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92 Pathfinder Occasionally Starts


trenton163
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My pathfinder starts most of the time but there have been some times when it won't.I have replaced the started, the starter solenoid, spark plugs, the battery cables I have an optima battery, but its like three years old. I can't figure it out??? help please?

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Mine was randomly not starting for a while, just a clicking sound.... played with the relays on the passenger fender, wiggling and pushing them all in, and haven't had any problems since. Not sure which one is actually for the starter though. Hope that helps.

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does it just click or does it just keep turning over and over and not start?

It doesn't do anything,all the lights come on and I turn everything on, it just wont turn over. most of the time I just wait a little bit and it turns over. Once it tries it can turn over easily and it runs smooth.

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I'm guessing, from reading that everything powers up but the starter doesn't engage, that there's a faulty neutral or safety switch tripping and disengaging the starter circuit.

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I'm guessing, from reading that everything powers up but the starter doesn't engage, that there's a faulty neutral or safety switch tripping and disengaging the starter circuit.

how would I go about fixing that?

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I was going to suggest the starter is going bad as my 87 did that years ago, one way you can test it is next time it doesn't start hold the key forward to the crank position and have someone LIGHTLY tap the side of the starter, the jack rod works good for this, don't ask,LOL - if the starter cranks it's probably the starter hanging up

word of caution on replacement starters I went thru 3 of them in 3 weeks before I got one that worked, first 2 were local rebuilds first one lasted 3 days, second one lasted a week than got a Beck Arnley one and never had another problem with it.

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In my 94 the safety switch is a lil off canter when replacing my old transmission, I just push up the shifter all the way up in park pushing in the button aswell and she starts..... also try in neutral pushing forward or back to see if that helps......

There is also a thread on adding a relay to the system on here somewhere that helps with the clicking and makes the starter turn over quicker, if it isn't the safety switch you can try that.

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ignition switch?

 

bad answer, sorry didn't read everything!

 

"It doesn't do anything,all the lights come on and I turn everything on, it just wont turn over. "

Edited by jgt
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If you're getting the infamous "click" and nothing, read this before you spend $$ needlessly. I tried to chase down a starter problem that I had for two years. When you'd turn the key, it would only click. Not all the time, very random, but would happen about 30% of the time when you tried to start it. Once it would click, it usually would take 5 to ten turns , click-click-click then start. Ends up the wires that carry the juice to the starter solenoid were getting old and wouldn't pass enough voltage to fully activate it. If that sounds like what's going on with yours, follow the link's directions and splice a relay into the circuit that'll throw 12v directly to the solenoid. I did and mine starts every time now.

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I spliced a relay into mine aswell and it works... If you travel through alot of water crossings with your pathfinder you should look into using a water proof relay, because the relay will short. Happened to me on the trail, now i have a rubber over it lol.....

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if you have to replace the starter I would recommend a new one from the dealer ( if they even sell new ones anymore) or find one made by Beck Arnley, any extra money it costs you will make up for having to replace an inferior rebuilt one multiple times.

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Also a really simple thing to check that I don't believe anyone has suggested is the battery terminals, sometimes they get just corroded enough that they allow enough electricity to pass through to light up the lights and radio, but not enough for the starter to engage. This happened to my pathfinder a while back, every few weeks or so it would fail to start until I took the wires off and scraped at them with a wire brush...my symptoms were exactly like yours and a good scraping was all it took to clean them up and fix the problem for good. Also you say your battery is 3 yrs old thats kind of old for a battery, it might be losing juice, while you are at the auto parts store buying a starter have them test the battery too.

 

Good luck

Edited by swapdip
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  • 2 weeks later...

If you're getting the infamous "click" and nothing, read this before you spend $$ needlessly. I tried to chase down a starter problem that I had for two years. When you'd turn the key, it would only click. Not all the time, very random, but would happen about 30% of the time when you tried to start it. Once it would click, it usually would take 5 to ten turns , click-click-click then start. Ends up the wires that carry the juice to the starter solenoid were getting old and wouldn't pass enough voltage to fully activate it. If that sounds like what's going on with yours, follow the link's directions and splice a relay into the circuit that'll throw 12v directly to the solenoid. I did and mine starts every time now.

okay thanks I read the article, but I'm confused. What is the main harness behind the battery? when I tried to follow my cable all i saw was thick black and yellow cable running to the positive battery terminal. could you maybe post a pic of yours so i could get a better idea of how to go about doing this? It sounds pretty straight forward i just am still a little lost with it.

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