Hello,
:banghead: I've been stumped on this pathfinder for almost a week now. It wouldn't start one morning so I took the battery in to checker to have it checked. They read it as a bad battery and sold me a new one. That didn't work. So, I had my girlfriend start it up while I banged on the starter and that worked right away. Was able to start it one more time that way and was totally dead after that. When you turn the key it makes 1 click noise. Went and bought a new starter from G and S auto parts for $160.00. Take the old starter out and put the new one in and I notice the slip of paper that came in the box that says I must replace the starter relay and the inhibitor relay at the same time I do the starter. So I cruise over to my local nissan dealer and they sell me a starter relay for a standard. They assure me it's for both a manual and automatic. It's a huge blue relay that doesn't fit anywhere on the Auto. (mines an AUTOMATIC) and I can't find anyone who can tell me where the starter relay is on the auto. So I keep everything the same and decide to bang on the NEW starter to see if that works. It starts to crank and then the starter keeps going even after I take they key out. Had to disconnect the positive cable to stop it. I tap on the starter a couple more times with the battery disconnected and when I re-connected the starter was silent. So I crank the key again to see what happens and it starts right away but with an awful grind sound from the starter. (OUCH) At this point I'm freaking out and realize it probably is a relay??????? I do figure out where the inhibitor relay is located I think. On the front passenger side next to the washer reservoir. I replaced the inhibitor relay for $20.00 from Napa and it still does the same thing. Does anyone have any advice for this. Is there actually a STARTER RELAY for an AUTOMATIC or do I possibly have a bad starter right out of the box. PLEASE HELP. :banghead: Thanks Oh yeah, I checked the alternator while it was running and it came back good.

Well I ended up replacing the positve and negative battery cables because both were some what corroded and the thing starts up every time now. It almost has a loud hissing sound to it when it starts though. I'm just glad it actually starts on it's own now. Hope this thread was somewhat helpful to someone.