1996 Nissan Sentra GXE will not start

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I have a 1996 Nissan Sentra GXE 1.6L automatic. It fails to start intermittently. It does not matter if the engine is hot or cold. It does not turn over and it seems the whole car has lost power (no engine warning lights, no power locks, etc).

I have taken the battery to be tested and it comes out “good.” Once I put the battery back in, the car starts and power is restored to the entire car. The starter (1 month old) and alternator (1 year old) test out good also. I changed the inhibitor relay, but the problem occurred again 2 weeks later.

I also noticed one time when I attempted to jump the car with the negative jumper cable attached to the engine block of the dead car or to the negative battery terminal of the dead car, the car would just click (as though attempting to turn over). However, when I connected the jumper cable to the exposed part of the dead car’s negative battery cable (right next to the battery cable connector), it starts.

Please help!!!

2

The next time this happens, try starting it with the shifter in the Neutral position instead of Park. If it starts then the problem is with the Neutral Safety switch. This would happen occasionally with an old pickup I had.

Ed B.