Car started FINE everyday until the first cold snap of the season. Then, all would be good after a jump for a bout two weeks. Day after Xmas, I gave up and got a new battery. All was fine till SUnday night when I left the dome light on for like 4 hours. Car started fine that night, but after the freezing temps. of that night, no start. Jumped it and all was well. Ran the car for about 45 minutes, drove it around Tuesday. Didn't try it yesterday, but today...Dead once again. Any ideas? I have a 2 year warranty on the battery so I am going to take it back, but since it runs PERFECT once it is jumped, it can't be the alternator right? I am going to go pull out my stereo and check the grounds...
Also, the clock in the gauge cluster stays on all the time. Is it supposed to do that? God I hate the electrics in old japanese cars!!!!!!!!!!! My FC was just as tempremental...
Can't Figure It Out! New Battery KEEPS Dying!
I did a vlot reading at the battery. 12v w/ the engine off and surface charge removed, 14v w/ ALL accessories and CD player on w/ engine running. Alternator is fine. So is my guess of a open ground a viable one or is it jsut the cold? I live in Texas so it rarely gets below freezing around here. The last few weeks it has been doing just that.
My question with the cluster is that it has always done that ever since I got the car back in August. And no matter how dead my battery has been (taking lots of cranks while jumped to start) the clock has always been on. Having said that, can it really be the cause if it obviously needs so very very little power to work? I am going to pull my cluster for the umteenth time again today and see what I can see. But I but $50 that I will not find anything amiss in there, like usual. Any ideas of exact stuff to look for/at?
you may have something wired wrong with a after market component and it is feeding that circuit....I thought you were saying the cluster illumination was always on?? are you just saying the lcd in the clock is the only thing on? that may be normal. I know some of the nissan clocks do stay on even when the key is out of the ignition. This is what we are talking about right??
Ok, I jsut went out to see if all was well as last night was once again freezing *** cold. Car started reluctantly after a few cranks and it was apparent that the battery was strained. I drove around for about 25-30 minutes to give it a good charge. Do people in colder climates have to deal with this? My previous car was driven every day so I never had to worry about this I guess. I can't belive I am going to say this...I can't wait for warmer weather:(
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ricebike
- Posts: 3381
- Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2003 7:03 pm
- Car: 1989 240sx se 5spd (donated to my brother in law)
2002 Quest
2005 Altima - Location: CNJ
rico05 wrote:Well, the lights never come on, but the clock always stays on. I think I have the light issue figured out, but as far as the clock, I thought that was normal.(?)
yea, the lcd clock is always on...
as far as cold=hard cranking.. i've been experiencing this lately, just because my battery is from1999, but still cranks the car over after ~4 turns of the engine... another cold snap from the north is coming <yay>
either time for a battery/engine oil heater? cause, after a few hours past sunrise, it'll crank over easier. or i'll just switch to 0W30/5W30 oil for the cold months from now on
Hey Rico.
I found it interesting that the user manual that came with the car has in it a blurb about cold starts and having to start in Neutral (or Park) and with throttle. Seems to help my car out a little.
I live in SW B.C. Canada and while it doesn't get too cold here we just went through a nasty stretch of the chills with temps about -10C. I had a battery with 420CCA that was obviously not doing well. Had a lot of trouble starting my car after it'd been sitting over night or for an extended period (work day). I have an aftermarket cd player and a brain damaged Clifford alarm (which I thought was causing my draining problem)and a fully loaded 89 240sx. I bought another battery 800CCA and had the Alternator tested (that tests fine) and sent away my alarm for repairs but I've still have a couple trouble starts.
I'm leaning toward a sensor or fuel system problem but otherwise I don't get it! I'll be keeping an eye on your thread and please post updates.
I found it interesting that the user manual that came with the car has in it a blurb about cold starts and having to start in Neutral (or Park) and with throttle. Seems to help my car out a little.
I live in SW B.C. Canada and while it doesn't get too cold here we just went through a nasty stretch of the chills with temps about -10C. I had a battery with 420CCA that was obviously not doing well. Had a lot of trouble starting my car after it'd been sitting over night or for an extended period (work day). I have an aftermarket cd player and a brain damaged Clifford alarm (which I thought was causing my draining problem)and a fully loaded 89 240sx. I bought another battery 800CCA and had the Alternator tested (that tests fine) and sent away my alarm for repairs but I've still have a couple trouble starts.
I'm leaning toward a sensor or fuel system problem but otherwise I don't get it! I'll be keeping an eye on your thread and please post updates.
take your car to an automotive sevice center like o reiley's, autozone, advance, pepboys, etc... they will test your battery and your alternator for free. It could be that your alternator is putting out the voltage you need but not the amperage. it could be that your new battery has a dead cell, thats actually more common than people think, and that would defintely cause your problem. I think that its more likely that you have a slow short somewhere. What you will need to do is hook a multimeter in line in series between your negative battery terminal and the negative battery wire. That way all the current in the car will have to flow through the meter. Set it to read amps. With the ignition off it should be something like .01 since the clock always stays on but doesn't take much energey, and your radio and ECU both have memory leads (I'm pretty sure the ecu does).Anyway if its pretty high, then you need to start pulling fuses until you pull one that makes a substantial portion of the amperes you are seeing go away. That is the circuit you have a short on, and the one you need to concentrate on.good luck
i searched this topic to find some info about my car. It keeps killing the battery and it runs like crap until it dies. i had the alternator tested and they said it was good. The previous owner that worked there told me that it might be because of the alternator fuse... he said it kept blowing on him and right before it blew everything went haywire and things shut off.. at idle the car shakes a little, not normal... it's some type of electrical problem causing the maf to not read correctly and it's adding too much fuel to the mix and the car runs horrible. The power while driving feels uneven. Any ideas?
Sounds like poor grounds. Check all the ground lugs and make sure they are all secure. Also as far as the battery keep going dead, do a paresitic load test on the battery see if its drawing down. Typically aftermarket components are the cause of such a load. Max draw should be less the 50 milliamps.
Ive still gota take the new battery up to wally world and see if it's any good. It's got a 2yr warranty. I'm about to have it taken to a shop so they can do all the electrical tests, I don't know much about the electronic part. I have stressed and stressed over it and I can't figure out what the prob is.. i'm new to the KA. I just moved back to the states from okinawa and I had an sr over there and knew everything about it.... now i have to learn about this damned motor