92 Sinatra

Well, I'm throwing in the towel on this one. Meaning I'm going to take my car to a shop I trust in the morning, and they can find the problem. These guys are pretty good, they guarantee their work (so if it ain't fixed I can go back & say "Let's try again"), and it's only $35 an hour to track an electrical bug.

Back in April the battery died. Sounds simple, and the battery was about 6 years old, so I went to Auto Zone & swapped it out. That one died within a couple of days, I lucked into an Auto Zone guy taking pity on me & giving me a new battery and I'm thinking the alternator must be bad, because alternator/battery health is closely linked, so I put in another Duralast alternator like I'd had before. Found an iffy connection or two as well. So I fixed those.

Thought we were good to go another few years but I was wrong.

Long story short: new batteries will not hold their charge. The "battery" light that is supposed to indicate discharge works, but it has never come on after firing up the engine. Since April I'm on the 3rd battery (all Duralast Gold, which had been good to me before this) and the 3rd alternator (2 Duralasts, now a Bosch). Car works fine that day & the next on a full charge or a new battery, but the next morning it is dead.

Jeez, who knows? "Parasitic discharge?"

Anybody have any ideas? Ever heard of this happening before?

This one has me whipped. There has to be a short or a fried-up fusible link or something somewhere. Could even be that the battery has been discharging during normal operation without the "battery" light coming on. . .but I don't know, man. It comes on as I start the car (as it's supposed to, in test mode) but goes out when the engine is running.

WTF?

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well-maintained winter blue B13 w/4-speed auto OD still itching for some upgrades (90+K on the clock)

 

Derrick

Hey man let us know what the problem was because I'm going thru a similar situation.

jakehale

On my car i have this "electronic Corrosion" thingy-a-mah-bob,,, it has a direct tie with the battery. I left it hook up once and it drained my battery.
it is located right hand side (looking at it) back on the firewall, up top, and has lights on it, At least it does when i connect it. Hooked the wire up one day, ran the car for month or so, then didnt drive it for 3 days and the battery was dead... Could be something to look at...

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2008 SE-R, Spec-V
'95 Sentra - R*I*P

92 Sinatra

Yeah, I don't have a corrosion gizmo, I don't have ABS brakes & I don't have airbags. . .so that's less to tangle with in terms of wiring than brand-new cars.

The only thing that's supposed to draw any current at all when the switch is turned off is the clock.

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well-maintained winter blue B13 w/4-speed auto OD still itching for some upgrades (90+K on the clock)

92 Sinatra

The fellers at Groovy Automotive have done me right once again. They've never tried to sell me a thing. In fact, in this case they were only going to charge me $37.50 for the diagnosis, and I ended up saying "Can I buy this part from you?"

They ran some tests and picked up a 7.6 milliampere draw on my battery with the switch turned off. That's accounted for by the clock and the saved settings in the combustion computer. Would be slightly higher if I had my stereo & alarm connected--but still, noplace near enough to drain my battery.

Which I bought three days ago from Auto Zone. A Dura-Last Gold. I had good luck with one of their batteries & alternators before. Not this time. This battery has an internal short that keeps 4 of the cells from charging beyond 25% and the other 2 from going up beyond 50%. That's a problem if you want your car to start on a regular basis (say, driving to work).

I had already put in 2 Dura-Last alternators, but they weren't cutting it. So I put in a Bosch alternator, which has probably been working really hard trying to charge this latest Auto Zone Dura-Last battery. The Groovy guys tested the alternator & said it is fine.

So I got a NAPA Interstate battery through the Groovy guys (my idea, not theirs) and I'm going back to Auto Zone for a refund. Not a swap-out--I've had quite enough of that--but my money back.

We'll see how this Interstate job holds up.

Makes me leery of Auto Zone parts. I do buy oil & stuff there--but if that stuff says Castrol or Mobil 1 or Bosch on it, then those are Castrol & Mobil 1 & Bosch products--right? Not some lower-line product with other companies' labels packaged specifically for Auto Zone?

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The Groovy guys did recommend a nifty method for running down a short circuit:

1. Pull off your negative battery cable so the chassis is no longer grounded.

2. Connect a low-voltage (and ONLY a low-voltage) test light on your negative battery post. You need one with a long enough wire to reach your fuse box, and the ones with an ice-pick probe are the best.

3. Pull each fuse, one at a time. When the fuse is pulled, touch the ground side (NOT the hot side) of the slot in the box where the fuse plugs in.

4. When you do that, the light should not come on. Pulling the fuse should open the entire circuit (meaning it is de-energized). If the light does come on, you have isolated the circuit where the short is.

5. Have lots of fun finding that short. At least you know which circuit it's in. This is much better than having to wander through your entire electrical harness. It helps to have an FSM.

Generally add-on stuff is the first place to begin looking.

Obviously this process could take a long time and be a real pain. By definition, electrical problems are the devil's handiwork. I HATE electrical bugs.

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well-maintained winter blue B13 w/4-speed auto OD still itching for some upgrades (90+K on the clock)

 

Twiz

Don't you have a Murray's Discount Auto or PepBoys around there ? I bought ceramic brake pads from AutoZone and they started cracking after a week cause they can't dissipate the heat properly. I went back and I got a full refund after arguing with them about their low quality product... I got a fuel filter for my Sentra and that sucked too and they wanted $12.99 for it... it was mostly made out of plastic. I ended up getting a Denso fuel filter on-line for $9.99. Their Mobil 1 fully synthetic oil and the M208 oil filter that fits my car are overpriced. I wouldn't go back to AutoZone even if you'd pay me to walk in.

