Photonfanatic
Active Member
Hi all. I have a bit of a noobish electrical question. I don't really want the make and model of the car to become the prime focus here, as I've already been over to the forums for that car and nobody seems to really have much of an answer. Its a 2003 Nissan Altima. So it has CAN and an IPDM.
So I have this car, and it keeps running the battery down overnight. For a long time I thought it was the "parking lights" function, which some call the "driving lights" or daytime running lights". Its the tail lights, and the orange lights in the headlights. For some strange reason, they stay on for a whopping 10 minutes before they go off. After some research, I found that an OE Scanner can be hooked up to the Body Control Module, and the time for how long these lights stay on, can be set. This may be somehow related to the problem, but who knows. Anyway, I was reading an article on how to diagnose battery drains, and it said to check the fuses when the key is out of the ignition. It said that if a fuse has power when the car is off, then that system is likely the cause of your power drain. And of course from there, you can likely find out why the system is drawing power when its not supposed to be.
Not sure that idea makes a whole lot of sense to me, as the radio memory, and the engine computer like to have constant power. So there's 2 fuses right there, that I would think would always have power. Well I found 4 total fuses on the car that always have power. And I really don't know know what they go to, as they don't seem to be labeled anywhere. Thanks Nissan, for not labeling your IPDM fuses.
The only thing I can come up with right now, is that it could be the battery itself. I bought a reduced price battery from a junkyard, in a effort to save money. The guy said that the batteries they sell are "new", but have sat on the shelf for 6 months at some store somewhere. He said that the battery manufacturers only let them sit on the shelf for 6 months, then they sell them as discounted items to places like the junkyard I bought it from. They peel all the stickers off. The battery also comes with a 6 month warranty. So I can return it if need be. But it still charges up, and will still run the car just fine. It doesn't seem to be weak, and the voltage gauge, nor the battery light, comes on in the car. But I've heard of batteries causing some strange problems. Anyway, that's all I've got, look forward to reading the replies.
So I have this car, and it keeps running the battery down overnight. For a long time I thought it was the "parking lights" function, which some call the "driving lights" or daytime running lights". Its the tail lights, and the orange lights in the headlights. For some strange reason, they stay on for a whopping 10 minutes before they go off. After some research, I found that an OE Scanner can be hooked up to the Body Control Module, and the time for how long these lights stay on, can be set. This may be somehow related to the problem, but who knows. Anyway, I was reading an article on how to diagnose battery drains, and it said to check the fuses when the key is out of the ignition. It said that if a fuse has power when the car is off, then that system is likely the cause of your power drain. And of course from there, you can likely find out why the system is drawing power when its not supposed to be.
Not sure that idea makes a whole lot of sense to me, as the radio memory, and the engine computer like to have constant power. So there's 2 fuses right there, that I would think would always have power. Well I found 4 total fuses on the car that always have power. And I really don't know know what they go to, as they don't seem to be labeled anywhere. Thanks Nissan, for not labeling your IPDM fuses.
The only thing I can come up with right now, is that it could be the battery itself. I bought a reduced price battery from a junkyard, in a effort to save money. The guy said that the batteries they sell are "new", but have sat on the shelf for 6 months at some store somewhere. He said that the battery manufacturers only let them sit on the shelf for 6 months, then they sell them as discounted items to places like the junkyard I bought it from. They peel all the stickers off. The battery also comes with a 6 month warranty. So I can return it if need be. But it still charges up, and will still run the car just fine. It doesn't seem to be weak, and the voltage gauge, nor the battery light, comes on in the car. But I've heard of batteries causing some strange problems. Anyway, that's all I've got, look forward to reading the replies.