What did you do to your rig today?

[Jayman]

Hooked up the charger this morning, as the battery is dead. Hasn't moved in a few weeks, so the flashing security light apparently drained the battery.

[Snafu]

DOH!

[Miner]

V70 did the same thing. Interesting thing about Volvo, if the battery dies the car goes into a deadlock mode. Even the door key, which normally works and works again now, will not work. So what do you do to gain access to a car, that's built like a tank, when neither the remote or the door key will unlock the car? Step one is to charge the battery, which is under the floor in the back of the locked car. So if you can't access the battery the next best thing is the positive cable connection on the starter. The starter that is under the 900lb hood that has two latches and one safety hasp, the latches are released from inside the locked car. If you manage to remove the grill you can access the the safety hasp, which does you absolutely no good with both latches engaged and they're impossible to access. Now your forced to jack up the car and locate the starter from below, no big deal, remove the front nose shield and the belly pan and you can see...nothing...oh wait from just the right spot you can see the positive cable connection on the starter. But unless your Mr Fantastic you can't touch it. Bring in the extra long handled needle nose pliers, and viola. Moments later the doors open with the remote.



Anyone want to guess what I did last night.

Hooked up the charger this morning, as the battery is dead. Hasn't moved in a few weeks, so the flashing security light apparently drained the battery.

Boosted your Maxima last night too, open door, pop hood, refill oil again, boost and go. Nissan's are boring that way.

[Snafu]

Oh, oh, oh! My guess is that you put a stick of dynamite in the tailpipe of the volvo

[Miner]

Oh, oh, oh! My guess is that you put a stick of dynamite in the tailpipe of the volvo

I'll admit I got a little frustrated, but I refused to damage the car in any way.

I like the charging from the starter cable trick, definitely something to remember as cars are becoming more dependent on electronics for functions as simple as door locks.

[Snafu]

Dang! I was sure I had the right answer

Electronics are nice but you think they would put in some fail-safes if they are so sensitive. Geesh, most electronics have a small battery built in to compensate for power loss (ex. battery removal) and surge protection is not new tech.

[Jayman]

Hooked up the charger this morning, as the battery is dead. Hasn't moved in a few weeks, so the flashing security light apparently drained the battery.

Boosted your Maxima last night too, open door, pop hood, refill oil again, boost and go. Nissan's are boring that way.

Yeah, as you may have seen on FB last night, I went for an ill-advised trip to the gas station with the Xterra. The tank was nearing empty, and I wanted to have a full tank.

That's when I discovered that the original Nissan Alternator, that is 14 years old and has 250k hard punishing kilometers on it, finally bit the dust.

After charging the truck all day, I decided to give it a shot and start it up. She started up just fine, ran great, so my next thought was I should go for a spin, get things up to operating temps as it had been a while since I’d driven it.

So off we went. James was goofing around inside the truck, so when I got in, he became my co-pilot. Backing down the driveway, all is good. Brakes are a little soft, but still working good. Power steering pump is near dead, so was difficult to steer, but aside from that, she was running fine.

As I was exiting my street, I had a fleeting thought about having to turn the truck off at the gas station to fill it up, and the battery potentially not having enough juice to start the truck again. So, I turned around, parked in the driveway again and turned off the truck. She fired right back up so I thought I was good to go, and off we went, again.

The trip to the gas station is about 3-4km, give or take. Made it there fine, but I noticed that the battery light came on just as I was pulling into the station. Ruh roh…

Turn off the truck, fill the tank up, get back in and.... Nothing. No clicks, no turning the motor over at all, barely any lights etc. When I let off the starter, everything reset (CD changer goes into count the CDs mode). At that point I knew I was dead in the water.

Thankfully James was in the truck, and happen to say "We have jumper cables under the seat, right?" Why YES, YES WE DO! Grab my phone, call Jen to come give us a boost with the Jeep. 10 minutes later the X is running again, and we're on our way home. In hindsight, I perhaps should have left the jumper cables connected for a little longer then they were, but alas I did not.

I made it about halfway home before things started REALLY going south. Lights dimming, radio no longer works, engine WAY down on power etc. I managed to limp it home on battery power alone for the last 1.5 kms or so. If I touched the gas at all, the motor would just sputter. By the time I got it into the driveway, I had no lights, and the dash was lit up like a Christmas tree.

Sooo, the alternator will get replaced at some point in the next few weeks. Thankfully I have a spare one that I picked up from a wrecker. I just hope it works!

[Adam]

If you want a hand or someone to watch and drink beer, let me know!

Got a call that my truck is done at the body shop today. While I've enjoyed driving Xterra's Xterra, I will be glad to have my own vehicle back.

[Nd4SpdSe]

Finally got my winter tires installed. With all the crazy winter weather happing around around, north, east and west, I'm now ready for when it decides to hit

[kdj]

Hooked up the charger this morning, as the battery is dead. Hasn't moved in a few weeks, so the flashing security light apparently drained the battery.

I have the same problem'. I did pull the fuse for the radio and clock, can I just disconnect the anti-theft thing??? My old '98 Pathfinder

[Snafu]

The cold weather does not help either. Well it helps to drain the battery faster.

Tried starting the fronty and blew the starter or solenoid the battery was weak when I was starting it. The week before it was fine. The only difference was the cold snap (a new battery too)

[Scotto]

Driving to Toronto yesterday the Y pipe on the exhaust sheered off from the main. I mean ripped off. For a minute or so I thought the transmission had gone kaput. The noise and vibration were incredible. Happened as we exited the 427 onto Gardiner. There's nowhere to pull off there.

Got to our Xmas dinner (my family's) and got home under a lot of noise.

Should of taken a pic of it before I welded it up this morning, but the pipes had completely ripped apart. Rather impressive.


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[Jayman]

Hooked up the charger this morning, as the battery is dead. Hasn't moved in a few weeks, so the flashing security light apparently drained the battery.

I have the same problem'. I did pull the fuse for the radio and clock, can I just disconnect the anti-theft thing??? My old '98 Pathfinder

I think there may be a master fuse that you can pull, but the alternative would be to simply pull the battery and keep it inside.

I actually have a solar panel that I have plans to hook up to the battery to trickle charge it while it's sitting.

Just to find the time to actually do it...

[Yorkdiver]

Just installed a Nisstec Ultimate Lift last week. Put on new 285 Duratracs tonight.


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[Snafu]

Were those LT285/75/16?

[Yorkdiver]

Yup.


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[the x kid]

Just installed a Nisstec Ultimate Lift last week. Put on new 285 Duratracs tonight.


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Where is the pic's? Grrr

[Yorkdiver]

Waiting to park next to a stock x first.


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[Bow_Tied]

Cleaned the crap out my skids this weekend. Might see better fuel economy now


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[the x kid]

A little late,but passed the e test.