quiggs12

The other day while driving my 95 Maxima GLE (with Bose system, if it matters) I lost power to my blinkers, the radio's sound, and heater blower. I still had headlights, dash lights, and radio display. I don't believe I lost power to anything additional. Power was lost for several minutes and then came back on.

Today, I tried to pinpoint the issue. I made sure that battery terminals and cables were tight. I checked the fuses under the dash (CIG Lighter, 15A, was blown). I replaced that fuse (knowing I would need to find the cause later) and checked the fuses in the Fusible Link and Fuse box next to the battery. Upon wiggling the fusible links I discovered that the IGN fusible link would cut power in and out of my problem components (which now appear to include the radio antenna). It appeared that it wasn't entirely clipped in and thus I fixed it. However, while I was cleaning the inside of the car (ignition in ACC mode) I noticed that the radio's sound would disappear intermittently. However, during this time it didn't appear to lose the heater blower. The CIG Lighter fuse blow after using the CIG Lighter a couple of times (not sure if it is related)

I was thinking that it could be the beginning of a failing ignition switch. However, I obviously don't know. I also don't know how the CIG Lighter plays into this... I need some advice on how to troubleshoot this further. Please advise and thank you in advance for any and all help.

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

Let's start with the easy part, the cigarette lighter. It is a problem all by itself, not related with anything else. Whatever you are plugging in is using more power than the fuse can handle, which is supposed to be a 15 amp fuse. If you are actually using a cigarette lighter, replace the heating element. If it is something else, check out how much power it takes. 15 amps is approximately 180 watts.

The other part is more difficult. But I am not clear on the last part when you were cleaning the car: "However, while I was cleaning the inside of the car (ignition in ACC mode) I noticed that the radio's sound would disappear intermittently. However, during this time it didn't appear to lose the heater blower." When the key is in the accessory position, the blower motor should not have power, i.e., be able to run. If it really does run in the ACC position, this is a problem.

The ignition fusible link sends power to the ignition switch and then the ignition switch distributes the power to to about half the things in the car, anything that only works when the ignition switch is turned on. This includes things like the ignition coils, fuel pump, windshield wipers which would cause the engine to stop if they lost power.

While it appears that the ignition switch could be the problem, it may not be. You might be developing loose or corroded connections in the fuse box under the hood or maybe the fuse panel in the dash. Try putting you hand (no jewelry) on the back side of the fuse panels and wiggling the wires around and see if that does anything.

I don't know what else to say. Intermittent stuff is a real challenge.

quiggs12

[QUOTE=DennisMik;8878265]

The other part is more difficult. But I am not clear on the last part when you were cleaning the car: "However, while I was cleaning the inside of the car (ignition in ACC mode) I noticed that the radio's sound would disappear intermittently. However, during this time it didn't appear to lose the heater blower." When the key is in the accessory position, the blower motor should not have power, i.e., be able to run. If it really does run in the ACC position, this is a problem.
QUOTE]

Well, I definitely was a bit confusing with my thoughts and writing... Sorry.

No, the blower does not run during ACC mode.

The CIG Lighter blew with the heating element and NOT any sort of accessory device. However, if that is common I will just ditch the element as I only want it to charge my phone...

I did the whole wire jiggle thing and didn't seem to have an issue (after fixing the lose fusible link inside the fuse box next to the battery).

Is there a good way to check for a short? What do I test with my multimeter and how?

THANK YOU for responding!

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

To get technical, you do not have a short. A short (short circuit) is when more electrical current is flowing that what is supposed to be. A short blows fuses and burns up wires.

The cigarette lighter is/was a short. The heating elements in cigarette lighters have been responsible for blowing fuses since they were first put in cars. The heating element screws out of the lighter base. You used to be able to buy the element by itself, but maybe not anymore since not as many people use them.

So anyway, you have a open circuit where no electricity is flowing. No burned wires, no blown fuse, just an inoperative whatever. To troubleshoot an open circuit, you would a voltmeter to measure for voltage at certain connectors or switches or devices based on what is not working. You need to look at the wiring diagram to figure out where to check for voltage.

For example, you said "I lost power to my blinkers, the radio's sound, and heater blower. I still had headlights, dash lights, and radio display."

Lets talk radio. The Bose system uses amplifiers on each speaker. These amplifiers get power (12 volts) from fuse # 22 in the dash panel. The radio itself gets power from fuse # 21. Since the radio still had the display, fuse # 21 still had electricity.

So if you checked for voltage on fuse # 22 for the speaker amplifiers, I bet it would have been 0 volts. So the next thing to do is check for voltage where fuse # 22 gets power from. This happens to be fuse # B, under the hood by the battery. BUT fuse B is a 75 amp fuse that also provides power to 17 other fuses in the dash board.

If fuse B is the problem, there would be a whole lot of other things that stopped working. Things like the turn signals, the tail lights, the interior lights (dome, door step lights, etc), the horns, the door locks, and windows to name a few.

You did say that the turn signals didn't work, but you also said that the blower motor didn't work. The blower motor does not get power from fuse C. So much for a nice and neat fix.

The blower motor gets power from 3 fuses, all located under the hood. Fuse D, labeled ENG CONT (?) sends power to the ignition switch and then to the blower motor relay. The blower motor relay acts like a switch and sends power from fuses 2 and 3 to the blower motor itself. Earlier I said that the ignition switch sends power to half of the stuff in the car, so if fuse D was the problem, you would have a lot of things that didn't work.

So where is all this rambling on going? It seems that the common points for the things that stop working are in the fuse panel under the hood. You would have to check for voltage (or lack of) when the problem is happening. You would have to pull the fuse out and put the voltmeter probe in where the fuse plugs in. Two things about doing that. The probe on the voltmeter might be too fat to fit into the opening, so you would have to put something smaller, like a pin, into the contact opening and then touch the pin with the voltmeter probe. Also, when you remove a fuse, only one of the 2 contacts will have voltage, so you have to check both sides.

There was a thread by another org member that was having power outages. He finally found the problem to be with the connections on the bottom side of the under hood fuse panel. The way I remember it was that there were connections held together by screws and that there were loose screws. If you decide to look, disconnect the battery cable before unscrewing the fuse panel from the fender.

I was referring to fuses by letters and numbers. The cover over the fuses has names on it, like BLOWER MTR or ENG CONT or AIR CON. Unfortunately Nissan doesn't provide a cross reference for this stuff. You have to look in the service manual at a drawing of the fuse panel and count the slots that are labeled A B C and 1 2 3. And not all 4th gens are the same electrically. 95 & 96 are the same, 97 and 98 are the same and 99 is all by itself.

This drawing in the service manual I referred to is called the FOLDOUT. Here is a link to the FOLDOUT, the drawing is on page 3: http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Max...95/foldout.pdf

For the complete manual, the link is: http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/1995/

Two thirds of the wiring diagrams are in the EL (Electrical) section, the EC (engine Control) section has a lot. Use the IDX (alphabetical index) section to look up the section and page number for whatever you might be looking for. On page 18 of the EL section is a power distribution block diagram that is very useful to figure out what is related to what.

I hope this helps. Intermittent problems are difficult. You are going to learn a lot about troubleshooting electrical problems - even if you never figure it out. But let's not be negative.

quiggs12

Thank you for all the info!