After driving to the store, my car wouldn't start. No crank, no click, no whirring?

PKURO29

MEMBER
1998 NISSAN ALTIMA
2.4L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
75,000 MILES

Recently, after driving to the store, my car wouldn't start. No crank, no click, no whirring. I waited about a minute and moved the transmission to neutral and back to park, reinserted the key, and the engine turned over like nothing happened. I used the car since without any problems. Then, yesterday, I turned the car on, warmed it up, and about a 1000yds from my home, the engine just shut off. I turned the car off and attempted to restart it. It ran with no problem.

I'm not sure what the problem is, but if this is something that is of immediate attention, then I'd like to get it fixed. Is this something that I should fix right away or is it not a problem?

2 Replies

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

The clue I need is what about the head lights, interior lights, and lights on the dash. If everything was dead, follow the smaller battery positive wire to the under-hood fuse box and be sure that connection is clean and tight.

If everything worked except the starter, the neutral safety switch is a good suspect. If it doesn't crank in "park", but it does in "neutral", that's another strong clue to a defective switch.

SPONSORED LINKS

Was this

answer

helpful?

Yes

No

Tuesday, January 27th, 2015 AT 10:30 PM

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
47,665 POSTS

It sounds like to me you have a bad connection at the battery. I would clean the cables, and if you have not installed a new battery in the past 4 years get a new one as well. These guides can help

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/everything-goes-dead-when-engine-is-cranked

and

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-replace-a-car-battery

Type .................... 55D23R
Capacity V-AH .................... 12-60
Cold cranking Current A .................... 356
(For reference value)

Check out the images (below). Please let us know what happens.

Image (Click to make bigger)