I have an 06 Pathy that will not start. All I hear is the starter making an attempt to fire up then nothing. The engine makes a brief and pathetic attempt to turn over. The the battery light comes on along with everything else but I don't think it's a dead battery. The lights stereo and even heater works fine with the key turned on. It's just when I start it up that it won't do anything. Could it still be a dead battery? After it fails to start I hear a clicking coming from inside the dash and the guages bounce until I turn the key off.
Very recently the guages started acting funny at start up. They'd bounce slightly and not register anything until I restarted the engine. Now they do it after every start attempt.
I just moved to Iowa from California and I don't have a lot of experience trying to start cars in the cold. My wife's 2000 Sentra fires up without any argument.
I have an 06 Pathy that will not start. All I hear is the starter making an attempt to fire up then nothing. The engine makes a brief and pathetic attempt to turn over. The the battery light comes on along with everything else but I don't think it's a dead battery. The lights stereo and even heater works fine with the key turned on. It's just when I start it up that it won't do anything. Could it still be a dead battery? After it fails to start I hear a clicking coming from inside the dash and the guages bounce until I turn the key off.
Very recently the guages started acting funny at start up. They'd bounce slightly and not register anything until I restarted the engine. Now they do it after every start attempt.
I just moved to Iowa from California and I don't have a lot of experience trying to start cars in the cold. My wife's 2000 Sentra fires up without any argument.
Any ideas?
Have you cranked the engine over with the headlights on? If the lights dim noticably during startup and engine doesn't fire up, then it's the battery. I can't see what else would cause this problem.
Check the tightness and condition of your battery terminals. Corrosion or looseness could cause erratic behavior of your electrical system, as well as look like a dead battery. Any extra resistance in the terminals will effectively lower the starting current that the battery can deliver.
Another thing you could try is to jumper to your wife's car battery to give it some extra juice.
If it's under 36k miles, take it to the dealer to make good on the warranty.
I tried the old headlight trick to test the battery. It only dimmed the normal amount it dims when it starts. All of the accessories work on the battery without debate. I'm a little afraid to attempt a jump in case the battery is frozen. I hear that's a big no-no.
No accessories were left on to drain the battery and I barely have 9000 miles on it. I always fill it with premium and it get the good oil as well. I'm very anal about taking care of it.
I'm leaning more towards a hosed computer. The dials go nuts when I try to start it and continue doing so until a few seconds after removing the key. It did this once before a couple months ago but didn't do it after I stopped the engine and fired it back up. Now it's an every time deal.
I'm gonna give it one more attempt in the morning then have it towed to the local dealership for some warranty service.
It sounds like a dead battery. Accessories will still work if the battery is going bad, since they don't take any real amperage. I would definitely take it to the dealer if your gauges are spazzing when it starts. Might as well use the warranty.
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'05 Pathfinder LE
'03 Saab 93SS
The starting problem started a few days prior. It's like there was a lot of strain while it was trying to start. Each day it got progressively worse until it finally decided that it wasn't going to start anymore. Could that be the battery going to pot? If so I'll just run the battery down for a check, get it charged if it needs to be, replace it if it's shot, then drive my oddly behaving truck in to get the gauge issue looked at and avoid the tow charge.
That does sounds like the battery. I would get a jump and head to the dealer about the gauges. Not sure if the battery would be covered under warranty, but I think they should, since you don't have that many miles.
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'05 Pathfinder LE
'03 Saab 93SS
I'm tempted to start an office pool to see if they'll cover it. I think that since batteries are wear items they'll say something dumb like, "You must have left your lights on." That of course is not the case.
Has anybody else seen a battery drain in cold weather if it sits for a few days? I don't drive it every day especially if it's snowing or icy. I drive the wife's car since I don't have 4wd.
I can't speak for my Pathfinder, but with my last car, the dash lights would go crazy when the battery was low and I tried turning it over. If the battery was particularly low, I'd also hear a relay rapidly clicking. Sounds like normal behavior in this situation. Not enough voltage to the gauges make it do whacky things.
Might want to connect a voltmeter to the battery / cigarette lighter / etc next time you're starting the vehicle. Check how low the voltage goes, and how fast it recovers to 13.5V-ish territory (should be close to immediately, assuming your alternator is fine).
Batteries die all the time. Computers rarely die. Now, why a battery would randomly die if all the accessories were off, I don't know; but they do lose their ability to crank out those amps when it gets colder. Anytime I've replaced a battery, it's always been in the beginning of winter, since that's when a weak battery shows itself.
And unless the battery is bulging, I wouldn't hesitate to give it a jump start.
No dice on the jump. I left it running on the wifemobile for about 5 minutes before trying to give it a crank. It doesn't even try. It just clicks like mad and the dials dance a jig while I do it.
Towing it to the dealer tomorrow morning which will give me time to disconnect my aftermarket stereo and put the old one back in so they don't try to blame a piece of hardware that's been working flawlessly for over a year.
No dice on the jump. I left it running on the wifemobile for about 5 minutes before trying to give it a crank. It doesn't even try. It just clicks like mad and the dials dance a jig while I do it.
Towing it to the dealer tomorrow morning which will give me time to disconnect my aftermarket stereo and put the old one back in so they don't try to blame a piece of hardware that's been working flawlessly for over a year.
Stay tuned!
For some reason, fusible links just popped in my mind. Have you looked at the links that are connected on the battery cable? You should be able to see them when you lift the +red cover.
When my truck was a year old, I pop up the + battery terminal cover & the damn thing was HEAVILY corroded. I disassembled and cleaned & put those fabric/chemical terminal protectors on. If you must get a battery replacement, get an optima. I'm just waiting for OG battery to give me 1/2 a problem so I have an excuse to replace it!
The terminals look as they did the day I bought it. I still think it might be the battery since it didn't charge when I connected it to another battery. It just got dropped off at the local dealer and as much as I hate to say it, I really hope they find something bad. If it is just a dead battery I'll be ticked since that means I got 9200 miles out of a battery. To support my assumption that it's electrical I made sure my stereo was turned up and the heat was set at full blast so when they try to fire it up they'll see that it might be a bigger problem.
Thanks for the suggestions on a replacement battery. If it is a dead battery I'll get a good one and of course I'll be out the cost of a battery and a tow which means I'll be sleeping in the spare room while I'm in dutch with the wife. She hates it when the stuff I own breaks and it costs us money. Considering every car I've ever purchased has had a serious problem resulting in a day or two at the dealer within the first two years she's not very confident in my purchases.
Looks like a dead cell in the battery. I got a faulty battery installed when they built my truck and it just took 9200 miles for it to finally up and die. The twitching of the dials is due to the precheck at ignition. There is just enough juice to power everything but a startup. It just won't charge past 15%
That's why the jumping it off another battery didn't work. They're going to throw a new battery in it and see what happens. Hopefully this will fix it and I will not get another call saying, "Looks like the faulty battery is just part of the problem."
06 Pathy won't start!
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