About ten days ago, I noticed my car was starting really slowly. Three days later, it wouldn't start at all, made a few pathetic cranks and then just clicked each time I turned the key. Started just fine when smoeone gave me a jump, so I took it to my friendly neighborhood Schucks to get the battery tested. They said it was just spiffy, and the next couple times I started it, no problem. A couple days later I go to start her up and it cranks twice and stops and then just does the clicking thing. I popped the hood, yelled at it a little bit and five minutes later, it started, though it still sounded pretty weak. Same thing happened again at the gas station two days later. Now it's sitting in my driveway not starting at all. After reading some of the posts about this problem, I tried giving what I think is the starter (little black cylinder with a green sticker kinda far down in there towrds the driver seat) a few good whacks with a crow bar. Tried starting it, and it made this awful noise, whiney, screechy, don't really know how to describe it, then more clicks. Whacked it a couple more times and the same thing happened. It's a 95 GLE with about 89K miles on it. I don't know that much about engine stuff and reading former posts has left me unsure whether to change the starter solenoid, the starter itself, or to clean the the throttle body. Any input?

 

1995s Have a notorious starter problem. Replace it.
-Cyrus

 

http://www.motorvate.ca/auto/maxima/starter/starter.htm


also clean your battery terminals

 

Heres what you do, you get a friend get under the car and take the turning part of the jack stand for the car and wack the start while you try and start the car at the same time. This clicking could be caused by the starter being jammed, or many other things. Try that first and see what happens(did this two days ago for a friend, and it worked)

Edit: Its not possible from underneathe the car you would have to do it from upto which is way more difficult.

 

Give the battery one more check. Specifically check the fluid level. If its the OEM battery with low fluid, just get a new battery (similar thing happened to me).

 

Wow, you guys are quick! I think I'll change the starter, but I want to check the battery first. How does one go about checking the fluid level? If it makes a difference, it's not stock, only about two years old.

 

The world of knowledge

 

please please please clean the battery terminals.. i had this problem you had and it was becase my terminals were bad.. it started sometime.. and didn't other times.. i use to walk around with a can of pepsi if it died on me.. so i could pour it on it and melt the corousion.. then one day i just cleaned it with a wire brush.. never had a problem again..

check the red circles on the pic below on where to look for the battery fluid.. and yes.. we are a bundle of knowledge here

 

Thanks, you guys are great!

 

When they tested the battery, did they test the alternator too? This could give a similar intermittent problem which continues to get worse until it quits at the worst possible time. Anyway, the check is free and worth looking into, you might as well exhaust all possible options before spending money, though the starter, as previously mentioned, are notorious.