About once a week, my truck will fail to start. I tried exercising the interconnect switch at the clutch pedal, and banged on the starter/clutch interconnect relay under the hood. No help.

Battery voltage is up, starter works after bumping the truck, but every now and then I get nothing from the key/starter. No noise, no clicking , no nothing. Everything else works fine, fans, radio, lights, etc.

I'm thinking that I need to swap out that starter/clutch interconnect relay under the hood..

Sound like the first thing to do?

Going to the dealer , now , for a new one.

You can get that at an auto parts store, Bille. About $20.

Good first step, because if it isn't that, you have a spare.

That's good to know. Dealer in town wants 31$ I balked.

I'll just bumpstart it if it comes to that again( 1 time in 50 starts, or so). This is only the second time in ten years( that wasn't batttery/ alternator related.

Sheesh, you'ld think they could make a relay to go 300,000 miles- instead of 265K.
I figure that's only 11,000 cycles in 10 yrs.

I'll see if Parts America has it online.

Nope, although it might be under "miscellaneous", like this Vatozone relay
I wonder if this blade config is correct.

( I really need to find my FSM)

They list it by application. That's where I found mine, but I picked mine up locally.

Parts america has the relay. I got one from the local advance auto parts(same company as parts America).

I tried AUtozone- they had a relay w/ the correct "blade" pattern, but it didn't have the shrouded sides that the OEM relay has.

I then went to Kragen. They told me not available- dealer only. So I went to Mossy Nissan $33 incl tax.

While I was there, I checked on prices for a few things:

• rear cat $600
  
• steering box $1800
  
• steering linkage(tierods/ centerlink) $260
  

yea, dealer steering box is unbelievably expensive. Even after market there like $600.

260 for all steering linkage is a deal.

quote:

Originally posted by LordBiotree:
yea, dealer steering box is unbelievably expensive. Even after market there like $600.

260 for all steering linkage is a deal.

I'll have another go at adjusting mine.

The intermittent crept back into the picture. I had been waiting for it to crap out again so I could swap in the new one.


Did the relay swap- no help.

So I bump started it, and w/i a minute of mildly running through the gears, I was able to key start it.

So, I parked it again, restarted it several times, and did some chores.

CAme back and no start.

It's happened twice in a day, now, and gone right back to working again

Time to look at the starter, get a BFH to bang on it, and check the wiring down there.

It almost sounds like the bearings in your starter are going bad and hitching when it's stopped at a certain point. next time it won't start, whack the starter with a hammer/rock/head and try to key it, or have someone else key it while you hit the starter. just make sure the truck's in neutral and the e-brake is on when you get under there!!
if the hammer trick works, you either need to rebuild your starter or buy a new one. there's a post on here somewhere about rebuilding it if you choose to go that road.

Starters wear out sometimes, especially if you have an old VG30

Take it apart and clean the motor with some quick-drying electrical cleaner. Look for anything strange (like oil, debris) that might prevent the motor from working.

When you bumped the truck, do you mean you pushed it a bit while it was in gear?

Did you try turning the key to the Start position repeatedly?

I have what southerners call a "bad spot" on the starter motor. Sometimes it won't start. Banging on the starter with a bfh works, as well as trying to start it a bunch of times. I haven't had time to take it apart and clean the oil out. The oil filter is on the block just above the starter on the old VG30s...

Q: When you bumped the truck, do you mean you pushed it a bit while it was in gear?

Pushed it down a slight slope , got up some speed, and dropped it into 2nd gear

Q: Did you try turning the key to the Start position repeatedly?

Oh yeah. I was thinking possibly something was on the fritz w/ the ign switch. Repeated turning off all the way, key removal, and then attempt to start has never worked once it doesn't want to start.

What's weird is that once I bump it to get started, it will start again w/i a minute..

The "flat spot" in the starter, or some contaminates therein is my guess.

At least I have a spare relay, now.

Yesterday, it happened twice. TOday- works every time. It's just that 1% of the time that I'm screwed, so I'm always concerned w/ how I park( might need to bump it).

I have that problem with my 95(Pathfinder, automatic, no bump start for me!)
When it first surfaced the starter was definitly going, it was turning over but very slowly. I replaced it which cured the slow turnover problem and the not starting went away too, but it came back a month or two ago and then stopped doing it and hasn't since early May.

Repeated attempts to start usually work on 3 but sometimes as many as 8...those ones worry me...

I never did locate the appropiate relay to replace and have been thinking it could me associated with my ignition switch?

cator, My relay was under the hood on the passenger fender. of course your's might be located elsewhere.

So I'm looking at a reman starter from Kragen for $87 AUTOLITE- sure beats the dealer price.

Has to be better than the one in there now.

I would not waste my money on a autolite, get the Bosch or something similar in quality.