I think I may have a unique situation here guys and would appreciate your input.

On one of my Maximas, if the battery voltage is below 11 volts, the car won't even attempt to start. I turn the key and absolutely nothing happens.

Now if I hook up a battery charger to the car and activate the 'car start' function, which obviously increase the battery voltage to 13-14 volts, the car will fire right up.

What is causing this?

 

Car must see Atleast 12.4 to start, have the battery tested. It may be going bad and won't hold a change.

If you have a charger slow charge it over night. Then test it with a volt meter

 

Sounds like your battery is on it's way out.

 

Wiz, it's not the voltage, it's the amperage that's key. You could have 12 volts on a battery that simply cannot supply enough amps to crank. (Dead cell?)

Remember batteries are rated by CCA's. The perfectly fine 12 volt battery in my Yamaha will not start my Nissan.

 

Do you need a special sized battery? How many CCAs are you looking to purchase?

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Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you guys completely missed my issue. I really don't believe it's the battery. It's fairly new and has high CA's and CCA's (I'll report back on this). I bought a new battery because this same issue was happening with the old battery, and I thought it was an old battery issue.

It won't even ATTEMPT to start. Meaning, I don't even get the usual struggling "whu whu whu" sound as it normally would if the battery was low. If I take this same battery and throw it in one of my other Maximas, the car will start no problem. This particular Maxima is a picky little ****er.

Hopefully I explained things a little bit better.

njmaxseltd, I'll go out and see how many amps it's showing in its current state. Thank you.

 

I'm sure your cables to the starter are clean. How old is the starter?

I remember seeing ancient Ford Mustangs do crazy stuff like that when the starter solenoid would be on the way out. If you gave them a jolt with more current than normal via a running car jump you could get a few more starts out of it before the went completely out. That was when the starter solenoid was under the hood by the battery.

It doesn't sound like classic starter switch failure but I've not personally experienced that issue.

 

one time my terminals were dirty, not charging the car properly.. losing volts randomly, causing a no start, a video would be nice!

 

Clean the negative cable from battery to ground on engine block. I'd clean that first. I tried everything on my 97se and it ended up being that.

 

Dirty or bad battery cables or starter was my next guess.
Hope you get the problem sorted out.

 

This is interesting. In electricity, voltage and current (amperage) are 2 separate things. But you have to have them both. Voltage is the electrical pressure that pushes the current through the wire. The lower the voltage, the less current flows.

But in this car-not-starting situation, something else other than the starter or battery is the cause. Everybody pretty much agrees that even at 11 volts, the starter should crank the engine. So something else besides the starter or battery is involved.

My guess would be to try another starter inhibitor relay. Maybe the energizing coil is changing its resistance, increasing, and this could be why you need the higher voltage. This same comment could also apply to the starter solenoid. I personally have never seen a starter solenoid do this, but I have seen relays do this. Any old 3rd gen guy probably knows about the fuel injectors doing this.

The inhibitor relay is in front of the battery. The cover on my 97 has it labeled INHIBIT CLUTCH INTERLOCK. It is in the row closest to the radiator, 2nd from the radiator.

 

sounds like the battery might have a dying cell in it. if you can, swap it out with a different battery and see how it acts. if no different, check the connections to the starter and battery for excessive resistance and maybe swap out the starter relay incase its sticking a bit

 

Too much rollin resistance of the armature! Full of brush dust or your bearing are going....

 

A "12" volt battery should be at 12.7 or 8. At 11v it it dead. Parasitic drain or the starter is drawing too many amps and cooking batteries.

 

I took out my starter, battery, ignition switch, etc. Even looked at the clutch relay etc. All you have to do is clean the ground. Remove cable from neg. battery post and clean with sand paper or something like a terminal cleaner. Then remove bolt from engine block holding other neg. wire end to bracket and clean. Problem sovled.

 

 

Well, you suggested what I thought before I even posted this thread; it could be cable related. The previous owner ran either 0 gauge or 4 gauge wire from the battery to the starter. There are other random wires running from the battery to the fuse box right next to it. He also ran an upgraded 0 or 4 gauge negative wire from the battery to the chassis. I think I'm gonna have to dive in and check these. You're also suggesting the starter, which I'll have to check out too. I figured a starter worked or it didn't, never thought it would be picky with respect to voltage/amperage.

I have no idea the age of the starter, it came with the car. This particular Maxima is turbocharged, and heavily modified; I'm just now getting into it and figuring things out. This is my oldest Maxima, being a 95.

Thanks Craig.

 

Since this is quick, easy and free, I'll definitely try this first.
Thanks.
Me too! Thanks.
Not everybody agrees with us. A few guys here thing 11v is a dead battery..

Thanks for the lead Dennis! I will definitely check this out.

 

That one's a waste IMO. There are many other ground points grounding the chassis. That extra big cable is providing lower resistance where it isn't needed. I would remove it. Does the vehicle have some sort of high powered stereo in it?

 

It's not the battery. I'll repeat myself and state that if this battery is installed in another Max, it fires right up.

I assume you're talking about the starter? LOL
Thanks Cmax
Please see above, and my other responses...It's not the battery.
My terminals at the battery are well maintained and clean. I always maintain my terminals with one of those battery terminal abrasive brush cleaner thingies. What I haven't done is clean the negative wire coming from the battery to where it meets the chassis.

 

It used to have a full blown stereo in it many moons ago under the last owner.

 

Ignition switch related maybe?

 

This must be a new addition to the family.

I think you need this 7 car garage.

 

You can believe the moon is made of cheese too, but that does not make it so. The fact is that a 12V volt battery is a dead battery at 12.1V. Now if your starter is shot with a shorted winding, then that 11v battery will definitely not work, while it may work in another Max.

12.5 = 85% charged
12.4 = 65%
12.3 = 50%
12.2 = 35%
12.1 = drained

http://www.autobatteries.com/en-us/b...battery-works/

http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_runs_down.htm

Have you applied 12 volts directly to the starter solenoid lead? Have you tested the starter circuit with a test light?

 

I figured it would at least crank though. He said it does nothing.

 

Not if the starter is shot, and responsible for killing the battery in the first place. I would jump it and drive it to someone that can so a starter draw test. My guess is that the starter is toast, and the battery is shot because of it. Doing voltage drop tests while jumping would also tell us if the cables are OK.

 

I've started my Max and other cars during the winter with pre-crank voltages in the 10s. 10.7 is about the bottom limit for successful winter starting. Not to say that 11 volts is doing great, but it should produce some sort of noise, the very least being a relay click. If you can take the battery out and start another car with it, the battery is not the issue.

 

I don't think the issue here is the battery even if voltage were to drop to 12 volts or less as long as it has enough current to turn over the starter it should start. Current is what the main 'driving' force is behind starters or any electric motor for that fact, not voltage. Voltage may simply indicate the health of the battery and without actually testing it, it may indicate nothing at all lol.
I've tested enough batteries working at an auto parts store to know voltage doesn't always indicate the health of the battery...


Here is a quote from Wikipidia "When current from the starting battery is applied to the solenoid, usually through a key-operated switch, the solenoid engages a lever that pushes out the drive pinion on the starter driveshaft and meshes the pinion with the starter ring gear on the flywheel of the engine. "


Key word here is current...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starter_(engine)


I believe this to be a wiring issue as you do have random wires going into places it should not be going to. I would start there, removing unnecessary wires and getting back close to stock as possible.

 

Try removing just that one big cable, then. See what happens. Your car is fine without it anyways.