My 2000 Maxima SE is slow to crank over at times. It almost feels like the battery is weak and doesn't have enough juice to crank the engine over. Most of the time it starts up fine, but maybe once out of ten tries it feels like the starter gets stuck or doesn't have enough power to crank the engine. I recently replaced the starter as the original was making a squealing noise after the engine started. However, the squealing noise is now gone, but it still seems weak to crank sometimes. I also replaced my battery 4 months ago. I had the electrical system checked out at Advance Auto parts and the battery and alternator checked out fine. What should I look at next? Should I replace the battery wires? I'm wondering if there is a bad/loose connection somewhere. Would appreciate any comments as I am completely baffled.

 

The Nissan starter is a delicate thing. It is a little motor that by itself, cannot start the car. The motor spins at a high speed and is geared down through a planetary gearset. This planetary gearset is a problematic thing. As the lubrication dries up, the planetary gearset binds and the cranking speed is reduced. Greasing the gearset may not always return the performance because any wear that occurs also causes binding. Unfortunately, rebuilt starters may not always have all defective parts replaced, so don't ever rule out the starter just because you replaced it.

But the starter may be ok. Sometimes the battery cables develop corrosion where the cable wire goes into the battery clamp. This could happen to either the positive or the negative cable. Another possibility is the battery grounding. The spots where the negative cable grounds to the body and the engine could have developed corrosion, especially if you live in the salty snowbelt. Check out your cables and the grounding points and maybe this will solve your problem.

 

You may have gotten a bad starter. I had to replace mine under warranty shortly after I installed. Fixed the problem. Just remember that products that are remanufactured are not always done correctly. If you take it back, have them put the new one on the tester first to not waste any time or aggrivation. As you know, these are not in the easiest spot on the car for install. Hope this helps.

 

Testing off the car is a joke. These items need to be tested in vehicle for proper diagnosis. And advance auto is not the place to troubleshoot anything.

You need to do what's called a starter draw test. This monitors amperage and voltage during cranking, and the readings will lead you to the next test point, whether that's a starter or battery cables, etc.

And everything Dennis said x2

 

defective Battery or broken, crack OEM battery clamps......

 

Thanks for all of your comments! The problem has been fixed. It was a bad rebuilt starter. Funny, how the original went bad and then the first replacment was doing the exact same thing as the original. This second rebuilt starter cranks much faster than the others.