Bad Ground?

[1viadrft]

Hey FellaZ...

Not sure WTF is going on with my Zed. Still having alarm problems and now I'm stalling. Alarm is on the fritz and beeps all crazy for no apparent reason after I arm it. My BATTERY light went on this morning and she hesitated starting but ran fine afterward (low power... sputtering... wanted to shut off... but ran fine afterward!). I can start her right up sometimes and then shut her off a few minutes later and try to start her up again... then... I HAVE NO POWER WHATSOEVER... it's like my battery is unplugged.... lights will not turn on, engine won't crank-over, SECURITY light stops blinking (that is always on BTW)... ABSOLUTELY NO POWER! I try arming and disarming my alarm when this happens and all I get is a weird BUZZZZZZZZZ from the dash (???). It seems if I open the door and try to start her up it works (???). I had the idiots at AUTOZONE check my battery again and it's fine... could they be wrong? Also a blank amber 'check' light comes on the left of the dash opposite of the CHECK lights to the right. What is that? Could there be a bad grounding? Something else? What????? Sometimes when I'm at idle it wants to stall also (ala: need a new ALT.... but I just replaced it about six months ago). I have no radio in the car... no other power draining electronics (aside from my BLITZ POWER METER). I know it has to be something electronic. Please help! I hate driving my Z without knowing if she is gonna leave me stranded! I'm driving her now and she is running fine... but this happens almost daily now!

[k3smostwanted]

i dont know what to tell you man. that blank amber light across from the check engine light is your transmission light. could mean anything from a bad signal or whatever. i dont know if it is a bad ground but i just replaced my terminal hooks and the wire of the ground that leads to that little hook on the back of the engine bay wall and my car ran a lot smoother and it idled smoother. it could be a short draining your battery causing stress on your alt.

[freakonaleash1187]

if something isn't grounded, invest into this http://www.performancenissanparts.co...5285300a1a76e7 i would get one but need money for other stuff, i have heard so many good things about grounding kits.

[1viadrft]

Shit... I'm PISSSSSSED!

Yuh... I have been eyeing the HKS grounding kit....

[longlivetheZ]

Check the connections to your battery terminals.

I was driving down the road one night in Florida and my (other) 300 just died. Completely. No lights...no NOTHING...I was like...whaaaaaaaaat the fuck? All it was was the battery cable came loose from the terminal. Try that.

[1viadrft]

I checked it already... but I guess I should double check everything by now...

[longlivetheZ]

It's worth a try...just to make sure, if nothing else. It would suck ass if you went through all kinds of trouble trying to find a problem and it turned out to be that the whole time...all you had to do the whole time was tighten a nut...

[Broke_as_****]

Fortunately with electrics its often something simple. For example, the running lights on my 240sx wouldn't come on, yet the brake lights and turn signals would work by themselves. Popped the fuse panel and pushed in the one that stuck out a little, Good to go.

[la300zxtt]

Could be the cables them selfs actually had much worse problems car would shut off under serious G's like on canyon runs. I replaced the whole negative and postive battery cable assembly as my cables were very correded and melted housing. Granted its about 156 in parts and a lot of laber because you have to unbolt half of the tranny I belive and it goes all the way down to the back bottom of the block.... But also do this take a curcit tester remove the negative battery cable and connect the circut test from the negative batter cable to the negative terminal the light should be off or very very dim. If it is not you know based on how bright the light gets you have a serious short.

[1viadrft]

Thanks for the tip... will do!

[1viadrft]

I spoke to someone who had the same problem as I... told me it was his battery. Even though the battery was checking OK it was bad. So I opted for a new battery... an OPTIMA battery! I bought myself a red-top and it has done wonders! My Z fires right up and no more dimming!!! YaY! Alarm is still retarded though... thinking of replacing!

[longlivetheZ]

I've heard so many killer things about Optima batteries...going to get a deep cycle yellow top when I get a system in my car.

[freakonaleash1187]

i would love to get an optima. but i don't have $150. glad to hear your car is fixed 1via.

[1viadrft]

Yeah... now I just gotta get tires....

[freakonaleash1187]

sounds like me. i was always getting other stuff for a little while when i really needed tires. i say get new tires as soon as you can, it makes a huge difference.