"97 won't start, won't crank

the starter needs replacing

Even a oneday old battery will fail. Did you have the battery checked? dk

Seen plenty of starter interrupt relays on the 300ZX's go bad, I'd bet this car uses the same relay. On a ZX it's a blue relay separate from all the others (on a ZX they hide it inside the drivers fenderwell plastic cover). It's got 2 plugs, one with 2 big wires and one with 2 small wires.

Locate the starter. Next time it won't start, bring something to smack the starter with. If it starts after being smacked, it's the starter for sure.

Tap! Don't slam Hell out of it. If you break the brushes you'll need a new starter for sure.

JM

It's funny your thread came up now. Just yesterday my 97SE refused to crank as I was leaving work. Relatively nice day - 45F. I tried it a couple of times, no response at all - then turned off ACC, radio, and removed the key. Put the key in again, and it cranked right up.

Like you, I'm wondering what it was and if it'll leave me stranded.

Dave

I don't know where the starter relay is, but 4th gen Maximas are notorious for thier starters losing lubrication. Their easy to re-lube as well. I did mine when it started making noise. Follow the instructions from the excellent motorvate.ca site here;

hth

CD

Call the dealer parts dept.

Well there is a way to check it, see if there's power at the started sig wire when the key is turned.. Maybe these relays don't give any problems on these cars but I've seen a bunch of 90-96 300ZX's not start from this.

go ahead and replace the relay , and when that doesn't fix it ,put a new starter in it

The chances of it being a relay are slim to none Steve.

Starters are all too common on those vehicles

That does sound like a starter... It's easy enough to diagnose with a test light on the starter trigger wire when the car won't start and/or jump the starter with a wire straight to the battery.