Hello guys,

I have an interesting one here.

I have a 2010 Maxima with sport and tech packages. The car drives fine, nothing out of the ordinary. Randomly, when i try to start the car, as soon as i press the start button, i hear a "click on" sound then 5 seconds later i hear a "click off" sound. I assume that is the starter. The engine doesn't attempt to start.

I plugged up a voltmeter and right before i hit the ignition, the voltage is 12.8, then drops to 11.8 during those 5 seconds. The only way i have been able to get it to start is to leave the battery unplugged for 5 minutes, then it starts right up. Today, that trick has not worked. That has me thinking its the computer telling it not to start.

I used a ELM 327 OBDII scanner with the Torque Pro app to read the fault codes from the ECU (Spent $20 on the adapter, $5 app, I highly recommend). No faults codes were pulled from the ECU.

I thought it could be the steering lock issue, but the fuse was pulled in the engine compartment when it was leased probably a year ago (i just purchased back in july)

I do not have any system or accessories plugged up to the battery.

Any ideas

 

Does the car still have the original battery in it

 

Assuming the voltage readings are correct, I don't think the battery is the problem. At 550 Cold cranking Amps, the OEM battery on the 7th gen is very weak for this vehicle. But l had perfect service with my 550 CCA OEM battery for four years before deciding to not take any further chances with it, and switched to Nissan's 700 CCA battery.

At the voltage you measured, I think you may have a non-battery problem. If you run jumper cables from a vehicle with a good battery to the battery posts on your car and it still does not start, you will know the battery is not the problem.

There could be corrosion between the battery posts and the battery cables that is blocking much of the power transmission from the battery. But, as you suggested, there may be something here connected to a computer problem. Let us know what you find.

 

Sounds exactly like what I went through on my wife's 2010SV.

I replaced the battery with an Optima Red Top and problem has been solved. It has been 6 months with zero issues.

I am waiting on my 2010SV to have the same issue as I still have the factory battery in mine.

 

Im going with the battery as well... I suffered similiar symptoms with my 2010 SV and all was well again with a new battery.

 

^thats why I brought up battery, I just went thru this myself 2 weeks ago, clicking sound etc etc

https://maxima.org/showthread.php?p=8882013#post8882013

 

Yes, I purchase an Optima YellowTop Battery, but I think I may had this issue prior

 

So check this out,

I consider myself an intermediate message board user, so spent sometime search the forums. I came along this post, watch the video, and said "that couldn't be it.


http://forums.maxima.org/7th-generat...not-start.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlS3m0pqZwA#t=223

Sure enough, before I purchased the maxima, the previous owner had a tow hitch installed and the power cable was run exactly to where this guy had his halos connected. Just looking at it, from afar it looked fine, but then I detached it and the plastic around the ring terminal was MELTED. I had the tow truck guy from AAA come and take a look at it. When i tried to start, he noticed an arch or spark right in that area...


I wouldn't be surprised that the factory wire that is normally connected to this post also goes to the starter. The car (for now) is working, so i went and redid the connection and clean off that fusible holder link on the positive terminal of the battery.

Shame on me

 

Good find, ya check the connections. My cables were rotted and needed to be replaced also

 

Excellent research, Visionzwp21. As I posted earlier in this thread (on 12/04), I did not believe your battery was bad, and you proved my premise rather elegantly. A battery with either 12.8 amps or 11.8 amps (as yours had) will start this Maxima unless there is an electrical short or bad connection somewhere.