Did the wrecker try to jump start the truck?

 

had the same prob the other day, turns out if the stop lamp fuse ( inside right side 3rd down from top) is blown, the truck will not start... dealer ship was no help, and i did not find it untill i used a meter to identify the blown fuse.............you would think info like this would be general knowledge...........

 

This begs the question: Can a non functioning stop light can prevent a car from starting? This makes no sense. How would the ECU know about the blow stop light fuse?

 

Sounds like a battery problem to me. I don't get the brake light fuse deal either.

 

Yes the wrecker driver tried to jump it off, and nothing changed. Still got the clicking and lights dimming.

Thats crazy about the fuse. Im gonna be pissed if thats all it is. And im sure the dealership will try and tell me its work that isnt covered under warranty. Guess Ill prepare for battle.

 

As far as I know, Nissan should cover anything between the front and rear bumpers until you reach 36,000 mi. or 36 mos. no questions asked.

 

thats good.....gonna have them look at my annoying squeeky drivers seat while its there.

 

That happened to me, and it was just corrosion on the battery terminal. I had no problem with it, just all of the sudden it wouldn't start, I just heard clicking. I tried to jump it, but that wouldn't work either. The battery terminal didn't look very corroded at all, but someone suggested I clean it up, and sure enough, it started right up once I cleaned it.

 

Hmmm, I think i'm going to think twice about getting one now. Nah, i'm only kidding. But yeah, don't feel bad. Really. I've been through worse with the Dodge Dealership and my truck here.

I've had my truck for 2 years now. I only have 18400 KM's on it. And I either need a new transmission or a new diff. I say this, whenever I put my truck into drive, it takes a good 10-15 sec to engage. If I put it into drive and wait about 3 secs or so cause I don't wanna wait 10-15. Either way, it does the same thing. So wait 3 secs, put it into drive, press the gas lightly, boom, bang, grind... and whatever other sounds it makes. Took it into Dodge. They said my gear box was leaking. Fixed. They said it works like it's new again. I said okay. Next day, started to do it again. Took it in. They looked at. They told me this is normal. I said, so this boom, bang, grind is normal for a auto. Yeah they said.

So yeah, 2 years old, and I already need a new tranny or a new diff. Maybe both. I don't know cause Dodge here are too stupid to figure anything out. Okay, here's another example. Took it in to get an oil change done. Took 2 weeks for them to do it.

Sorry if I hijacked this. Thought I'd share a story that I had. Also, that is why I wanna get rid of my truck.

 

That really stinks man. All I can say is... the only, ONLY time my truck has let me down was trying to pull a 90's model Toyota 4 runner out that was burried out on our beach up to his frame. Poor little truck had a hell of a time compared to my previous vehicle. But, she is basically stock

I'd be interested to find out what caused your failure here..

 

my guess is the battery or alternator, if the battery is completely dead a jump start won't do anything, if your alternator is bad your battery will go dead in like 3 min. hope all goes well man.

 

Yeah if the battery is completely drained, jumping it won't do squat. That's what it sounds like, a battery that just didn't have enough juice to crank things over. So, maybe the battery let you down...not the truck.

 

This would be my guess as well. I had a battery in an older Mazda car that had an internal short, and jumping it did nothing. In my 17 years of owning 14 different vehicles, the battery has been the part that has had more failures than any other parts.

 

the orig. batterys dont last long in these trucks..hopefully thats all it is

 

Some vehicles are purposely wired so that when a brake lamp fails, the entire dashboard goes dark too. The idea is that a brake light is a critical component and a driver might not know it's failed without a highly noticable warning.

Not sure if Nissan adds different functionality for the same warning; sounds dumb if they do. Let us know what they find BudrBean.

 

I know first hand when your tail lamps go out so does the centre section of your dash lights.

 

This begs the question: Can a non functioning stop light can prevent a car from starting? This makes no sense. How would the ECU know about the blow stop light fuse

It may beg the question, and it certainly makes no sense, but that is the way this truck works, try it if you do not believe me, pull the fuse and see if your Frontier will start!... It will make a faint clicking noise, all systems will work, and it will not start...................................

 

pull the fuse and see if your Frontier will start!...

Are spare fuses in our trucks anywhere? I'm just thinkin' that it'd be worth carrying a spare fuse for this application!

 

I don't get the stoplight fuse thing either. Possibly the alternator is bad and your battery was draining. Keep us posted.

 

I agree, I have spares now. I ran into this by accident when I was wiring a radar detector into the overhead loom... some how blew the stop lamp fuse, and when the job was done, the truck. 2008 le would not start.. I tried everything, including many calls to the dealer, who was no help at all...Finally went online and trouble shot down to checking all fuses with a multimeter... and low and behold found the stop lamp fuse blown,, never saw it by eye, and could not even when i knew it was bad but that was the problem... I put it on here just to save others the same frustration.... You would think, if some thing would stop your vehicle from being usable, the dealer would know, but I guess that is too much to ask now a days..................And believe me, all the mechanics, told me my battery was bad. the door was open too long, the computer was blown etc, but the fuse was the problem....for me anyway..........................

 

This strange phenomenon of a blown stoplight fuse immobilizing a Frontier can be easily tested. Just pull out the fuse and see if the truck starts or does not start.

I don't want to say it's not true. But it is very wierd.

 

Did that on my 06. It started right up like normal. Could be different wiring in the 08 models.

 

My 06 LE needed a new battery at 29K miles a couple of months ago. I'll bet yours is the same thing. I had the clicking sound and dim lights, so I jumped it off of the wife's car (really had to rev the car to get the truck to turn over). Went to the parts store, threw in another battery - no problem since.

