mastercater7

iTrader: (2)

I am having starting issues on my 97, which is my beater. It has an automatic transmission and I don't know much about auto's, all my other Maxima's have been manuals. The car as it sits now will not start anymore. I had the starter checked and it is fine. It recently had this issue where it would not start in park and I would throw the shifter in neutral and it would immediately turn on. Then I wouldn't have the problem for a day, or even a week, and it would do the same thing. Sometimes it wouldn't start in neutral after trying park, then I would go back to park and it would immediately turn over. I know there are two switches that involve the transmission being in park/neutral for startup. My best guess is that it is one of those switches; however, I don't have any cels. The last time I tried to start it I was holding the key in the start position and it would crank, pause, crank, crank, pause etc until it just quit and hasn't started since. The engine doesn't crank at all anymore when I turn the key. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Zack

mastercater7

iTrader: (2)

Bump, anyone?

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Jump the gray two pin connector under the hood, going to the inhibitor switch on the trans. That goes to the park/neutral position 'part' of the switch. If it starts up every time thereafter, you'll likely either need to adjust or replace the inhibitor switch.

mastercater7

iTrader: (2)

Well, it definitely was the P/N inhibitor switch. After I installed the switch the car still wouldn't start. I then attempted to jump the starter to get the car started, but my starter wouldn't turn. I went and bought a new battery, starter cable, and starter. It wasn't until today that I realized the inhibitor switch I bought was faulty. As for now, I am just using a paperclip to jump the inhibitor switch so the car will start. Tomorrow I will go exchange the switch for a new one and the problem will be solved. Thanks for the help pmohr!

Zack