My Buick definitely has a few. I'm a little confused on it, so I'm going to post a topic and see where this can go.

Here's the symptoms:

Key on, everything lights up fine, no problems. Turn the key and everything is dead, lights, dash, no action from the starter or anything else. Clock resets to 1 am. Key off, key on lights up and all that, turn to start, and it may repeat the above or it may start fine. Starts easily once it finally tries.

Now here's the weird part to me, and it may be totally unrelated. Once it starts and is running, it cuts out and runs somewhat rough like it's misfiring, and it may surge slightly, but I get no check engine lights. This problem fades after about a minute or less and runs perfect until I shut it off. I've had it vary from severe to hardly noticeable.

Another symptom that may help is that I have noticed the interior lights flicker a bit. Not severely, just perceptible. But it may help lead us somewhere.

This doesn't happen all the time, and never happens on a warm start. But it's getting fairly common.

Here's what I can tell you:

Ground buses under the carpet are like brand new. I was suffering electrical issues not that long ago and ran through these as part of my checklist. I'd say less than two months ago. The solution ended up being slightly loose/dirty battery terminals. My symptoms were similar then too, minus the cutting out bit.

Battery terminals are tight and clean, but should probably be checked again.

That's all I can relay to you for now. Other than that, the chassis grounds look fine but I haven't actually disassembled them to make sure.

Any help you could give would be appreciated. My friends think it's haunted.
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-Dan
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2012 Nissan Maxima SV Premium • Super Black • Charcoal • VQ35DE • Bose • Factory HID • 5000k LED Int/Ext
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__I n n o v a t i o n__T h a t __E x c i t e s

Dan, check those battery cables and bolts again. Also check at the alternator end. If your alternator has a sense wire, check that. My car sure was a dog when the sense wire was unplugged.

Try dragging your ScanGauge over from the truck and seeing what your voltage is like.

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2012 Chevrolet Cruze Eco - Current car

1999 Buick LeSabre Custom - Former car

Learn from the mistakes of others, that way when you mess up you can do so in new and interesting ways.

x2 on the battery cables. Did you pull the rubber boots off when you checked them?

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2006 Chevy Monte Carlo SS

Cut the cable open about 6" and check for corrosion. If its good, tape it back up, if not, replace it. Also pull the battery bolts, and if there's any rust on them, replace them. They cost about $2 each. New cables should come with new bolts, if you need them, but if not, get new bolts if you get new cables.

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Bye Bye:

RIP sandrock

Thanks guys, I'll check all this stuff tomorrow, it's raining right now.

Honestly I could probably use new battery bolts anyway, one of them is kind of borked on the wrench end, but it tightens up nice with a set of robo-pliers.

Voltage reads solid at about 13.7 volts on the dash gauge, but I'll bring the scangauge over sometime and see what it says.

I did not pull the rubber boots off or cut the cable wrap when I checked the terminals last. I only checked and cleaned the part that goes into the battery. I'll start there when things are dry.

FWIW, today when I started the car (last start was about 24 hours prior) it started fine and had no issues. Seems like the longer it sits the worse it is. Last start before that was about 2 weeks prior, and it went dark twice before it started, and then did the misfiring thing for about a minute, and then ran fine.
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_________________
-Dan
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2012 Nissan Maxima SV Premium • Super Black • Charcoal • VQ35DE • Bose • Factory HID • 5000k LED Int/Ext
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__I n n o v a t i o n__T h a t __E x c i t e s

Ignition switch. Thats my guess.

check the Ignition switch my stitch on my 1998 bonny did something simular and i replaced it and it was good

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1999 SLE 98,xxx miles
1998 SLE 178,xxx miles sold for $1,400
1994 SSE 289,xxx miles
1993 SSEI 324,xxx miles sold for $500
2002 Trans Am 32,xxx miles
1998 silverado waldoch conversion 122,xxx miles SOLD
1979 Trans Am 68,xxx miles
2000 GMC crew cab long box dually 82xxx miles

Thankfully for me, I think we can rule out the ignition switch. Today I felt like taking the Buick to work just for kicks, and it did the same thing. Turned over maybe once this time and then it was all dead. Key on and key off repeatedly did nothing. Only this time when I pulled the key out of the ignition and opened the door the interior lights didn't come on. Everything was still dead. I think the issue is more central, perhaps from the battery cables.

Since I had to go to work, I didn't have time to check, but I will later.
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_________________
-Dan
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2012 Nissan Maxima SV Premium • Super Black • Charcoal • VQ35DE • Bose • Factory HID • 5000k LED Int/Ext
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__I n n o v a t i o n__T h a t __E x c i t e s

Well here's a quick turnaround for you. Wasn't much to do at work today, and the boss basically told me if I really needed the hours they could find something for me to do, otherwise if there's something I wanted to do it was my call whether I wanted to stay or not.

Figured why not, next chance I'd probably have free time to look at it would probably be Thursday.

Went home, hit the unlock clicker and guess what, the car was still dead. Cool. Used the key and popped the hood. Played around with both the positive and negative cables and hit the clicker again. Car lights up and unlocks. Guess I know where the problem is for sure, now!

Removed both cables, found little to no corrosion on the terminals/bolts themselves. Pulled the boots back a little bit, found similarly little corrosion between the two contacts inside, but I scraped away what little there was with a screwdriver and put the boot back in place. Then I began cutting back the insulation on the cables. On the positive cable with two cables leading out of it, everything was sparkly and shiny inside. The other had the color of decaying copper on the outside of the cable but I thought it might just be dirt. Here's what I found on the inside.





