Battery drains Completely while sitting
05-19-2011, 03:57 PM
#1
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Battery drains Completely while sitting
This post is slightly premature, but I am supposed to go driving to visit family with my son this weekend, leaving tomorrow, so I need to know if there is a quick/common fix.
Here's the situation:
I had my car jacked up in the front to do a wheel bearing, it sat like that for about 36 hours. Once I tried starting it the battery was COMPLETELY flat, absolutely NOTHING. I charged the battery and started the car, drove it for about 20mins, no warning lights came on at any time. Car shut off then started no problem when left for about 30 mins.
When I left it overnight, it was completely flat again, I jumped it, took it to work, parked it, I disconnected all aftermarket lighting and DIDN"T arm the security system or lock the doors.
Worked 8 hours, tried starting car, completely flat again.
First, for those that don't know, I have a pretty good knowledge of things and am capable of finding this issue, my problem is I don't have time on my side. That said, my battery is almost new (yellow top Illumina), and the Alternator is obviously charging, I suspect there is a large parasitic drain.
Is there anything that is common that you guys can think of that may be causing my issue?
I'm hoping to find a bit of time tomorrow to do some further testing, any ideas that may save me some hunting would be appreciated, thanks guys.
OAN: When running she stays fairly steady around 13.8V
When shut of it lingers around 12.2-12.4V
Here's the situation:
I had my car jacked up in the front to do a wheel bearing, it sat like that for about 36 hours. Once I tried starting it the battery was COMPLETELY flat, absolutely NOTHING. I charged the battery and started the car, drove it for about 20mins, no warning lights came on at any time. Car shut off then started no problem when left for about 30 mins.
When I left it overnight, it was completely flat again, I jumped it, took it to work, parked it, I disconnected all aftermarket lighting and DIDN"T arm the security system or lock the doors.
Worked 8 hours, tried starting car, completely flat again.
First, for those that don't know, I have a pretty good knowledge of things and am capable of finding this issue, my problem is I don't have time on my side. That said, my battery is almost new (yellow top Illumina), and the Alternator is obviously charging, I suspect there is a large parasitic drain.
Is there anything that is common that you guys can think of that may be causing my issue?
I'm hoping to find a bit of time tomorrow to do some further testing, any ideas that may save me some hunting would be appreciated, thanks guys.
OAN: When running she stays fairly steady around 13.8V
When shut of it lingers around 12.2-12.4V
Last edited by TunerMaxima3000; 05-19-2011 at 06:06 PM.
05-19-2011, 08:34 PM
#2
This post is slightly premature, but I am supposed to go driving to visit family with my son this weekend, leaving tomorrow, so I need to know if there is a quick/common fix.
Here's the situation:
I had my car jacked up in the front to do a wheel bearing, it sat like that for about 36 hours. Once I tried starting it the battery was COMPLETELY flat, absolutely NOTHING. I charged the battery and started the car, drove it for about 20mins, no warning lights came on at any time. Car shut off then started no problem when left for about 30 mins.
When I left it overnight, it was completely flat again, I jumped it, took it to work, parked it, I disconnected all aftermarket lighting and DIDN"T arm the security system or lock the doors.
Worked 8 hours, tried starting car, completely flat again.
First, for those that don't know, I have a pretty good knowledge of things and am capable of finding this issue, my problem is I don't have time on my side. That said, my battery is almost new (yellow top Illumina), and the Alternator is obviously charging, I suspect there is a large parasitic drain.
Is there anything that is common that you guys can think of that may be causing my issue?
I'm hoping to find a bit of time tomorrow to do some further testing, any ideas that may save me some hunting would be appreciated, thanks guys.
OAN: When running she stays fairly steady around 13.8V
When shut of it lingers around 12.2-12.4V
Here's the situation:
I had my car jacked up in the front to do a wheel bearing, it sat like that for about 36 hours. Once I tried starting it the battery was COMPLETELY flat, absolutely NOTHING. I charged the battery and started the car, drove it for about 20mins, no warning lights came on at any time. Car shut off then started no problem when left for about 30 mins.
