Hey all,
long time board lurker, first post. I'm hoping someone can help with the problem I'm currently having. I have an 03 6MT and recently she's been giving me trouble starting. I have to press the clutch multiple times for it to start. I keep the key turned all the way to the start position and have to press the clutch a few times to get it to start. It seems worse after the car has been running for a while and I try to start again, like when I stop for gas. The weather has been in the 50-60s. It's been getting progressively worse. I just replaced the battery for the first time, today, thinking that the starter was not getting enough juice. It's about time for a new battery anyway, its the stock battery and the car is almost 5 years old. But, to my disappointment, the problem is still occuring after installing the new battery. For the past year, my car was only driven on weekends. I had a company vehicle and used that as my daily driver. I won't have a company vehicle anymore with my new job and will have to use my G everyday. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I plan to go to autozone tomorrow for them to check my starter and alternator. Once it starts, there are absolutely no problems. It never stalls or anything. It's gotten to the point where I leave the car running and take my keyless entry remote with me to lock and unlock the doors when going to the store. Thanks!
does it turn over, or do nothing at all?
if it's not turning over at all perhaps the clutch switch is going out, judging by the "press the clutch a few times"
It could still be a bad starter solenoid. Maybe depressing the clutch may jiggle the flywheel and consequently the starter solenoid?? When it finally works, does the starter sound like it made good contact with the flywheel...or does it sound sketchy or clash at all?
Could it be a problem w/ the ignition system??
i would say check the distributor cap & rotor... heat & voltage will take its toll on the distributor cap (cracking @ the towers or inside the distributor cap itself) & the rotors can burn out their tips or the center electrode burns out the center of the rotor and the spark grounds to the distributor shaft!!
... had this happen on my Integra & was experiencing the same problem, it was the distributor rotor!!
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No noise at all would mean safety switch to me, i bet it's the clutch switch.
Have had several friends and my old truck that the same thing happened with the auto tranny safety switch. On an auto you can just drop it into neutral and it should start.
On a friends jeep, once the neutral trick quit working, we just wired a switch up under the hood that would crank the starter.
Which leads to the next idea, if it is a safety problem you should be able to apply battery power to the SOLENOID of the starter and the car will crank over. Car parts stores sell switches with lead wires for just this, or you can redneck it with a piece of wire.
I would chack the clutch switch first. My car recently started doing that some. I have to let the clutch out and press it again with the key turned to on.
BTW, our cars don't have a distributor or distributor rotors. It's all direct ignition coil packs on each spark plug triggered by the ECM.
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Sean Florida G Club '03.5 Caribbean Blue 5at Sedan w/ a few mods, '04 Laser Red 6mt Coupe slowly being demodded
thank you all for your thoughts. I'm thinkings its the clutch safety switch. How would I know if its bad? I finally located it. Doesn't seem that hard to relace by myself. I'm not close to an Infiniti dealer, but have an appointment with Nissan next Tuesday. If I can fix it myself, though, it would be great.
disconnect the two wires coming from it and just connect them together.
Just remember you can now start your car in gear!
My CRX was that way, started it in gear to see if I could.
Some older toyota trucks had a button on the dash that would override the clutch switch so you could start it without pressing the clutch
Sometimes it's desirable to start a vehicle in gear, like with rock crawling vehicles.
+1.......jeep wranglers have instruction right in the owners manual on which plug or fuse to pull to override the interlock switch; that way, when you are in 1st gear in LO range, you can actually inch the vehicle forward using just the starter motor powered by the battery.
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hard starting problems - 03 6MT
