OMFG! Im gonna need some serious luck with this

[Infinite-T]

So yesterday morning I go out and hop in my car. I hit the start button. The lights flickered for half a second then all went dark. I hit it again and nothing. I opened the door to get out and notice the courtesy lights didn't come on. SO i'm thinking, "stupid POS stock battery" (Just got the car and havent done a whole lot to it yet). I pop the hood and poke around and didn't see anything funny. SO I went back in the house and got a volt meter and hit the battery. 13 volts... hmm no problem there. So I open the relay box and poke around, nothing amiss. Same with the fuse block. As I am dont looking at the fuse block I notice a pile of shredded insulation strewn around. I was like WTF. I poked my head up farther and noticed that where the main wiring from the relay/distrubution block comes thru the firewall to the fuse block, looks like it has been chewed by some kind of rodent. You can imagine the next 10 minuts where filled with a cascade of cursing.

Anyway, I decided to try to get a better look ad what happened. I removed the lower part of the dash, fuse block, and distribution block behind that. Sure as hell, there was a silver dollar sized hole chewed thru the rubber boot and thru about 10-20 of the wires.

I called the insurance company and they told me to call the dealer to see if it was under warrenty. I told the lady (at Geico) i really doubted that the warrenty would cover rodent damage. But she told me to do it ?!

The guy at the dealer almost laughed and said NO we cant cover that... duh.So I called Geico back and told them. Then they told me that they werent sure they couldnt cover it! They called me back a few hours later and told me they would not cover it and gave me some insurance mumbo jumbo on why. I was PISSED. I had to chill out for a while before I did anything more. A few hours later, I called Geico back and asked to talk to the highest manager possible. I was on hold for about 30 min before I was given the same BS mumbo jumbo again.

It looks like I may be on my own for this one. I havent called any shops yet for estimantes but I can guess it isnt gonna be cheap AT ALL.

One other option is I am an electrician. I have also a background in electronics. I also was just laid off last friday (thanks to our $#!t economy) so I have a lot of time on my hands, just not a lot of dough.

I spent several hours last evening disconnecting the harness and prepairing to remove it.

Does anyone have any experience with working on these, or replacing them. I also need to know the technical name for this piece so I can order a new one. It is the pigtail coming out of the furthest back section of the relay block and runs down the driver side of the engine compartment and splits off a little before going thru the fire wall.

Any tips, info, photos, ideas, magic wands would be a great help. BTW the car is an 08 coupe 2.5S.

This really sucks!

[QR25DE]

Easy fix, just cut the wires were they were chewed and solder in some wires to replace the chewed parts. Probably will cost no more than 7 dollars and some time.

Any pics?

[el_blacky06]

you can also get the plastic clamps from autozone for like 3 bucks it shouldnt be a big deal fixing the problem

[Infinite-T]

Thanks for the advice so far guys. I thought about that option and it is still a possibility. The damaged wires are so tight up to and even inside a small cavity in the firewall that I will have to unhook everything and pull it thru the firewall into the engine compartment so I can actually access the damaged area. The only downside I saw possible to this is it looked like there where duplicate wire colors in the harness. Meaning for example there might be more that one black with red stripe wire that needs splicing... that it might get more complicated to trace out which one is which.

Either way I need to get the pigtail pulled back far enough so I can fully access the damaged area and see what i can do about fixing or replacing it.

Hopefully it will be as simple as some solder, crimps, wire strippers and a few hours of the old "slice n splice".

As soon as the weather breaks I will be out there at it. Ill see if I can get some pics of it too.

Keeping my fingers crossed... I think I will be canceling my Geico policy too..

Thanks again

[DJ_B_Easy]

If you have comprehensive coverage you can probably fight that it was an "act of God", like if a tree fell on your car.

[PHENOMenalVinyl]

The guy who put in my fogs drilled through my firewall and it cost 800 to fix it but his insurance payed.......ide say u should fix it

[sickkwidit]

If you have comprehensive coverage you can probably fight that it was an "act of God", like if a tree fell on your car.

ya that might work

[Rob.Vegan]

I can't help much with the electrical stuff but I was wondering...

Is the rodent still in there ???

[ItsEcko06]

Easy fix, just cut the wires were they were chewed and solder in some wires to replace the chewed parts. Probably will cost no more than 7 dollars and some time.

Any pics?

i was going to recommend the same thing instead of paying out the a** to gt it fixed. sorry bro, that blows. u better find that damn rat and make him an example to the rest of em!

