Questions and Answers
Altima Starts Sometimes
Q. Hi! I know it is a holiday so whenever you can get to this is fine We have a 1993 Nissan Altima, 4 cylinder, auto, 155,000 miles, ABS, cruise control A/C, fuel injected. The car has been great had only one minor problem: sometimes it wouldn't start in Park so we'd switch to Neutral and it would start.
This past year it got worse. Sometimes (no pattern) it would start no matter what you did. including jump start. (Factory installed security light flashes) But if you came back to it in a few hours it would start no problem, and would be fine for a few more weeks. Gradually happened more frequently. Mechanic suggested ignition problem seen on another Nissan, minor repair in ignition.
Car worked fine than few days later again no start. Battery constantly draining. Alternator went bad (maybe coincidence) replaced alternator. Car fine for one day again no start. Mechanic also suggested maybe gear cable going bad?? Is all of this related, does this cable sound right? What do you suggest? We are baffled? Have you heard of similar problem with Altima?
Thanks for your help,
JennetteA. Holiday? No Jennette, one day is pretty much the same as any other day around here.
From your first paragraph it would seem that the Neutral Safety Switch (NSS) is bad. And could very well be. It could be that the shift cable is out of adjustment also. But the battery drain is perplexing since a bad NSS or shift cable will not drain a battery. I'm assuming your mechanic ruled out the starter as a possibility. I have seen bad starters exhibit the same symptoms.
I would have to say that there are two separate problems here.
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