How does 4 hours sound?

Thursday night the wife comes home and parks the car. Everything seems normal. Friday morning gets in to start the car and nada - no snap, no crackle, no pop... zip. Voltmeter shows 3 volts.

When I take the cable off of the negative terminal and pick up the felt washer, I see that there is a crack in the case around the post, the corner of the case is warped and that the battery post is sunk down into the case a little bit.

Problem diagnosed - battery plates warped and shorted out.
Simple solution - need new battery.
Just have to wait until Saturday (today) when I have a car to go get one.

As I'm cleaning the battery tray and surrounding area with baking soda, I notice bare metal (shiny, not rusted) to the fender side of the battery tray. I can only assume that the battery spit out acid when it fried itself.

After a few choice expletives, I decide to pull the battery tray out and primer and paint the bare metal. The battery tray has some rusty areas so paint that too while it's out.

So I sanded and painted. The last time I painted a car was around 1964, so needless to say it isn't the greatest paint job. And let's not mention color match. But at least it isn't going to rust and I feel good about that. If I had decided to take it someplace and have a battery installed, I doubt if they would have even noticed it, much less do anything about it.

So as I'm relaxing and checking the insides of my eyelids for light leaks, my wife comes in and asks me why the brake lights are on. Some days you can't win.

 

Wow, Win man Win.

 

wow win for u and i should add that u are the electrical genius of the forums

 

Dennis,

I pretty much did this exact same thing when I pulled my battery for my clutch install last week. I had some apathetic previous owner induced rust to deal with too. Nothing a little metal brush, naval jelly, and rustoleum can't fix.

Good find...

 

Win indeed, but not sure what that means in your quote?

 

While the battery situation wasn't what I wanted to be doing, when the wife told me the brake lights were on, I instantly knew what the problem was because of all the threads I have read here. And believe it or not, I had one of those plastic bumpers that go in the brake pedal. Simple job but a tough location.

 

damn, 1964. i was born in 64 dennis!!!! lol!!!!! so, what made the lights stay on????

 

The brake pedal operates 2 electrical switches, one for cruise control disconnect and brake light operation. There is a flat bar that is welded to the brake pedal that touches the switches. Right where the flat bar touches the switches, Nissan drills a hole and puts a plastic bumper that actually touches and operates the switch. Our cars are getting old and these plastic bumper things are cracking/breaking and falling out.

So when the brake lights are always on or the cruise control won't engage, These plastic bumpers are the #1 suspect. Whether you replace the plastic bumper or JB Weld a dime over the hole, you may have to adjust the switch position. The switches are made to be adjustable.

 

wow man sounds like a headache.