Hey Folks,

Just joined this forum because of a Nissan Versa SL, its a 2008, I am trying to help a friend so far she has been run around and no one fixed the problem, ok this is going to get interesting, I am no Nissan specialist by any means but i know a bit about cars.
So here goes, lol, by the way im doing this for free, shes a nice lady and i been trying to help her, the car was towed to my house, she said she stopped at her sisters and turned the key to shut the car off and nothing, it stayed running, eventually she said someone got it to shut off but not by the key. So i get the car and found my local junk yard guy had one, so i grabbed a Steering column as the steering wheel lock didnt work and the key and tumbler were very loose, then i bought a new ignition switch and swapped it, didnt fix it, so i grabbed a BCU and a IPDM along with the ECM from the donor car, swapped them out, noticed an factory remote start was installed so i removed it and properly soldered all back in place, still no change, i removed and cleaned all grounds under the hood, then started testing the dash harness, I contacted someone who works for Nissan he had me go through a couple things then said dash harness has a crossed wire. I removed and inspected the dash harness ran an ohm meter were i could found nothing, i removed all tape and covering and visually inspected the entire thing.
as soon as i pout on the negative battery cable the entire dash lights up and the ECM along with everything is powered, after pulling every single fuse and replay the only fuse that shut it down was fuse 27, audio/ H-Phone, with that fuse removed the BCU was not powered up, the car would start and shut off but all BCU functions were disabled, so during tracing wires I found the harness plug on the passenger side kick panel sends power out through a blue wire on one side of the b=lug and power comes back through a green wire which turns into a white wire heading to the BCU it is also connected by a small plug which gives them all power, so, the wiring says that is also the battery backup for the Radio, it heads back to the sub woofer and blue tooth unit. I ran an OHMS test on that circuit, with the battery cables removed i attached my ohm meter to the pos cable and neg cable, with that plug by the passenger kick panel plugs in i get 140 ohms, with it unplugged i get 51,
OK long post i know but i been through hell so far, she needs her car and is a single mom with a disabled kid, i just feel like i have to fix this, I tested with plug removed i get about 70 ohms between the red wires heading to back of car and the green wire returning or vice versa lol
ANYONE ever heard of anything like this?

to make the whole explanation short, something is stuck on or a wire has melted or crossed with another wire, have a circuit with 70 ohms tells me its on as there is heavy resistance and its going through whatever its attached to or shorted out across another wire, Is there anything anyone can think of or has seen before ? this is driving me nuts lol, i never been stumped, i have 5 days tracing wires and pulled dash etc and have not yet figured it out, im about to pull the entire rear harness and inspect for damage, i did look at all plugs i can see in the hatch back area and unplugged everything but the lights, i unplugged the blue tooth, the satelite radio thing and the sub woofer still does nothing makes me think rear harness but holy crap lol,
I hope someone has seen this before,
Oh yeh I have tons of wiring diagrams some i bought some i rounded up for this nissan if anyone needs them

The fuse doesn't necessarily tell you anything, because the power may be coming through a relay controlled by a device on a different circuit. Haven't looked at your WD's, but the first things I'd check are the Ignition Relay and key switch (if the electrical portion wasn't changed out with the column). My bet would be a collapsed or welded relay. Find the path the power is taking and you'll find your culprit. That means checking the WD's for what paths power can take to reach the engine and cluster, then concentrating on those.

