1999 Nissan Altiama Starting Problem

Your car is charging, right? Put a multimeter set to volts across the battery. With the car running, you should see about 14V.

First I'd make sure that the trunk light is indeed off. Maybe the switch that controls that light is bad. I've seen this once and you don't usually notice it, since the trunk is closed.

Set the multimeter to current. Put it in series with the rest of the car by disconnecting the red battery lead and tying the + of the meter to the battery + (perhaps get a spare battery connector so you can do this conceniently or have someone hold the wires together) and the - to the red battery lead. Don't start the car or turn anything on as this willblow the fuse internal to the multimeter. You should see a minimal current drain -- a couple of milli Amps.

If you see significant current drain, pull one fuse at a time to isolate what draws this amount of current.

Also, if you've drained your battery down several times it will significantly decrease the life of the battery. It may look ok, but don't exclude the possibility of having a bad battery if you don't see any current drain. It could still be that.

Let us know how you make out.

Hope this is useful. Remco

Hi Remco,

Thanks for the reply,

I have checked the battery with the multimeter and while running it shows

I also checked the trunk light after closing by folding the back seat and its off.

Only thing I did'nt check is draining the battery, would you suggest to take the car to any electrical shop and have them check.

Thanks again Jag

It depends on how comfortable you are debugging electrical problems. You can't get into too much trouble pulling fuses to determine where it is coming from. If I were you, try to do the initial debug. This way, when you bring it to a repair shop, you'll know when they are trying to pull one over on you.

You may find that, after all fuses have been pulled, the current drain is still abnormal. You can pull fuseable links as well -- they are in the under the hood fusebox and look like large fuses. See if pulling the large 75A fuseable link drops the current to normal.

If that happens, your problem is probably the alternator: It charges fine as you can see, so that part is not the problem. Internally they have diodes inside - Besides changing the AC voltage alternator makes into DC, these diodes also make sure that the current does not find a way from the battery back to ground when the car is turned off. I suspect one of these diodes shorted.

Let us know how you are doing as it might help someone else with similar problems. Remco

I have a similar problem. G/F wrecked 99 Altima and it started once after wreck, drove it home, and hasn't started since. Battery is good and everything is gettng juice, battery even starts all other vehicles. Checked fuses in car and under hood. Nothing seems bad. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

It is similar in the sense that the car doesn't even turn over? Or it turns over but does not start?

It doesn't even turn over. It acts just like a dead battery but it's not.

Stick or automatic? When you turn the ignition key, do you hear a farly loud 'click' under the hood? If so, most likely your starter is bad or the fat wire to the starter is not making good contact. If not, do you see any of your dash lights turn on? If you do see see dash lights but nothing happens when your go to start, make sure a fuseable link under the hood's fuse box is not blown (it might be marked "B"). Also make sure the car is not in gear (stick has to have clutch in).

The fuseable links are good. Dash lights come on. It's an automatic and after wreck shifter won't go into low position. This is the only thing I have concluded(neutral safety switch)or starter problems.

The fuseable links are separate from the dash lights so you may want to check them.

Yeah, that's what I am thinking as well. I take it you don't even hear the 'click' then? To be sure it isn't the starter, put a voltmeter across the thinner wire (black/yellow my schematic says) and ground. If you don't see 12V there, check when you are starting, trace the black/yellow wire back to the inhibitor switch (on the shift stick assembly). The common side of that switch goes to a potential present theft relay, which in turn goes to the ignition switch.

If I had to guess, it is probably that inhibitor switch since you are already having problems getting it to low. You could just short that switch to see if it starts. (just be careful to never start it in gear).

Let us know how you make out. Remco

Thanks for all your help. I'll let you know how it goes.