When I left it overnight, it was completely flat again, I jumped it, took it to work, parked it, I disconnected all aftermarket lighting and DIDN"T arm the security system or lock the doors.
Worked 8 hours, tried starting car, completely flat again.
First, for those that don't know, I have a pretty good knowledge of things and am capable of finding this issue, my problem is I don't have time on my side. That said, my battery is almost new (yellow top Illumina), and the Alternator is obviously charging, I suspect there is a large parasitic drain.
Is there anything that is common that you guys can think of that may be causing my issue?
I'm hoping to find a bit of time tomorrow to do some further testing, any ideas that may save me some hunting would be appreciated, thanks guys.
OAN: When running she stays fairly steady around 13.8V
When shut of it lingers around 12.2-12.4V
05-19-2011, 09:42 PM
#3
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: DALLAS, TEXAS
Posts: 111
Underdrive pulley? I installed the Unorthodox and for the first three days after it was installed I'd come to to try cranking my Maxima with a dead battery. Optima Yellow as well. I cleaned ALL connections with a brass wire brush and put a 3A maintainer overnight and havent had a problem since. Still on same the battery for 6 months. Alt would put out 13.8 and battery was 12.22 with car off..
The bolt that holds the crank pulley to the crank snapped off into the crankshafts end. It was as a big 2-3 day job as well.
The bolt that holds the crank pulley to the crank snapped off into the crankshafts end. It was as a big 2-3 day job as well.
Last edited by NAVY00MAXIMA; 05-19-2011 at 09:51 PM.
05-19-2011, 10:15 PM
#4
First, for those that don't know, I have a pretty good knowledge of things and am capable of finding this issue, my problem is I don't have time on my side. That said, my battery is almost new (yellow top Illumina), and the Alternator is obviously charging, I suspect there is a large parasitic drain.
Is there anything that is common that you guys can think of that may be causing my issue?
Is there anything that is common that you guys can think of that may be causing my issue?
The second possible cause is the battery puked on you. I know - I did read your post. I have learned over the years that the brand of the battery and the warranty doesn't mean squat. About 2 months ago I replaced the battery in my 97. 100 month warranty, 11 gone by. My worst case was Excide. 72 month warranty and when the 3rd one died at month 18, I gave up on them.
Sorry for the rant, but do you have the resources to borrow a battery as a test? I really think this is your problem.
05-20-2011, 04:14 AM
#5
While your checking for other sources of drain in the system let the battery charge up then remove the battery connection off the alt and let it sit for the same amount of time reconnect it then see if it will start.disconnecting the cable off the alt takes your charging system out of the troubleshooting loop just make sure tou wrap something around the connection when you take it off.
05-20-2011, 04:31 AM
#6
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Spokane WA
Posts: 10
Classic dead cell problem but another thing that causes a continual non start in the morning is a shorted diode in the alternator. It acts just like a dome light left on overnite and the long slow drain takes the battery down to the point that only a long chrage can really bring it to top. Get a free system check from Shucks and a battery load ck done on it too. The static / dynamic voltage check won't show the diode being bad and it may require the alternator be disassembled to find doing continuity checks on each of the six diodes.
05-20-2011, 05:50 AM
#7
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-Yes decent spark when hooking up, clearly there's a load when everything is off.
-No UDP.
Ugh, thank you sir. I was actually thinking about this last night, and had two most likely issues in mind:
-Shorted cell in battery
-Alternator short
As Dennis eluded to in his post, it's fairly unlikely that any previously installed wiring, etc has suddenly caused an issue. I'm fairly confident of my wiring abilities, I wouldn't suspect any of that stuff to cause issues ever.
-No UDP.
another thing that causes a continual non start in the morning is a shorted diode in the alternator. It acts just like a dome light left on overnite and the long slow drain takes the battery down to the point that only a long chrage can really bring it to top. Get a free system check from Shucks and a battery load ck done on it too. The static / dynamic voltage check won't show the diode being bad and it may require the alternator be disassembled to find doing continuity checks on each of the six diodes.