every single relay and fuse has been pulled with no change other than fuse 27 which shuts down everything in the BCU just like the plug does, i pulled every fuse and relay and fusible link in both the IPDM and the interior fuse panel, also every fuse in the fusible link box, the IPDM has been replaced with no change, its sitting in the garage with the entire dash unplugged except the main bulkhead and the key immobilizer I did swap a key immoblizer also but it made no difference, i did leave the grounds in, when i plug in that rear harness the ohms jump from strait 51 to 140, i replaced the IPDM, BCU, ECM, and entire steering column with brand new electrical ignition switch in the new column. the only thing that significantly increases resistance is the rear harness plug? The power distribution in the harness is insane, there are groups of wires all bulked together into several small plugs were they are in a string with one wire powering 4 or 5 others then they go back out in different colors to different switchs. keep in mind every single thing is unplugged, i even tried unplugging the dash cluster and it still powers up as soon as they negative cable is attached. without that rear plug the BCU and dash only power up with he key in the on position and it will run and shut off with the key but as soon as its plugged in everything is on,
I was thinking some what the same thing, that rear plug has to be in so power can go to the BCU through what ever is prompting it once the battery is plugged in,
I also cleaned the grounds in the engine compartment, and began unplugging all engine sensors one at a time looking for a change in ohms, the alternator makes a 30ohm jump but so far nothing has changed anything, almost like i have not even touched whats wrong

I should mention with the passenger side plug not plugged in when I ohm the red going out and Green coming back from the rear of the car i get 70 ohms, seems like an open circuit or short accross wires

Anyone have any ideas? i have read several posts online with the same issue but not one has a final fix a the end of the post and responses

i re installed most of the dash harness to get a ohm reading across the battery, I have 140 ohns with no battery connected, almost a hundred of that comes from the plug on the passenger side kick panel, i am reasonably sure there should not be 140 ohms with nothing on and nothing plugged in, something is not right obviously but what ? i unplugged everything in back does anyone know the ohm readins or values i should be seeing when testing these plugs ?
I mis spoke in my last post, when not plugged into anything the red and green wires back of the car gets between 5 and 7 ohms so it seems ok, it is being opened by the harness, with no power as soon as its plugged in I get that high ohns reading,

OK, lol i put it all back together, plugged everything back in and I am at square one, it will start and run with everything plugged in but will not shut off even with key out, i have to pull the fuel pump fuse for it to shut off, with the passenger side kick panel plug removed it will start and run and shut off but no BCU along with several other things do not work i assume from the BCU not having any power. when you open the door nothing comes on, with it plugged in everything is on all the time.
I am hoping someone who knows nissan electrical has some insight here, this things driving me crazy

For all of that stuff to be on, the problem has to be in the main ignition supply, which is the fat red wire coming out of the ignition switch. Pull the connector loose and see if there's power on that wire with it disconnected. If so, you probably have a short either between the ignition switch and fusebox or inside the fusebox itself. To figure out which, take the other end loose at the fusebox (connector M4, it's a single pin with the same fat red). If the red wire has power even with both ends pulled loose, then there's a short in the harness. If the wire goes dead, then most likely the fusebox has failed.

Thank You, I will give it a try tomorrow, it looks like there is used harnesses online, hers is a SL its fully loaded so i will have to figure out the part number to get, Have you heard of or seen this in other Versas?

crabi53263 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:07 pm

Thank You, I will give it a try tomorrow, it looks like there is used harnesses online, hers is a SL its fully loaded so i will have to figure out the part number to get, Have you heard of or seen this in other Versas?

Not this particular problem, no. Keep in mind that you should isolate the problem before launching into a harness, because there are two harnesses potentially involved, Main and Engine Room. If you find the problem is in the wire between the ignition switch and fuse block then it's Main, and you'll probably be better served to pop the dashpad and try to repair it before buying a new one. It's a big, fat power wire that only travels a few feet, so once the pad is off, peeling back the loom to locate the trauma shouldn't be difficult.

i did run that test this morning, with the fuse box disconnected i still had power at both ends of that wire, i tugged on the harness just a little and everything went out, i found that that tug had turned off the BCU. However i also noticed that tug pulled on a bulk connector, i re seated it now i cant get the BCU to come back on at all even with tugging, i then peeled back the harness tape and started to follow that wire but it goes deep into the harness, all i did was tug on the fuse panel a little to get that red wire removed. I am assuming that the short is either dash harness or engine harness now.
trying to find a replacement harness is turning into a challenge. its a 24010 em39b if you have any sources or if you think im on the wrong track let me know. im going to try and get the dash to power back up the way it was with power on all the time. so far i cant get it to power back on like that and whatever i did has killed power to the BCU and everything it was powering before.

