Help me solve parasitic battery drain issue in my Nissan Pathfinder

The service guys want to take the car away for detailed diagnosis. Before I hand over the car, wanted to check what could be a possible issue?

BHPian theflyingguy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi All. I have a Nissan pathfinder and the car is showing a rather unique behavior. Around 3 months back, the car refused to start. I assumed it to be the battery since the battery was almost 2.5 years old and changed the battery to Amaron. The car started fine. Next day, the car refused to start again and I called the battery service. They replaced the battery assuming it to be a faulty battery with Amaron again.

The new battery worked for 3 months. On 1st July, the car refused to start again. I used the jumper cables to start the car and took the car to service station. The service station checked the battery health and Dynamo and both were fine. Came back and parked the car. On 2nd July, the car started without any fuss. Drove the car around 40 km for errands and parked the car around 5 PM. At around 6 PM, my wife wanted to take the car out and it refused to start again. Jumper cables to rescue and car started. She parked the car again on 2nd July and car showed no issues till today (5th July). The car had about 8 start stop cycles and around 200 km driving.

Today morning, again the car refused to start. I called the service guys at home. The car battery charging status was 4%. They jump started the car and after driving for about 30 minutes, the charging was near 100%. Had multiple start stops and car started without the fuss.

Parked the car in office at around 9 AM. 3 hours later, the car is refusing to start again. The service guys want to take the car away for detailed diagnosis. Before I hand over the car, wanted to check what could be a possible issue? Since it is ASS, they would likely replace battery/ dynamo for no reason.

Here's what BHPian Jeroen had to say about this matter:

Your car is suffering from a considerable parasite drain. So something is still drawing power from the battery when the car is shut down.

The obvious ones, easy to check: are all the internal lights in the cabin, the boot, glove compartment turning off when the car is parked and locked?

Any aftermarket kit installed where there could be a problem with the wiring?

Any chargers that can cause issues?

You need a competent car electrician that knows how to trace parasite drain on a modern car. All modern cars draw on the battery permanently.

I wrote a little guide on how to trouble shoot parasite drains on modern cars - Dealing with Electrical parasite drains. 

The good news, it looks you have a serious high parasite drain. Those tend to be a lot easier to locate than small parasite drains.

Good luck

Jeroen

Meanwhile, here's what BHPian Mystic had to say:

I am also facing a similar issue with my Jimny ( alpha automatic ) after 1 year of trouble free life with battery. As battery and car are under warranty, took the car to the dealer and he charged the battery and checked all cells with hydrometer and all is OK. I also confirmed independently with Exide service outside.

I gave up as the NEXA dealer and Exide people have no clue of the solution to the issue and doubt if they have the capability of detecting parasite drain to modern cars. 

My analysis is these modern cars with facility of instant auto start stop function ( after lot of research on the net, I am convinced that my car needs to auto stop if it is idle for more than 7 seconds as it has a huge impact on the environment pollution etc) and wireless apple CarPlay with blue tooth etc needs battery to be at its peak of performance like 100% charged. My usage of the car is heavy when I was in Bangalore and the battery is charged to full always and no issues. After I moved to Visakhapatnam and spending a relaxed life in the beach walking most of time with little usage of the car, the battery is coming to 80% charge after 1 week of no usage. I bought a charger from Amazon and it is making the battery charged to 100% after 1 hour and all is OK.

I know it is a temporary solution and am waiting for your experience if your issue is resolved permanently.

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