Thread: Battery dies after 3 days of sitting, need help

Do you have a VE in your car? My car started doing this after my VE swap and I noticed about 3 other people from searching on the old forum had this same problem. It wasn't my MSD box because I unhooked it and let the car sit and it done the same thing. Like you I have a new battery, alternator, and starter. This is so annoying.

@MR-4Door-SR20DET holy shit man you're alive!!! long time!
I was reading through your A/C thread yesterday. Might pick your brain later

nope its all stock, i did notice something though, maybe your car is doing this also, i parked one day late at night and just sat in it, car off key out nothing on, and i could hear a ticking like a clock coming from the ECU, so i think this may be my issue, i have another ecu im gonna throw in, see if the ticking goes away, and if it does, im gonna let the car sit for about a week or two.

my buddy has a B13 4 door, with a VE swap and his battery doesnt die, but he had the exact same ECU, engine, and harness in an NX and it would die after about a week, so i dont know what that is about. have you checked your system for a draw?

I read about this before, something about a diode iirc... let me see if I can find that obscure bit of info.

http://imhdd.ms11.net/nissan/alterntr.html

may help?

interesting, i may have to see if this light is coming on with the key on engine off. i do have a spare alternator I can swap out also

checking into that link that was posted and found that the light comes on when KOEO and turns off when KOER, so i dont know if that is the case, but i have heard of alternators shorting out internally and pulling a draw, but dont know why I wouldnt see it with a DVOM or fuse buddy that im using. I have a couple friends that have ECU's and have yet to borrow one, but ill be getting one swapped out this weekend, I had one, but it was bad and wouldnt start the car

I had the exact same issue in my 92 SE-R, except it was the opposite. When driving at night with the lowbeams on, occasionally the headlights would just randomly shut off. It really really freaked me out the first time it happened because I didn't know it was the stalk switch, thought the car was losing electric power and actually cancelled my trip that day. So just about everytime I'd drive at night the lights would randomly shut off without warning, without touching the stalk, but only on low-beams. I decided it had to be the switch, so I got another headlight/turnsignal stalk at a pull it yard from a Sentra and no more random headlights shutting off. It was so downright dangerous and scary that until I got the new switch I avoided driving at night and if I had to I kept my hand on the stalk to put the high beams on in case the lows went off.

Another trick is to remove the negative terminal from the battery and put a standard test light from the ground cable to the post, the light will get brighter with more load. With the incandescent bulb it will show even the smallest of currents, this will allow you to test objects to see if they light gets dimmer when they are disconnected.

well for some time the fuse on the stereo has been blown, and while i was replacing that i was in the area of the ECU and could hear the ECU ticking, so i unplugged the ECU relay and the ticking stopped, and when i plugged the ECU relay back in but didnt turn on the key the ticking was still not there, but came back after the key was cycled. so im now heavily leaning towards the ECU or Relay, swapping the ECU tomorrow and if I can still hear the noise and if i can will swap the relay if i can find one

When you said you unplugged an ECU relay, are you referring to the greenish one? Kind of hanging there off the ECU?

If you disconnect that, the motor will not start or will stall when it runs out of fuel in the lines because the fuel pump will be off. However, you can open the fuel pump relay in the engine bay and bridge a wire from the #4 pin to the positive battery terminal and the fuel pump will prime even with the keys completely out of the ignition, and with the key the car will start up normally and drive normally. However, when you shut the motor off and remove the key, the fuel pump will continue to prime and will not stop.

My point here is that it sounds like you have some sort of wiring or relay problem where something is remaining on that normally only functions when you turn the key to the accessories setting. Something that would draw just enough power out to kill a brand new battery in about 3 days or less. A fuel pump priming non-stop would kill a brand new battery in about 3 days or less. So when you said you heard the "ticking" sound from the ECU but it stopped when you removed the relay it made me think of it. Although now that I think of it, if your fuel pump primed for 3 days straight it could/should burn out, but on the other hand, if the battery is dead, it can't prime at all. Now I just confused myself.