I need help. Last night after coming home, I made a mistake and left my keys in the ignition. Car was off but switch was in the ON position. This morning I discovered that the keys were still in car. Tried to crank car and nothing. No lights, no horn no anything. Went to get a new battery and car still does nothing. The horn does not blow, the lights do not come on, and car still will not start. Any ideas as to what the problem may be? Any suggestions as to what I should check? I have a 2002 SE

 

check the fuses!

 

you could have probably just gotten a jump start...

only things i can think of are you installed the battery backwards or your terminals are not making solid contact.

pray that its not the first one, i had a friend that did this and it blew his main fuse but before it did that it shorted out a few wires under the dash which he conveniently called me to fix...

 

thanks for the replys. I will check the fuses.

Feldman,
when you say "you could have probably just gotten a jump start...", I am not sure what you mean. How can I tell if this has happened?

 

What he meant was instead of buying a new battery you could have jump started the old one to get the car going. The alternator would have charged the battery back up if the old battery was still in good condition.

You really shouldn't have blown a fuse unless you did install the battery backwards. Check the battery install first, then the fuses.

 

after checking the fuses, it does look like the main 120a fuse on the positive battery post may be blown. Does this fuse just pull out or do I need to loosen anything? I tried pulling on it and it did not budge. I noticed 2 screw near it. Just wondering if these need to be removed.

 

i think there is a screw on either end that holds it in my friend had a 4th gen but i do remember it being a pain in the a$$ to get it out.

 

The main fusible link is a dealer only part, FYI.

 

if all else fail check ur stater wires a similar thing happened to me and i had a short on my stater wires

 

You will have to essentially disassemble the positive terminal base to get to the screws that hold that fuse in place. That fuse can be purchased a any auto part store, not necessarily the dealer, as long as it is 120a. I got mine matched up at Autozone when I blew mine. Hopefuly that was the only thing blown.

 

Uhhhhh...not really.

Before you go running out to Autozone or Pepboys, CHECK the fuse to see if that's it. You may have done something stupid when you reconnected everything and not even known it.

 

seeing as how you dont know what a jumpstart is, it may be very possible you installed the battery backwards.

 

I did not even think of that...

 

Extreme

 

problem has been resolved. It was the 120V fusible link on the positive battery terminal.

I replaced it and the car cranked right up.

FYI I know how to jumpstart a car. I was confused as to how it was written. Thanks for all the info though.

 

our 5th gen cars are smart enough to remind its driver by beeping if the key is in the ignition when the door is open, unless the driver is super drunk...

 

Why do you think the fuse would blow by leaving the keys in the ignition???

 

Leaving the keys in the ignition did not cause it to blow. I have a habit of disconnecting my amp before I attempt to boost (jump start) my car or give some one else a boost. Evidently when I was doing this something must have touched because after I replaced main fuse, I noticed that the amp fuse was blown also. All have been replaced and all is good now.

 

I'd start a new thread for this but I'm too new and am not allowed.

I was helping someone with a jump and when I went to start my car there was sparking. Checked all the connections and everything was connected properly, so we just pulled everything off and tried again. Then when I went to start my car (the good battery) it just clicked.

Now two cars won't start. We got another car to start the other but now my Maxima is dead in the water.

All electronics (radio, headlights, interior lights, etc) function.

I took the battery out and took it to Advance for a test. Tested out fine.

Reinstalled it, making sure connections are good. Still nothing. I get a few clicks out of her, then it stops completely until I turn completely to off position and try again.

Any ideas?

228k + miles on it. It's a 2001. The air bag light has been blinking and I have a CHECK ENGINE LIGHT which is what I was going to get looked at when all of this happened.

 

What is your battery voltage? It should be 12 volts.
When the sparks happened, were they tiny sparks or big bright sparks? Tiny ones are normal most of the time.
Have you taken the battery cables off of your battery and cleaned them since this happened?

 

Battery voltage is 12.57.
Type of sparks - that's kind of subjective but let's go with tiny sparks.
I have not taken the battery cables off and cleaned them.

 

Check the fuse on the battery positive connection.150 amp i think

 

sounds like you blew the alternator fuse/main fuse. As mentioned it's the large oneright on the terminal. Also, clean the connections,and havea friend wiggle the terminals while trying to start

 

I had a feeling this might be it and was trying to remove that fuse so I could replace it. However, it's not the easiest thing in the world to remove. The white housing started crumbling on me. I decided to leave and wait to hear from the experts at maxima.org.

Does anyone know how to get it out of there? I'm worried I'm going to damage something further.

 

I went to Auto Zone to get this fuse and they told me I had to go to the dealer. That was my next stop. They didn't have any in stock but told me they could get it for me next day for $45. I know I've read about this in other threads and people have mentioned 1) that it should be available at a retail store like Auto Zone and 2) that the part cost around $10.

Does anyone have any experience with this to confirm what I'm experiencing?

 

I've always known the main fuse (aka fusible link) to be a dealer-only part. Can you post the link to where you saw otherwise?

 

I will try and find it again later.

In the meantime, I found what I believe to be the correct part on the AZ website for $3.29, no shipping charges included.

Here is the link: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...152125_0_45952

 

I was able to purchase the fusible link at another Auto Zone in town. Only $3.29. Unfortunately, that didn't do the trick.

I'm getting it towed to the shop this morning. Don't have the time, tools, or expertise to mess around with it any longer.

Thanks to all who've replied to my posts!

 

Well good luck then!

 

Junkyard, most Nissans Use the same fuses just get the proper Amperage.

Furthermore though, we still don't know if this is the problem. Carry on.

 

Just to keep those that are interested up to date.....My mechanic said that it needed new cables. He is replacing those and the radiator (obviously unrelated to my starting problem). I should have it back tomorrow. I'm hoping this addresses the issues I've been experiencing. I was hoping to get another 70k out of her to reach 300k miles!

I'm sure this is a question with many answers but.....when do transmissions typically fail in the 5th generation maximas?

 

How did you replace that fuse? Do you remove the terminal off the battery and unscrew it from the bottom? what kind of screws are they?

 

Varies too much to predict. Wholly dependent on maintenance, driving patterns, etc.

 

djfrestyl, I'm surprised a veteran like you answered that question without realizing the date it was posted (or maybe you did; better late than never, right? ).

See post #10 above; I don't remember the exact steps involved, but you have to practically disassemble the whole terminal.

 

Haha, I saw August 17th and registered that was close enough to today..not realizing the year. Oh well...let's go with better late than never