 

Well all this disbelief made me go down and pull the fuse, ....on a 2008 LE , it will not start, of course maybe mine was wired different from the factory, the houses I have built , light up, the airplanes i built still fly,, the motorcycles i have rewired still run,,, I t must be this Nissan that is different wtf

 

This is a very odd failure mode. I suspect that the problem is isolated to your truck. Do you have the immobilizer? I mentally connect that your open stop light circuit also opens up the immobilizer circuit. This should not happen of course. If it were my truck, I would go back to Nissan to get an explanation.

 

Well it was the battery. It wasnt a bad cell, it just died. And they didnt seem all that suprised. So heres a warning for everyone, expect your battery to die within 3 years. And the fact that they replace them with an Interstate Battery with a 7 year warranty, Im guessing that means they acknowledge the OEM ones are ****.

And they would not cover it 100% in a bumper to bumber warranty. I had to pay 75% of the battery since its almost 3 years old. Nissan covered the labor (big whoop). I raised total hell over this and even went to Nissan. They are going to put in a request to reimburse me and I will know something by end of day today, but im sure it wont happen. Plus the dealer got ill with me and flat told me that if I had been one of his customers and bought the truck from him, then he would have covered the cost. I thought that was quite sorry and told Nissan about it. I live in AL and bought the truck in NC, I sure couldnt take it back to the dealer I bought it from. So he said my cost was $75 if I wanted to drive it, otherwise it would sit on the lot until he got some money. So I had to pay it. Ticks me off because other places our batteries are $68......so I didnt pay no 75%. I know they can make the prices look however they want and he actually made me buy the whole battery. But thats ok, Nissan will know about that too. But im sure they dont care.

Anyways, I got my truck back atleast and it wasnt major.

 

Well it was the battery. It wasnt a bad cell, it just died. And they didnt seem all that suprised. So heres a warning for everyone, expect your battery to die within 3 years. And the fact that they replace them with an Interstate Battery with a 7 year warranty, Im guessing that means they acknowledge the OEM ones are ****.

And they would not cover it 100% in a bumper to bumber warranty.

I'm glad that the story has a happy ending. The odd part is that despite the dead battery, you were not able to jump start the truck. It must have been an internal short.

Your experience at the stealership is not uncommon. Autozone or any auto parts store can solve your battery problem at lower cost. You need the stealership to be there to fix the ECU, or similar complex components.

 

Well When My Battery Took A Giant Dook On Me I Had Right At 30,000 And I Paid 75% As Well. But When Mine Dooked Out On Me I Had The Clickity- Clickity-click Noise And The Needles On The Gauges Would Flutter For 5-10 Seconds.

Nissan Covers The Battery Fully Under 18 Months Too. After That It Starts Its Pro-rate.

When Ya'll Replace Your Battery, Replace The + Terminal As Well And Have Them Apply The Protective Rings And Post Spray Too. The + Terminals Are Pron For Corrosion. The Terminal Is $7-8 And The Protective Rings/spray Should Be Covered By The Shop.

Im Gonna Go Ask The Master Tech About This. News To Me.

 

Im Not Promoting Buying Your Battery At The "stealership" By Any Means When I Say This But, Ive Sold Parts Or Spun Wrenches For 17 Yrs And Walmart/autozone Batteries Have Been A Major Pain In The Arse. (along With Factory Batteries). Whatever Its Worth, Not Tring To Start A Debate. Interstate And Delco Batteries Have Been By Far The Better Over All It Seems.

 

I agree. Walmart and Autozone batteries can have a short life. I always thought that Sears Die-Hard was a good brand. But it let me down.

The philosophy that I have now is: forget the 5 years or 7 years warranty on the label. If it goes bad, get a new battery. Don't spend the time to try to get a few bucks for the old battery. Am I being abused? Yeah, but $50 bucks every 3-4 years is OK with me.

 

Your Right. The Prorate On 2 Years Usually Isnt $15-20 Anyway. Expecially After Buying A $100 Or Better Battery. Interstate Offers A Dependable Group 24 For A Reasonable Rate. I Had Their Optima In My Tahoe For 8 Years. But Saw So Many Crash When I Was A Mecanic For Correct Craft (ski Nautique). Id Just Go For Their Standard Battery.

 

I'm buying myself a Diehard Platinum for Christmas. I have a Diehard Gold in my maxima and it's been good for the past 4 plus years. I usually replace my stock battery within 2-3 years anyway. They seem pretty cheesy to me.

 

I would have never took it to the dealer if I knew for sure it was the battery. Besides I was under the impression that a bumper to bumper warranty meant they fixed anything that went wrong with the vehicle for 3/36,000. Ah well.

I missed Nissan's call today and they didnt say on my voice mail whether or not they will reimburse, so gotta wait til call tomorrow.

CT_Nismo.....why would you not get some % off the new battery if the one under warranty goes bad? Dont they give it to you right off the top at the register when you purchase?

 

that realy sux only problem i had was my dealer ordered the worng part like 3 times and it took me like 1 month to get a new seal for my transfer case. but they have covered every warrenty issue iv'e had no questions asked even when i left the window open and it rained and my window switch stop working

well when i worked at A-1 Autocare(small shop), we kept up all our ac delco warranties as long as it was purchased from us and installed by us(highly recommend ac delco for warranties)

and my mom's pathfinders battery goes out like every 2 years i swear doesn't matter what kind i get... but the kind people at schucks all know me by name and they accept replacements no questions asked

 

My friends brand new pathfinder had its battery die after 4 months