So I went a week without driving it - it's my weekend car, I don't drive it to work during the week.

I go to crank it today.. I hit the push-start and....

It take about 3 seconds to crank fully (it's never did this, usually takes 1 sec)

Then I notice the steering wheel will barely turn, it has a LOT of resistance

Then I notice the "service engine soon" light is on

Then I notice my "VDC off" light is on (and will not turn off when I press the VDC buttons)

... It's not making any weird sounds. I checked under the hood and the brake fluid looks good BUT the steering fluid is just above minimum and the "coolant liquid refrigerant" fluid is below minimum....

It doesn't look like anything has leaked but then again I haven't moved it in a week and it's rained a ton so maybe it dried or washed away. .

The dealership isn't open tomorrow and I wouldn't wont to drive it there anyways, I'll have to pay to get it towed.

Surely the "coolant liquid refrigerant" fluid couldn't cause all of these issues.. Would it?

 

Forgot to mention, last weekend when I drove it, the "maintence: oil filter and engine oil" alert was showing under my speedometer (and still is).. but the oil was changed less than 2,000 miles ago so I figured this was just a timed alert?

 

Battery issue maybe...?? I've read many ppl having issues with their battery and yours being an '09 that may be a good place to start.

 

Thanks

That would/could explain why it's taking so long to crank - but I don't think it would affect the steering though.

 

does it have the stock battery from when you bought it new(I assume)? you should upgrade that all your problems might go away.

 

Now that I think about it, when I bought the car used in Feb 2012 - I had them replace the battery from the old one to a new one. So the battery isn't even 2 years old.

 

If they replaced it with an OEM battery and you only drive it on weekends 2 years could take it out. If you have the OEM battery check the water levels

I can't believe the MAx comes with a 550 CCA batttery that needs water. Around the 4 year mark I will decide if I want to keep the car long term,if I do a Diehard Gold or Interste Maint free battery will be installed, Assuming of course my stock battery makes it 4 years

 

Nissan finally accepted that their OEM batteries were not 'cutting the mustard', so switched to a 700 CCA battery for the Maxima one year ago this month. Service techs are supposed to use the new 700 CCA batteries whenever they replace an old 550 battery. But they are sticking with an unsealed battery, because their experience has been that a WELL-MAINTAINED unsealed battery lasts longer than a sealed battery.

My Nissan service tech always checks the electrolyte level in my battery at every oil change (one of the 40 things on his standard check list), and I check the level myself halfway between oil changes. My 7th gen was built in Sept of 2008, and the OEM battery was still operating very well when I switched to the Nissan 700 CCA battery a year ago just to avoid the possibility of the old one eventually dying in the middle of nowhere at 3AM with the temperature around zero degrees.

 

Since he had the battery replaced 2 years ago it was before this bulletin came out so if done by Nissan it's most likely a 550 CCA

My 2013 was built in December 2012 so somebody must have missed the notification as it has a 550 CCA battery. Maybe the bulletin was replacements only but it seems odd they would continue to install the battery and in todays sue happy world leave them open to a class action suit as they have admited the 550 CCA is not up to snuff.

I don't have any experience with unsealed batteries except the complaints I read on this board but I have never had a sealed Diehard Gold not last at least 7 years ( last one lasted 10) in Minnesota and Connecticut

I just assumed everything today was maint free, do other $40K plus sticker cars use non maint free batteries ?



I would expect a battery less than 4 years old to be working just fine, my dads 2003 Maxima came with a maint free battery from the factory and it's still going strong

 

UPDATE..

I took my Maxima to the dealership and had them look at it. A squirrel chewed half way through the wire that starts my car.. This caused all of the other lights to come on. Because it was only half way chewed, it was still able to crank.

I have to pay for a $175 harness to fix it.

This is the 3rd time a squirrel has chewed something on my Maxima.. It never touches my 2 cheaper cars. So it's time to put traps out by the car.

 

Glad you found the problem and it was a relatively cheap fix.

Maybe the squirrel chooses the Maxima because it's not driven often