I think I might have a drain in my system and I was wondering if it is to be expected with aftermarket EMS/parts or if there could be something else minor.

The car has been sitting lately, sometimes for 2 weeks straight. It died last time it sat for 2 weeks; I drove it for 10 minutes, parked it and didn't start for another 5 days and the battery was COMPLETELY dead. It charged up fine at a local shop and came back as a good battery. It recently sat for another 6 days and was slow to crank, but kicked over and started without TOO much issue. Is this normal with a wideband and UTEC hooked up? The only other gauge is the boost gauge, but i doubt that would have electric draw at all when dead.

I now disconnect the battery if it is going to sit, but should I really need to do that if it is only sitting 1-2 weeks? Could that throw off any UTEC calibrations or anything else tune/safety related? After I reconnected the battery, I drove a short distance (1 mile), kicked in the clutch to turn and the car died....I think it was trying to relearn the idle with the 600cc injectors and didn't learn quick enough. No idle problems after that, just that once instance.

I am going to put it on the starting-charging testor when the weather gets better, but the voltage looks fine on the gauge and I have no problems starting when the car was driven regularly (once every 3 days or so) in the summer. Maybe I just need to drive the car more

Suggestions? Thanks guys

 

Whats the temp out near you. Cold temps, drop cranking amps a lot.

Voltage isn't everything, the amperage means more when its cold out. (you measure amperage in-line which is harder to do)

Tom

 

New Jersey is cold now.....in the 30's.....He needs to get a battery sitter if he is going to leave it sitting for that long in the cold...unless he has a climate control garage.

 

I guess a Battery Tender wasn't on your Christmas List! Their inexpensive.

Check your electrical system with a voltage tester to determine if a electrical leak could be due to inadequate ground. A voltage test is inexpensive.

 

Thats what I was thinking. Some sort of battery tender/trickle charger.
Its amazing how fast batteries drain in the cold (even fresh batteries) that will test as good.

Average new battery only has between 500-600 cold cranking amps vs 850-1000 warm cranking amps.

Due to the placement of our batteries, may want to consider hardwiring the tender leads to the battery with the plug just tucked away in that area. Then all you need to do is plug the tender/charger into that connector and voila

I lucked out. My car sat for a month in temps as low as -5 (with -33 windchill...damn chicago), but dec 27th it was 56 out lol. Mine fired right up. Took it for a spin round the block few times, let it get all warmed up and happy. All tucked back in now.

Tom

 

Mine does the same thing. If I dont drive it for 1 week and dont leave it on a tender it requires a booster to start it, although the radio will retain memory. 10 days and its dead.

Even on an automatic tender it usually wont start on its own when I try the first time. I try usually 1X, it wont start then the tender kicks on and I can start it. Ive learned to live with it.

 

+1 - Have you replaced the radio? The newer radios drain much more power than older ones (it seems). My radio remembers its clock, presets and also keeps the satellite powered as well for presets. One week is the max between starts or I have to throw it on the tender. Its like a game - car, motorcycle and 4-wheeler all getting a turn on the tender for a few days at a time.

 

When you battery is dead for more then 24+hrs your ECU resets, but your Utec will not lose its map(s). You will have rough idles when you first start the car, the ECU will relearn/adjust after a few miles. A dead battery will not affect your tune. You might get SES light due to larger injectors and rich idle. Drive it for a little longer and the SES will go away by itself. I'm in the same situation your in with 440cc injectors and when i push the clutch in, my RPM drops to <100 and the car dies. This is probably because the ECU did not completely adjust for the larger injectors yet. Like the others have recommended, get a trickle charger/battery tender, make sure the fluids in the battery are at the "max" level. See you around Pway

 

Thanks guys. It looks like I don't have a problem then. I wasn't sure how the power source worked for my wideband and thought it might be a tiny drain from that.

To Toms point: yes it has been pretty damn cold. The garage ambient temp is maybe 10 degrees different that directly outside the garage, but that would only bump ambient up to like 35-maybe 40 degrees with cold air starting to rush into the garage.

2 more questions:
Will use of a jump pack hurt the UTEC?
Is there a better battery tender than others or do they all function the same?

 

The jump pack wont hurt anything......Yes...there are some cheap Battery tenders and some that are much better. Just get one that knows when the battery is full and stops charging...one that know how to just maintain a good charge.

 

You can also remove the fuse for your after market power amp for the radio and see if it still dies in 5-10 days. Most of the times the after market stereo is the culprit. Give it a shot it can't hurt.

 

if you have access to a multi-meter that reads amps do an ignition off draw test.

1. turn key to off.
2. with all doors closed remove neg battery cable.
3. hook up meter in line so one lead goes to battery terminal and one goes to battery cable.
4. watch amperage, when you connect the meter everything will wake up (radio, pcm, all other modules)
5. The amperage should drop off after a few minutes as modules start to go back to sleep.

I do not know what the ignition off draw is specifically on 350Z/Nissan product, but the dodge/chryslers i work on draw about .02-.04 amps. anything over .05 is probably excessive.

If the amperage stays the same and does not drop off, start to unplug electrical items one by one, watching the meter. I would start with most recent additions, EMS, after market radio, gauges, etc. Every time you open the door everything will wake up, so either close the latch with a small screw driver and hold the door switch closed or sit in the car with the meter on the windshield facing in. I had a truck the other day that had an after market alarm pulling 1.0 amp, it would kill the battery in about 3-4 days, quicker in the cold (40's and 50's hahahaha) we have been having lately.


you can also remove fuses and watch the meter instead of getting in car or working with door open. as each fuse is removed watch for the amperage to drop. each fuse will cause it to drop slightly, but the circuit with the draw will drop of big time. when you find that fuse start disconnecting electrical components on that circuit. this will be a lot easier if you have factory wiring diagrams......

hope this helps!!! maybe a nissan tech can give us a spec on ignition off draw.

good luck!

 

^^ +1000

Nice to see another electronics guy around here

PS I grew up in spring valley...in fact my G was driving around there until around april '06

 

I have the same problem after my UTEC install. The problem is that I know my battery won't hold a charge anymore and I don't know if this is due to the UTEC continuely draining it somehow or if the battery just lost it's charge due to the long storage period I had while building my supercharger. I am buying a new battery this winter so hopefully I can find out if something is odd or if it was just a worn out battery that coincided with my UTEC install.

 

What type of battery? Have you thought about upgrading?

 

ya i've chased the draining battery for a couple yrs now. No real parasitic draw as the MM reads in the normal range. So i just put it on the charger once a week and top it off for an hour or 2. On my 3rd battery now though

 

Popular battery tender

http://batterytender.com/product_inf...eb18bdb1346148

 

The radio is stock so that isn't the issue.

I still have the stock battery, it seems to do the job just fine and all the shops I took my battery to get it charged, each shop went out of their way to dismiss the Optima batteries. If I replace, it will be with a J.C.I. battery, they have a pretty solid reputation and good warranties.

 

Thanks for the heads up, looks good! I think I might snag one

 

I have an Optima redtop and it's battery life is gone now. Again, I don't know if it was from storage or from an electrical drain that did this to the battery. I put it on a square wave trickle regenerator for over a week and it still won't hold a charge.