Nissan Pulsar Won't Turn Over

by Zyon Silket

Produced between 1978 and 2007 the Nissan Pulsar is one of Nissan's longest running continually produced vehicles. If your Nissan Pulsar won't turn over you must start troubleshooting the electrical system. Usually, the result is a faulty battery but in the event the battery checks out, you must go through the process of troubleshooting the ignition, starter motor and starter solenoid. These components must work in order to crank over the engine.

Step 1

Check the voltage output of your Pulsar's battery. The battery should put out 12 volts of power when the vehicle is off. To check the battery output. Place the leads of an ohmmeter onto the battery terminals. The red lead goes to positive and the black lead goes to the negative. Place the ohmmeter on 20V DC and check the output reading. If the output is less than 12-volts, charge the battery using an automotive battery charger. If the batter still reads less than 12-volts after charging, replace it with a working battery. If the Pulsar still won't start with a charged or new battery move to the next troubleshooting step.

Step 2

Turn on the Pulsar's headlights. This creates a drain on the battery. When you turn on the ignition key, the ignition module sends power sends power to the starter motor and starter solenoid. This creates an additional drain on the battery. The drop in battery voltage should cause the headlights to dim. If the lights fail to dim, the result of your troubleshooting is a faulty ignition module. If the headlights dim, the indication is that the ignition module works and you should move on with troubleshooting.

Step 3

Locate the starter motor bolted to the transmission housing. The starter is approximately 8 inches long. The starter solenoid bolts to the transmission housing directly beside the starter. On the bottom of the solenoid, you will find two wires attached to metal lugs. The wire on the left goes to the ignition module and the wire to the right jumps over to the starter motor.

Step 4

Touch both metal lugs on the bottom of the starter solenoid at the same time using a screwdriver. This shorts out the solenoid and prevents the engine from turning over when you turn on the ignition. However, it will allow the starter motor to turn on.

Step 5

Tell the second person to turn on the Pulsar's ignition key for five seconds. If the starter motor does not turn on or the motor runs intermittent, the starter motor is defective. If the starter motor does turn on and it runs smoothly for five seconds, the starter motor work and the solenoid is defective.

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