02 won't crank, tons of troublsheooting .. no luck
 

I'm a noob here so I can't post new thread. This looked promising though..

My 02 won't crank. Lights and everything come on like normal but there's no sound when I try to start. The battery tested good, although there's no voltage drop while cranking. The solenoid has good connection to battery, but there's no power from the ignition wire. I tested the ignition switch and all wires have power coming from battery. Thought it could be the neutral safety swift but there was no difference when I jumped the relay.

I could not get the starter to crank by bypassing the ignition switch. There was plenty of sparks and all kinds of sounds, but it wouldn't turn.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! It's sitting in a parking lot right now until payday :(

Here is a thread on how to troubleshoot your problem. There is a photo of the starter in there with the wire connections labeled test point A, B and C.

If you jumper test points A and C, the starter will crank if it is good.

https://maxima.org/forums/5th-genera...rt-thread.html

Believe it or not, I helped a guy change his starter at a gas station and we both tried jumping it, first. It didn't crank or make any noises. Very odd.

I don't really have a point a. The wire is sodered to the solenoid. Do you think that makes a difference? Also I only tried jumping with a 4 gauge copper wire, could it have to been thick enough to carry full power?

The test point A is the trigger wire that causes the starter solenoid to energize. Test point C is the cable from the battery. All test point A are soldered (at least on the brand of starter Nissan used. Look closely at the photo in the other thread. But even then, it does not matter, you could unplug the wire and jumper to the contact.

4 gauge wire is more than sufficient to do the point A to C jumper. Look at the wire that attaches to point A. It is much thinner than 4 gauge, probably 14 gauge at most.

FWIW, test point A goes to the ignition switch via a relay.

I'm gonna try to test it again here shortly. When I tried first time the key was turned to on but the this time I'll try while cranking. If the starter was bad would I hear anything at all? I connected c and b and the starter sounded like a fan came on. Connecting c and a and it sounded like death. Does the wire have to be connected while doing this? I had it disconnected because I didn't think it mattered..

But either way I'm still not getting any volts from the small wire while car is off, on, and at start. Even if I change the starter I still wouldn't have power there so it's not gonna fix the problem. Ill check for voltage at inhibor relay to make sure the ignition switch is giving power to it.

Welp, went and looked at it again today. Turns out the headlights dim while cranking. The first time I checked the lights my boyfriend said they didn't change but obviously he's retarded.

Paydays tomorrow so I'll probably throw a new starter on it.

In normal operation, the small wire (test point A) gets voltage sent to it from the ignition switch. When some bozo on the internet tells you to jumper test points A and C, you are doing the job of the ignition switch and the inhibitor relay.

Exactly how you get 12 volts on test point A does not matter. Test point C is a convenient source of 12 volts located an inch away, but if you wanted to run a wire from the battery to test point A, it is the same thing. Since Test point A is an electrical input to the starter solenoid, the wire does not have to be connected to the wire harness. Since the the wire on test point A does not have to be connected for test jumpering purposes, that means that the position of the ignition switch does not matter.

You jumpered test point B and C and got a sound "like a fan came on." Test point B is the 12 volt input to the actual starter motor. So yes, putting 12 volts on point B made the starter motor spin. That is what the solenoid does.

Then you said "Connecting c and a and it sounded like death." This has me believing that:
A) the starter cranked the engine or
B) the starter gear did not mesh with the flywheel gear and was making a grinding noise.

Then the statement "the headlights dim while cranking." You started this thread saying no crank. I missed something. Is it cranking because you are jumpering the starter terminals or is it now cranking from the ignition switch? It is normal for the headlights to dim a bit while the starter is cranking the engine. But how much they dim is the question to be resolved. Don't know if I could answer that without being there in person.

One last comment. The thin trigger wire on test point A will only have 12 volts on it when the ignition switch is in the START position. Never any other time.