Hi, I am having an issue with my truck and am hoping you can assist me with seeing what could be the problem. It is a 2010 Nissan Titan 4 x 4 LE 5.8L gas not Flex. It has about 130,000 miles on it. The nature of the problem is that it will not start as in absolute zero power. It is just like the video that you made at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7h5KaX2-Y8 It is dead as a doorknob.
A little background in months prior is that on occasion it would give difficulty starting. What I mean by that is I would put the key, make the first click and the instruments would light up and everything looked fine. I then make the next click with the key to actually start it and nothing would happen. No clicking or anything. I would generally have to take the key out and try one or two more times before it would work. One time it took about four or five tries before working. Then it would go back to once or twice. This would happen about once a week and sometimes it would go longer before happening again.
It has been sitting in my garage for the past four or five weeks doing nothing as I was using another vehicle. I didn't even attempt to start it once. I tried starting it up again this past Saturday. That is when I discovered that it was completely dead. So, I tried to jump start it and again completely dead. I then borrowed my father in-law's battery charger. It is this exact model https://www.2040-parts.com/fully-automatic-battery-charger-manual-engine-starter-schumacher-612a-pe-starter-i358611/
I left the battery hooked up in the truck and let the battery charge until the indicator showed that it was charged. I then flipped the switch to 50A Start. I put the key in and made the first click. All of the interior lights, nav system and instrument lights lit up. I tried to start it and nothing. I tried this several times and it would not start. Only one time would it give a fast clicking sound when I tried to start it. All other times it did not make a sound at all. As soon as I removed the battery charger, it went back to zero power as dead as a doorknob. Plugging the battery charger back in would bring back all of the lights, but again it would not start or turn over.
There wasn't any corrosion on the battery terminals. It is only about one year old. I cleaned them anyway. I am thinking it might be an issue with the long positive battery terminal group of wires. The reason that I say that is that I removed the battery fuse link from the rest of the cabling and saw a lot of corrosion on the connectors. I sprayed terminal cleaner and got rid of some of it, but it didn't make a difference. I am thinking that the corrosion has gone down further in the wiring and damaged enough of the wiring to prevent it from working at all. I just don't understand how connecting a battery charger would allow it to light up, but power from a jump start will not. I don't think it is the ignition switch like in the case of the video that you made since turning the key lights things up when the battery charger is connected.
I ordered a power probe and it is supposed to arrive today. It's this model https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094PZMBXY?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details Since everything is pretty tight under the hood, I am having a problem identify where things are at to point the probe at in order to test. I believe one of the connectors that I will need to check is the connection to the alternator. That's at the bottom underneath side of the truck from what I can tell. I also have not used a power probe before, but I am sure that it will come with documentation on how to use it. It looks pretty straight forward from the video that I referenced at the top. Haven't check the fuses yet since I am waiting on the probe.
Whatever advice that you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Specific things to check or thoughts of what could be the issue. Should I have the key turned one notch while doing these tests? Or, just completely have the key out? Thank you very much!
Hi, I just wanted to say thanks to Scotty and Hixster for the advice! Yes, there was nothing on at all when it was just the battery or even when I tried to jump start it. No dome light, no instrument lights or anything. The lights only came on when I connected the battery charger. The probe that I ordered arrived and it didn't light up at all on the battery. I then found my multimeter and it was acting kind of odd. Should have looked for this sooner. So, I changed the batteries on the multimeter since they were low. I checked the voltage on the truck battery and it was only registering a little over two volts. Um, what?.
Plugging the battery charger back in would bring back all of the lights, but again it would not start or turn over.
Because it had a stable 12v current supplied. As Scotty mentioned, likely you have a battery or connection issue.
I just don't understand how connecting a battery charger would allow it to light up, but power from a jump start will not.
You achieved a closed circuit with the battery charger but not with the jumper cables. You got a good connection with the charger, but a bad connection with jumper cables. That often happens when using jumper cables.
Keep this simple.. achieve a stable 12v current to your ignition switch. Check your battery-- regardless of its age-- check the terminal connections, etc. You need 12v up & through that ignition switch first. Concentrate on fixing "no power" first, then you can fix the "no start".
Well, the first thing you want to check is the integrity of the electrical system. Such as the battery, the battery connectors on the terminals, all the wiring and especially the ignition switch. I'm assuming you mean nothing happens. That means the idiot lights don't come on in a dash or anything. But if the idiot lights come on, that's off in the sign of a bad starter that's just wearing out
Thank you, appreciate you letting us know!