Having intermittent trouble with a 2011 Armada. Most of the time it cranks fine. On occasion, it will not turn over. All of the dash lights and everything come over but no cranking of the engine… try it four or five times when this happens and then it starts. What to check? Thank you in advance.
The next time it doesn’t start, with the dash lights on, step the brake pedal and shift the transmission into neutral and then try starting the engine.
If the engine starts, there’s a problem with the park/neutral safety switch.
Tester
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If that doesn’t work, then another possibility is worn starter solenoid contacts. That’s a common cause of this problem in Toyotas, it might be for your Nissan. I don’t know if you can buy them separately, or if you just have to replace the starter.
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If that doesn’t work, a bad or dirty cable connection at the starter or battery can cause this.
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Yeah, I’d remove, clean, and replace the battery connections, just to be sure. And it’s free.
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And after checking all that your switch could be out of adjustment after 11 years of usage. The other items are more likely though.
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As posted above, this is a common query here, on all cars, and there are lots of reasons why that happens. If the above ideas don’t pan out, the first test is a measurement of the voltage at the starter’s “s” terminal during attempted cranking. Should be at least 10.5 volts. Probe between terminal and starter case. Post your shop’s measurement here, might get some more ideas … best of luck OP, this should definitely be fixable, but may be frustrating in the meantime.
Suggest not to defer on this, as soon it may not crank at all.
Replacing the starter motor is not a typical do-it-yourself repair.
Below is a video showing the replacement of the starter motor, fast forward to 8:40, the intake manifold is removed exposing the starter in the valley between the cylinder heads.
