M35- Weird Noise with Door Open?! Vid attached.

[idwoodhull]

When I have my door open, my car makes a strange noise coming from the engine bay. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhCV0eODlTw

I have only replaced drive belts, spark plugs, air intake assembly, and pads and rotors. None of that work should cause this issue.

My key fob doesn't make the standard alarm sound when locking my vehicle anymore. I can silence the sound sometimes with my key fob. So its an electrical problem but WHY and HOW?

Can someone tell me what to do here?

[Ilya]

That is ODD. Only time I've heard something similar is this one girl I know who has a newer (2012?) BMW 528. But her's is much quieter and only lasts like 3-4 seconds.

That sounds loud...

Welcome to the forum...I'm sure someone will be able to chime in with some things to check.

[BlackCat81]

What the crap!? Does the car have an aftermarket alarm on it that may be going off? And the speaker is bad?

On the bright side, every time you open your doors it sounds like an intro to a bad rap song. So you have that going for you.

[Ilya]

What the crap!? Does the car have an aftermarket alarm on it that may be going off? And the speaker is bad?

Actually, this makes sense because of what you can do with the FOB sometimes (OP).

[idwoodhull]

No aftermarket radio. I never had this problem. There is more info though. My car won't start. currently have a no crank no start situation where my dash lights don't come on when I press ignition button. I have not checked fuses or battery yet.

Btw, if you watch the vid you will notice my headlights flash real quick upon opening door

[Ilya]

Not radio, alarm. Definitely sounds like the alarm has hijacked your car. Our lights don't flash when the door opens, so if yours does...something wonky is going on with that. Is your fob an Infiniti OEM one or is some aftermarket one? Do you have remote start? If so, maybe that is screwing with your security/alarm?

I'm definitely leaning towards alarm...even the sound seems to be the same speed/rhythm as a horn going off...except the horn might be affected too. Does the horn work if you do it manually?

[BlackCat81]

Not radio, alarm. Definitely sounds like the alarm has hijacked your car. Our lights don't flash when the door opens, so if yours does...something wonky is going on with that. Is your fob an Infiniti OEM one or is some aftermarket one? Do you have remote start? If so, maybe that is screwing with your security/alarm?

I'm definitely leaning towards alarm...even the sound seems to be the same speed/rhythm as a horn going off...except the horn might be affected too. Does the horn work if you do it manually?

I agree. Sometimes cars make it through a few owners and the aftermarket fob is lost, and an original one is used. If the "brain" fails, it will prevent the car from starting and will cause weird issues. Take a peek under the steering column, they're usually tied in to the ignition switch there.

[TDot]

Im throwing my hat in the ring and say it's an electrical problem. You cant start the car and I notice your interior lights flashed on and off like it couldnt sustain the power. Whatever is making that noise might be struggling to get power as well. I'd start with the battery voltage and connections, then check the wires. Simply checking voltage with the multi meter may not be good enough, you may have to bring the battery to a shop. Good luck.

[steve_c]

Do you have a voltmeter handy?
Can you tell us what the battery voltage is?

Lastly, how old is the battery?
I know I sound like a broken record, but the first place to diagnose issues like this is with the battery!

My call is possibly a bad battery based on the symptoms described.
I would confirm battery is OK first before doing any extensive troubleshooting!

[Larz]

This is a head scratcher for sure. The sound seems to come from the driver's side and low in the engine bay. Is it possible the starter is on that side? I ask because on my 07, the starter somehow jammed itself in an "on" position when I switched off the engine. It made no noise, no evidence it was doing anything hinky. However, the next day, upon opening the door, it made a similar sound but only once - it didn't repeat. When I tried to start the car, the sound was nearly the same as yours. No engine crank, no familiar sound of the starter engaging. Then it repeated a few times, and after the noise stopped, the car was totally dead. It had to be towed to the dealer and in about an hour, Brian told me that when I parked the night before, the starter went bonkers. It tried to engage even though the car was shut off, the starter remained engaged, draining the battery and when heat from the starter and battery got too high, the whole thing down and it cooled overnight. By then it was too late. The battery was near fully drained and the starter was completely and hopelessly jammed. They had to replace the battery, the starter, and the positive terminal wiring / fuse assembly. They did a complete electronic inspection as well as other parts. They said what happened is rare and they could not explain what actually caused the starter to do that. They just said that, like the battery, the starter can do some very weird things when it fails. Luckily, there were no other electronic issues, no failed sensors or modules. The warranty covered everything (parts and labor). I had to pay for the battery and my $50 co-payment for the repairs.

[idwoodhull]

i checked fuses. They were all good. I took the battery out and checked for spark. Nothing. Took my battery to auto zone and bought a new one and my car is back to normal.

I don't know why my battery decided to go out at this time of me maintenancing my car to confuse me on what i did to possibly cause this. I'm still a little unsure on why my car battery died slowly because I noticed when I opened the door again the next day, that sound wasn't happening anymore. My key fob didnt work and so I was lucky the doors were unlocked. I question even with a new battery if there is a parasitic draw. How can I test that?

[Ilya]

Wouldn't testing the volts prove that out? If you're getting 11.5-12.5 volts while the car is off it's probably fine. If you're getting anything below that means something is drawing power...no?

[idwoodhull]

I found a vid on you tube by Eric the car guy and it was easy. I'm getting .20 drain on my 10amp setting. I hear I should get .05 so I guess if you do the math .20 would drain my battery in 10 days. I will have to check my fuses. I wonder what you guys get on your multimeter so I can compare it to normal condition. I know the m35 has a lot of electronics. I don't want to be looking for something I can't change.