*dang* IT I hate my camera. All the image enhancing tricks I know and this is as good as I could get it, and after 15+ tries of "UNABLE TO FOCUS". UGH.

Anyway, you can almost smell the scrummy aroma of decaying copper there. The corrosion extends down about 2-3" down the length of the cable. It's not oozing out, but there is a good amount of powdery corrosion in there. Think that's enough to cause my issues? And how come everything went dead if it was only that one positive cable while the other two were fine?

Oh, and my alternator wire was plugged in. Checked that too.

Thanks for the help guys.
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_________________
-Dan
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2012 Nissan Maxima SV Premium • Super Black • Charcoal • VQ35DE • Bose • Factory HID • 5000k LED Int/Ext
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__I n n o v a t i o n__T h a t __E x c i t e s

Those cables go to different spots. One of the positive cables will run directly to the starter, the other will run directly to the fuse block.

Ah, thanks for that. My FSM states where the positive cable with two leads goes to, but not the one with only a single lead. The one with two (which is okay) goes to the starter and the alternator. The other must go to the fusebox. I guess if the fuse box is getting intermittent power it could certainly cause everything in the car to quit. Makes sense?
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_________________
-Dan
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2012 Nissan Maxima SV Premium • Super Black • Charcoal • VQ35DE • Bose • Factory HID • 5000k LED Int/Ext
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__I n n o v a t i o n__T h a t __E x c i t e s

Makes sense to me. I'd replace all the cables if you have the $$$. Might not be able to buy them separate, depending on where you buy them, also.

_________________
Bye Bye:

RIP sandrock

Got a quick break and pulled the offending cable out. Cut the insulation back away from the terminal and pulled the boot off.

I put it in a sun spot so my camera wouldn't be such an ass.





Pretty nasty looking. I hope this fixes things.

I'm a little hesitant to replace the other positive cable because I seem to be having trouble removing the little accessory terminal for my HIDs from the bolt. I dunno if it shrunk or what, but I can't get that little bastard off, so I can't pull the bolt and I can't remove the boot. I'd rather not have to cut, splice, resolder and rewrap it if I can help it. What can I say, I am a little on the lazy side. FWIW, that cable/terminal looks like brand new, there is absolutely no evidence of any significant corrosion from what I've been able to see by prying around on the boot with a screwdriver, or inside the cable itself after cutting. I might give it a second wrapping with the tape (I patched it up earlier) and let it be. If it does come in a set though, I might bite the bullet and see what I can do about removing that terminal.

After this, it's on to my AC clutch. Next (and hopefully last) issue on the list.
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_________________
-Dan
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2012 Nissan Maxima SV Premium • Super Black • Charcoal • VQ35DE • Bose • Factory HID • 5000k LED Int/Ext
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__I n n o v a t i o n__T h a t __E x c i t e s

I think you found your gremlin. Good job, those things are usually pretty hard to find. "The smoking gun".

Thanks, I think so too. Seeing as how playing with the terminal end of the battery cables "fixed" it temporarily, and that was the only component that had anything visibly wrong with it, that has to be it...

Anyway, I had to do things a little differently than I had originally planned. None of the shops I went to sold the complete cable. I ended up cutting off the bad part (about 6" down the cable to be safe) and putting a new terminal on what was left, then soldering the connection and wrapping the snot out of it with electrical tape. I was also able to get the boot off the other terminal and look at it closer. Looks brand new inside and out, so I'm not going to worry about it for now.

My car apparently liked what I did, when I put it all back together it fired right up. We'll see in the long term how this turns out, but I'm positive that was the problem.

Interestingly, my HID's seem brighter and my idle is glassy smooth now. Could just be my imagination. Total cost to fix: $2. I'm a little bit worse for the wear though, I managed to cut myself twice removing the insulation from the cable and then I burned myself on two fingers while soldering the connection. Today was not my day I guess, at least as far as injuries go.

Next up, A/C compressor clutch. I'll have a topic up about that soon, lol.
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_________________
-Dan
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2012 Nissan Maxima SV Premium • Super Black • Charcoal • VQ35DE • Bose • Factory HID • 5000k LED Int/Ext
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__I n n o v a t i o n__T h a t __E x c i t e s

That cable is too big (and un-fused) to be safely protected by electric tape. Just buy a new replacement cable.

Oh no, I didn't wrap it like that. Maybe I was a little unclear, I only cut back enough insulation to get plenty of copper wire in the new terminal, the insulation goes all the way to the terminal. I just wrapped it for looks I guess. There is very little wire actually exposed, much like it was on the OEM connection.
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_________________
-Dan
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2012 Nissan Maxima SV Premium • Super Black • Charcoal • VQ35DE • Bose • Factory HID • 5000k LED Int/Ext
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__I n n o v a t i o n__T h a t __E x c i t e s

I just may have to check my battery cables this weekend. Although voltage has been about 14 volts consistently this winter.

_________________
2012 Chevrolet Cruze Eco - Current car

1999 Buick LeSabre Custom - Former car

Learn from the mistakes of others, that way when you mess up you can do so in new and interesting ways.

Just an update on this. It's been long enough, and sat long enough that if it were going to do it again, it would be doing it by now. Starts up fine with no problems whatsoever! Well, electrical wise, anyway. I've got a couple other issues that need sorting out. But thanks guys, my electrical woes are cured!
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_________________
-Dan
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2012 Nissan Maxima SV Premium • Super Black • Charcoal • VQ35DE • Bose • Factory HID • 5000k LED Int/Ext
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__I n n o v a t i o n__T h a t __E x c i t e s