Battery Draining Issue/ Car won't turn over/ Humming noise

Nissan 300ZX technical discussion forum: Maintenance, performance, installations, modifications, how-to's and troubleshooting.
User avatar
no_se7en
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2010 10:16 am
Car: 1991 Nissan 300zx Twin Turbo

Post

I know there are a lot of thread regarding this issue but please bare with me on this one...I recently replace my new battery because my previous one died on me. With the new battery an all, car starts right up. All my indicator lights on the dashboard switches off except for my door indicator light, which remains on. But with the car off, of course everything is off. The only thing that turns on is the cabin light by footwell, the interior lights i keep off. Once it sits for a few days, I tried starting it but would not turn over, it will continue to click and that's about it. All the lights are bright, not dimmed, but although it did have a hard time rolling the windows up and down. I know something is draining the battery. Some say it's my alternator because it's not drawing the power back to the battery so not enough juice to crank??... There is an aftermarket stereo but with it disconnected, the battery still drains out...I have an aftermarket alarm, I will try to take out the fuse and see if that works.....

Well so far the thing that I'm a little concerned about is when I am inside the car with the key to ON position like for example just listening to the stereo/ with the engine off and stereo off, I hear a humming noise coming from both side of my doors. Its not my speakers. Took the keys out and the humming is gone. Swithed the ignition to ON position again and the humming noise is back. It's not my antenna because it shuts off a few seconds after. All my speakers/wires are connected properly so that's not the issue.

Here are my troubleshoot procedure when I get home from work later:

I will locate the fuse for the aftermarket alarm, remove it. Then sit in the car and turn the ignition to ON position to listen for that humming noise, if still persist then on with the next step;

Check for battery voltage with a votlmeter before and after the car is switched ON. This is all based on the thread I read. I guess to check to see if power is still being drawn with the car off;

That's all I know so far. Wondering if you guys have any ideas???


User avatar
Ace2cool
Posts: 11650
Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:21 pm
Car: 1991 Nissan 300ZX TT
1966 Datsun Fairlady 1600
2005 Suzuki GSX-R 600
1974 Honda CB550 Four
2009 Ford F150 Lariat
Location: Murfreesboro, TN

Post

The door switch has gone bad. You have door mounted seatbelts, and they retract electrically. When the car thinks the door is open, it tries to retract the seatbelts.

Are you sure it's both doors, or just the driver's side? If it's both doors, then both switches may have failed simultaneously, OR the factory alarm system is having age related issues. Try disconnecting the factory alarm box. It's above and to the right of the ECU.

User avatar
Ziggy1621
Posts: 1137
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2012 5:57 pm
Car: '90 Z32 TT (Shibui)
'90 Z32 2+0 NA
'68 311 Roadster
2004 Rx330
2011 BMW 550i (TT)
Location: Cocoa, Florida
Contact:

Post

The door noise could also just be from the dead battery. I had an NA with a bad battery, and when the battery would get low enough, both doors would,buzz


Return to “300ZX (Z32) Technical”