92 Sinatra

PepBoys? We've got 'em, but I won't go there. Or Sears. Neither for parts nor work. Not in this lifetime.

At least at the Zone, I'm the one who does the installation. But I might not buy much there again, after my recent experience. Why would I?

Our best local parts place is called Van's. Best local mechanics are at Groovy. There used to be another called Rising Sun (because they started out specializing in Japanese imports) who were generally pretty good, but something happened and they went under.

Most dealerships here in town are good, but you will pay right out the wazoo.

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well-maintained winter blue B13 w/4-speed auto OD still itching for some upgrades (90+K on the clock)

Twiz

Interstate makes good batteries... is your battery okay now ? A bad alternator or a bad starter will discharge your battery fast... Did you run a test on them make sure they're okay?

92 Sinatra

Sigh. . . .

I was afraid when I tried to start my car to go to work this morning, it would be dead. I didn't have to worry about that: It was dead last night when I tried to drive home.

So my car is back in the hands of the Groovy guys. They were real surprised & disappointed to see me again this morning. I told them "Jeez, I hope I don't end up having to take her to the dealership & pay millions of dollars."

They assured me that "We will find it." I guess it's just a matter of time.

Electrical problems are indeed the handiwork of the devil.

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well-maintained winter blue B13 w/4-speed auto OD still itching for some upgrades (90+K on the clock)

pete?

what you need is a deep cycle battery. SCREW all of those POS duralast batterys and all that jazz. buy an optima deep cycle battery.

http://www.optimabatteries.com/publi...eep_cycle.html

 

Twiz

I would try to locate the problem myself... it can't be that hard. You start to trace every wire from the positive lead of the battery, pull some fuses and you should be able to find the problem. Now before you start any test... are you 100% sure that the battery can hold a charge? You said it's brand new ... right ? Okay for example let's say you assume the starter is bad and it's got a short in it somewhere, so you disconnect only the heavy gauge wire from the starter leading to the battery's positive lead and leave it like that overnight then you reconnect it the next day before you start. Then try this step again but with the alternator this time. Also you'll want to look at the insulation on all heavy gauge wires which carry 12V on them make sure they're alright. You grab the wires which lead to the positive lead and you inspect them... all the way. Then you could start pulling a few fuses ... try the ones with a higher Amps on them first and again plug em back in the next day. Each step will get you closer. Exclude every branch by testing it... disconnecting it till you locate the problem.

Upgrading to an Optima battery is not an option at this time. You need to find the electrical problem first. It's like you're replacing a 15A fuse with a 30A... you can't do that.

Good Luck!

HATEnFATE

There's no reason to upgrade your battery, thats a waste. Do what Twiz said. get a Multimeter and start tracing wires. You've definatly got something heavy draggin your battery down. What exactly is your car doing thats killing it? is it just not starting or is it just dead?
I just got done dealing with a major electrical issue and it turned out to be just the main engine ground wire. It caused major electrical chaos.

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If you are trying to get faster on a track you will go off course. The question is where, and how bad..............

JAY

www.ilovetoargue.com

92 Sinatra

The mechanics are gonna keep my car overnight. They are charging the Interstate battery they sold me to make sure it's sound.

As for afterward. . .I'm not sure. They said that with the key off, they mainly picked up on a 7.6-milliampere draw--but then at other times they detected a BIG one of the sort that would kill any battery.

Electrical problems are really devilish because on top of it all, they can be intermittent. Hide & seek. Makes me very unhappy.

The way it drains, it leaves enough juice to run the clock. Nothing more: no lights, no horn, no buzz from having the key in and the door open, nothing. No dashboard lights of any kind when I turn the switch. And of course no start.

I'm gonna see what kind of deal these guys might make me; their regular hourly rate is $70, which could add up really fast. I don't have much money.

As far as upgrading the battery to an Optima or whatever, somebody made that suggestion in here but plainly it is premature. Maybe someday. I'm not convinced those things are worth the price. And the electrolyte is a gel, meaning it is much more viscous than your ordinary electrolyte and its concentration & flow can vary in uniformity. "Gel" is a very trendy word, but it isn't always necessarily better.

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well-maintained winter blue B13 w/4-speed auto OD still itching for some upgrades (90+K on the clock)

PeaNutB13

A while back I had a customer go through 3 batteries, it was on his third one i asked him " What is killing these things?" He says the batteries we sell are junk and I want my money back!. So I say lets go and test the alternator and make sure that that is not the problem. Well the alternator tested fine but I noticed a thick wire connected to the positive side of his battery that ran to the back of the truck (he had a factory tow package). I asked him what that was for and his reply was that he didn't know. well I traced it under the vechicle and found out that a strap had broke that held the wire to the frame allowing the wire to come in contact with the cat and it was bouncing off of the hot cat causing a short thus killing the battery.
I unhooked the wire and charged his battery. He was so gratefull and must have apologized 20 times for making such a scene. In fiftteen minutes his attitude did a 180 and since then he has been a great customer.

I hope there is a quick solution for your problem good luck.

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My Nissan kicks Ass Yo!~

PeaNutB13

Oh yeah. check this out go HERE

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My Nissan kicks Ass Yo!~