My car is worrying me...

I need a little help figuring out what is wrong with my car. I'm hoping it's something very minor, since I am reluctant to take it to a shop and pay a fortune until I know for sure that is what it needs. But since I know next to nothing about how they work I am hoping that generous MG members who do, would be willing to help me at least trouble-shoot a bit.

Yesterday, when I got out of work, the car wouldn't start when I turned the key. The lights came on, but were very faint, so I decided the battery must be out. It has happened before, and the symptoms were the same. A nice coworker of mine offered a set of jumper cables, and we attempted jump start my car. The first attempt failed, so we waited a while, letting things get warmed up a bit--it was 12F and snowing after all, and some snow went on the battery connectors and fizzled sweetly both the first failed and the second, successful, attempt to start my car. It fizzled so much the first attempt that there was some sparks... that concerned me, by the way, but since the car started on the second attempt, I didn't think much about it.

I thanked my co-worker very much for helping me get the car started home, got in the car, and drove around for far longer than I normally do, to give the battery plenty of time to charge, and then I went home.

Here's what is worrying me:
The lights inside my car are now acting weird. the ones on the dash board used to flare up and then die when ever I started the car, but now only half of them do. And the one signaling "door open" blinks continuously for as long as the engine is running. So do the lights on the CD changer, but that is all the signs of life I can get out of it. It doesn't respond to button-pushing, and the radio is, for all intents an purposes, dead.

Three of my favourite CDs are in that car CD-changer, and I do not have copies. I tried to make copies but they wouldn't let me! If I never get those CDs out of there I will blame RIAA and their DRM conspiracy for the loss of my music. Bastards.

The over-head light inside the car isn't working either, and the dashboard clock is stuck on 1:00. I can change it, and set it to show whatever the time is, but the next time I start the car it is at 1:00 again. It is kind of working though. It showed 1:00 when I left home this morning, and 1:19 when I arrived at work.

What I'm wondering now is, is there a fuse I can replace or a reset button I can push, to get the lights back to normal? The rest of the car is working just well as it always has.

In case you're curious, its a 1994 Nissan Pathfinder. The title says it's maroon, but I know that it is in fact burgundy, because that is a much prettier color.

I'm very fond of my car. I get nervous when it acts weird. So nervous that I have even started reading the manual, although I don't understand a lot of it. I figure I can google the long and confusing words if I need to. Yes, I am completely ignorant about cars.

 

Are you sure the battery charged? Your alternator may be shot. You may be able to find a place that tests them for free, while still on the vehicle.

Edit: Actually, start with checking your fuses. Not sure where they are located on your vehicle, but most are on the driver's side in panel just in front of the door. Or in the glove box.
Check your battery next for a charge and that is not cracked. Check your cable connections at the terminals. Make sure they are not corroded.

 

Sounds like you had a surge run through you car from the spark from boosting it. If the top of the battery is dirty the fumes that escape from the battery will settle on top of the battery with the dirt and will actually have low reading of current sometimes up to 3 volts. Which your battery produces 12 volts. In other words a third of you power from the battery is being transferred to the top of your battery and not to your cables. Now with all that snow melting on top of the battery from the volts produced from the from dirt & the fumes from the acid that has settling on top you created current from the positive post to the negative post which created the spark. The best way to prevent that is remove the cables from your battery & clean them with a battery post cleaner or a wire brush. Mix baking soda with water & use paper towels to clean the top of the battery & the posts but don’t soak the top of the battery because you don’t want it to run under the caps & into the battery because the baking soda dissolves the acid. Don’t touch your clothes with your hands because your pants you will end up with all theses neat little holes all over. I know because I have wrecked enough jeans because I wiped my hands on my pants. You should be able to get your CD’s out if you can find a small release button somewhere on your changer. If not sure do that thing that most people don’t do is read your manual & see if there is a release button at all. If you don’t have the manual you should be able to download it on line. If that fails take your car to a car stereo place that do installs they should be able to help you. Now about your lights. Check all your fuses in your fuse box to see if any are blown. There is a good chance that the power surge has blown the bulbs. You may have to take you dash apart & check each one. But check your fuses first because you don’t want to pull everything apart & fin out it was a waste of time when all the bulbs are good. Actually you should phone around first and explain what happened & eventually someone will give you advice over the phone & it will help you get going in the right direction avoiding unnecessary work & money. Hope this helps.

