# X-Trail towed - no drive and electrical issues



## slowrvr (Sep 9, 2016)

I thought I should start a separate thread rather than hijacking my post about alternators ( http://www.nissanforums.com/x-trail/261370-alternator-same-altima.html ).

On the way home this morning the car lost power/drive while in slow moving traffic on the 417 in Ottawa. We just got a bunch of snow and I was in 4wd earlier, in case that may matter later on. Anyway, the car seemed to lose power but then as I reved the engine, there seemed to be no drive, like I was in neutral. I pulled over to the side and shifted into neutral and back. It kind of lurched into gear and then out. I can't remember if it stalled or not, but I tried restarting and it cranked a little but nothing. Shortly after my hazad lights stopped working. I turned off the key and lights, and then they worked until the towtruck arrived. I tried starting again at home and it would not even crank. Tested the battery and it is reading 11.67v.

It seems like too much of a coincidence that this would all happen at once, so I'm confused. Hoping an electrical issue could have caused a problem with the centre diff, although I can't see how it would have lost all drive.

The battery is a Nissan Canada battery, so probably the original. As an aside, any recommendations on a replacement? Browsing Canadian Tire website at the moment.

Something else I just remembered, as I was coasting over to the shoulder, the ABS light came on.

Not sure where to start.


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## X-hale (Apr 17, 2017)

I've had good luck with their Eliminator batteries. Good warranty too, especially the extended warranty if they still offer it for $10.

With an electrical failure often all or most of the idiot lights will light up like a Christmas tree. Good timing for that I must say.


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## slowrvr (Sep 9, 2016)

Just got back from the store with a new battery. Car fired right up and no problems with drive, however the system is only running at 11.9 or so volts. So could be that Mike's issue was two-fold and when he first swapped his alternator it didn't fix all the issues. So I think a new alternator is probably required. Mike, do you remember the other issue you had at the time? Was it just dirty connectors?

The clutch on mine definitely failed, and so Mike's old alternator worked for two weeks. The only thing that's throwing me off is there was a howling/whining noise with both the old one until it failed and the battery light came on, and this one.

Quick update: I'm an idiot and was using the battery load test setting on the multi meter. Cleared the cobwebs and the battery is reading 12.43 volts. Still very low. Same reading from the alternator. I did notice the alternator is hot to touch. I could only touch it for 3-5 seconds before it was uncomfortable. And this was after running maybe a minute in an unheated garage. This does not seem normal to me.


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## slowrvr (Sep 9, 2016)

Well surprise surprise, Canadian Tire has shown their complete lack of competence yet again. Despite what I was told over the phone two weeks ago, when I went in today, I'm told the only alternator available is $360+ tax and a $100+ tax core charge.


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## slowrvr (Sep 9, 2016)

Partsource has one for a 2008 Rogue for 260+ tax. Debating getting that tonight, or calling around to more places in the morning. Wonder what the dealer price is?


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## X-hale (Apr 17, 2017)

Try calling Cote auto parts on St. Joseph in Hull. I've gotten some good deals from them.
Also if you have a battery charger, try charging your new battery all night. Sometimes they are not fully charged when sold.


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## MikeHJ (Mar 7, 2017)

I am so sorry to hear this.

That is exactly what happened to me.

The car revving, but not moving beyond a crawl, means it is limp mode......a fail safe so you don't trash the transmission.

I managed to crawl into a parking lot, turned the car off and could not restart. There was just no juice in the battery. Luckily I was only a few blocks from home, so I walked back. Got my winter car, some tools and a deep cycle marine battery that I happen to own.

I jumpstarted the Xtrail, no problem. But when I removed the jumper cable it staggered and died within a few seconds. The battery was still dead. I managed to drive it home by running the jumper cables out from under the hood, thru the drivers window and connected to the marine battery in the drivers footwell. It drove...no problem!

So I charged the battery overnight on my trickle charger and the next morning it fired up without incident. 

The voltage at the battery terminals was all over the place (9v to 16v) while the car was running. I figured the alternator voltage regulator was fried and it was Sunday, so I went off and bought a rebuilt alternator before the stores closed. Basically I jumped the gun and did no further diagnostics.

Recharged the battery, put the new alternator in and voila! No problems.

Drove for 3 weeks without an issue. AND THEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

This time, I pulled the battery and took it to Canadian Tire for testing. It was fine!

So new alternator....good battery......bad connection somewhere? So I tested and tested and found that the negative cable near the battery was pretty dirty. So I took every connection off, one by one, scrubbed them clean and tightened them up. That"s when all the voltages stabalized and everything works as it should.

2 years later, still runs great...never an electrical problem since.

I never did put the alternator back in to test it, but, because of the repeat problem with the new alternator, I remain convinced that it was bad connections all along...not the alternator or the battery.

The alternator should "run hard" for a few minutes after a start to recharge the battery. It will get warm. If it continues to "run hard" because the current isn"t getting to the battery, it will get hot. It could still be dirty connections


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## MikeHJ (Mar 7, 2017)

Test the alternator output across the outputs at the alternator, then across the battery terminals, then from one alternator output to the opposite battery terminal and then the other set.

This is the step that I didn't do before swapping the alternator. Had I done so I think I would have found high, stable voltage across the alternator terminals, but fluctuating voltages on the other 3 connections. That would have told me that the alternator was good and the issue was somewhere in between the alternator and the battery

If you have bad connections, then the alternator voltage regulator doesn't get an accurate voltage reading from the battery and kicks out high charge thinking that the battery is nearly dead. As the battery charge rises, the voltage at the battery rises and the alternator lessens its output (overcharging a battery will damage it). By the time the battery is fully charged, the alternator is only putting out slightly above the 14 volts needed to run the car, the rest is just a small maintenance charge. A battery charger works the same way: 2 amps or so to rapidly charge a fully discharged battery, dropping to a few tenths of an amp to maintain a fully charged battery. 

If you have bad connections, then the alternator continues to crank out high charge because it getting no feedback from the battery. The alternator will get hot.
Obviously, the longer it runs hot, the worse it is for the alternator since heat is what kills alternators.

It could be that I killed that alternator with the dirty connections and was doing the same thing to my new alternator until I cleaned the connections.


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## MikeHJ (Mar 7, 2017)

Oh....and all kinds of weirdness happens when the systems voltage drops: sensors go off, computer glitches, warnings, etc. 

I wouldn't worry about limp mode or ABS warnings, etc. just yet


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## slowrvr (Sep 9, 2016)

Hey don't feel bad Mike. Picked up an alternator for $225 from CAPS and did the swap in about 35 minutes. It's amazing how repeating a repair from two weeks ago after all the bolts have been loosed etc goes so much easier. Car is running great, putting out 14.x volts. The other thing I noticed is that my high/rough idle went away both with Mike's old alternator and this new one. So the old one was obviously on the way out for a while. Lets hope this is the end of the drama for a long time. Thank you all for your help.


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Glad to hear its running again. I replaced my battery 3 years ago and still on the original alternator. I did notice that replacing the serpentine belt tensioner got rid of some belt whine, but also got rid of some engine vibration when I had more electrical load on it from ac, rear defrost, heated seats on, stereo blarring, headlights...
My guess is that it plays a role in maintaing the alternator.


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Out of curiousity where is CAPS and was the alternator for an X trail or a Rogue? Also did the price include a refund for the core?


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## slowrvr (Sep 9, 2016)

They have three locations I believe, but I went to the main one on Old Innes, just off Innes between the 417 and St. Laurant. I just asked for an X-Trail alternator. He said they have lots in stock which leads me to believe that it is in fact interchangeable with the Rogue and/or Altima and/or Sentra.


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