[slvrsentra]

Alright here it goes.

First of all a while back my starter decided to become wack on me (kinda) it would start up fine (takes a little more turns) but have a grind sometimes. (I am thinking the flywheel teeth are a little chewed up) Now it's summer nice and warm out. I start my car up just fine first try, but after she warms up it's a whole diffrent story. When I try to start it after it's been driven it sounds like the battery is dead and barely turning over. (Most of the time it starts with alot of effort but today it didn't) Any way a nice guy came over and hooked up some jumper cables and it jumped but still sounded weak. Now I am thinking my battery doesn't have enough amps to turn over my starter. I drove home tested my battery with the car on it showed a 14.2 V but with the car on, radio, lights and hazards it droped to a 13.8 and the lowest was 13.2 AHHH. Is it my alternator. With the car off and all accesiors on the battery doesn't drop below a 12.3. So my question (Finaly ) is what do you think Batter or alternator?? I pretty much ruled out the starter.

THANKS FOR READING MY LIFE STORY and for any inputs I get

CORY

 

[95 SentraB13]

My guess, and you already ruled this out, is the starter motor. We had the exact same problem on one of our Sentra's. I noticed it a few days before it completely died that the motor was getting harder to start and it would turn over a few more times than usual...it just felt sluggish. I always drive with my lights on, I was taught that by Young Driver of Canada. Our cars have daytime running lights anyway but your tail lights will not be on. By turing your headlights on your tail lights will be on as well which is proven to reduce accidents by 20%.
On Sunday I was driving around with my brother going places and doing stuff and I noticed the car was harder to start each time when we were about to leave. Finally I drove home and dropped him off at his house. When I went to leave there wasn't a gig in the car, no tick, nothing. Like I said, I always drive with the lights on so I guess there wasn't enough juice for the starting motor but the lights still came on.

Our local garage was just 2 houses down and I only live up the road from my brother so it was no big problem. Found out the next day the Starting motor was gone, burned up inside. I know that if the alternator is gone it will drain your battery due to a ground out. If you alternator is hot or has a burning smell then it's probably that...otherwise it still sounds like the starting motor.
Cost to rewire the starting motor was around $75 CDN

Greg

 

[slvrsentra]

When you car started to take a while to turn on did it almost sound like your battery was just not putting enough amps out to turn the starter. Pretty much like the battery was dead and needed a jump? Thats what mine sounds like after it has been driven around.

THANKS

CORY

 

[95 SentraB13]

Yip, same noise. Like I said, "it just felt sluggish" like the battery was on the way out. Usually the car starts as soon as I turn the key, now it was a second delay at first. After a few more starts it would take about 2-3 seconds and turn very slow like the battery was gone.
I wasn't sure what it was at first, either the alternator or starting motor or a bad connection. If it was the alternator the car would probably shut off while I was driving or at a light. It took about 3 days since I was driving the car for it to happen. This is my mother's car so she would never notice. My father never noticed.

You could have the same problem or something else.
Anymore questions, just post or PM.

Greg

 

[slvrsentra]

Thanks greg for sharing your experinces. Did your problem always exist no matter what the weather was or the operating temp. of the motor. Since my car starts fine (Just a little more turns.) when its the first time its turned on. After it warms and it is warm/sunny outside it goes dead after the first time. Did yours do this at all??

CORY

 

[95 SentraB13]

As far as weather is concerned, Newfoundland has the worst in Canada. I know Sunday when I was driving the car it was sunny and somewhat warm. A few days before that the weather was about the same, maybe a few light showers. It was several days that the car would start up the same way...like something was wrong but you couldn't pinpoint it. For lack of a better mechanical term, the car felt heavy/sluggish even while driving. It would just start up strange but still start. It was like this for a few days then in a matter of hours on Sunday it just burned out.

"Since my car starts fine (Just a little more turns.) when its the first time its turned on. After it warms and it is warm/sunny outside it goes dead after the first time."

You mean the car is hard to start the first thing in the morning if it's hot and sunny or after you already had the car going and try to restart it again? I noticed that...each time I restart the car after it was going for a while it would take more to start it. As for weathing being an issue, I never noticed since the problem wasn't around long, 3 days maybe and I was only casual driver on the car.

Greg

 

[toolapcfan]

My XE's starter grinds after starts but only when it's cooler out. When I did my clutch the flywheel looked ok, the starter teeth took most of the damage, I think the solnoid wasn't disengaging quick enough. So that might be your grinding thing. As for the starting thing, take your car to a parts store and have them do a free alternator and battery check. That'll save you some tourbleshooting. My wife's car had the battery crap out on monday night, it would click but not start. So we jumped it and took it to the parts store and sure enough the battery was bad. I'd thought it could be any of the three, batt, starter, alt, and her car is known for having alt.'s go bad, already replaced it once. Saved me a lot of time and hassle to just have the battery and alternator checked. I put the battery in, in the parking lot in about 10 minutes and we were good to go. If it turns out it is your starter, I'd compare what a lifetime warranteed replacement costs versus having it rebuilt. I don't know how well they rebuild but I saved a lot of money on starters the two times I had it rebuilt for my truck.