 

I'm all for checking the cheapest first, so as Musky says, check for shot fuses first.

Also the fizzling is unusual. Being an older vehicle, the battery is probably not a sealed unit. It will have plugs running along the top of it between the negative and positive connections. You can pull these plugs out or unscrew them and check the fluid level in each compartment of the battery. They should all be nearly full.If not, buy some top up fluid and do so.

If none of these help go and have the battery tested. It can be done in situ and should be free. Being that it is extremely cold right now, your battery probably just can't take the extremes and is on it's way out. If this is so, better to change it before it leaves you stranded where there is no co-worker with jump leads.

Could also be a section of the wiring loom shorting out. If you find an electrical diagram online, I would be interested to see if all these items are on the same section of the loom.

 

Musksnipe has some excelent suggestions. As a fellow Nissan owner (93 Nissan Pickum up) I have a few things to add. I have had odd electrical problems for a long time. On the wiring harness, mine has a lot of connections and they tend to corrode. PITA to clean, but they make a spray can't remember what it is.

I am sure Autozone or Oreillys will check your battery and alternator for free. Make sure that you have a good ground. Should be a black wire attached to the body of the vehicle near the battery. Also, check the water in your battery if it has that option. But usually, if a battery has been run low on water for a long time, it is pretty much shot.

As Musksnipe said, I suspect the alternater. Oh yeah, I don't think they had computers in the cars back then, the 'reset button' would be to disconnect the battery for a while.

Good luck, hope it is a cheap, easy fix!

E

 

Muskie:
But if the battery had not charged, my car wouldn't have started this morning though, right? It started, and I drove it on a brief errand just a few minutes ago, and it seems fine. It normally needs about 20 hours to drain,but then it is cold right now.

Bear:
Thanks, I'll check what the battery looks like when it is more light again tomorrow. It is less than six months old, so it isn't that dirty, at least not compared to the old battery.

Lev:
The reason the battery is less than six months old, and was purchased because the old battery was dying. When I had the dying battery, we bought a cheap wall charger to tidy is over, while saving up for the new battery, and I still have that charger. I plugged it in over-night last night, to make sure I would get to work today. (And my jumper cables are now back in my car, and the person that removed them has been chewed out )

It just occurred to me that the car battery is still under warranty. Would replacing it make a difference?

For now, I will check the car manual to see where the fuses are. I may be ignorant, but I try to be organized. I keep the car manual in the glove box.

 

There can be several different reasons for a flat battery.

1 - It's had it. They normally don't last much over 6 years (and that's if it was a very good one to start with)

2 - The alternator isn't charging it properly. If it's down to this, it might be the brushes that are worn.

3 - The battery terminals might need a good clean. What can sometimes happen is that dirt / grease etc can get in between the terminals and the connectors. When this happens, electricity doesn't get conducted properly from the battery to the starter motor, of from the alternator into the battery. One of the symptoms of this is a spark jumping between the battery terminal and the connector.

4 - The diodes in the alternator might be faulty. If this happens, they allow the battery to drain power back into the vehicle electrical system. One clue if this is happening is that sometimes the alternator light will glow even when the engine is turned off (although the light doesn't always give this clue).

5 - Something is staying on when it shouldn't and it's draining the battery. Usual suspects are interior lights, glove compartment, boot, under the bonnet etc.

6 - Water on the vehicle electrics. Usually due to flood damage, but other things can cause it as well. Get enough water on your car's electric wiring and it's a recipe for all sorts of weird goings on, dashboard lights predicting the end of the world, central locking activating itself, things not working. Water in electrical relays or round the connections is a favourite for this.

