# 2005 Sentra Electrical Issues



## ElderJefferson (Apr 10, 2014)

Background: Wife had driven to local store just fine, and when she got into her car afterwards, it was dead (no power). Her key unlocked the doors just fine prior to trying to start it, but after attempting to start the car, she claimed that none of the electrical components were working (lights, radio, locks, etc). I assumed the battery was dead, so I went to give her a jump, and on the way there (~10-15 mins later), she called and said everything is fine now - car started right up. She drove back to work and returned home that same day just fine.

The following morning, she said the car was dead again, so she took mine to work. At lunch (since I work from home), I went out to the garage to see for myself, and I heard a clicking noise from inside the cabin (couldn't tell exactly where it was originating - perhaps the steering column or somewhere under the dash?). So, I tried the lights and locks, and everything was working fine. So, I inserted the key and checked the switches, and everything was fine, and it cranked up like it was brand new.

She's fearful of driving it now, so she's using my Camry to get to work and back. The Nissan was working fine again this morning, but I'm wondering where I should begin on this thing as far as diagnosis is concerned? It doesn't sound like a battery cable or ignition switch issue (from what I've read online), so I'm wondering if someone on here had some insight regarding this issue.

Car has 94k miles, and I know nothing about vehicles. I can YouTube the mess out of stuff, though, so I have no fear with researching and tinkering with cars.


----------



## SPEEDO (Jun 9, 2003)

batt connection good? any corrosion? did you check the fuse box (under the hood)?


----------



## ElderJefferson (Apr 10, 2014)

SPEEDO said:


> batt connection good? any corrosion? did you check the fuse box (under the hood)?


No, I haven't checked anything yet. Well, I did check to see if it was throwing any OBD II codes, but I didn't get anything. I checked online for similar symptoms, and the most common findings were bad ground terminal on the battery, and ignition switch failure. But when I read up on those two, I didn't think it would cause intermittent electrical failure across all systems/accessories. Sometimes you have juice, sometimes you just have a one-ton paper weight.

It wouldn't hurt to check the battery terminals just for kicks. I'm not familiar with bad fuses and/or relays, so I'll have to go digging up some info on those if necessary.


----------



## ElderJefferson (Apr 10, 2014)

Well, we took the car to the local dealership, and they claimed the problem was loose battery cables. They cleaned them and tightened them and sent us on our way (not before hitting us up for new drive belts, an oil change, and new brakes, with the drive belts being the only one I accepted). Now I'm just waiting to see if the car poops out again, or if the problem really was some bad cable connections.


----------



## SPEEDO (Jun 9, 2003)

glad your back up and running...


----------