i dont see any fuses blown, i did notice i have constant power at the blue wire, but the BCU now will not run on, it will start and shut off with key but no BCU power
dang this seems like dash harness issue to me but im trying to make sure i didnt just pop a fuse somewhere

There will be a tag somewhere on the harness. On a Main it's usually located near the driver's left foot, often at the SMJ connectors or under the LH kick panel. You can also plug the vehicle VIN into NissanPartsDeal.com and search "harness", the Main Harness is what you're looking for. NPD uses the same database and diagrams as Nissan DPC, so the part number it gives you will be exact for your specific vehicle. However, if a little tugging changed things then the problem can't be too deep inside the harness. The dashpad will have to come off either way, but once it's off I'd peel back the loom and see if the problem looks repairable.

now i cant get the BCU to power up at all, either that flicker burned something out or the short is in the harness right there, i used a magnifying glass and see nothing, any idea how I can rule out the engine harness vs the dash harness? I pulled all fuses, the OEM part number is 24010-EM39B XK, dealer shows none in stock anywhere, tried ebay they have tons but not one has the em39B they have EM36A, and talking to the local Nissan dealer he said it fits 2007-2009. I have no clue what to do next, keep in mind i have had the harness completely out 3 times, the entire dash is off, i went back up into the harness about 1 foot found nothing.

Only change is now i cannot get power to the BCU lol, so its the opposite of what I had, I checked all fuses and relays i have spares from a harness i picked up local but its the wrong harness.

if i can verify its definetly dash harness i just found a used one in IOWA, lol, but i hate to get it coming if im missing something, they do not make them anymore from nissan, any idea how i can verify its dash harness? im really leaning that way but hate to not be sure.

There should be a tag on it just like your original. If it's missing the tag, I'd pass on it. If the p/n is different, NPD or the dealer can tell you if it's a supersession that still fits the car.

PS - The fact that fiddling with it changed what the car is doing means you can be pretty certain the issue is in the Main Harness and not the Engine Room Harness.

PPS - Quit calling it a "dash harness", you'll just confuse people. Main Harness is the right terminology.

Thank you for your help Vstar650, that tug fixed something or adjusted something and it actually seems to be working although not 100% correct, the BCU does come on but only in run position, and the BCU and ECU along with steering column and brand new switch have not been programmed to this car yet. keep in mind all those were from a donar car the part numbers matched but i know it was not the same car it was not as loaded as this one and the main harness was different, when i stick the key in no mileage comes up, when i turn it to acc no mileage comes up, when i turn it to run everything comes on, noticed the car with a key in the middle warning flashs and i assume thats because i have not had anything programmed to this car. so i have a couple questions if you dont mind
should the mileage come on when i open the door? or when i put the key in?
would the mileage coming on etc be controlled by the BCU and due to programming its not coming on at the right time?
according to local nissan folks it is no longer produced and no dealers in the country have one, I have started looking used and i get vin numbers then see if they match my harness, must be this one is not that popular, Versa SL CVT Loaded did find one in IOWA but i will check vin again, my harness is a 24010 EM39B XK, if you know any folks out your way let me know please

You're most welcome. Honestly, if you have the dashpad off it, I'd burrow into that thing and find the issue. The trauma is likely to be very obvious once you reach it, and the wire from the key to the fusebox is 4 feet long at most.

crabi53263 wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:25 pm

should the mileage come on when i open the door? or when i put the key in?

Most of the older ones come on with the key and not the door, but I'm not 100% confident in that for your specific ride.

crabi53263 wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:25 pm

would the mileage coming on etc be controlled by the BCU and due to programming its not coming on at the right time?

