I have a 2009 Nissan Rogue and have been having problems with it starting. I’ve had to have it jumped several times the last few months and I’ve assumed it was a dead battery from not using the car in a week or more. A few weeks ago it was totally dead, no dash lights, my Viper wasn’t working all, nothing. But it jumped instantly and started fine. Brought to autozone and the tested the battery and said it’s voltage was fine and suggested getting the connectors changed. Go to garage and tell them (the second time I went there for this problem- said the battery tested fine last time so they didn’t do anything) and they only cleaned the connectors and said everything was fine and nothing needed to be replaced, just cleaned out some corrosion. Couple days ago it wouldn’t start again. Mechanic I know came and looked around under the hood and he said he couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Brought over his scanner and jump pack today and jumped it. Scanned it and the voltage in the battery was jumping around from over 16 to under 12 while it was just idling after the jump. Had me turn it off and try turning it back on and everything was immediately dead again. Said it may be the alternator but he couldn’t get a good scan with the voltage jumping around.

Any ideas? He also said it could be electrical with the viper alarm but he said he honestly never seen anything like this. (He did say it was odd when I told him the other day I hit a couple bumps and the stereo muted itself. )

I have video of it trying to start before it was fully dead on my iPhone, but I have no idea how to post it.

This happened to me when I was in a parking lot after leaving harbor freight a couple years ago.

And a few times previously. The no dash lights “wtf” is going on situation too.

Even though I had a maintainer on it the night b4.

Had a veteran jump my battery.

Didn’t want to take any more chances so I replaced it.

Battery was 5 years old.

This new battery is still going strong for 3 years and on a maintainer religiously.

I have a ton of electronic devices so I try to keep battery in tip top shape to put less strain on my decade old alternator.

It shows 14-14.3 volts initially, but after awhile it settles down to 13.5-13.8 volts. And always making sure my terminals are corrosion free.

Battery was replaced 9/22/18 and it’s been checked three times after getting it jumped and they all said it wasn’t the cause of the problem.

You didn’t mention the battery. Some companies make crappy products.

If the battery is good, sometimes when I reattach the connectors they jump to life. Which you already did.

I’m leaning on defective.

When you said it jumped to 16 volts, my first thought was bad or defective.

I know I read online when it hits around 15 volts that something is wrong with the integrity of the car battery.

Anyways, good luck on your solution and please update us to help others if they run into this conundrum.

But if it’s the battery, wouldn’t the garage and/or Auto Zone have seen that when they tested it instead of telling me it wasn’t the battery? The garage, the second time I went there, would only clean the connectors because “we don’t want to steal your money if all our tests came back negative.” The guy who came over to look at it originally thought it could be a bad cell in the battery but it jumped immediately so that led him to believe the battery was ok and there was a different issue.

Check the Alternator voltage regulation circuit.

Sounds like your new battery has been killed by your malfunctioning alternator . When volts are jumping around like that your alternator is toast. At idle you should have a steady 13.8-14.3. Shutting it back off and then back on does nothing but make it look good for a few minutes.

Check with a multimeter to be sure but you likely need a new alternator and probably another new battery now. I doubt a kid on his first job at autozone knows anything about battery health, some of those auto parts employees have no idea what they’re doing. I know it’s suggested all the time to take your battery, starter, alternator to an auto parts store and get it tested, sometimes you actually get someone there that knows how to do the test. I can’t tell you how many threads I’ve seen where someone had a part tested and they say “l had it tested and it tested good” and ultimately they end up changing the “tested” part out and that solves the problem.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t have it tested, just be aware the person doing the test may have no idea what he’s looking for.

If this was my Rogue I’d put a new alternator on it after the alternator was installed I’d check with my multimeter to make sure proper voltage was showing. If not I’d take the alternator back and get another under warranty until I got a good one. Another problem with auto parts stores is they have rebuilt crappy parts, but who wants to go to Nissan and pay big bucks for a brand new Nissan alternator on an 09?

After the alternator was installed and working I’d try to get by with the battery because you just bought it. After being completely discharged several times it’s probably dead now also, so my suspicion is you’ll need to get another, under warranty hopefully.

+1

Most people at a garage will not treat your car as they would treat theirs. They just want to get the job done and get paid.

This includes the repair/installation industry in general. Many times you have to clean up the half a** job that you pay others to do.

It's a crapshoot, sometimes you get great workers, and other times you get crap in return on top of getting ripped off.

Thank your lucky stars it's not a cvt problem.

But I do feel your pain, when your dashboard does not light up, it can be a deflating feeling.

When it happened to me back in the day, I was hoping to god my rogue was not a decorative brick, but thank god it's been going strong for over a decade now. Crossing fingers.

casperfun wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 17, 2019 6:44 am

+1

Most people at a garage will not treat your car as they would treat theirs. They just want to get the job done and get paid.

This includes the repair/installation industry in general. Many times you have to clean up the half a** job that you pay others to do.

It's a crapshoot, sometimes you get great workers, and other times you get crap in return on top of getting ripped off.

Thank your lucky stars it's not a cvt problem.

But I do feel your pain, when your dashboard does not light up, it can be a deflating feeling.

When it happened to me back in the day, I was hoping to god my rogue was not a decorative brick, but thank god it's been going strong for over a decade now. Crossing fingers.

It was actually the manager at Auto Zone that checked the battery, so hopefully he would know what he was doing, lol. But I totally get your point. As annoying as this has been, I’d rather have the garage tell me the tests came back fine and we don’t want to waste your money than if had gone to Nissan and would have been charged for every expensive part under the sun while they “tried to figure it out” like the time they couldn’t figure out why the car was pulling to the side- so let’s start by “guaranteeing” the rear breaks are the problem, and then “oops. They needed to be replaced soon anyway” and trying the front breaks, suggested $1200 worth of new tires and replacing the axels as their next try before I was out if there.

I think based on this thread a couple other places I researched, I’ll see if my friend would mind replacing the alternator and seeing if that fixes it.

Random thought- I had the A.C. compressor replaced over the summer which is over near the alternator. Could they have loosened something up on the alternator which would be messing it up?

Random thought- I had the A.C. compressor replaced over the summer which is over near the alternator. Could they have loosened something up on the alternator which would be messing it up?

Did this start shortly after the ac replacement? I suppose they could have reinstalled the serpentine belt wrong but that's a long shot. It might be worth looking into.

This has been an ongoing thing. Long story short, I’m home disabled so I don’t often leave the house. It would need to be jumped after two weeks or so of sitting in driveway, then a little over a week and then after a few days. So whatever it is seems to be draining the battery quicker and quicker.

Could easily be a bad alternator like others have said.

It could also be a parasitic draw, which could be your Viper alarm or anything else in the car. You would need that tested. Here is a video how to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcj1fQcWwU

Check the ground cables as well, engine first.

Did anybody check for codes?

Friend came over and we jumped it. He then unconnected the negative of the battery and everything was still running so that makes him almost positive it’s the battery. Also let it run for 20 minutes and as soon I turned it off and back on, it wouldn’t start and was making the same clicking sounds it made in the original video. Gonna go to Pep Boys where I got the battery and have them replace it since it’s on warranty, or go buy one from auto zone and my friend will install it if Pep Boys refuses to replace it.

Make sure when you install the new battery that the alternator is putting out around 14v.