Alu Wolf

ok i have a 96 max 5spd previous owner did a interior swap at some point aparently and im not to sure what else he replaced

but i have been driving this car for over a year now and was in the middle of moving and suddenly it decided to start cutting out and died. temp gauge read normal so popped the hood and engine was hot so i ripped out the thermostat and it ran fine when i got a jump start.

i replaced the alternator about a month ago and everything was fine but now i let it sit a day and now the battery is dead. i had nothing hooked up to it that wasnt normal but the battery got drained and is now flat lined. does anyone have any idea what the cause might be? could it be a bad ground or a shorted wire grounding out?

im really at a loss on this one. i replaced the chassis ground off the bracket of the alternator and it hasnt made a difference.

there is a radiator leak from the top of the radiator and it did get the main harness wet but after cutting into it around the where it drops down the passenger side of the radiator to check for bad wires as it was the only location that got wet and found nothing.

could the battery have gone bad somehow? it is only 1 year old

i need to get my car working asap. i dont know where else to look. i have a very limited number of suplies to repair it with. i have a few feet of 10g wire some connectors and basic tools but no electrical tester

any help would be greatly apreciated.

arcticracer

You got to get basic diagnostics done first ie fully charge battery then do a load test, have alternator tested with all accessories on etc. and it should be a free test at a parts store. As for the thermostat you should have one in there or at least a plate w/hole like a washer to regulate flow, to fast of flow just doesn't cool it as efficiently

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Common sense says that an engine that's been running will be hot, somewhere around 200 degrees F. So tell us why you ripped out the T-Stat and did you do this on the side of the road? Must carry around quite a tool kit there along with the appropriate ways to collect the boiling hot hazardous coolant to reuse or did you just dump it on the side of the road and put new stuff in there?

And why would you think a wiring harness in your engine compartment would be subject to failing if it got wet?

Nothing makes sense here.

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

As stated, get the battery charged and then have it tested under load. Then get the alternator tested, it could be overcharging the battery which will kill a battery.

The radiator leaks? Welcome to Maxima. They like to leak, the gasket that seals the plastic tank to the aluminum core leaves much to be desired. If you intend to keep the car, get the Koyo radiator in the sponsor section.

And as stated, put a thermostat in. And make sure it is a Nissan brand, not autozone.

Alu Wolf

as to why i ripped out the thermostat it stalled out on me and i popped the hood to see if i could figure out the issue and was imediatly hit with a wall of heat. i have driven my car for longer periods of time and popped the hoood after to adjust the iacv which i thought was a previous issue (turned out to be high idle cam issue) and it was owhere near as hot. so i propped the hood up and let it cool a bit so i could reach in the bay and i went to touch the upper radiator hose and it was to hot to touch so i went to do the same with the lower radiator hose and it was cold so i knew there was a clog somewhere in the cooling system or the waterpump went. so i tried squeezing the hose slightly to see if preasure was high and it was almost as hard as a rock with no flex so i took off the housing removed the thermostat and reassembled it and managed to save some coolent but not all but anyway i got a jump from a tow truck and it started right up with no issues and i drove it the few hundred yards to the gas station at the exit and filled it back up with coolent. car was running like a charm after that.


i went to go get the battery checked out today and it was completly dead with no charge and the chargers at advanced didnt even recognise there was a battery hooked up to them so i bought a new battery and now i have power to the car but it is not starting... i turn the key and i hear a relay click but it does it with the clutch in or out but doesnt crnk over. i checked all fuses and all fuses are good. all fusable links are good but have no way to test relays.

could there be a dead spot on the starter now? or could one of the wires have come loose somewhere? or could a bad ground cause this?

im good with the mechanical aspect of cars but electrical i know very basics.


and as to why i think bad wiring could be an issue is the previous owner swapped the interior of the car and it looks like the witring harmnass was swapped as well. i have had cars in the past with wiring issues in the engine bay that when wet more or less killed the car till they dried so i thought it might be a possibility

and as to the radiator leak it is leaking from the top on the passenger side around where the metal goes from being flat to the curve almost near the bracket.

i am at a loss as to what to do as i have no testing equipment.

could i have fried a relay?

also according to using the diagnostic mode of the ecm there are no codes at this moment

thank you all again for your help in this matter

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

The relay click you hear - is it a soft click from inside the car or a loud click from under the hood?

There are 2 (or is it 3) relays in the car under the dash that energize when the key is turned to the ON position, so this would be normal.

A loud click from under the hood would be the starter solenoid. Actually, that is also normal, but you never hear it because the engine cranks over.

If the starter solenoid is clicking, then try tapping on the starter motor at the end. Maybe the brushes are hanging up inside the starter.

If the starter solenoid is not clicking, it may be the ignition switch. You can take it off from the back of the key cylinder and turn it with a screwdriver and see if the starter works that way.

If you are going to work on a car, you need to have at least a test light, if not a voltmeter. It gets expensive buying parts that may not be causing the problem.

Alu Wolf

ok i think the starter is shot because it wasnt clicking when cranked so i tapped it and jumped the relay with a screwdriver (didnt have anyone to help lol) and after a few taps i heard a motor spinning but it wasnt spinning fast and sounded like it was grinding... but it didnt sound like it was the starter motor spinning and when i put my hand onto the starter as it was spinning i didnt feel any vibrations but felt vibration from the selanoid.

im assuming i need a new starter.

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

You can remove the starter and take it to an auto parts store. Most stores can test them. However - the test they do is referred to as a "no-load" test. A starter could "pass" a no-load test and still not start the car.

Alu Wolf

im going to do that monday im also going to go pick up a new starter from the scrap yard monday because i cant afford a new one and then i will hope for the best

and considering it took me tappig the starter to get it to spin at all im sure its dead but i dont know what fried it and the battery.

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

Hopefully getting another starter will get the car back on the road. Sometimes you will never figure out why something went bad, so don't give yourself a headache worrying about it.

But if the starter maybe shorted internally, this could fry a weak battery. When a battery delivers maximum current, this causes the plates in the battery to heat up. If the massive current flow goes on for too long, the plates can warp and touch each other, creating an internal short and the battery becomes a paper weight.