Nissan Repair: 1998 Nissan Maxima wont start - starter?, nissan maxima, firewall one

Question
After reading a couple other of your answers i believe the problem is the starter.  Wipers, CD player, dash lights, etc. all come on when i turn the ignition to "on".  When i turn it to "start" the lights on the dash go off but the engine does not crank and there is no clicking.  The only sound i hear is comming from what i believe is the fuel pump(on the passanger side mounted on the firewall.)

One question i have is, could overheating lead to the started going out?  My girlfriend and her mom were driving her car around and it overheated and who knows how long they continued to drive on it beofre they realized.  They noticed once the car started bogging down.  When i got there the car was completley empty of fluid, and i had just checked it the day before.  We let it sit for a few hours then came back and i put antifreeze back in the car.  It seemed fine and we drove it the next day all the way home, about 3 hours.  

The car was fine except it was now leeking out of the top of the radiator, but not very bad.  The only weird thing was the coolant reservior kept filling up past the max mark, even though the thermostat never said the car was overheating.  

A week or 2 later and the car started having the problem with not starting out of the blue.  I am not sure if these two problems are related but thought all the additional info i could give you would be helpful.  

Does it still sound like it is the starter, or is there maybe a different problem that has to do with the car overheating?  

Thanks for the help!

Answer
Hi Cody -

First of all, if all the lights go out once you turn the key to the start position, then it could be a connection problem, or the battery is failing.

Check all connections at the battery. Although the terminals seem like it is connected, you should remove them and clean it, and the battery terminal. Do this for both negative and positive terminals. Ensure all connections are tight, and try to start the vehicle once again. If it still does not start, then try turning on the headlights, and at the same time start the car. If the lights turn off all of a sudden, then it is most likely the battery. If it responds to a jump start, then you can be sure it is.

Please try this test and get back to me -

thank you
aloha
calvin