I hope somebody can help me.

My 2012 Maxima with 128,000 miles has a short. Twice the car has stalled while driving. The first time it cranked back up, but the 2nd time I needed a jump. I replaced the 3 year old battery that tested 12.2 volts. The battery light continues to come on occasionally but the car has not stalled since replacing the battery.

When I disconnect the positive battery cable, my homemade light bulb testor lights up when I touch the positive cable and the battery terminal. So, I believe I have a short. I have removed all the fuses 1 at a time and the bulb doesn't go out. I have done this 2 times.

Am I correct to assume the short is in the battery cable? If so, how do I test the battery cable.

I appreciate any comments and advice.

 

Something is wrong with your procedure, I don't know but when you connect one lead of your tester to the + cable end and the other lead to the +Battery lug, are not you just reconnecting your positive cable back to the battery? I would think that is the reason your light bulb is on all the time as it is drawing current from the battery. Pulling fuses wont make the bulb go out,
Anyway thats how I understand your post or I'm not seeing the whole picture.

 

Have you had the alternator tested yet? It sounds like the alternator potentially isn't charging at all times properly and that causes the battery to drain out and make it stall. I'm not sure how you think this would be a short, a short to ground without load would be repeatedly blowing fuses and a drain would not affect anything while the engine is running really. If you blow a fuse every time you turn your headlights on for example, that's a "short" and if you park your car overnight and it's got a dead battery every morning, that's a drain.

Myself it sounds to me like it's not charging either due to faulty alternator or loose/corroded wiring/cables on the alternator or battery. I've had alternators partially crap out on me where they would charge for 10 minutes then die for 2 minutes causing the battery light etc to come on then suddenly kick back in and charge for a bit. I'm better with older models and maybe wait to see what someone else says, but I myself would pull the alternator and get it bench tested

 

Thanks for your response. I am not sure I am doing this correctly. So, my light bulb tester has two wires. If I attach a wire to the battery's negative pole and the other wire to the positve pole, then the bulb should light up. Correct? If I detach the red cable from the battery's positive pole and attach one wire to the positive pole and the other wire to the disconnected cable, then how did the negative get back to the bulb?

Thanks for the help.

 

Have to agree with Chrome91 on this one. Battery light on likely means faulty alternator. By chance, does the brake light come on too? The new battery bought you some time, but it will likely happen again. Check your alternator harness connector to make sure the connection is nice and tight.

 

For a battery drain test, you disconnect the battery negative cable from the terminal, wait 60-90 min for the PCM to go to sleep then bridge the disconnected battery negative cable to the battery negative with either a incandescent bulb test light or an ammeter, you pull the fuses 1 by 1 and whichever fuse you pull that causes the test light bulb to dim significantly or ammeter reading to drop significantly is the circuit the drain is on. But a drain wouldn't be causing stalling while running, a drain would cause the the battery to be dead or near dead after sitting for more than a few hours. Even if a vehicle has a massive drain, as long as it can start the alternator will re-charge the battery up and doesn't care about the drain while the engine is running because the alternator can handle it. 99% of vehicles will have some form of drain be it the PCM, alarm system, remote start, radio to keep the time/pre-sets, etc and you will always get some form of test light activity or amperage reading when bridging negatives, the only vehicles i've seen that will have virtually none is older carbureted vehicles that have no computers/modules or radios. My Chevy has a massive drain that will completely kill 2 large batteries within a few days, I drive it daily for work so i've never bothered to fix the drain and it's never caused me issues.

The issue still sounds like alternator/charging system to me, first place I would be starting is visuals (check applicable charging system fuses to make sure they arent blown, check battery cables for tightness/corrosion, check wiring harness to alternator) and if that all checks out, I would bench test the alternator otherwise you're gonna chase your tail. I had a friend with the exact same issue with a car that would die and stall out after a new alternator, new wiring harness, etc and I found the exciter wire in the wiring harness to the alternator broken in half so the alternator wasn't getting signal to charge. It can be as simple as that

 

Wizard,

Thanks for the help.

I checked all the connections that I could get my hands on. My battery connections are nice and clean since I just swapped out the battery.

Yes, the brake light is also coming on with the battery light. Can you explain why you asked about the brake light/indicator?


Thanks,

 

Chrome,

Thanks for help.

I haven't had the alternator checked yet. I will take it to Autozone/Pep Boys. I had a similar problem a few years ago on my Pathfinder. After several trips to the shop and several hundred dollars, the problem was the negative battery cable that cost $11. So, I was hoping to rule that out before I take it to the shop.

I left the positive battery cable off overnight. I pulled the fuses one at a time. When I pulled the fuse labeled "audio", my light bulb turned off. I replaced the battery cable and cranked the car. The battery and brake indicator lights came on. Everything is turned off.

I will do this again but removing the negative cable as you suggest just for kicks. I haven't had a dead battery since replacing the battery 3 weeks ago, yet the alternator light is coming on. But, maybe I have a minor drain/short and a faulty alternator.

Thanks,

 

When you have both the battery and brake lights on, that's a dead giveaway that you have an alternator related problem.

Also, it's good that you checked your battery connection, but I was asking you to check the wiring harness/connection for the alternator where the plug goes into the alternator.

 

Wizard,

Thanks for your response. The square blue plug going into the alternator seems tight. I would like to pull it out and push it back in, but I can barely get my fingertips on it.

I took the car to Autozone for their alternator test. He hooked up his device and tested the battery and the alternator with the engine running. He said it passed, but admitted there could still be a problem with the alternator.

On the way to and from Autozone (about 20 minutes drive) the battery and brake lights came on (about a minute each time).

When I got home, I turned on the bright lights, blinkers and pushed on the brakes. I had pulled the "audio" fuse the other day. This fuse controls the radio and center dash display. The heater was operating on full blast despite no display. I assume all of this was drawing a lot of electricity. The warning lights did not come on.

So, I don't know what to do next. I am open to any suggestions.

Thanks,

 

Alternators can be weird, my 3rd gen when it went out it was fine then all the sudden one day I got brake light, ABS light, everything at once like you're having and the alternator literally died on the spot on my way to work and left me stranded. My Silverado the alternator died a couple years ago and it was a slow bleed, for 3 weeks the battery light would stay on for 10-15 seconds at startup instead of 2 seconds and would technically pass a bench test during that timeframe, then it progressed to not charging for 30 seconds then charging for 2 minutes then not charging again for 30 seconds and I swapped it out lol