-Shorted cell in battery
-Alternator short
As Dennis eluded to in his post, it's fairly unlikely that any previously installed wiring, etc has suddenly caused an issue. I'm fairly confident of my wiring abilities, I wouldn't suspect any of that stuff to cause issues ever.
05-20-2011, 06:21 AM
#8
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Please don't be the Alternator
Update: I kept the battery disconnected last night to make sure the battery itself wasn't likely the issue. Reconnected this morning and it started fine, full voltage.
Drove the car for about 1 mile this morning and the Battery&Brake lights came on, but they were very bright. I hooked up the voltmeter and she's OVERcharging now, 16-17 V and climbing.
This makes me thing the alternator again. I find it very odd that this would happen so suddenly, and right after the wheel bearing job.
When I did the wheel bearing the only electrical I touched was the ABS wire that runs into the fender. I am wondering if possibly that relay box right there got jarred or something.
I'm going to try and find a 10A fuse for my multimeter so I can verify and do some more testing. What do you guys think? I'm not a wizz with Alternators I only have a basic knowledge of them, but I thought if I had a bad Diode then the car would UNDERcharge, but still charge (assuming only one diode was bad)
TIA again
Drove the car for about 1 mile this morning and the Battery&Brake lights came on, but they were very bright. I hooked up the voltmeter and she's OVERcharging now, 16-17 V and climbing.
This makes me thing the alternator again. I find it very odd that this would happen so suddenly, and right after the wheel bearing job.
When I did the wheel bearing the only electrical I touched was the ABS wire that runs into the fender. I am wondering if possibly that relay box right there got jarred or something.
I'm going to try and find a 10A fuse for my multimeter so I can verify and do some more testing. What do you guys think? I'm not a wizz with Alternators I only have a basic knowledge of them, but I thought if I had a bad Diode then the car would UNDERcharge, but still charge (assuming only one diode was bad)
TIA again
05-20-2011, 09:41 AM
#9
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Well I couldn't get the fuse for my Multi-Meter this morning so I decided to just call the Alty. I'm not sure how it's recommended to take it out, but I regret having A/C now LOL. In either case I got it out and I'm putting a new one in. I actually raised the radiator to give me clearance to drop the alty out the bottom, worked very slick.
05-20-2011, 09:47 AM
#10
if you going to try and take apart the alt be carefull not to break the brushes off.best way to do it is take all the hardware off the rear housing first then gently tap the rear housing off with a rubber mallet in a cross patern.you can text me if you need more direction on this as i was a alt/starter rebuilder for 9 years.
05-20-2011, 10:09 AM
#11
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if you going to try and take apart the alt be carefull not to break the brushes off.best way to do it is take all the hardware off the rear housing first then gently tap the rear housing off with a rubber mallet in a cross patern.you can text me if you need more direction on this as i was a alt/starter rebuilder for 9 years.
05-20-2011, 11:05 AM
#12
This post is slightly premature, but I am supposed to go driving to visit family with my son this weekend, leaving tomorrow, so I need to know if there is a quick/common fix.
Here's the situation:
I had my car jacked up in the front to do a wheel bearing, it sat like that for about 36 hours. Once I tried starting it the battery was COMPLETELY flat, absolutely NOTHING. I charged the battery and started the car, drove it for about 20mins, no warning lights came on at any time. Car shut off then started no problem when left for about 30 mins.
When I left it overnight, it was completely flat again, I jumped it, took it to work, parked it, I disconnected all aftermarket lighting and DIDN"T arm the security system or lock the doors.
Worked 8 hours, tried starting car, completely flat again.
First, for those that don't know, I have a pretty good knowledge of things and am capable of finding this issue, my problem is I don't have time on my side. That said, my battery is almost new (yellow top Illumina), and the Alternator is obviously charging, I suspect there is a large parasitic drain.
Is there anything that is common that you guys can think of that may be causing my issue?
I'm hoping to find a bit of time tomorrow to do some further testing, any ideas that may save me some hunting would be appreciated, thanks guys.
OAN: When running she stays fairly steady around 13.8V
When shut of it lingers around 12.2-12.4V
Here's the situation:
I had my car jacked up in the front to do a wheel bearing, it sat like that for about 36 hours. Once I tried starting it the battery was COMPLETELY flat, absolutely NOTHING. I charged the battery and started the car, drove it for about 20mins, no warning lights came on at any time. Car shut off then started no problem when left for about 30 mins.