 

[SE-R Kid]

Ok, your delimma is well known to the big american v8 crowd.

It's known as Starter Heat soak. When your starter gets hot, it won't conduct electricity as well, and it won't turn over with as much force.

Only fix in your situation is to replace the starter. Sorry for the bad news.

 

[slvrsentra]

Well thanks everyone for all the help. I had parked my car in the garage to take a look at it today. I started her up with some effort of coarse but she did. I removed the negative cable from the battery to see if my car still ran. It did perfectly. So I ruled out the starter and I just knew it wasn't the batter since it was still good. I let the car warm to temp. then turned it off to where it was hard to start. Then I disconnected the inake pipe so I got a clear shot of the starter and wacked it a couple times with a hammer then it got better. That finished my diagniostics IT WAS MY STARTER. I called my local shucks auto parts took it in and bought a new one for 108$. They also tested it for shits and giggles and for sure the motor smelt like it was burning and it LAGGED very bad. I have now got the new starter in and let me tell you I LOVE IT it starts in like .0002 seconds.

CORY

THANKS FOR ANY INPUTS I RECIEVED THIS BOARD IS AWESOME.

 

[95 SentraB13]

Congrats slvrsentra!!
Nice to know now that you won't break down in the middle of know where for some unexplained reason. Just wondering, did they give you a discount when you brought the older starter in to the shop? Where I live there are serveral shops, Alternator Exchange and Starter Motor Exhange is the name of them. They usually take $5 off in swapping for a new one but they will totally rewire the old one, clean up the outside making it look factory new...all this for about $75 CDN instead. I'm not sure on the warrenty on them. A new one like you bought would cost around $175-$220 CDN here at Canadian Tire. You get a 1 - 5 year warrently depending on which one you buy. For me it's cheaper and better to get the $75 deal, but it all depends what available locally. I suppose you saved on high labour costs doing it yourself plus you learned something, for us we needed the car back asap.

Sounds like you got a good deal, plus you didn't have to wait a day to get the old one rewired. Glad to hear she's working well again.

Greg

 

[slvrsentra]

Well i used my old sarter for a core 55$ and i got a discount a shucks because my dad is in the military. So thats pretty much why i got a good deal. The starter has a limited lifetime warranty. Eaither way it works like a champ. Oh yeah its made by autolite.

CORY

 

[ace]

Hard start ?

Hiya,

I found the posts interesting and maybe, hopefully I can find an answer here.

I've a '91 B13 Sentra and since the day I got it, I've had this hard start problem. ie it usually takes 3-4 cranks to get it moving.
Funny thing is that after getting the engine heated and shutting it off, the engine can crank the first time. But not after >4 hrs, and the whole cycle starts again.

I've had the battery , starter motor, distributor, plugs, plug cables , fuel pump and filter replaced but no joy came out of this.
This was after several mechanics.

I've read elsewhere that there's a possiblity that the O2 sensor or EGT sensor may be faulty.

Can anyone help here? Thanx

 

[estrauss11]

Had the Same Problem

I had the same problem about 9 months ago. The only thing different was that the Alternator went first and then the Starter. After the starter motor was replace the Alternator went again, and also killed the battery. Since then no problems.

 

[95 SentraB13]

Just a guess...

Could be a faulty ingition coil not getting the 12V it needs from the battery. Do you have anything turned on when starting the car. Try turing everything off first which I assue you have already done.

I'm not a mechanic. Perhaps your car was made on Monday or Friday, you got a bad lemon. If the car was like that since it was bought new you should have returned it to the dealer.

Greg

 

[ace]

I've lived with this problem for almost a year now. It's actually more of a nuisance than a problem..upto now no mechanic can find the cause, so maybe I'd have to wait til a major problem appears. Not a wise decision but what to do?

I'm not sure if the alternator is the problem, but I did notice that when the signal lights are ON, I can see the dashboard lights and radio dimming slightly with the On Off sequence of the signal lights. Can this be a problem with the alternator ? Battery is about 1 yr.

As for the dealer, I've made him change the starter motor, battery till he gave up. As you mentioned, maybe I got a bad lemon.

I'd probably give a thought to replace the ignition coil.
Until then, any more suggestions for this problem ? Shortfall of selling it off.

 

[95 SentraB13]

Could be a simple ground out. My father bought a Chev Astro van, no window version, for hardwood flooring. It's a 91 or 92 I think. He bought it when it was 2 years old; used from the Dealership. The people that returned it said they had all kinds of electrical problems and no one could figure out how to fix it. He paid $5500 and found out when he brought it to the garage that the batter was not properly grounded.
Perhaps that is what's wrong...who knows.

Greg