Car won't start, can starter go suddenly like this?

SON240sx Automotive
1

Well I parked the car, went inside to grab some documents, 5 minutes later I came out, it didn’t start, so I had to resort to push start and even then it was pretty tough. The car is 89 240sx. I tried tapping the starter a bit but no luck…
It started fine though and that must have been like 10 minutes before I parked it. Do starters usually go suddenly like this? What else can it be?
The battery is good, and uhhh yeah, i don’t know what else to say, oh yeah, when I turn the key, it doesn’t make any noise at all, and i don’t know if all 240s do this but when i do turn the key, for the very second the clock on the dash goes blank regardless of being boosted with jumper cables.

Thanks a lot in advance.

2

what makes you think it’s the starter? could also be the battery or a bad connection.

3

Yeah, for what it’s worth, when my starter went bad it was a gradual process (started slower and slower).

4

Well I figured since it doesn’t started when boosted but starts when push started I figured the only thing it was lacking was the initial turn of the engine. That’s how I ruled out that it is the starter, and i’m just hoping it’s not haaha. I don’t think it’s the battery because I tried boosting it and I know I had good connection at the terminals.

5

same thing happened to me… it was gradual.

6

i would def check your battery, or even the connections on the starter.

7

something similar happened to me and it ended up being the fuses

8

which fuse was it? apparently there’s no starter fuse on 89 240sx? i checked both inside and engine bay. I kinda checked the connection, all the wire seems nicely intact. I mean I just gently parked the car after all you know?

9

Try the solenoid too…

10

is solenoid the little black thing on top of the starter? if it is, my buddy has a spare one he’s willing to sell with the starter. I’m just trying to avoid taking off the starter cuz i’m temporarily disabled right now and it’s hard for me to work. Which fuse are you guys talking about? i couldnt find starter fuse on 89 240sx, checked both inside and engine bay

11

This same thing happened to me today. all power in the car, lights bright but when the key is turned to “start” nothing happens. I got a friend to turn the key while I tapped the starter and got it going first try, but the next time I went to start it the same thing happened. I ended up going home and taking the starter off my 240 as its down for the winter anyway. Took it in to my work and swapped it over, now it works like a charm. My boss is checking it out for me tomorrow but he said its likely the solenoid that causes it to suddenly stop working, if it was the actual starter the solenoid would still make a clicking sound.

Sorry for that novel, but I wanted to share the whole story

12

Exactly, whack the starter with a 2x4 or something while someone turns it over. Could be a flat spot, or it could be dead.

13

Just so you know - I had my starter rebuilt yesterday, my boss told me that it was indeed a bad solenoid, but while it was apart he replaced the brushes too.

14

o ya, it was a flat spot, you have to hit and and try to start it at the same time.

15

do u hear your fuel pump buzzing when ign. is on? i had a severed wire and it would start real funny (s14) when it felt like

16

Thanks all for input i oughta try them out. I was hoping that I won’t have to go into doing too much work, not that i’m lazy, i can barely walk these days. Anyways, I hear the fuel pump buzz.

17

Ya mine does the same thing but only when it get alot of cold wind blowing towards the front of it. If you can find a peice of suitable metal like a peice of 1’’ round stock, using that and a hammer to tap the starter will work better as it does not cushion the frequencey of the bolw. As for mine I just hit the key rapidly sometimes it only takes 5 trys and others it takes 20.

18

is your clock working in your cluster or does it keep going back down to 1:00pm… if it does then its just your Battery and terminal conection, replace your ground to engine wire and use a wire brush and clean your terminals,

also get a volt meter and read the battery, should be around 13.5Volts, if its lower get a new battery.
(had the same pob, turned out to just be my battery was drained from leaving my DTRL on when i went inside for 15 minutes, came back out everything was on but didnt have the juice to start)

19

The clock doesn’t reset, though it is off. I just got back from trying the ‘rapid turn key’ method and ‘tap and start at the same time’ method.
Due to tapping the solenoid clicks now, but still starter doesn’t crank.
I’m gonna grab a voltmeter tomorrow and try all the stuff, but any other suggestion would be appreciated.
p.s does 89 have a fuse for starter?

20

i would like to currect the guy that said your batt should be reading 13.5volts, resting voltage of any regular batt is 12.6volts anything lower then that needs replacing. p.s currently doing automotive apprenticeship