When I left it overnight, it was completely flat again, I jumped it, took it to work, parked it, I disconnected all aftermarket lighting and DIDN"T arm the security system or lock the doors.
Worked 8 hours, tried starting car, completely flat again.
First, for those that don't know, I have a pretty good knowledge of things and am capable of finding this issue, my problem is I don't have time on my side. That said, my battery is almost new (yellow top Illumina), and the Alternator is obviously charging, I suspect there is a large parasitic drain.
Is there anything that is common that you guys can think of that may be causing my issue?
I'm hoping to find a bit of time tomorrow to do some further testing, any ideas that may save me some hunting would be appreciated, thanks guys.
OAN: When running she stays fairly steady around 13.8V
When shut of it lingers around 12.2-12.4V
The thing that was draining my battery was my passenger power seat, it was locked in the on position. (couldn't just move the lever back and fourth) I highly doubt this would be the issue (pretty random power draw) but seeing as i had the same symptoms, might as well check the voltages going from your power seats.
05-20-2011, 11:39 AM
#13
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^Thanks, that is strange.
Anyways, I got the new Alternator in, charging properly for now. I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.
I was going to do amperage draw tests but I can't get the fuse for my Multi-Meter. I will get one ASAP to do those tests. For everyones info, the easiest way is to hook the multimeter up to the battery then methodically pull fuses until the draw goes away. Once it does find out what's on that circuit and unplug them one by one until the draw goes away again, then you find your issue.
I was actually hoping it would be something silly like the post above, oh well, who knows with my luck lately it will be both! LOL
-Matt
Anyways, I got the new Alternator in, charging properly for now. I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.
I was going to do amperage draw tests but I can't get the fuse for my Multi-Meter. I will get one ASAP to do those tests. For everyones info, the easiest way is to hook the multimeter up to the battery then methodically pull fuses until the draw goes away. Once it does find out what's on that circuit and unplug them one by one until the draw goes away again, then you find your issue.
I was actually hoping it would be something silly like the post above, oh well, who knows with my luck lately it will be both! LOL
-Matt
05-20-2011, 06:23 PM
#14
Perform this test.....
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...2112731AAzYUVT
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...2112731AAzYUVT
05-22-2011, 08:57 PM
#15
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^ Thanks.
So Replaced the alternator and all has been good since, drove the car all weekend, parked overnight, no issues. Obviously a failed Alternator, oh well. Thanks for the help guys, hope this thread helps others in the future
So Replaced the alternator and all has been good since, drove the car all weekend, parked overnight, no issues. Obviously a failed Alternator, oh well. Thanks for the help guys, hope this thread helps others in the future
01-01-2022, 01:16 AM
#16
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Join Date: Jan 2022
Posts: 3
Have 2009 maxima radio stays on after car is turned off
Have 2009 maxima radio stays on after car is turned off. Even if I turn the radio off the screen stays on, or if it actually does turn off the screen may come back on while im not in the car so I wake up to a dead battery. So I'm having to unhook my battery all the time n that got old n annoying real quick lol. Can anyone please help me n tell me what's going on?
01-01-2022, 01:20 AM
#17
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Join Date: Jan 2022
Posts: 3
Have 2009 maxima radio stays on after car is turned off
Have 2009 maxima radio stays on after car is turned off. Even if I turn the radio off the screen stays on, or if it actually does turn off the screen may come back on while im not in the car so I wake up to a dead battery. So I'm having to unhook my battery all the time n that got old n annoying real quick lol. Can anyone please help me n tell me what's going on?
02-12-2022, 12:09 PM
#18
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: California
Posts: 1,445
Have 2009 maxima radio stays on after car is turned off. Even if I turn the radio off the screen stays on, or if it actually does turn off the screen may come back on while im not in the car so I wake up to a dead battery. So I'm having to unhook my battery all the time n that got old n annoying real quick lol. Can anyone please help me n tell me what's going on?
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