Automotive Forums

Hello,

I have a 2001 Nissan Sentra SE edition. Lately it has given me a lot of headaches. I've encountered lots of different minor and not so minor glitches in the general behavior of the car. I'm far from a car mechanic or anything but I do know electrical/electronic stuff well and as such I'll give out what know from that perspective.

About 2 months ago I had to get the car serviced because it would get stuck at Park. I used the shift lock for a while but when I did get it serviced, the mechanic told me it was a corroded wire.

This fixed my car for a while. Two weeks ago the cruise control went out. I could enable and disable the function but not engage the cruise control itself. Oh well, bummer I thought but I'll look into it when winter's over.

The next day, the brake oil light went on. Greeeat I thought. I checked the level. All fine. Check the hand brake. Nope... Weird... Oh well...

Then last week, my GF had the car for maintenance and the guys told her the alternator was giving up on the car. That same day, coming back from work, the car stalled on her. I went there and yup, the battery was dead (The battery light was lit and there was 10V or so left on charge). So I took the car back home that night but did notice the car still wouldn't shift to drive, I had to use the shift lock again. Fair enough, the next day I had it at the local shop here for a cleanup/or replacement of the alternator . The guys there told me the alternator was in perfect condittion. They did notice that sometime the car just wouldn't charge. As if the relay enabling the charge was acting up. Anyhow, I boosted the car and sent it at work where I can at least do some checking out in the warmth indoors. I noticed then that the foglights were acting up. They were actually on when the switch was set to off. I toggled the switch on, the lights went out. When I switched it back off att work, the lights blinked on, then off.

I left the car there for the evening, when I came back to it, it was starting up and charging (I used a voltmeter to monitor the voltage across the battery AND the battery indicator was OK). I took the car for ride and it kept charging all along. I probed the battery when I got back. Stopped and started the car at least 5 times, took it for another spin. No problem with the charge. Better yet, the brake light was now back off! The car still didn't want to shift gears unless I used the shift lock. I let the car outside for a few hours, thinking maybe it was a freezing / thawing stuff. Nope, when I got back it fired up and kept charging. Still couldn't change gears AND now the power windows AND the rear defrost weren't working...

So this is kinda where I am right now. I;m gonna take the car back to the dealership just for the sake that they get the car to shift gears. I paid for it (twice in fact, already too long a story I guess) and they should at least get that to work... I hope...

I checked every fuse and cleaned the relay box I found. Haven't check the ECM yet though this is what I'm leaning for right now., I checked a few connections, including the ones leading to the gearbox and the battery. I checked the ground connection... Bit of corrosion here and there but nothing preventing a good contact.

I wish I had the workshop manual so that at least I could understand what signal comes from where. I'm still very much a novice in cars. Checked around my area for it but couldn't find it. Nissan sells theirs for like 200 bucks...

Well, that your for reading my post and allowing me to vent out a bit. If any of you guys have an idea I'd be pleased to try it out. Thank you and y'all have a nice week.

Regards,
Sylvain.
 

Though this could seem like a shameless bump I got thinking this afternoon (in the rare cases this happens to me) that this could be related to the steering wheel spring mechanism.  Any of you guys think this could be worth investigating?  

I'm supposed to get a hold of the nissan electrical diagrams on friday but in the meantime I'm entertaining ideas on where to look.  In resume I've had problems shifting the car in gear (because of the brake lock), problems charging the battery, problems with rear defrost, power windows and fog lamps.  Also this evening, when the car battery died on me once again, the car would automatically try to start even though I didn't even have the key in.    

Anyone think this a good idea?

Regards,
Sylvain.
 

Stirgar wrote:

Though this could seem like a shameless bump I got thinking this afternoon (in the rare cases this happens to me) that this could be related to the steering wheel spring mechanism. Any of you guys think this could be worth investigating?

I'm supposed to get a hold of the nissan electrical diagrams on friday but in the meantime I'm entertaining ideas on where to look. In resume I've had problems shifting the car in gear (because of the brake lock), problems charging the battery, problems with rear defrost, power windows and fog lamps. Also this evening, when the car battery died on me once again, the car would automatically try to start even though I didn't even have the key in.

Anyone think this a good idea?
what wiring diagrams do you need i hace alldata i can email them to you jeff
Regards,
Sylvain.

Hi Sylvain,

My daughter's boyfriend has the same problem with his car, which is same model and year as yours. Now his alternator doesn't work all the time (more often it doesn't work) so he gets stuck on highways, bridges, etc. which means a towing! The garage are asking approx. 500$ to change the alternator, but I have a feeling that the alternator is not bad.

Any developments on your side?

Tks,

Raymond  

go ahead and try changing the alternator, a faulty alternator can make random lights come on as you mentioned....happened to my car before and the speed/rpm cluster needle went haywire before the car eventually stalled out.  

I've been having similar funky problems. I too am wondering about wiring diagrams ...to see if what the dealer told me is really possible or not.

About 2 years ago, after much misdiagnosis (by a non-Nissan mechanic)with numerous emissions and idle problems, replacing the Idle Air Control Motor (I think) and still having the same problems of it dying at stops, surging and then not accellerating, etc.I finally took it into Nissan - they replaced my ECM. Thankfully, they told me that part had a....10 yr/100,000 mi. ???? warranty on it- whatever it was - basically all the rest of the car was out of warranty but the ECM had a longer one. Yeay! So fine.

Well, fast forward to about a month ago. Check Engine light comes on and even scarier - my odometer totally blanks out. A little freaky. Other than the check engine light and the odometer blanking out, there's no other problems that I've noticed. Take it into the dealer and they replace the Idle _Speed_ Motor cuz they say that's what the Check Engine is telling them. A week later, my dials, speedometer, etc. die flat - I'm driving along but my speedometer says 0, for example; and all indicators on the dash just start being weird. Sometimes they go flat, sometimes they get "stuck" (so I'm going 40 when I'm stopped, for example) - and they aren't being consistent even in their weirdness. It's not even all the dials - sometimes it's one or two, sometimes its all, it varies.
Well, take it back in, now they tell me I need the ECM replaced. What?? I just had that done 2 year ago.  Well, at least that part still has that long term warranty, right? No! Only 12 mos. or 12,000 mi. - and so now I'm out more $$ for that.
Alrighty. So I get the ECM replaced and I think that'll finally be the end of all my troubles. WRONG! I'm STILL having "dial" problems, and so when I take it in this time, they tell me that the problem all along has been a bad wire behind my dash. That that has caused my ECM to go out this time...and probably the time before. So now they replace the "Unified Meter Control"....and gratefully, I have had no further problems (but hey, it hasn't even been a month yet!)
About four months ago, I also had to have BOTH catalytic converters replaced.
I'm wondering if all of this stuff is connected to a bad ECM, and if it is true that the wire running from the Unified Meter Control goes "straight into" the ECM and could cause it to "burn out" or whatever. The mechanic explained that it wasn't really a short - but that the bad wire affected the ECM, totally messed it up (requiring its replacement) and made it do all these things.

I have a hard time believing that a bad wire is responsible for ALL of the problems I've described.
Anything sound odd or fishy to anyone else out there?
Thanks for any insight.  

My first thought when reading this message was ground wire. There are tons of places where the wiring harness is grounded, and my guess is that either something isn't grounded properly that should be, or something is grounded that shouldn't be.

As for the previous reply, one wire can do all that. I'm not a professional, but one wire, especially if it's going to the ECU, can do a number on an electrical system.