Looking to see if anyone has experienced this or has any suggestions.

Been having some issues with my FX50 starting and the battery going dead. I chalked it up to a bad battery (it was pretty old) so I replaced it this morning. Drove it around some today and everything seemed fine.

This evening, my wife went out to do some shopping and when she returned she shut off the car while we unloaded, then I started it back up to park it. Nothing out of the ordinary until I shut it off. I could hear a whirring sound coming out of the engine compartment. I thought it might be a cooling fan or something. I tried to restart the engine and got no response (everything lit up normally, but wouldn't crank, same as before I replaced the battery). I then popped the hood and tried to find out where the sound was coming from. It sounded like it was towards the back of the engine and there was a hot electrical smell. After a minute or so, the sound kinda ground down to a stop and every light in the vehicle when out. Nothing works...no lights, no locks, nothing.

Hopefully it just popped a fuse, but what was causing the fan noise is also concerning.

Thoughts?

Welcome aboard - New one for me, I'll ask around and see if we can get you some help!

Thanks, much appreciated!

Something occurred to me...could it be the starter motor continuing to run for some reason? Might explain the noise and the electrical smell from it getting hot.

Yes, the starter sounds like a very likely suspect to me as well. I suppose that is what ran down your first battery too.

It is conveniently located in the Vee, under the intake manifold.

Sounds like the culprit as that where the sound was coming from. How hard is it to replace?

Considering it's under the intake manifold, between the cylinder heads, it's a big job.

If you decide to tackle it, we have the factory service manual here: www.infinitiservicemanuals.com

May let a mechanic handle this one. The manuals will come in handy though. Thanks!

Update: Was indeed the starter. There was apparently a short somewhere in the solenoid that caused it to run continuously until it burned out. Replaced and good to go.