2003 Xterra does not start then later will very perplexing

there not the easiest to find i have a mercury sable drove me nuts.i found if my dome lite lit car would start if no dome lite i dont care what i did,new battery jump it would not start.come to find out my mechanic friend got wiring diagram and he told me something not grounded one time i was at a friends at night car started just fine turned headlights on car would die did this three xs come to find out the starting problem was a ground screw that was not tight the headlights was another ground screw not tight and both as on my drivers fender under the hood ! who would of thought good luck!

I had the same problem. There is a wingnut on top of the positive terminal post of the battery. I happened to check it and it was not real tight. I turned it tighter with my hands and the car started. The headlights and horn were even stronger.

Did you ever find the problem?? I am having this issue for weeks now it starts when it feels like it

May be the Neutral safety switch try shifting it to Neutral and see if it will crank in "n" Everytime weather changes I have to shift the shift in and out of park and it will crank or just put in "n" and crank it

i have an 03 xterra and it did the same exact thing. Machanic changed starter for nothing. still did it. I put it in neutral, cranked it and it came on.

Does anyone have the fix for this?

My daughter's 2004 Nissan Xterra had intermittent issues with not starting. Starter was good. Battery charge did not help. New battery did not help. Daughter was repeatedly stranded. While attempting a charge I used the (ground) negative charge terminal and held it against the intake manifold and had her turn the key. It started. I discovered the ground wire bolt attached to the engine block (aluminum) was oxidized (powdery.) This was blocking the electrical current when starting. Took bolt out, cleaned aluminum oxide from the area, added NO OX ID grease and it has started repeatedly since. This appears to be a factory flaw as it was lacking NO OX ID grease protection. There is a similar oxidation risk with the starter mount bolt. Check for oxidation in areas where electrical current is needed.

I had the same problem with a 2005 Nissan Xterra. Once the engine got hot it would cut off and not crank up until it cooled down. It finally gave me a check engine light and the code was for the crankshaft position sensor. I took the advice of a friend and got a OEM sensor from our local Nissan dealer for $57.00. You have to take the right front tire and plastic fender well off to get to the sensor located near the firewall under a rubber boot. Sensor is held in place with a bolt that is removable with a 10mm socket. Problem solved.

We just encountered the same problem, daughter's 2002 Xterra starts and drives as usual. Make a stop, come back and the car won't start - nothing from the battery: no horn, lights, power locks and no starter engagement. In ours, the problem was the connection between the positive post terminal and the cable. Seems like there might have been a washer/spacer that was missing somehow, as the nut was kind of frozen in place on the stud with a noticable slack in the connection. Thanks for the heads up everyone. Easy fix

Check your grounds. Make sure everything is tight and cables are solid from end to end. Intermittent success, failures, and slamming the hood to start the car suggests somethi mg is loose. Most likely a ground. I once had a radiator leak and months later found some of the cables corroded because they were old and cracked but couldn't find it because they were wrapped and covered. It could be a wire other than the ground too.

I have a 2002 Nissan Xterra... will crank but will not start. The distributor will not fire, so we replaced that. Fuel pump would not pump so replaced that. Still nothing. Took new pump out and tested it. It’s working fine . Any suggestions????

2005 xterra with same problem... do not want to replace starter unless I have to, always seemed like if you hit a pot hole it would not start the next time you tired. Starter has never clicked, had a drag anything. Starts immediately when it wants. Then nothing! New battery. fuse link etc already replaced.

02 xterra. Cranks and starts sometimes. Other times no crank. Good battery, good starter, good electrical. Well here is your answer to those symptoms. Pin #22 of the engine control unit has to see the park neutral safety switch. Transmission control unit sees it but not ecu. Guess what people? You favorite Nissan thinks it being stolen. Your smart entrance control unit has a starter cut out section pin #40 going to vehicle security relay pin #1. Security relay pin #4 green goes to park neutral position switch/starter relay pin #1 grounding that connection allowing the ecu to see the park neutral switch thinking all is well and returns a signal back to the park neutral position/starter relay completing ecu pin#22 and allowing your lovely Nissan to run again until well something else goes haywire.

2002 xterra starter pnp security wiring

2002 xterra wiring

2002 xterra pnp/starter relay pin and wire color and what they are for

By the way people I did order a park neutral position switch for the 2002 xterra and plugged it in next to the relay/fuse panel in the engine bay next to the battery. Same same no start. I returned it. It thinks it was being stolen. Take a good look at the wiring diagrams. I also used a snap on scan tool that is Asian oriented to read gsm and ems for pnp /starter data and found ecu was not seeing pnp switch.

2002 xterra pnp/starter relay socket Pin #3 black/red wire goes straight to the starter solenoid. Key in the run position . Using a jumper wire from pin #3 to positive post of battery. If the starter is good it'll crank over like mad if battery is up to task. It will start if the security module doesn't think it's being stolen. Use this procedure to find out wether your starter is good or bad. If it cranks it's computer systems more than likely have shut down one or more signals to the pnp/starter relay or the vehicle security relay. Without those 2 relays having all proper signals being it ground or voltages the no crank monster rears it ugly head.

so basically 2002-2004 Nissan Xterra is a terrible car for your kids because it will leave them stranded if I had not read this I wouldn't have a job. it was a constant problem for me every other day it wouldn't start and then id try that same night and it would start. from what I read just make sure your grounds are tightened and not oxidized