Started this morning, then no success less than an hour later.

2002 NISSAN XTERRA
280,000 MILES • 2.4L • 4 CYL • 2WD • AUTOMATIC
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MANDERSON0501
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
Hi, I am not super mechanically inclined so I'll try my best to describe. Recently, the truck has been taking longer time to start, usually a couple seconds of cranking. After parking it after a short drive this morning, I got a gravely sound coming from the front passenger engine, and that has only happened a couple times. Since, I get no crank, but a whirring sound from what seems to be the bottom of the vehicle.

In the attatched image, I have circled a part of the vehicle, I could not find online what it was, that was another source of a gravely sound while trying to start sometimes. I think it's the starter finally going out, I am looking for someone who has more experience with this share their thoughts on what this could be, apologies if I didn't explain well.
Oct 17, 2025 at 9:27 AM
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STRAILER
  • AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR CONTRIBUTOR
  • 54,176 POSTS
I can tell what is going on if ai had short video of the noise, it sounds like the starter is still engaged or not engaging, also how is the battery? if it is more than 5 years old I would get a new one. Here is a great video to show the easy problems for an engine no cranking over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YRW8fyNudY&t

Please go over this guide and get back to us.
Oct 18, 2025 at 8:36 AM
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