking the engine by hand. With the ignition switch off, put a large wrench on the main crank pulley bolt and turn 4 quarter turns to check for broken rods or valves. Unlikely, but worth ruling out.
My 1998 uses a 30mm socket and 12" long ratchet handle.
My distributor has a 6 pin plug toward the back. Front to back, the wires are black, white/red, black/white, blue, black, white/black.

Ok I will give that a try, thanks for posting the color order but mine is 4 pin =( its the thought that counts though =) I will try and hand turn the motor and then I guess try and go from there....

The Factory Service Manual (FSM) on the nico club archive, shows a 1994 Altima has 4 wires comming off the distributor, not counting the power transistor feed in. The 4 wires should be, in order, Black, Orange, Yellow and a color symbolized by "L."
Check out FSM page #229, in the digitized version, it is Section EC, page #97. The black and Orange wires feed Cam Position signals to the ECU to operate the fuel injection.
[http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Altima/1994/ec.pdf]
All this means your car is wired correctly. Bad starter ground? Foreign object in cylinder? broken parts?
or best scenario: operational motor vehicle!

Ok guys I haven't had time to hand turn the motor. I will get to that asap. Thanks for letting me know i had it wired correctly. That's a slight relief lol. On a side note I am not sure if I mentioned this earlier but before it finally just stopped it was cranking pretty slow. Not sure if that helps.

Tj,
I have seen vehicles with bad starters or another bad accessory on the serpentine drive belt crank too slow for the engine to start. The blown fuse also suggests an overload. Sometimes tapping the starter with a hammer or putting the car in gear and pushing it can temporarily allow the car to start. If the engine turns by hand, you might try try to push- start the car as you said it is a 5- speed.

Hi all!! Long time no talk. Soo it turns out the tested starter that came back good was indeed not good. Moving on to the cooler problem. Now it will just turn over again and again but not crank up. Its odd because before the starter went out I didn't have this problem. Any whoo I now have replaced the battery the starter the cap and the rotor. It still wont start. I even sprayed carb cleaner into the intake. Nothing. So it is getting spark it is getting fuel. ( I put spark plugs on valve cover and watched all 4 spark, and put the line that feeds fuel rail into a bottle and let it spray into that to make sure I was getting fuel) What on earth could cause this???

Try starting fluid or starting with the throttle open. If it backfires when using starting fluid, your spark plug wires are out of order. If it starts with the throttle open, it is tied to the idle control system.

I tried with carb cleaner wouldn't that do the same job as starter fluid? I tried into the intake and straight into the throttle body. Sorry I forgot to mention that. Plug wires are all in order and are all denso with low miles. I may try replacing the the spark plugs too. Since its another cheap thing that can be done easily and it wont hurt replacing them. Any other ideas? This car has a timing chain right, On a side note both the switches to the clutch pedal are undone and the one on the back of the pedal has been cut out and the wires wired together to bypass having to press the clutch to start it. Would that have anything to do with it?

Clutch switches should not be the problem. One cuts the starter, the other the cruise control. I would try real starting fluid, though the others all have alcohol and will burn too. Try flooring the accelerator while starting too.

Ok guys thanks so much for all the help. I compression tested and got 50-75-50-75. I think either the rings are wore slap out or the timing is off. I'm currently leaning towards timing. Is their any way at all to replace the chain with the motor in the car? Or How do I even check it. Is the crank pulley visible if I take the front right wheel off?

Tj,
The easier check for timing on the exhaust camshaft is to attach a timing light and check timing while cranking the engine. If the distributor is close to the center and the light illuminates the timing marks on the pulley, you know the exhaust valves, at least, are timed correctly.
To check the rest of the valve timing, remove the splash guards under the engine and in the passenger wheel well. Then turn the main crank pulley, the only pulley with two belts attached to it, using a 1 1/4" socket and wrench until the marks cut into the edge of the pulley match up with the marks cast into the lower timing cover when viewed from the top of the engine. Then take off the distributor cap and makesure the rotor is pointing to the contact for Spark plug #1 instead of #3. If it points to #3, turn the engine another 360 degrees. Then remove the valve cover at the top of the engine and look at the camshafts. There are good videos showing how to time pre 1998 KA24DE engines on youtube and you should easily see if something is wrong.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofV4eghOP_w]
I spent 15 Saturdays replaced the timing chain and tensioners in my '98 Altima with the engine in the car. It is a lot of work, requiring replacement of the head gasket and removal of 3 of the 4 engne mounts as well as the front to back crossmember that holds up the engine. This is because the lower timing cover cannot be removed without taking both the aluminum and steel oil pans off.
Still if that is your only problem, you can fix it yourself for around $1000 instead of paying a shop double that amount.

Would you have any ideas outside of timing that would make the car not start. Its getting gas and spark. Timing is the only thing left I can think of.

With 25psi difference between cylinders, there is no way it could start. Altimas should read at least 150 psi. With no more than 14 psi variation. Either two cylinders are leaking fluid and are giving you " wet" readings while the others are dry, or you just have no compression on all cylinders.
Did you get crank the engine until the compression gauge stopped going up?
Did you get a second set of wet readings after pouring a little engine oil into each cylinder? My engine reads 135 dry and 165 wet on all cylinders and official specs are 149-178 psi. Overheating and warping the head, or a cracked block will give you those kind of numbers because some cylinders never give"dry" readings.
If it is not valve timing, then it is Time for another car or a junkyard engine.

Thats what I was afraid of, but ka's are an easy fine. I will get to checking the timing asap. Thanks so much.

Ok I never got back with you guys but I ended up getting the car running, and now once again it is not running. This time its slightly the same thing only its just no spark. No spark from the coil at that. I replaced the coil and the same thing happened. No spark from the coil. What could cause this?

Have you been following the troubleshooting steps in the FSM?

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Altima/1994/ec.pdf

See page EC 63 and 107

You've got a 22 year old vehicle

If you are unable to follow the FSM troubleshooting steps and the use of a multimeter, either pay and have a dealer do it for you or sell it and get a new one.

Just my $.02

Good luck

Telcoman

hot wire the starter to a pish button toggle and drive that joker