Cold weather kills batteries. Our local scrap yard usually has loads of car batteries for sale, until the first cold spell of the year, after which they sell out very quickly.

If you've got access to a voltage tester or multimeter, you can test a few things easily enough. First, before you start the car, test how many volts are in the battery. Then start the car (if it will start), and with it running, test again and see what voltage reading you get now. On a car with a 12v system it's normal for it to be charging at around 13 to 15 volts.

If the alternator is charging, and the battery is good, but you still have problems, try disconnecting it when the car's not in use, and see if that helps. (only a short term measure but it might save you some hassle until you can get it sorted out)

** EDIT - Just remembered something. I had an old Merc 230e a few years ago (it was a right dog, lovingly known as the Exxon Valdez on Wheels due to an auto transmission leak). Anyway, the battery was not the best. It was ok most of the time, but once in a while when driving the car slowly, it would stall, and the battery would seem flat when I tried to start the car. If I left if for half an hour it would start and work ok for a few days and then do it again. I got it a replacement battery (out of a Ford) and it was fine after that.

 

Me too!

Thanks for the wire suggestions, I will look at that... the battery has plenty water--the Guy mentioned that part, so I checked the water. I'd better look for that alternator-thing too while I'm reading the manual LOL

 

And Tarquin, thanks for the check list. I'm sure I will have plenty of time to look up all the items on it

 

VICTORY!! :celebrate

I found the fuses, on the left and below the steering wheel. There are three kinds apparently, red 10 amp, blue 15 amp, and yellow 20 amp fuses. On the inside of the fuse cover is a helpful map that spells out which fuses controls what, along with three spares, one of each color. There is supposed to be a fuse-pulling tool as well, but that one was missing. (After only 12 years? Unacceptable!) Fortunately, I have needle nose pliers, and they worked just as well.

I pulled the fuses the map said control the lights that have been misbehaving and, lo and behold, two of the red ones are burnt. Since I only had one red spare, and the manual was very firm that I should not use one of the others, will need to get a second red fuse. I might get two, to replace the spare. And I'm keeping the pliers in the car.

Thank you everyone!

 

Great tutorial on fuses, Mimsy.

 

Glad you got the light thing sorted out. Don't forget to get that battery and alternator looked at!

Get more spare fuses. While almost certainly the fuses blew on account of the jump and are unrelated to the failure to start, a short in the wiring somewhere that could have blown the fuses and drained your battery is within the realm of possibility.

 

As far as I can tell, in my ignorance, the failure to start was because of the battery becoming drained. The fuses probably blew from the first failed attempt to jump.

I'm going to read up on battery and alternator in the manual, since that manual turned out to be both helpful and detailed, and then check them too.

 

Hello fellow Isuzu owner lol (I know it says Nissan Pathfinder but a pathfinder is just a rebadged Isuzu Rodeo.)

Glad you got some working right again Hope you can get the rest working right. I was going to suggest a few things but just now seeing this i see almost all points have been covered.

When i first read it i thought maybe the co-worker connected the jumpers up backwards (Which might be the case because the frying of the fuses and such) I seen it done before and i even done it once with my truck and a Snap-On Fast charger when i rebuilt the head i had to jump start it and it was dark and the red cable on the charger was faded but i was lucky it only blown out the fuseable link at the battery or else i would of been out a luck and fried everything.


Oh yea Fred cars back then had computers my 91 Explorer has a computer in it. the 1988 Lincoln Continental i had did have a computer in it anything with EFI (electronic fuel injection) has a computer. (On a side note even back then in that 1988 model it had 10way power seats, keyless entry and so much other stuff but you still don't see it in every car and that tech is 20years old.

 

It is possible they got connected backwards, it was rather dark. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out which one was red and which one was black.

I'll report back once I have replaced the other fuse as well.

 

There are shops that will test your battery & alternator for free. The big thing is that if you have to replace your alternator make sure your battery is fully charge because you can overwork the new alternator & fry it.