I also tested by hooking up my 12v circuit tester by attaching the clip to the negative wire and the probe of the tester to the negative terminal..and it lit up. That's an indication my battery is being drained right?

[BlackCat81]

Wouldn't testing the volts prove that out? If you're getting 11.5-12.5 volts while the car is off it's probably fine. If you're getting anything below that means something is drawing power...no?

Not necessarily, sometimes a battery developes a bad cell and can be really low on voltage, without a parasitic draw. Voltage doesn't start a car, amperage does.

My guess is when he replaced the battery it did some sort of reset on an aftermarket component in the car he isn't aware of. What do you mean you're getting a .20 amp draw on the 10 amp? How long are you letting it sit before checking the draw? The systems take several minutes to power completely down so if you're checking right after shutting the car off it'll be higher than normal. Do you leave the key fob in it all night in the garage? I've had issues where the BCM wouldn't go to sleep when the fob was left inside the car.
99% of the time when I'm diagnosing a voltage draw on a car it's due to an aftermarket remote start system.

[BlackCat81]

I found a vid on you tube by Eric the car guy and it was easy. I'm getting .20 drain on my 10amp setting. I hear I should get .05 so I guess if you do the math .20 would drain my battery in 10 days. I will have to check my fuses. I wonder what you guys get on your multimeter so I can compare it to normal condition. I know the m35 has a lot of electronics. I don't want to be looking for something I can't change.

I also tested by hooking up my 12v circuit tester by attaching the clip to the negative wire and the probe of the tester to the negative terminal..and it lit up. That's an indication my battery is being drained right?

You attached your tester connectors to only the negative terminal and it lit up? If you meant you had one negative and one positive and it lit up, the only thing that's telling you is your test light works.

[idwoodhull]

Thanks for the feedback. There is no aftermarket stuff on my car. Yes I let the car rest for an hour and I get .20 consistently when I set my multimeter to the 10amp setting. That is where you are supposed to set the meter to. Honestly I'm just short people now. I need someone to read the meter, someone to hold the door switch in so it disables interior lights when it's open (tape didn't work) which will change your readings, and another to pull fuses out until the meter drops to close to zero to pinpoint the problem. Lol.

And that 12v circuit tester is an old mechanics test you could do where you take off the negative wire, and clip the circuit tester to it, then touch the probe on negative and if it lights up, something is draining battery. You don't do anything on the positive side! Same process as a regular parasitic drain test. Newer cars need more accuracy tho so its not reliable.

[BlackCat81]

Thanks for the feedback. There is no aftermarket stuff on my car. Yes I let the car rest for an hour and I get .20 consistently when I set my multimeter to the 10amp setting. That is where you are supposed to set the meter to. Honestly I'm just short people now. I need someone to read the meter, someone to hold the door switch in so it disables interior lights when it's open (tape didn't work) which will change your readings, and another to pull fuses out until the meter drops to close to zero to pinpoint the problem. Lol.

And that 12v circuit tester is an old mechanics test you could do where you take off the negative wire, and clip the circuit tester to it, then touch the probe on negative and if it lights up, something is draining battery. You don't do anything on the positive side! Same process as a regular parasitic drain test. Newer cars need more accuracy tho so its not reliable.

I'm confused about your circuit tester. If you're removing the negative terminal and clipping a lead to it, then touching the other end to the battery, of course it's going to light up, you're completing a circuit. It's not telling you anything other than the light works, and won't tell you there's a draw.

Yes, .20 is excessive. You don't need an extra person. If you can't keep the dome lights off during your diagnosis, pull the fuse. A 90% of your fuses are under the hood in the IPDM/ER anyways. I'd start there.

[Ilya]

^^ do what he says, OP. He's our resident Infiniti tech.

[idwoodhull]

Ok. I saw my fuses by my battery and the fuses under the drivers side dash. I don't have that many of fuses by the battery where you said 90% of them are there. It a very small rectangular fuse box under the battery cover.

Am I clear to pull all fuses out when checking? Including 10,15,20, etc? The highest my multimeter goes is 10Amp if that matters.

[BlackCat81]

Ok. I saw my fuses by my battery and the fuses under the drivers side dash. I don't have that many of fuses by the battery where you said 90% of them are there. It a very small rectangular fuse box under the battery cover.

Am I clear to pull all fuses out when checking? Including 10,15,20, etc? The highest my multimeter goes is 10Amp if that matters.

There's a much larger box behind the battery. You have several various fuses/relays located under the battery cover, and also under the dash by where you mentioned. Hopefully you'll get lucky and it'll be one of the fuses under the dash, but you never know.

You're going to leave your multimeter on the battery, and pull a single fuse at a time. Yes, you're safe pulling a fuse with a higher amp rating than your multimeter, you're only testing a draw, not running the circuit through the multimeter.

The IPDM looks like this. It's covered, so you'll have to get the cover off. Once it's off, the actual IPDM is attached via a clip to the firewall. It's easiest to get a long flat blade screwdriver and push the clip while pulling up on the IPDM at the same time.
It looks like this;


It's going to be tight, the dash harness doesn't have much slack on it where it comes through the firewall there, so don't pull too hard.

[idwoodhull]

On a business trip. I will try out your suggestions when I return. I won't let the forum go stagnant. Thx

[idwoodhull]

Havent found the draw yet. The fuse puller i bought doesnt pull the fuses in that battery area. pliers would grab them but there is not enough hand space to use it since the fuses are facing to the side and not up. Lol. So annoying.