The BCM doesn't control it directly on a steel-key car like it does with an I-Key, which is why the mileage in steel-key vehicles generally comes up only when the cluster is powered on. With a steel key, the cluster is generally dead on the CANbus with the key off. Usually only the IPDM and BCM are alive on CAN in a key-off state.

crabi53263 wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:25 pm

must be this one is not that popular, Versa SL CVT Loaded

SL Versas are like hen's teeth, I doubt there's any MY where Nissan produced more than 10K of them.

i burrowed into the first foot of wiring, the tug was not much and i used a magnifying glass, found nothing, the red wire looks like it runs to the fuse panel and ignition switch and one other place but i think it could also have been backfed by any smaller wire in that huge blob of wiring, tugging on it showed me something i just hope its not a sensor in the engine thats back feeding, although i pulled every single fuse and relay in the IPDM and fusible link box and inside fuse panel i hope to heck its not a engine sensor somewhere, i did look at the knock sensor and unplugged almost everything i could find, from the ABS unit to alternator starter as many sensors as i could find and it changed nothing.

And again thank you more than you know, im doing this for free for a friend, shes a really nice lady and with that flu thing she has no money to put into her car, im going to hep her as much as i can and have already bought the ECU, BCU, Steering column, IPDM and new ignition switch, ill have 500 bucks in her car by the time im done. Her kid has severe autism and she now has a job again i felt so bad for her i just had to try and holy crap did i ever get into something lmao, been in my garage for 6 days i been out there, my back is killing me.

You're more than welcome. If it was a backfeed then pulling fuses and links should have revealed it at some point, and your first measurement showed power in the red wire even with the switch and box disconnected. That's pretty damning, chances are it's chafed insulation someplace in the harness.

that was the most unusual part, the only fuse that did anything was fuse 27 in the fusible link box, it shut down everything, inside when i ran the test on the red wire pulling fuses watching with a light tester fuse 3 shut would kill the light but the dash and everything was still lite right up, fuse 3 included half the damn car, so i started unplugging everything at the source, the entire hatch is torn apart, the entire dash is out and i had the engine harness part of the way out. nothing changed anything when unplugged it made no sense unless it was back feeding. i REALLY want to dig into that harness and find this spot and i might but not until i get the replacement harness installed and the car back to her. then i will power it on my bench and find out what the heck was going on

thank you again, if i had not tried that fuse box test i never would have tugged on that wire, im just trying to be sure before i spend another few hundred on it and find out it was something stupid,

Hey Vstar?

this is going to sound crazy, i installed the new dash harness and now its doing that same thing again, i missed something and have no clue what, i know the lady had a new battery put in and it has a donor car ECU and BCU is it possible this is something in programming?, secondly, i replaced the IPDM with the one from the donor car, is it possible both had the exact same problem?

now i am truly stumped, i was able to wiggle a wire causing the dash cluster to shut off and it held its bcu, now with the new harness it is back to where this all started

Gas can and matchs?, i just got finished doing brakes and suspension work for her, keep in mind I am not getting paid to do all this, this is just an 80 year old woman and her daughter who could really use the help.
DANG i hope you have some ideas lol

You know, I missed the first time around that the ECM and BCM were both donated, I'll almost bet dollars to donuts that the BCM is wrong for the car. Shoot me the VIN and the Nissan part number off the sticker on the BCM, I'll check in DPC.

both BCUs did the same thing, its in the garage I will send you the VIN and the BCU part number is 284b2el02A, both had the same exact part number on them, when i re installed the old BCU it did the exact same thing

I just PM'd you, but if that's the case I'd reinstall both the original ECM and BCM so this isn't a 3-body problem.

I can re install the old stuff but none of it matchs the new steering column and key which im not sure but will make it locked out? the first thing i did was replace the entire steering column for multiple reasons, key was loose, steering lock didnt work, when i installed the used column i put a brand new ignition switch in it. I will try that tomorrow also, it seems like i have not touched whatever this is, i cannot believe wiggling that wire and watching the dash shut off then wiggling it again and having it come back on was wrong, i tried to duplicate it and could not get it to do anything, i tried multiple times, this is by far the most crazy thing i have ever run across.

thank you again for your help, i will get the vin and put the other ECM and BCU back in

Hey Vstar

I sent you the information on the car, I can swap the ECU today, my only concern is now have the theft system locking me out and being able to drive it so it can be programmed once i figure out whats wrong