 

now this is my specialty!
Am sorry to say, but would recommend having the following done (and don't let 'em talk you into more, unless the tests prove you need it!):
have your charging system checked by a pro. Most auto parts chain stores will do this for free.
have a complete diagnostic check run - usually between $50 and $100 (U.S.) by either a dealer shop or a garage that you trust - you've got too many symptoms going on for the issue to be simply a bad battery or alternator = possible that the computer memory can just be reset and you'll regain normalcy - but this takes a scanner to accomplish and a pro behind the scanner.
Best to spend the bucks and know what you've got - especially in your weather! Safe = not sorry!
I was an auto diagnostic tech for 30+ years - I wouldn't let my loved ones drive that car in your weather without these checks.
Pray for the best!
Blessings,
Port-O-San

 

I found an auto parts store on my way home from work, and bought a pair of red fuses that looked exactly like the ones that were burnt. I then took them home, grabbed the needle nose pliers again, and removed the burnt red fuses. Then, because it seemed like a good idea, I grabbed a sharpie, and then I pulled out all the others one by one to see if any of the other ones were burnt. None of them were, which was fortunate, since I only had red spares.

All the weird behaviors of my car are completely gone now, and it is back to its normal and reliable self. Are you saying that is irrelevant...? :confused

 

Sounds like you may have popped the fuses when you got your jump, Mimsy. It could have been by a wrong connection or surge.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to have your battery connections cleaned, the battery checked, and your alternator checked. There are some chain auto parts stores that used to do it free and some local repair shops will also do it. Winter can be hard on the battery and you don't want to be stranded somewhere in the cold.

 

Under normal circumstances blown fuses do not cause the symptoms you have described as Port O scan suggested a diagnostic check should give you peace of mind.

just a few tips on cold weather driving.

when you start the auto first thing don't have the lights or heater on i know this sounds silly but when the starter kicks in it takes a huge amount of amps to get that first turn especially in cold weather when the oil in the motor is thick with the cold.

if you only drive short distances to work or the mall your battery does not have time to replace the charge so take care with the amount of electrical equipment you use during the drive I.E. heater fans/radio/rear screen heater and of course the lights.

here is a little test you can do for your self just to see the condition of your charging system.

start the auto and let it idle listen to the motor turn on the lights and the sound of the motor should not change if it does just give it a little gas and watch the lights if they get brighter then your system is having trouble re-filling the battery.

you can always replace your battery with one of a higher amp rating (heavy duty) i did this for my wifes car as she only uses it for shopping and in the winter the original battery was not powerful enough.

i hope we have not frightened you with all the info its easy when you have a knowledge of motors but difficult to impart the experience to another without hands on

http://bestsmileys.com/cars/14.gif

 

and buy a variety pack of fuses. they are pretty cheap and worth while to hold on too in case of emergencies. you can even get a pack with the replacement fuse puller too

 

Very late car update:

At long last I have had things tested. Aren't you proud of me?

The battery is fine, and so is the alternator. The car is running wonderfully and no fuses have been acting up. Now that the temperature remains above freezing point during the day, the transmission is smoother, the high-piched whining every time the engine approaches 2000 rpm is now gone, and it is running a lot smoother now, as if all the aching and sore joints and muscles are finally loosening up. Poor guy... I think he just didn't like the cold.

 

Ahh, the old "car with a personality" trait. I have owned a couple of those. Had to sweet talk my old Olds before turning the key. It worked most times. LOL

 

Boot problems? First let's check the obvious, is the computer plugged in? Does anything happen when you hit the power button? any fans spin up? Both power connectors plugged into the mobo?

 

Go Girl! Well done.

Gotta smile at how you've given your car a male persona...guess it stands to reason, given the problems it's given youLOL

 

As I mentioned in the shoutbox, my car is The Millennium Falcon.

Though I actually think of him more as a very big but a little tired old dog. Sleepy, but loyal, and overall a very reliable guy. It's not his fault he's not as young as he was 12 years ago... :innocent

 

I didn't even notice this comment before, but that's hilarious! My car likes being patted on the dashboard and be told what a good car he is. He runs much better when I do that, and I'm not sure if that is funny or frightening...