NEW BATTERY, NO POWER TO MOST ANYTHING, CH #2!

[infinitinut2]

OK, Heath, this is mostly in response to your thoughts. Finally got a bit of sun down here on the coast so I backed the Q out of the garage where I could see better, noticing right away that one of the faults was no power steering assist!

Checked all fuses and could find no faults there. Then, per your instructions, started making a list of what worked/did not work. The operational/"worked" list is the shortest, so here goes: flashers, head lamps, interior lights, dash lights Iexcept warning panel in lower right of pod and trip mileage in lower left of pod), door open bell, fuel gauge, clock, visior vanity lights, forward map lights, and glove box light.

Now, this is where it gets strange! After making the list, I blipped the throttle before putting it back in the garage. Amazingly, everything began working! Everything (that is, except the radio, and I think I may have moved the fuse on that issue!). I attributed this astonishing fix to the fact that the car had been sitting for over 4 months, and the car Gods are still alive and well!

Well, I decided to take it for a spin, staying on some back roads near here and, as Alan Greenspan would say, drove with "irrational exuberance"! Stayed in lower gears most of the time, with revs up. Got into a bit of a tussle with a new Camry and, as I was gearing down to 2nd, the engine raced a couple of times and...it seemed ....as if the ABS kicked in!!!???

Anyway, she settled down and I came back home to put her in the garage and, turned it off to see what would happen and, lo and behold, all the electronics again died except those mentioned above! Started her a couple of times and revved engine and, at about 2500/3000 rpm, I would hear click in the dash and all the AWOL electronics would begin working again! And, would continue working until ignition was switched off and, then DOA once again!

So, Heath (and any other old Q gurus here!), please weigh in if you have any thoughts!

Thanks in advance!

JohnCarolina Low Country

BTW, for grins in that I had a guy recently lust over the M30 convertible, I thought I would let him buy my Infiniti collection and I would regain my sanity! Anyway, checked with KBB and, for a 92 Q in excellent condition showing 137K miles, the "private party" value is....sit down, please....$985!!!!! KBB "retail" is $2,460! Or, in the words of a now exited SECDEF, "for goodness sake"!

[Q451990]

If you have a multimeter, I would check the voltage at the battery. You should be seeing about 14.4VDC at idle, and a little over 12VDC with the car off. Your symptoms aren't typical of a low voltage condition, but any time you have a werid electrical issue - you want to start out with making sure your voltages are correct.

I think the click you're hearing in the dash is significant. I wonder if there's an accessory relay failing. Or maybe one of those circuit breakers. I honestly have no idea how they work.

Other than checking the alternator's output voltage, I would start individually tapping relays where you can see them to see if the non-working things come back when you tap one of them. If you suspect you have found the issue, you can swap that relay with one from your parts car to confirm. I have never heard of a relay failure other than on the TCS or ABS actuator, but anything is possible on a nearly 20 year old car.

Heath
Modified by Q451990 at 12:56 PM 11/21/2009

[Q451990]

I think it's also possible that you have a probelm in the instrument cluster itself, but that wouldn't explain the brake lamp/shift lock problem, so I'm still leaning toward a relay.

If you can reliably isolate the source of that "click" that happens when everything starts working - I think you'll find the problem.

Heath