1st generation pathfinder starting problems

[mrspeedk]

All of us 1st gen pathy owners know that these lil guys can last forever, but also have some issues that will drive us absolutely insane!!!!! I have a 94 pathfinder 4wd XE. Fortunately enough I ACTUALLY bought it from the ONE AND ONLY ORIGINAL OWNER..have all the paperwork for proof. They had a list of every single thing done to it. I bought her..her name is Matilda..(car guys can appreciate that)..lol..in Dec of 15. About a year ago I started to get that quirky starting up issue and you guys who have had this problem know EXACTLY what I'm referring to. I'd turn the key and sometimes it would start on the 1st key turn or 2nd 5th,10th,8th..etc..you get the idea..no rhyme nor reason to it. So I started doing what most of you have probably done, battery, alternator, and that GODFORSAKEN starter on the 4wds..nissan should be shot for that. But there IS a secret to it. No you don't have to pull the tire off or go thru the wheel well or take the oil filter off. Just twist it in a way so it'll fit in that tight space..TRUST ME IT'LL FIT!!..the key is REMEMBERING EXACTLY how you twisted it out to put it back in. First time took me 3 hours, 2nd time 10 mins. So I did the whole getting a BRAND NEW starter thing and it WOULD turn over, but still had the key turn issue as mentioned above. Well eventually that starter got fried too. Remember this for the end of this story..The best place to start is the beginning. So I pulled the starter..AGAIN..replaced it. First key turn nothing, 2nd.vvvrrrooommm.. I was like thank you god. So went to turn it around in my driveway, turned it off, tried to start it..22nd time it fired up..then, nothing but crickets. So I did more research and wrote a list of possible problems. I knew a guy here in Tampa that had helped me before with a misfiring distributor issue. I took it to him and he did the simple things like cleaning the terminals and contacts, etc..yes you'd be surprised on how much power you lose to the starter by that. So he then manually started the truck with a switch bypassing everything except all the wires going from the battery to the starter..VVRROOOMMMM each and every time.. starter eliminated as a possible culprit. Now here's where the moral of the story comes into play. START AT THE BEGINNING!!! He took the steering column cover off and noticed the backside of the ignition was moving just a little bit. He pushed it in..VVRROOMMMM 4 times in a row and he ran thru the gears to eliminate the neutral safety switch which has copper contacts in it as well, then it eventually became quirky again. The problem is from the mechanical side(the keyside) to the eletrical side(where you see the 5 wires come out) is there is a little copper plate in there about the size of a quarter and what happens over time it can wear out and get burn spots on it which equals not good enough contact. Got the new part $65.. put it in and it has started 53 out of 53 times on THE FIRST TRY!! So to all those pathy owners scratching their heads over what in the world is the issue, more than likely that's the problem. Now this was in my case. If you do research you'll hear everything from a $4 ground strap on the starter to a $560 oem nissan starter. I just wanna help save someone the headaches I went thru as so many of you probablly have. It's a simple and easy check to do. It's not hard to fix and it more than likely will save you a lot of time and money. I hope this helps solve a lot of the issue of 1st gen owners selling off theirs cuz they can't figure out why it won't start after trying everything.

[ubertalldude]

toss a couple of line breaks in there, bubba! hard to read the wall of text.

 

Sounds like you did the same kinda thing I had to do to mine. I eliminated the neutral/clutch safety inhibitor relay and zip-tied the ignition switch back together so it was making tight contact when turning the key to the "START' position. Wound up throwing a $90 starter at it, but it has a lifetime warranty so it was (kinda) worth it to do in the end.

 

Glad you got it running though!

[adamzan]

99% of the time the starter is not bad on these. It's either the ignition switch like you found, or the contacts at the battery/starter.

[Citron]

Excellent example of why to do diagnoses before throwing parts at the problem.

[SpecialWarr]

Might I suggest a bit of highlighting in the middle, a couple of pagebreaks and request that Precise1 or another administrator pin this in the Garage section.

[mrspeedk]

UPDATE!!! back to square one!!! Today during the middle of the day I shut it off for about 15 -20 mins and it went back to doing the same old thing. It did eventually did start on the 4th turn. Possible heat soaked starter problem?? Any info would be greatly appreciated!!

[Citron]

Buy a multimeter. Test the wire that energizes the starter selenoid coil. If there is no power, work your way back until you find power, then you will find the problem. Or start at the other end of the wire and work forward until you find the spot where you lose power.

 

Test at devices and at connectors.

Edited September 28, 2017 by Citron

[mrspeedk]

I replicated the exact conditions from when it happened a little while ago. It was PLENTY hot. It started 4 out of 4 times the first time. I DID notice just an ever so slight hesitation on the 1st key turn but it did start each and every time. Next I waited an hour to see if cooling it down anymore would change anything. It started all 3 times with no hesitation at all. The ONLY thing that I and the guy in the shop have noticed is the key lock part of the the ignition on the column moves, but it's tightened as far as it will go. He said WHEN it happens again, hammer a little nail in between the space to make sure it doesn't move..i.e. grounded good. I'm going to wait another 2 hours to see if it does it again. He said odds are WHEN it happens again, it'll be in the middle of the day at it's hottest and after I've driven for a while. He's pretty convinced it's a heat soaked starter cuz they use junk contacts in the solenoid. So ignition wires from the key lock to where they connect down the column is eliminated. The battery is BRAND NEW..3 weeks old. Have a 1 volt drop from the battery to the starter so not sure if that would be enough to keep it from starting. Definately not neutral safety switch. Might just bypass everything and run a back up push button to start it. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

[Citron]

Unless testing was done nothing is eliminated, he is just guessing that the connectors, relays etc are good. If it is truly a problem with the starter, a push button will not help.