sentra starter

[navysnail]

allright, i think its an 01 (not my car, its winstons), but anyway, today when he tried to start it, it made a loud click and nothing happened. the engine did not turn over. we tried again and that time it started right up. now its not starting again. any ideas? we didnt really check everything since it started, but im thinking it could be a bad solenoid. any ideas are welcome. im sure NTN will check this when he has a chance to update it a little.

[nametakennow]

Alrighty, I'm back from work, here's the skinny.

Went to start it up this morning, hear a loud pop, lights on the dash flicker, then nothing. Try it a few times more, still nothing, so I call Mike.

He and I look at it for awhile, try it a few times, then after awhile (a couple minutes of just poking around the engine bay), I try it one more time and BAM! Roars to life.

So, later on, I get in my car to go to work. I turn the key and POP, dash lights flash, nothing.

A couple tries later I hear the starter click once and the lights stay on a little longer, then nothing.

Finally, it starts up.

After work tonight it started on the first try.

This leads me to think that there's a battery->ignition issue, given that the lights and such work, but the ignition-related electrical doesn't (when the pop occurs).

The battery is about 6 months old.

I do a lot of short trips around town, so I have fewer miles between starts than most people.

Anyway, so I'm thinking that since other electrical works, either the battery is running low and I need to drive for awhile to get it charged, or there's something with the connections between the battery and the ignition.

2001 Sentra SE (SR20DE)

[NISTECH]

I am a little confused here. The lights get goofy when the pop occurs or they dont?? If the lights get goofy when it pops. I would say check your battery terminal connections, make sure they are tight on the batteyr posts.

If the lights just act as normal when trying to start the car I am leaning toward starter gone out.

[nametakennow]

Lights get goofy too, right as the pop happens, and any time I try to start it and fail after the pop occurs. They flash on and then go out, rather than coming on for a moment as the engine starts, as when normal.

I thought of battery as well when I got home after work, I'll check it before I head out.

My dad added those felt things that supposedly reduce gunk buildup on the terminals when we got the new battery. Could those cause the connection to be a little iffy?

[NISTECH]

only if they are pushing the cable ends up high enough that they cant attain adaquit clamping force on the battery post creating a poor connection.

[nametakennow]

They have pushed them up, we had to work with it to get a good clamp.

If I have the issue again here in a minute when I leave, I'll pull those things off and check for any corrision.