Engine struggling to crank...Could it be the battery?

[yosM45]

My buddy and I car pool, so the M45 hasn't been driven in a week and half.

This afternoon I went to start the car and although it started up, it seriously struggled to turn over.

I drove it around for 15 mins, hoping that if it is the battery, it could charge up a bit after driving around, but it cranked up the same way, slow and weak.

I only have have 53k miles. Hard to think, the battery could be bad?

But then again I also have 4 years on her.

Any ideas?

[tigerclaws1318]

If you still got the OEM battery then that could be your problem. Mine was about 4 years old and it use to have a slow/weak crank. So I swapped it out for a autozone duralast gold battery with a good amount of cold cranking amps and problem solved.

Just to make sure its the battery stop by an autozone and have you battery tested. Sometimes it will show 12 to 12.6 volts but that doesnt mean its good cause you dont know how much amps is there. Best test is the load test and if it fails then its time for a new battery.

If you plan on installing the battery yourself its not the easiest job. After removing the cover its a bunch of clips holding the plastic peices around the firewall. Getting the old one out is the easy part but putting it back in is a pain in the a** especially if you got some chubby hands. If you dont want your memory to be erased then make sure you have some sort of vehicle memory saver and if thats not available use a booster pack and hook positive cable to positive lead and ground cable to a secure ground. The booster pack will act as a memory saver.

[hoaapple]

Mine had exactly the same symptoms you're describing. It did this over a time span of week and came the weekend, the car didn't start at all. I had a hunch it was the battery and was going to test the thing but it died before I had the chance. Took out the old one and got an OEM from Infiniti and all was good with a strong crank. Taking all the clips and covers off is a chore in itself though.

[SteveTheTech]

When the M is left to sleep for a week or more the current draw of ~.015A can deplete the reserve capacity of the battery.

Extreme heat is very taxing on them and you may want to get that out of there before it leaves you stranded.

Get yourself a quality battery and hopefully that will resolve your long term storage issue. Infiniti replacement batteries are made by Interstate and that is what I am using in both of my cars and I rave about them. You may be able to find a cheaper alternative but is it worth it?

If you replace this yourself the bracket is going to fight you, but the most important thing is to try to turn the leads when you are securing them to ensure they are not loose at all.

Remember Negative first and last.

[GJEMD]

A 4 yr old battery will not tolerate idleness. I recommend a 1.5 amp battery tender for any car that sits more than 7 days.

[szh]

A four year old battery is near its end of life and may well be the issue with what you are seeing. Definitely replace it.

You don't have to do OEM ... just make sure to get a good quality battery with the correct cold-cranking amps and terminal locations, etc.

Z

[yosM45]

Well I drove to the Pep Boys down the street to have the battery tested, and sure enough it tested at 214 CCA (cold cranking amps).

Our OEM specs say that we need at least 490 CCA.

The car did not start back up, and I did not have my tools with me, so they installed a BOSCH Platinum battery with 640 CCA and the car started right up.

Total price is $106 installed after a 10% discount. I don't know if this was more or less than Infiniti, but considering that the battery was completely dead, and I needed to drive to work tomorrow, there wasn't much I could do.

It does have a 3 year 100% replacement warranty, and 8 years pro-rated replacement warranty.

Sucks to have to reprogram all my memory/radio settings.

Thanks for the help guys!

[antzrus]

Damn go to Sears. They've got a setup where your machine is always charged as they change the battery. I got a Sears DieHard Platinum after 3.5 years on the OEM battery. Expensive yes, but the best you can buy for my baby.

[XSpower-Derek]

sounds like your battery was begining to sulfate... thus loosing a good bit of it's cranking amperage.

it was deff. time for a replacement

[szh]

Total price is $106 installed after a 10% discount. I don't know if this was more or less than Infiniti, but considering that the battery was completely dead, and I needed to drive to work tomorrow, there wasn't much I could do.

That is a decent price for a battery that does the job for your car, so not a concern from my perspective - particularly, as you point out, you were stuck there with a dead car.

I think that Infiniti charges more than that normally, but the last time I did it with the dealer, I got a proration on the remaining "life" of the old battery. So it cost me around $85 to $90, as I vaguely recall - and free tow and labor through Infiniti (car would not start at all - like yours).

Z

[Q45tech]

Battery life depends on ambient temperatures.Having owned the same Q45 since 1990, the battery life is 36 months +- 2 months in GA, FLA, regardless of brand.

Just something you budget for and replace on precise schedule like lubricants, coolant, filters, shocks [every 4 years], tires, brakes, bulbs, etc.

[M45Runner]

Just something you budget for and replace on precise schedule like lubricants, coolant, filters, shocks [every 4 years], tires, brakes, bulbs, etc.

What? shocks need to be replace every 4 years? For ride quality I hope... Since I have owned cars for 10 years without replacing shocks.

[szh]

What? shocks need to be replace every 4 years? For ride quality I hope... Since I have owned cars for 10 years without replacing shocks.

Shock performance slowly degrades over time and miles ... the change is slow enough that people get inured to the change, and do not realize that the degradation has occurred - until it gets really bad perhaps!

Most standard shocks typically last about 60k to 75k miles or so - certainly rarely close to 100k or over that. Even though they may not leak or fail, the handling is certainly degraded a lot.

Do you have to replace the shocks every 60k miles? Not if you really don't want to, I suppose, but I can assure you that you may find an amazing difference and improvement in handling if you do.

On my current 2003 M45, I have pushed this limit a bit ... I am now at 78k miles and for the last 10k miles or more, I have been seeing definite handling problems that are getting worse. Like increased rear-end sway on bumps and I am not as "comfortable" when driving on curvy roads at high speeds.

So, sometime soon, I will replace the shocks on my 2003 M45. I looked into coil-overs, but the price is way too steep (over $2,500 plus installation) for what is available for my model year (Japanese company called Insurance, as I recall).

I will probably end up getting stock Infiniti shocks since there are no after-market ones available, but those are pretty hefty in price too, unfortunately ... somewhere around $800 to $900 (for all four) from http://www.everythinginfiniti.com. Ouch!

Z

PS. on my two old Infiniti Q45s, I also used to replace the front upper links every 30k miles - must have gone through about 4 sets for one car and 3 for the other (bought the second one used). Each time, I could easily feel the clear improvement in handling after the replacement ... which I would have sworn was not an issue before the replacement!