I bought a 2003 Touring about 2 weeks ago. Battery was tested bad so I replaced it with a brand new battery Sunday before last. Went out of town on Thursday and came back on Sunday morning and the battery was at ZERO volts. Completely unsalvageable according to Auto Zone who gave me another new battery under warranty. I'm trying to figure out what could have completely drained the battery in the span of 7 days. I'm almost certain I did not leave any lights on and I don't have any aftermarket radio equipment except a pioneer replacement head unit plugged into the factory harness and a backup camera.

I did notice after the radio was installed (which was the day before I left) that after I shut the engine off, I hear a clicking noise that almost sounds like a relay about every 5 seconds. I didn't notice this before the radio install, but to be honest, I may not have been paying as much attention. The easy bet is that something went wrong with the radio install, but before I go back to the installer, I wanted to get some feedback.

What could that clicking noise be? Is there an easy way to test if it is the radio/camera causing the drain? Could it just be bad luck that I replaced the original bad battery (came with the car) with another bad battery from Auto Zone? Just looking for some help. Thank you everybody.

 

Sounds like some type of parasitic drain assuming you didn't just have some bad luck and get a dud battery.

As for the "clicking noise," can you tell where the sound comes from?

 

Could pull the radio fuse and see if that clicking noise goes away... You could also disconnect the battery if the car is going to sit for more than a week...

Its highly unlikely that the new battery would all of a sudden drain completely dead after sitting in a shelf fine for 6 months before you got it... It's more likely your new head unit is defective.

If the sounds coming from the hu chances are even better.

 

If you had the factory bose and your still using the stock speakers and amp chances are even better that your head unit is the problem.

O yeah and welcome to the forum

 

Out of curiosity, exactly what battery did you purchase? Only reason I ask is because I work in the lab that makes most of the batteries sold to Autozone. We do a lot of checks before batteries are sold and it is extremely unlikely (not impossible however) that a dud battery is sold.

If its the battery at fault here, then it must have been mishandled/damaged somewhere along the shipping process. So feel free to glance at the battery and see if you see any external damage on the battery case.

 

You work at east Penn craig? Learn something new everyday... It's the car, something drained that bad boy.

 

This is my thought as well. Especially with the sounds that OP explained in the original post.

And currently interning there. Almost have my Bachelors degree in Chemistry and started interning in the Automotive Battery Test Lab at East Penn as of last December. Taking this semester off but going back in after this semester is over.

 

Thank you all for the replies. The battery was replaced with a Duralast Gold both times. I tried pulling the fuses in the box that sits just in front of the battery one by one and the relay clicking noise was still present each time, including when I pulled the radio fuse. I took the car back to the radio installer and he checked for a battery drain and could not find one. I'm running out of ideas on what the clicking noise is and why the battery was murdered so completely over the course of 7 days. The clicking noise is coming from the dash somewhere. It sounds higher than the radio, but who knows. I also noticed the dome light dims just a little each time the click occurs.

I do still have the Bose amp and stock speakers as dboyzalter mentioned, but I don't understand what relation that might have to my problem.

 

On the drivers side kick panel their are a bunch of fuses, I would try pulling the radio fuse from their and see if the clicking goes away.

If its coming from the dash than I would guess the head unit is unhappy, if the fuse doesn't make yhe clicking go away I would try unplugging the harness for the head unit...

If you have factory navigation that could also be the problem.

 

I pulled the fuses in the kick panel and the clicking never went away. So I just pulled the new radio out and unplugged it. The clicking did not go away. So I looked up how to test for parasitic draw and started testing all of the fuses again. Sure enough, I have a 6 amp draw on the battery with everything off. The weird part is that the draw is not constant. Like clockwork, the draw would start every 18 seconds or so and last for 11 seconds. Over and over again. I started pulling fuses to see what was causing it. It was the huge fuse block? in the picture below. I didn't pull it during my earlier testing because I could not get a good grip on it to pull it out. After I got it out, the 6 amp draw went down to almost zero AND the clicking inside the dash went away.

Now the question is what is the root cause of the parasitic draw and clicking. I see the BCM, radiator fan and folding roof all run through this fuse block. Any ideas on what my next step should be?

 

Clicking sound that stops when you take out the BCM fuse? That is the little white box that sits behind your switches under your deck. I question if the switch for your rear defrost got damaged ever so slightly causing just enough contact for current to build up, discharge across the switch contacts, then back to the build up cycle.

Visualize the water bucket that fills and fills and fills, then dumps, and repeat.

Sounds crazy but stranger things have happened, that box powers those switches, and the rear defrogger makes a clicking sound when it is pushed.

I would start with taking measurements across the wires that go into that switch. Good luck!

 

Damn that was a heck of a first post...

You could unplug the ribbon wire that controls the hvac system and see if that makes the clicking go away... It's very possible that the installer wasnt gentle when he was handling that ribbon.

It's not always easy getting these damn nissan plugs off.

 

Lol, I was going to say the same thing. Thanks for the tips guys. At least I am narrowing down the issue. I will try your suggestions and report back.

 

I wanted to reply again to confirm that I need to be looking at the white box that sits behind the HVAC switches in the center console. I only ask because Master Google is telling me the BCM is a box that sits next to the fuse panel in the driver side footwell. I'm a little confused now on where I need to go next.

 

Sorry, Master Google scores again. That white box is the unified meter A/C Amp. BCM IS located under the fuse block by your foot.

I was told one day after I had started my car with that ribbon cable unhooked and set off my check engine light that was the BCM.

Anyway, an inspection of the ribbon cable would not be unreasonable as they are very easy to damage and as I learned, it has more impact than being able to turn on the A/C.

Right under the gauges on the center console up top is the fuel door relay. I dont know if that is controlled by the BCM or not. If it is, that would certainly make a clicking noise and could be shorted inside as I described with the defrost switch. With the exception that it would most likely be caused by insulating varnish coming off the coil on the inside.

 

 

I hope that picture helps map out the mysteries under the dash.

 

On and off clicking is a bad relay without a doubt. At least in my past experience and actually had this issue last night. Luckily I overnighted a relay. Its one of those weird small ones that's "Osrom" is the relay name. The relay was trashed that I can touch it and it clicks like 5 times off and on. I thought this was the root of my TB code p1121 was it wasn't. Check the relays at the IPDM. Get someone to turn the key on and off and listen. See if you can hear it. Usually if its clicking a lot or bad you can get it to click just by touching the bad relay.

 

I have the dash completely torn apart from driver side to passenger side and I can not find this relay. I have the center dash pulled out, including the gauges and I can not see this relay. Can anybody point me to a more precise location for this relay?



The clicking I hear is coming from inside the vehicle. If the bad relay is in the IPDM, would I be able to hear it in the car?

 

Status Update: I have completely ripped the interior out of my car almost all the way down to a bare dashboard.





Clicking still present?....Check
6 amp battery draw still present?....Check


Remove the driver seat so I can get better access to the underside of the remaining dash.

Clicking present?.....Nope!
6 amp battery draw present?.....Nope!

Hurray, somehow I discovered the driver seat was the cause of my problems after spending hours pulling the dash apart.

Reinstall driver seat to confirm the problem.

Clicking returns?.....Nope!
6 amp battery draw returns?.....Nope!

FML!!

What should I do? Put everything back together? Give it a few hours to see if the problems come back?

Side note: Can I try and start the car with the passenger airbag pulled out? Will it start?