enginerd Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 So the truck randomly wouldn't start on about the third errand today. The battery is holding steady at 12.5V. All accessories, headlights, etc. work fine. When the clutch is pushed in and the ignition turned to start, nothing happens. There's one click, not repeated clicking. There is no effort by the starter to turn. The AAA guy came to the same conclusion. We pushed it in the parking lot until we popped the clutch to start it, and that got me home. I parked at the top of the hill, and tried again, no action by the starter. I did a quick search, but didn't find much, and I don't know if this is the same fix as the "switching from AT to MT" thread. Has anyone come across this before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 stick your head down by the pedal. You'll see a switch for the clutch, I can't remember if its normally closed or normally open. Unplug it (normally closed), if it still don't start jumper it with a paperclip(normally open). It either one solves the problem you can replace the switch or just remember not to hit anything when you start it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1994SEV6 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 I don't know if it means that it's opened or closed, but I don't even have a clutch position switch. I couldn't find the wire plug for it. It sounds like you have the right idea. It might be the trick from the "Switching from A/T to M/T" thread. When I switched over, and hadn't yet done my park-neutral switch, I heard one single click. Your Park-neutral relay might be bad (apparently this is extremely rare) or for whatever other reason, your starter isn't getting power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5523Pathfinder Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Inhibitor relay by th battery, smack it while trying to start it. Blue, two connector relay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vagabond Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Inhibitor relay by th battery, smack it while trying to start it. Blue, two connector relay That damn relay caused a lot of problems when they first came out, try smacking it or make a jumper wire to jump across the 12 gauge wire terminals on the relay plug. Just make sure it's in neutral or the clutch pedal is pushed in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1994SEV6 Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I think you need to combine yours and tmoore4512's thread here and find an average. Then both of your problems will be solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginerd Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 Jumping the relays contacts worked. Now I just have to decide what the permanent fix is, but think I'll just pull back the wire insulation and solder the jumper wire on the wires at the back of the relay. I'm wondering if this is related to the fact that the fender liner on that side was recently removed and there's a daylight hole in the sheetmetal right next to these relays and the battery. Would lots of water in there (I'm in Seattle) be a likely cause of this and other problems? Thanks for the help all, much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginerd Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 Scratch that, now I made it worse. I stripped the wires below the relay plug, and bridged those with a test wire. It started, but it was a struggle for the starter. I drove around for 15 minutes, then parked. Tried to start again, and just get one click. Voltmeter shows normal voltage at the battery and on the switch side of the relay socket. But no starter action. Did I just fry the starter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alabama_lowlife Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 What are the wire colors on the relay? The pathfinder diagram I have is crappy, I wanna compare it to the HB diagram I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginerd Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 Here's a quick picture. The front of the car is down in the photo. The two wires are one of the two black ones and the brown one. You can just barely see where I stripped the wires to bridge them. That's when it no longer worked... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alabama_lowlife Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 None of the wiring diagrams I have show a brown wire on the clutch interlock relay. I've looked at several from different years, trucks and 1994 pathfinder. They all have 2 black/yellow wires that get 12vdc from the ignition switch in the start position. One black/pink wire that provides 12vdc to the starter. And one blue/green wire that provides ground to the relay whenever the clutch is depressed. Jumping the black/pink wire with one of the black/yellow wires should allow it to start by turning the key and eliminates the clutch switch and relay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vagabond Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 (edited) I'm sitting here with a relay and plugs in my hand, the 2 wires you want to jump are the black with a yellow stripe and the black with a pink strip, the pink may be faded and look white. They will be the heavier gauge wires, also they will be in the larger plug edit to add the relay your jumping is the wrong relay you want the other one, it has 4 wires and 2 plugs. It's in the pic you posted Edited January 27, 2012 by vagabond Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginerd Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 Good point, I should stop and make sure I'm working with the right part... and also brushed up on relay operation and realized that I had it backwards anyway. Here's a picture of the two relays (with three connectors) found right behind the battery, held in position similar to how they're mounted. Here's a sketch with wire colors. Last night and this morning, messing with the forward relay connector did the trick, but not from lunch on today. The heavier gauge wires are the #1 and #3 on the rear relay. It doesn't make sense to me that these could be heavier gauge while the circuits that they are part of through the relay are connected to smaller gauge wires on the other side... so I'm a little confused why this would be the #1/#3 combination instead of the #3/#5 combination to close the circuit. Thoughts? Is it just providing voltage/current from one circuit directly to another and that's OK? Sorry, circuits have never been my strong suit, though I'll keep trying! I'll try it both ways and see what happens! I may also just buy a new battery, I learned recently on my Subaru that the battery was responsible for all kinds of illogical bugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alabama_lowlife Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Are you sure 1 & 3 aren't black/yellow? According to the diagram I have they should be. #5 should be the black/pink wire that goes to the starter. The likely reason why the wires in 1 & 3 are larger could be the length of the wire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5523Pathfinder Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Hold on a sec. The larger 2 connector relay is your inhibitor relay. The single plug smaller relay should be, iirc, the defroster relay. If you are trying to jump the defroster relay, thats not going to work. You want to jump the Black/Yellow and Black/Pink wires, as stated above. You might just want to grab a new relay. Last time I checked they were under $20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginerd Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 My wire colors match the sketch above. They don't match my wiring diagram (Haynes) either, for either of the relays at this location. I've tried it every which way, with no luck. New relays is next on the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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