fossill

All of this was originally in the "noob discussion thread" but I wanted to consolidate into an easy to search post. After all the discussion in the other thread...this is a mostly solved issue and I will do a final update when it comes back from the shop.

The family and I went out to eat. Got out of the car, everything was working, when we came back out to get in, nothing worked. These were the symptoms:

Power windows did not work from any door
Power sunroof did not work
Power seats did not work on either side in any direction
Power door locks did not work from either door or from the key fob
After pressing door un/lock from either the doors or the fob I can hear a click from a white box under and to the right of the steering column

Here are some of the things I tried right off the bat:

Downloaded the FSM and perused the power window, locks, and seats sections.
Become familiar with the fuse block and fusable link box
Checked the no 10 fuse in the fuse block
Found the 40a letter I fuse was blown, replaced it. Still nothing worked.
Have taken the driver side control switch out of the door. Inspected the board, put it all back together, and plugged it all back in.
Have unplugged everything from the fuse block, taken off, inspected, replaced everything.
Have checked all connections under the drivers side seat (basically just looked at the harnesses and wiggled them to see if there was a short).

At this point I had read more and more about the systems in the FSM. My guesses from what I've read are:
Driver side master control switch
A relay
A circuit breaker
The SECU

After reading several threads on this topic, I decided to try out a new drivers side main switch. Got it off Ebay for $75 shipped but didn't solve my problem.

I think it was at this point I disconnected some of the harnesses under the drivers side seat. I didn't do them all because it was late, dark, and I was really pissed that some of the harnesses seemed to difficult to get apart. Argghhh....

Back to the FSM. One problem I had with the FSM is that it kept referring to parts that I didn't have a good idea where they were exactly. Turned out, there was a separate section in the FSM, there is a subsection in the EL section called "electrical units location" and also there is "harness layout". Look here for some good views of where the components are.

At this point, after finding all the components that were common to all the systems that went out, I had discovered that the E90 CB was super hot. Additionally, the power window relay was hot too. After some fumbling around on my part and discussion, obviously if it was super hot, there was a draw on the circuit making it hot. So, my next step was to start disconnecting things until the draw stopped.

The first item I tried was the driver side door power windows. After looking in there, it looked like I'd have to take off the door panel to disconnect the motor. So I opted to do that only if I had to. The next thing I looked at was the sunroof. After digging around under the switch and light panels, I realized it wasn't totally obvious to me where the harness was to the motor, so I skipped that too. On to the rest of the harnesses under the drivers side seat.

I disconnected them all and tried the locks. They worked! And so did the windows and the sunroof (admittedly, haven't tried the passenger side seat yet and of course driver side was disconnected).

Later that night I went for a drive and yay, another problem, the airbag light was flashing. After reading some threads, I believe that the reason it started flashing was that I disconnected the airbag sensor under the seat with the battery still connected (but not totally positive). Further reading led me to believe that I could reset the light and it should go off. I found two threads most useful:

One type of reset strategy that works for a lot of people
Another type of strategy

The one that worked for me was that latter one but none-the-less, it was now off. Whew, another problem solved.

Lastly, I started plugging harnesses in under the driver side until I was down to two that seemed to cause me problems. The thing was, it seemed like I could plug it in, door locks would work but after I turned on the ignition, they'd stop working. I guess that makes sense now that I think about it. So basically I'm at the point where I know the harness (or two) that have a problem and I'm sick enough of fiddling with this that I'm taking it to a local shop. I'll update this thread again when they tell me what they did to resolve it entirely.

For additional reading, I'm including the link back to my original posts from this thread.

psmooth1

i am having this same problem , i brought a 2000 max in dec.with the windows not working,the guy told me i have to replace the smart entry module , he isnt answering my calls or anything , so im not sure if i should believe him , i tried to test the master switches out and all of them still didnt go down , no blown fuses , any one have any idea ?

fossill

I'm not sure I'd say it's the SAME problem unless power windows, door locks, sunroof, and seats went out too. I think you have something going on more specific to just your windows correct? There are plenty of questions - which windows (it looks like you're saying all of them)? Do they work from their respective switches or just the drivers side main switch? Is there anything else that is not working?

Good try with the drivers side main switch. Did you test to see if there is power at the switch? Get a test light or ammeter and test the white with red stripe to see if there is power. If there is, and we know the switch works, then I would say it is likely to be something on the circuit leaving the switch (which includes the SECU). I didn't have to investigate the SECU with my debacle so I don't know much about it but there is bound to be info on the web on how to test to see if your SECU is getting the proper power/signals from your switch.

fossill

Ok, so heard back from the shop. The harness leading to the power seat switch had a serious short on it. They showed the harness, I should have got a picture but didn't, it had several wires in it that were totally frayed apart and the rubber was all melted. It looked seriously dangerous. In any case, getting a new power seat switch for drivers side and I'll be good to go.

00Lightsout

that's good to know...i've heard of this several times! good look'n out

mantaz

We're you able to figure this out???? The same thing happened to me today. I've spent three hours trying everything you did and still no PL, no PW and no PS!

SeedyROM

Posting in this old thread just to say 1) I had the exact same issue here and 2) this thread helped me narrow it down. If only I had checked the seats first but Nissan really made getting the seats out a pain if they aren't in the right spot!

For what it's worth, if you need the seats out and don't have power/motors to do it, this thread helped me figure out how.

jz01gle

okay so I had the exact same issues happening to me. I suddenly lost power to my powerlocks, windows, sunroof, seats. I spent hours on hours pulling fuses, switching relays, tapping my SECU, tapping my BCM. No Luck. My drivers window was rolled down and it rained like a dog as well. just my luck right. anyways after double checking all my fuses and relays. I started looking at the connections to the power seats. all of these devices seem to be connected to the same circuit. i found out that one of the connectors to my power seats(passenger side) was actually ripped out exposing bare connectors. this was grounding out the circuit. you could actually see electricity arc from the wires. so i disconnected it from the connector clip. and voila. all power came back to my windows, sunroof, seats, and power locks!!!!! so try to check the seats wiring it maybe grounding out.