Starter went bad

[fixinto]

Today, i took a day off work do to having way much to do and not enough time to do it. I have been moving my stuff for the past week and needed to turn in the cable box and get a change of address form, so on and so forth.... this is the only time i have taken a day from work in ....it has to be 3 or 4 years.

Well Murphy being true to his law concerning me, when i came out of the cable office after turning in the box for the TV, the pathfinder wouldnt start, just click, click, asked for a jump from a guy beside me, threw the cables on there, click click. Needless to say with everything on my plate, i threw up in my mouth a little bit because that my friends is the sound of a starter telling you to ***k off.

 

so i called around on my phone until i found a starter, Only one in stock in town, I then push started the pathfinder drove to the store and bought one. 140 smackers plus a 30 bone core. OUCH IM MOVING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!! I cant really gripe because the truck has been pretty much flawless for the last 6 years. So after a 15 dollar cheapo tool set purchase i pulled the pathfinder up on the parking curb in the "autoparts" parking lot crawled under it and removed the old starter and threw the new one on. Its a little tight in certain spots but with a good set of either open ended wrenches or shorty ratchets its not a hard job. "unfortunately the shorties and good boxies are in storage at this time"

 

what you will need to change the starter,

1. Either ratchets or box end

2. 14mm socket

3. 12mm socker and or box end wrench

4. about 20minutes to 40minutes of your time. (depending on available tools and level of experience)

an interesting side note is that the new starter came with 13mm nuts on the terminals instead of 12mm. the threads are the same, just the outer part of the nuts were different.

 

Process: FIRST DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF THE BATTERY. cant stress that enough. Next I recommend if you can reach the terminal nut at all with the starter still bolted on, go that route, as it makes the starter stable while your loosening the nut. there are 2 terminals and one plug on the starter. One of the terminals are hooked up "the top one" and it has a rubber dust boot covering the 12mm nut. Pull the dust boot back and throw a shorty ratchet with a 12mm socket on it and loosen it until u can remove the cable attached to the post. After that go ahead and remove the two 14mm bolts that run through the transmission "bell housing" into the starter At this point pull the starter toward the front of the motor and give it a wiggle and it will come out, position it to where you can see, and reach the "clipped in terminal" being i have big hands and arms and i dont see well in the daylight, i had to position it so i could see it, then feel around it giving the plug a gentle squeeze with two fingers until i found a part that was springy or had a little give to it. Then i depressed that tab and pulled the plug away from the locking connector to disconnect it. after this just compare your starters to make sure you have the correct one for your make and model, "there were several for my year according to the tech bulletin" once you determine you have the correct part. I recommend plugging the connector back in, then placing the starter back where its home is. Start the two 14mm bolts that go through the bell housing into the starter by hand. " i personally go 4 to 5 threads to make sure there is no cross threading" after it was seated i then put the terminal with the dust boot back on the post sticking out, "the top post" put the lock washer on, reused my 12mm nut and got it started by hand as far as i could.

At this point i went ahead and torqued the 14mm starter bolts down, and torqued the 12mm nut on the top post down. Slide the the dust boot back over the terminal and nut. "double check your work" once satisfied that you have put it on, crawl out from under your ride, replace the battery cable and give her a crank. Mine fired right up and ran fine, turned it off and tried it again giving it 30seconds to cool down in between. Fired right up. No strange noises rattles or otherwise. I am very sorry for not having time to take photos or videos, but being as i was busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest at the time, that wasn't really an option. I hope this can help someone that was in my position in some small way. Have a good day fellas, and females.

 

Other notes of interest: My pathfinder has cranked a little slower than i was used to since i bought it. but generally didnt take much to fire it up so no big deal. This went on for six years. This morning i started it up and had sort of a lingering hum, like the solenoid was sticking just a touch longer than normal. It caught my ear being that you know what the "normal" start up sound is, if you have owned your ride for a while. Well it may have done this once or twice before over last couple of weeks but this time it really caught my attention, after that, the next time i tried to start it, all i go was a click. I am relatively sure that i could have beaten on the solenoid with a screw driver handle or let the truck cool for several hours and it probably would have worked again. But i guess my point was, the lingering hum of the solenoid was the only warning i got for my starter crapping out. so beware =)

 

 

Pat

 

 

Edited September 4, 2014 by fixinto

[01Pathmaker]

Good write up Pat! Thanks for sharing your pain with us. I know Murphy quite well also, he sure is a big pita and always shows up at the wrong time.

[Quaintbucket]

Thanks for the write up! I am noticing that my pathfinder is not starting up right away like it normally used to so I'm waiting for the starter to crap out.

 

Hope the rest of the move went well.

 

 

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