Hey everyone, I need some advice on my 4th gen Nissan Maxima 1998. The car was working fine & starting up without any issues. It slowly started losing power and was taking a while to turn over during cranking. I recently went on vacation for a month, away from my car. Upon returning , as I tried starting it up, it wouldn't crank or deliver any sound when the key was being turned in the ignition. I thought it was the battery and I tried jumping it. I even made sure all the leads were connected and tight. However, my car still isn't responding, so I need some additional assistance.

 

Sounds like you need to do some poking and prodding with a multimeter.

Based on what you've stated it still sounds like the battery may be the culprit.

However, without further testing one can't be sure.

- battery voltage?
- alternator output?
- voltage drop both (+) and (-) sides?
- charge cable continuity?

 

A totally discharged battery can prevent you from jump starting a car as it will be sucking up all the power from the jumper cables. Get the battery charged first and see what happens.

 

Test the battery and alternator. If both of them are fine, it could be a dead starter.

 

I'm gonna vote starter, mine just went out last week and it's not the first one I've had to do in two years

 

I vote starter, mine went out last week also.

I am not a mechanic but this is what I did, checked that the starter was receiving power, proceeded to take it out and try out of the car.

It didn't work, replaced it and car starts easily now.

 

Thanks guys I ended up changing the starter and she started up perrrrrrfect >

THANKS FOR THE ADVICE

 

Look at the ground wire behind hte passenger headlight. I had a 97 that was taking a long time to start...the ground wires were almost corroded.