this is such a PITA. my car is fast becoming a money pit. it's not as bad as what others have had to go through, but it's really pissing me off. last week some as$hole broke in one of my windows, so i went to the junkyard to pick up a new one. on the way back, my rear passenger's side brake started making noise. i pulled over and it looks like the pad is defective, it's just grinding the rotor non stop.

so i made an appointment to have it replaced this morning. i dragged myself out of bed at 7am on a saturday thinking "well at least it's going to be fine and i can drive without worrying about ****." i get in the car and nothing. it doesn't crank or make any sound at all. i used my remote to open the windows, so it had enough battery to do that.

the exact same thing happened to me yesterday. i lowered my windows with my remote and once i got in the car it wouldn't start. i came out and checked the fuses for the batt/alt and security and all that. got back in the car and it still wouldn't start. as i was about to call it quits, i tried it again. the car fired right up without any issues. the batt/brake light didn't go on and i had no problems on the drive to work (30 miles or so).

i worked a 9hr day and came back to the car afterwards to find that it started just fine. no problems at all. i figured that it must have been a fluke and that it should be ok now. especially since no lights came on and the car started without any problems after sitting cold half the day.

now it's completely dead in the water. the lights don't come on, the power locks don't work, there's barely enough juice to power the security light. the battery is only 3 months old and is an 800cca sears.

i'm going to try to jump it as soon as one of the roomies wakes up, i just hope i can find a shop that's going to be open and willing to do my brakes, oil change and diagnose the starting problem, too, all on a saturday afternoon.

any ideas what it might be?

 

Do you mean the dash lights when you put it in ignition, or head/taillights?

If it's the former, same thing happened to me when I somehow blew the fuse for my ignition switch, check that or the switch itself. If it's constantly running down the battery, check for some sort of parisitic drain. Turn everything off, take the keys out, then take a multimeter/ammeter and go across every fuse in both (3?) boxes. Whichever is drawing any current is your culprit.

 

nothing at all. the only thing that lights up is the security light. the interior dash lights do not work, neither do the map lights or anything else in the cabin. regardless of whether or not i turn the key to ACC. i checked the ignition fuse under the hood and checked the fuses in the cabin and they are all ok.

i don't know if there would be a drain because i've not installed any new electronics in my car in 3 years...

my multimeter is at work, or else i would check everything. since the security light comes on and i still have that broken window, i've been thinking it might be some kind of security system thing. i have a spare key that i use occasionally, and it has been working fine, but this whole problem started when i tried it yesterday. i don't know if it's just a coincidence or what. it's a regular replacement key cut at ace... i've tried my original key as well and no go.

i've got the battery and battery fuse disconnected right now to see if reseting the ECU/security system helps in any way.

 

It could be as simple as something shorting out when the door is closed, a courtesy light or possibly the trunk light that you wouldn't notice.

But testing for a drain would be a good thing.

 

i will as soon as i can get to a multimeter. thanks

 

after a few hours with the battery disconnected, i connected everything back together and the car started right up. a week ago my passenger side rear corner window was broken in a parking garage. i would assume that while it was out, rain seeped in and shorted something out. the door in question doesn't lock/open using power locks and the window doesn't roll down. i suppose the security system opens the connection to the ignition to prevent theft.

what can i replace to fix this? the window regulator?

thanks for all the help

 

I doubt that the window regulator needs to be replaced because the door doesn't lock/unlock and that has nothing to do with the regulator. To me this looks like the power window switch may need to be replaced or something else in that door.
Also, I would try resetting the ECU to see if that would do anything (perhaps it would reset the BCU that may have disabled the circuits in that door?)

 

i have a spare window switch and that one does not work either. as i said the battery was disconnected for several hours and that already resets the ECU, so that's not the problem. all of the other doors are perfectly fine, as are all of the other windows. i am not as concerned about the window as i am about the door. right now if i lock all of my doors the security system is tripped and i have to unhook the battery to reset it. so the only way to have my car start is to have it unlocked.

what can i check or replace to get it fixed?

 

u need a new starter. I have a similar problem u have. I took my car to nissan service today and they told me that I need a new starter. it costs me around 500.

 

i don't know if you read what i wrote above, but it's my security system, not my starter. anyone know how to fix this?

 

poor guy.. I'm sry man if I could I'd help, but it really sounds like a short.. before I had my wiring harness redone my interior lights would fail and come on at times on different days and playing with the battery or turning the ignition on and off would sometimes work and I'd have no problems while driving at least. Maybe you had a faulty one like me. Dunno if that coudl affect a starter and/ or a doors controls.

 

it's just that one door. i've had no problems in the last few days, but i have not been locking my car.

 

did you check if any relays might be stuck?

 

i'm sorry, i don't know what you mean or how to check.

 

a stuck relay can cause a myriad of problems. the relays are in the engine bay in those black boxes just like the fuses.

good reading:

http://www.swedishbricks.net/700900F...tsRelays1.html

 

that's a really excellent link, see if you can have it added to the stickies.

without knowing what they are called I checked the relays already. they all seem fine, none of them heat up and all of the contacts are clean