Nissan maxima 95 electrical problem.

Dear fellow readers,

I own a Nissan Maxima 1995 GXE - While starting the car, I hear a "click" sound when I turn the key, but the engine wont crank. I had the battery and alternator checked at Autozone. Tests came out fine. Surprisingly, moving some of the car windows up and down a couple of times and then trying ignition seems to crank the car (!).

This last week, the car battery just discharged overnite. I tested and recharged the battery again, and tested it on site in the car, and it seemed to be fine, but the battery discharged again the very next night. I am positive that its not a battery problem, however there is a leak (ground) in the elec sys.

Anyone have a similar exp? I had the car checked and the mechanic said that there is a problem with the cars ECM :( - could it be that drastic? I wonder where the problem could be. Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

Reply to
Ajay
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Hi,

Here's a problem I had which I have fixed. Maybe the solution will help you.

93 GXE 140k miles

Had nearly 30 days of continuous below-freezing weather where I am, Washington DC suburb. Drove one to local mall a few miles away. Came out after about two hours, battery is completely flat, will not turn engine over. I figured it was the cold weather, many cold starts, heater running constantly, often using headlights, short, start/stop runs.

Called my wife, she brought her car with jumper leads, started OK. Drove the car home and put the battery (only 18 months old) on the charger overnight. Reconnected it next morning, car starts and runs fine. Assumed the problem was solved. Next day I get a call from my wife, Maxima has flat battery outside local library.

Same procedure, jump start then drive home. Took the battery out and put it back on the charger. Left the car till the weekend for further examination.

On the weekend, looked up my Haynes manual. Started doing their charging system checks.

1) All fuses inside car OK 2) All relays under hood OK 3) Battery open voltage OK 4) Put an ammeter in circuit with the battery (disconnect negative battery terminal and insert ammeter) Found that with the IGNITION OFF there was a 100 milliamp current drain. Haynes says the maximum current drain (considering, clock, radio presets, engine control computer, etc) should be 50 milliamps.

With the ammeter still in circuit I started pulling connectors off the positive battery terminal. As soon as I removed the fuseable link which connects to the alternator main terminal, the current drain dropped to zero.

Remembered Nissan Tech and possibly others had previously mentioned the alternator diodes go bad after time, so I figured I had found the problem.

Bought a new alternator my local Nissan dealer $368.00. Replaced the alternater, recharged the battery. Problem solved.

HTH, Al Moodie.

Reply to
Al Moodie

While it might be related to the problem below, I have the above problem on my 95 SE without the battery going down (cranks strongly when it does crank). A relay in the dash clicks once when I turn the key (interior lights do NOT dim), but sometimes I have to reinsert the key a few times before the engine will crank. So if you find your current leak, you might still have a problem I have not found a solution for yet.

Reply to
David Efflandt

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