Ok this is going to sound more like a story than a problem, but here goes...My 95 max SE has run very well for 88k miles, has a K&N air filter, 500w pioneer/kicker system...rewired foglights so i can turn em on...notthin too crazy but i love her anyway..

Recently however i have been some serious problems...about 6 months ago, my driver and rear left side windows stopped working.

Driver window motor runs when you press the button, but not strong enough (or connected to whater it's supposed to be) to move window up, but will hold it in place or let it down.

Rear window motor runs when you press button, but does nothing to affect window position, and will not hold it up. Both windows dies with 2 months of eachother, and both are on left....

Ok next...4 months ago, my alternator died (elec systems malfunctioned while driving, car died, assume was the alternator, mechanic confirmed). I had it fixed, but about 2 weeks later, it died agian..had it replaced under warranty...about 2 months passed and had no problems with the car starting till about one month ago..

One day it just wouldnt start...had NO elec power whatsoever..no lights, no power locks, nothing. so, i assume its the alternator again...nope..i take it to mechanic, he says alternator is charging fine, so i change the battery...works for three days then dies again...

so i bring to mechanic again...tests battery and alternator charge, both work...there is however a DRAW of 4-5 miliamps or whatever unit the batter power is measured in on the battery..supposedly its supposed to be around .5 of that same unit.

so i take the car to the dealer to find the draw, which everyone says is likely a short somewhere...i have an aftermarket radio, and assume its that so tell them to check that first..they unhook the radio, charge me 300 bucks and tell me the draw is gone..two weeks pass, with no radio and yesterday the car is dead again...AARGH..

I take it to a local shop, they test battery and alternator for free and both are normal...theres still a DRAW..of 3-4 milliamps or whatever unit...so the radio may have been a part of it, but still theres a draw...

SO..im thinking something strange..once when i parked the car, i heard a strange, faint mechanical sounding noise, like an electric motor coming from it. the car was off and the sound persisted for about 30 seconds. happened twice that day...actually it was right after i bought the battery. could it be that some relay broke which caused the motors in the two windows to spin even when off, that broke the motors and is also causing the draw? Maybe the reason i heard it that day and no others was because that was the battery was fully charged, so the motors spun enought to hear...normally they may spin enough to drain battery, but not to hear.

i have no idea what the heck is wrong but i need to get this draw fixed...is there anyway to isolate the problem enough so i can tell whoever's fixing it exactly where it is, so i wont have to pay for 10hrs of labor for them to find a shorT!!!either that or someone in NJ who can fix the prob themselves for a reasonable price or tell me how to do it myself!.. (that may be difficult, i don't know crap about cars)

Well thanks for listening, please help if you can!

 

on your audio system make sure that all grounds are conected correctly i had that same problem in my last car (98 ford contour audio competition car also) and check all your speaker connections also and yeah it is true that sometimes amps stay on for a few mins after the car has been cut off check the amps after you shut the car off and make sure the power light is not on

 

thanks for the help!

i'll check my grounds, but both amps are not connected to the battery currently, so that cant be the problem...do you think the problem could be in the head unit? how would i check?

Phil

 

 

i install car sterios on my spare time and yeah i did one once and the cd player did not shut off even when the key was out the ignition just check the a/c line on the head unit and make sure it is connected to the right wire. are the amps on a separate battery? or hooked in though the fuse panel under the hood?

 

thanks!..ill check the a/c line on the head unit...the amps are on the same battery, hooked under the hood..but as i said they arent hooked up right now. Also i think that i was wrong earlier, the draw was not 3 to 4 miliamps , it was 3 to 4 amps...

thanks again
phil

 

but yeah 3 - 4 amps with the car off is too much. You said you re-wired the fogs, is it possible the re-wire allows them to draw current while the car is off? Only thing I can suggest is go back to basics. Meaning disconnect (not turn off) everything, amp, radio, motors (you suspect them) all one at a time while a meter (you can get one from radio shack) is hooked up in series to measure current with the positive side of the power line.

+ <-> + meter - + power line that normally connects to battery
batt
-

You can also try inserting the meter in series with suspected devices and their ground point to see if you can track down the 3-4 amp draw. You can also read the manuals(I can hear the laughter now) of your audio devices and see if any is rated to draw 3-4 amperes at stand still.

device- <-> ground point
insert meter
device- + meter- <-> ground point

hope it helps
woosh

 

3-4 amps is a big current, at 12 volts it means ~ 40Watts. I agree with idea to buy cheap Radio Shack ampermeter with sufficient range and hook it in series with battery as was suggested. To be on the safe side I'd connect it between "-" battery terminal and ground wire - in case that loose wire touches something around it won't blow your ampermeter. So I'd hook it up like this: ground wire(normally goes to "-" battery) "+"ampermeter"-" "-"battery"+". Then you pull your fuses one by one (putting them back) until you see significant drop in current. Don't start the car with ampermeter connected(!). I don't think it is anything to do with your sound system including headunit. Windows regulators were common problem in Maximas - it'd explain your windows mulfactioning but current draw must be somwhere else since those regulators don't get connected to battery until you press a switch.

Mike.