What to do with an old J30

[Chris Halkides]

I have a 1997 J30 with about 270,000 miles, and it is in good shape considering its age. Parts are very difficult for my mechanic to find, but he is generally a good mechanic. I like the car very much, but I am considering various options. A) Give the car to my local radio station as a donation. B) Find a mechanic who specializes in old cars. C) Put the car into long term storage for a future restoration. D) Sell the car, preferably to a collector who would either restore it or use it as a parts car for a restoration. I presently own three cars, but I really only need two. I am open to all ideas.

Chris

[AZhitman]

Tough call, Chris. The J and the Maxima are almost identical underneath, so 97 Maxima mechanical parts should fit.

I'd say if it's still functional, find a mechanic who won't mind sourcing Maxima parts to keep it running.

Otherwise, I'd say selling (or donating) makes sense, although it'll be hard to find a buyer for a car with almost 300k.

Keep us posted - I love the J30!

[Chris Halkides]

I thought that the 300 ZX was the car that was closest to the J30 in terms of parts. Something happened this week. The car would not start, and when I tried a 2 amp charger, the needle pegged, but the battery would not charge. I will ask my mechanic to look at it.

[AZhitman]

Z32 for drivetrain, but Maxima for chassis and suspension.

Before you head for the mechanic, try a jump start, then attach the charger. Sometimes they're too dead to accept a trickle charge.

If that doesn't work, you might be replacing a battery. Good luck!

[Chris Halkides]

AAA gave me a jump start and thought that the alternator was putting out between 13 and 16 volts, which is a very large range.

[AZhitman]

Indeed.

If you have a multimeter, with the car running, check voltage @ terminals. It should be around 14v.

[VStar650CL]

Indeed.

If you have a multimeter, with the car running, check voltage @ terminals. It should be around 14v.

+1. It also shouldn't be hitting 16V under any circumstances. Topping 15.5V is the region where anything with a controller onboard can start to malfunction. It will also overheat the battery and destroy it pretty quickly if the overvoltage isn't fixed.

[Chris Halkides]

Update: I took it to my mechanic, who replaced the battery. I took it to work one day, and let it sit for a day. I then tried to drive it again, but the new battery was dead. My 2 amp trickle charger pegged its needle again; therefore, I did not attempt to recharge my battery with it. My mechanic cannot find a problem with either the battery or the charging system, and he is letting the car sit for another night to try it again. Could there be an intermittent problem that sometimes drains the battery?

[VStar650CL]

By far the two most likely culprits for parasitic draws on Nissan products are the alternator and the radio, in that order. If it's a bad diode in the alternator then it will draw all the time, but if it's a bad onboard regulator it can be hit or miss. Given that you were hitting 16V out of the alternator (which is totally abnormal) and the voltage was wobbling all over, I have to think your alternator destroyed the battery and the guy only fixed half the problem. Any chronic charge rate above 14.5V will cook a standard lead acid battery in no time.

[Chris Halkides]

Is there anything I should be doing in regards to the radio?

[VStar650CL]

If you want to hunt down the draw, you need to rig an ammeter on the battery ground, let the car hibernate (remove the door switch on the driver's door so you can access the cabin fusebox without waking anything up), then pull fuses for the likely suspects until you find the one that makes the draw disappear. Access the wiring diagrams to identify all the audio fuses, there's usually a battery fuse under the hood in addition to the ignition fuse in the cabin fuseblock. Since the draw may be intermittent, you'll need to hope you can catch it in the act.

That said, the 16V you measured very clearly indicates you have a bum alternator. I'd address that first and see if a new one makes the problem go away.