[Ranga14]

and some of the dead rodent too, maybe you can cook him and savor every bite.

[wildcat08]

When I bought my camaro, some rodents had previously chewed up a bunch of wiring and insulation and then died in the dash. I just spliced it all up and called it good. Those cars also have a lot less wiring.

I think if you are going to the trouble of removing the entire harness, you might want to consider replacing it just for the sake of keeping it nice and clean. For some reason, the 2.5 wiring harnesses are $500-$650 (even worse for Cali emissions) depending on transmission and the 3.5 harnesses are $250 for either trans. You might be able to find a better deal; I only looked on nissanparts2u.com.

However, it sounds like you could take care of it yourself no problem and save a bunch of $$$. Just put some heat shrink tubing on it if you can, or heat shrink tape afterwards to cover up the splicing. Chances are most people are never going to notice it when you go to sell it.

[scrutmonkey]

You might want to grab some mouse traps while you're at it

[Infinite-T]

Well, i just finished repairing all the damaged wire. It was slow work matching all the colors and guages (18 and 20 awg) It can down to to sets of identicle wires. 2 Red with black stripe with 2 silver band #18s on the harness end and on the pigtail end. My wife and I spent about 30 minuts staring at them. We analized the breakages and chew marks the best we could and made a match... Guess we have a 50/50 chance..

So i am now going to go and put it all back in and back together and see what happens. I hope to christ I am right because I would hate to have to take it all apart and change it. I hope even harder that if it is wrong, I dont smoke some expensive piece of electronics somewhere in the chain...

I found if you jack up the car, take the front drivers side wheel off and the mud guard you can access that location very easily. Might be a good thing for you all to remember if you need to get to a location to pass a power wire thru. There is plenty room for more. Just dont drill it like that one dude was saying.

Ill let you all know what happens.

No sign of the rat or whatever it was and it better hope I never find it. I have 3 cats that would love to find it too!

Thanks for all your advice and simpathies. Its only been 30 or so hours but I cant wait to roll my coupe again!

[sentrastace]

sheesh what a crazy random thing to happen!GL with fixing that!

[Infinite-T]

Ok, so i got everything (I think) put back together and hooked the battery up. Everything came on and worked like normal, all the lights, blinkers, everything in the dash.. everything seems to be working.

BUT, i push the start button and it wont start. I could hear a click probably of the soleniod or contactor or w/e they put in cars these days and the first few tries i thot i heard a split second wine from the starter. After releasing the start button the dash lights and everything go out for a second then back on. Its seems to me that the battery is dead, or near dead. However I can have all the lights on and stereo on and nothing dims?! But I know it takes some serious juice to start your rig. ! Another wierd thing is after all this happens I cant turn the car "off" The button stays "on" and the dash lights and everything stay on too. I have to disconnect the battery to shut everything off. I am really hoping it is just the battery and something isnt F'd

Anyone have any other suggestions or ideas? I could look in the owners manual I know, but it is locked in the car now and the battery is in the shed on the charger. I am in my PJs and it is cold and now raining out and I will soon be drunk. Really hope I can figure it out tomorrow.

[boystar22]

Just an fyi, I believe if the ignition switch won't turn off you can hold the button in for 5 seconds to manually kill it. Might be easier than pulling the battery every time you're testing. It's not a fix for your problem but might make things easier.

[wildcat08]

Doesn't sound too good. You might want to go ahead and look through the FSM and see if you can match up your wiring harness connectors with the diagrams. The wire color/explanations in the FSM are pretty good. I THINK that stuff is in the one called 'ec.pdf'. Then you will be able to confirm if you spliced the right wires or not by matching up the connectors to the diagrams. If you did, then hopefully all it needs is a fresh charge and a computer reset.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Altima/2008/

[Infinite-T]

Ok so here are some pics, I have more on my iPhone that I will upload later perhaps.

Here is where the little SOB chewed..

Here is where he burrowed thru the firewall.

Here is the area where the fure block goes, there is a bunch of plastic snap in harnesses the connect to a few more distribution blocks behind it. They are a pain in the a** to get to, and even more of a pain to put back together!

[Infinite-T]

Ok, the battery has been completely charged and re-installed. I tried to start the car and get the same result, a click and a quick wine sound perhaps from the starter. Is there any other explaination for this besides the wiring that I repaired. I am about 90% sure that everything on the wiring is correct, there was only 1 set of wires i wasnt 100% sure on. Before I tear it all apart again and swap the wiring around I want to test all other possibilities.. Because I could go and switch the wire that i wasn't 100% on and may still have the same problem and have it be something else. Then I would be in the boat of not knowing if the wire I switched was right in the first place and something else was wrong, or if I switched it correctly and something else is still wrong...

