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Ok Mechanics.....odd problem for you!
Mercury
Member Posts: 7,842 ✭✭✭
Ok, I have a 2003 Nissan Xterra. Always been very reliable, until recently. It recently started having to turn over a few times to start, and then I noticed it was barely cranking over.
Battery was barely a year old, and the terminals were clean and protected with terminal spray, so they had no corrosion. Tested the battery, it tested bad. Put the load tester on it, and it went to 8 volts instantly.
Put a new battery in it, ran fine for a few weeks. Then it started cranking slow again. I tested the alternator (again) and it checked fine (again). Vehicle runs fine when you disconnect it from the battery, and it is putting out 14V or so.
Now, it won't even turn over, battery appears to be full charged. I didn't have time to put the tester on it, but when you turn the key, nothing. The lights are super-bright, and it did nothing when I hooked up the jump box.
I'm leaning towards a bad starter at this point, OR maybe a bad alternator that stops working when it gets hot. I've had that happen before, and it is hard to figure out until it completely dies.
What do you think?
Oh.....another weird thing. With the car off, when I hooked up the battery terminals, it jumped a large spark! I know the car is drawing a little bit of current when it is turned off, but that was odd to me. Wondering if there is something somewhere that is shorting out, and killing the battery?
Merc
Battery was barely a year old, and the terminals were clean and protected with terminal spray, so they had no corrosion. Tested the battery, it tested bad. Put the load tester on it, and it went to 8 volts instantly.
Put a new battery in it, ran fine for a few weeks. Then it started cranking slow again. I tested the alternator (again) and it checked fine (again). Vehicle runs fine when you disconnect it from the battery, and it is putting out 14V or so.
Now, it won't even turn over, battery appears to be full charged. I didn't have time to put the tester on it, but when you turn the key, nothing. The lights are super-bright, and it did nothing when I hooked up the jump box.
I'm leaning towards a bad starter at this point, OR maybe a bad alternator that stops working when it gets hot. I've had that happen before, and it is hard to figure out until it completely dies.
What do you think?
Oh.....another weird thing. With the car off, when I hooked up the battery terminals, it jumped a large spark! I know the car is drawing a little bit of current when it is turned off, but that was odd to me. Wondering if there is something somewhere that is shorting out, and killing the battery?
Merc
Comments
Ok, I have a 2003 Nissan Xterra. Always been very reliable, until recently. It recently started having to turn over a few times to start, and then I noticed it was barely cranking over.
Battery was barely a year old, and the terminals were clean and protected with terminal spray, so they had no corrosion. Tested the battery, it tested bad. Put the load tester on it, and it went to 8 volts instantly.
Put a new battery in it, ran fine for a few weeks. Then it started cranking slow again. I tested the alternator (again) and it checked fine (again). Vehicle runs fine when you disconnect it from the battery, and it is putting out 14V or so.
Now, it won't even turn over, battery appears to be full charged. I didn't have time to put the tester on it, but when you turn the key, nothing. The lights are super-bright, and it did nothing when I hooked up the jump box.
I'm leaning towards a bad starter at this point, OR maybe a bad alternator that stops working when it gets hot. I've had that happen before, and it is hard to figure out until it completely dies.
What do you think?
Oh.....another weird thing. With the car off, when I hooked up the battery terminals, it jumped a large spark! I know the car is drawing a little bit of current when it is turned off, but that was odd to me. Wondering if there is something somewhere that is shorting out, and killing the battery?
Merc
Yes
If the battery is good and still slow to start, I would lean towards the starter. Easy enough to check.
New battery, then starter, then voltage regulator on son's Bronco and it still went dead. New alternator finally fixed it. Even though it appeared to be working, it was killing the battery when not running anyway.
Oh.....another weird thing. With the car off, when I hooked up the battery terminals, it jumped a large spark! I know the car is drawing a little bit of current when it is turned off, but that was odd to me. Wondering if there is something somewhere that is shorting out, and killing the battery?
Merc
Hooking the positive up last are we?
jk. [:)]
Starter dragging?
"when you turn the key, nothing" No click? How bout shorting the starter terminals? Check the ignition switch and NSS. Did the "spark" kill the puter?
I'm leaning toward the alternator though.
If not then:
Check for solid ground between engine and battery terminal. Can shake check and Ohm it out.
Let me tell you about starters. Consider the work the starter must do. Uses a small gear to turn a flywheel and cycle many times.
The only real way to check a starter is to remove and tear it down. Most people just replace them. Believe me, I have seen starters do strange things and cause many misdiagnosis. Intermittent problems hint you have a starter issue.
Last cause would be a short somewhere stealing electrical power such as an ignition switch.
NOT large spark might take some time but remove one Fuse at a time to see which one changes large spark to very small spark and you will have found what circuit has the short