I was driving downt eh highway with my windows down, and tried to roll them up because it was getting a little noisy. Neither of the front windows would go up or down, and the power seatbelts arnt working now either. I looked at the fuse pannel and didnt see anything about windows or seatbelts. Where should I look?

 

have you tried the passenger window switch? you could check the fusible link for the power windows inside the engine compartment but if that was toast i doubt the rear windows would work either which it sounds like they do. might be your master window switch. as far as the seatbelts, just take it to the dealership and have them worry about it since they have a lifetime warranty. probably a relay if neither of them work.

 

None of the windows work. I tried the switches on every door and nothing. Also of possible importance, my car has a sporadic short that can drain the battery in a matter of hours. Sometimes it will go days without any problems, then one day I park it for 4 hours and it dosnt have the juice to start. Sometimes when I drive the lights go really dim and the engine stumbles, and sometimes all the lights are really bright and the windows move up and down faster.

Should I start poking around with a multimeter, or call an exorcist?

 

Good luck. Electrical issues can suck.

I haven't looked through this yet to see if I can decipher anything, and I don't know if you have, but I'm talking about this link to various ECCS diagrams that may help you isolate the issue.
http://www.geocities.com/bracecraig/maxima/eccs.html

Was everything working fine, then just randomly the two front windows and seatbelts wouldn't work anymore all at once?

***Oh, I see you describing a degenerative case of electrical issues, seemingly due to something grounding out somewhere. This is definitely of interest.

Poke around with a multimeter, but most importantly .... look around for any wires that have been exposed due to making contact with hot metal in the engine bay that can gradually burn through insulators/wire covers/electrical tape etc. Keep in mind that certain things can move aorund in there under certain driving conditions that may only cause the wire to move close enough to something to ground out for a split second.

But usually, these types of ground outs will lead to broken fuses. If you can't find broken fuses, check relays.

Here is some info on relays that I have not reviewed yet:
http://www.geocities.com/bracecraig/maxima/relay.html

 

Okay, let's be clear. Play around with all the electronics in your car. From, turn signals, to windows, to sunroof, to blinkers, to radio, to dash lights .... everything in between ... everything. Try to make one post that lists everything that isn't working.

 

Having just now read this again, I want to isolate the battery and alternator and all of their wires. Trace all the wires from the battery and alternator. Look for cracks, corrosion at connector points, ground outs etc.

The battery and or alternator and their wires seem like the issue. This is relatively simple. Simple things first.

Do you have the "battery" light come on on the dash? This indicates that the alternator is not charging the battery well enough/at all.

 

I've never had the battery light come on, even when the lights were going really dim/ really bright.

 

does the battery light go on when the car is not running but the key is in the on/run position?

Do you have a test light or multimeter?
you can use it to check for blown fuses by making sure voltage shows up on BOTH side of the fuse.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=430026

may help...

 

I heard Nissan offer lifetime warranty on the seatbelts, but it depends on the dealership you are going to.

 

More info:

The locks and trunk release are also dead. There is also a "CLICKclick" from the fusebox area every 20 seconds or so, even with the key out of the ignition. The seatbelt moved about half an inch or an inch while driving today, so it's getting power sporadicly. The seatbelt light is flashing.

 

I found the source of the noise. It was a black cylinder (relay?) thing up behind the fuse panel. There were two of them separated by a harness of some type. It was the higher of the two relays.

 

I've had a similar problem but only for the power locks, what I did was pull out the fuse and put it back in.

Also for the seat beats..are you sure its not just stuck since you say it moves a bit? mine will sometimes get stuck when they're on their way OFF toward front of car, what I do is close door and unhook it then reattach it.

 

Both of them refuse to move.

 

To move a bit? or to move period?

 

This is driving me flipping insane. The seatbelts every once in a while will move a little bit, but they dont move when I open or close the door like they should. There is an ocasional "click" from under the radio. I took apart the dash and the source of the noise was the gold box on the floor infront of the shifter area. Is this the TCU? My car was an auto and I swapped it to a 5 speed a while ago. When I remove or insert the 4th fuse from the bottom on the left, the box I mentioned clicks.



Also, that black thing I circled makes a "clickCLICK" every several seconds regardless of the key being in the ignition or not. It is up behind the fuse panel. It is up above the clutch pedal.