I am electricaly enclined, but havent spend a lot of time working on newer cars. I used to work on Z's back in the early 90's

If anyone has any ideas that would help! Thanks

[PHENOMenalVinyl]

Ok, the battery has been completely charged and re-installed. I tried to start the car and get the same result, a click and a quick wine sound perhaps from the starter. Is there any other explaination for this besides the wiring that I repaired. I am about 90% sure that everything on the wiring is correct, there was only 1 set of wires i wasnt 100% sure on. Before I tear it all apart again and swap the wiring around I want to test all other possibilities.. Because I could go and switch the wire that i wasn't 100% on and may still have the same problem and have it be something else. Then I would be in the boat of not knowing if the wire I switched was right in the first place and something else was wrong, or if I switched it correctly and something else is still wrong...

I am electricaly enclined, but havent spend a lot of time working on newer cars. I used to work on Z's back in the early 90's

If anyone has any ideas that would help! Thanks

i was thinkin its the battery bc wen mine died it does a clicking sound so even if it says its charged maybe try jumping just to try it u know

[Infinite-T]

I Am VERY HAPPY to announce that the repair has been completed and so far seems 100% successful! I have tested all of the lights, horn, flashers, AC, locks, windows, stereo (of course) and it all looks good. I will put everything back together and go ROLLIN'

Thanks everyone for all the help and advice!

[wildcat08]

So was it the battery? Or the wires? Inquiring minds want to know...

[dwf]

Yeah, you got some us hooked on your sad story of rodents...so what was causing it not to start? Did you have some wires switched?

[adidas2go]

Great Job bro! I'm an aircraft electrician, so I was scouring through the schematics just now to help you with your problem, but it seems youve tracked down the gripe. Nice going!

[Infinite-T]

No sruprise it was that POS stock battery that everyone talks about. I dont know exactly what was wrong with it, but I jumped the car using my chargers "Jump mode" and it fired right up!

The first trip I am going to make in it is down to the parts store and replace that crap battery!

Still no sign of the rodent, I am hoping our cats found it!

Man I am glad that is over! Now Im gonna go wash that sucker and roll! 3 days of sitting in my driveway is 3 days too long!

[Infinite-T]

One last minor pain. Everything seems to be working fine except the car is stuck in park!

I read some posts and the owners manual on this issue.

From the forums I found that it could be the break light ciruit, or the little switch on the break pedal. Since i did that wire repair (22 wires needed repair) i figured it was something with one of those.

But here is the kicker:1. You have to press the break pedal to start the car. The car starts fine.2. Pressing the break pedal DOES turn on the break lights.

So the fact that the fuctions of the break switch circuit all seem to be working makes me wonder why the transmission is stuck in park.

I am going to try the shift lock release button and see what happens. I would just like to know what is causing this condition, especially if it is going to be unsafe or damage something...

Thanks for putting up with my play by play on this. It is kinda for myself too, to think out loud so to speak and be able to come back and refence. Sometimes when I am under pressure (My $20,000 coupe stuck in my driveway with a partialy severed wiring harness for 3 days) I for get what I have and havent tried. So it helped to come back and look. Plus I appreciate all the tips, sympathies, and offers for help (thanks adidas and wildcat) on this.

Lots of cool people on this forum, a cool community, I am glad I joined!

[Beak]

heck disconnect the negative on the battery and pump the breaks. leave it off for like 10-15 mins. this will reset the ecu. start there.... good luck

[Infinite-T]

Thanks Beak, I tried that and it did not work.

I am able to use the shift lock button to get the car out of park, but as soon as I put it back in park, it locks again.. so something is fishy, but still the brake lights are working and when I step on the pedal to start the car, it starts. If I am not pushing the pedal it doesnt start and the info screen says press the break... Kinda wierd now.

It there a soleniod or some kind of relay attached in the break circuit that may have been damaged does anyone know? Thanks!

[mcheddadi]

man! Just read the whole tread! why don't you check the FSM they have a section at the end for trouble shooting car symtoms. that could maybe put you in the right direction.

[07wHiTE 3.5SE 6sPD]

there's a neutral safety switch in the circuit. the signal from the brake pedal being depressed sends a signal to the shift lock release on the lever... there must be an open wire in the circuit from the brake pedal going to the shift lock release... start there and do some continuity tests.