So my car didn't start this morning with the battery close to being totally drained, nothing works, not even the radio or the backlight of the guages and the only lights on the dash that turns on is the seatbelt, brake, airbag and battery light. There was a ticking sound whenever I try to lock the car which I traced and led me to the fuse box right behind the battery, it was soaking wet the ticking was coming from one of the relays. It has been raining really hard the past few days here in norcal but not sure how the water got there.

I took the fuse box apart and dried it with a hair dryer, PITA I tell you... all four layers were wet

I finally got all the pieces dried and assembled back in the car but now the car wont start at all even when jumped.. it cranks but just doesn't start. Everything else seemed to be back to normal.

I just wanted to share.. I'm so bummed out.. getting a new battery tomorrow..

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles, just can't imagine the rain being so hard or for a extended period of time to get in the fuse box under the hood. Guess if there was a warranty on your Z, no more when you dis-assemble electronic components kiss the warranty bye bye. Nice pics though

 

ouch, yeah were havin rain issues here in socal too.

 

my car is an 03 with 76K miles, so no warranty there... i do have extended warranty but only covers powertrain.

if the new battery doesn't do the trick I will take the fuse box apart again and make sure all connections are ok, this time i'll do a complete write up with more detailed pics. I'm afraid that something else went bad due to short circuit while it was wet.

btw.. do relays go bad?

 

quick question, how did you get your fuse box wet? I just don't want this happening to me.

 

the fuse box is located on the rear left of the battery if you're in front looking towards the inside of the car. you have to take out 3 plastic pieces to get to it (battery cover, plastic trim around the battery cover and the plastic trim below the widshield).

The fuse box is attached to the firewall with a plastic bracket, amazingly enough the drain holes on the plastic trim below the windshield is designed to pour water into the firewall right where the fuse box cover and the bracket meet. The cover for the fuse box is not water proof at all.

 

yes, relays do go bad. Had a bad relay in a Jeep Cherokee yesterday. kept telling me it was a bad key, bypassed the relay and it fired right up.

 

thanks.. i'll consider changing the relays before taking it to the shop..

 

most likely should have never taken it apart i took one of those apart on a 300zx and never got it working right just had to get another one best option was to just let it say out and air dry unpluged then just put all the plugs back in. GL

 

k guys, here's what got wet

#5 is the module (anybody know if this is the BCM? chassis control module?)
#6 is the front cover, slides up to opend and down to close
#7 is the back cover which is also the bracket that attaches to the firewall

does anybody have a diagram for the module?

 

the bcm and the chassis control module are the same the bcm= body control module.

 

so is it that? can't be the ECM right? since those are usually located somewhere inside the car.

also reading from ********* replacing either the ECM or BCM i will need the Nissan Consult in programming the two for them to communicate .. bummer this means i have to take my car to the shop either way..

 

FYI:

The BCM is located in the drivers side door. You have to remove the door panel to get to it.

 

huh? i've opened the door panel before, there was nothing there that resemble to a BCM

 

lots of bad info floating around here... the BCM is NOT in the drivers side door...its located in the drivers side kick panel. The best way to get access to it, is to remove the kick panel completely, and its mounted jsut below the fuse panel inside the car. I think there are 5 or 6 wire harnesses connected to it.

 

+1, it is NOT in the door

 

thanks!!

so do you know what module is on the attached picture?

my car is already at the shop, i'll be stopping by to throw suggestions on what to check in case they have a hard time figuring it out...

so first check fuel, spark and air with nissan consult
second is to check and reprogram the key if needed.
third.. scan for code although i dont have the CEL on.

let me know if you have other suggestions..


THANKS!

 

yes my car runs!!!

one relay didnt work... i forgot if it was the fuel pump or the fuel injector relay. i could have checked it out myself but i was soo lazy that i didnt, what can i say? taking the module out is PITA... could have saved me $150 in towing.

here's the bad part... nissan does not sell the relay itself but as a whole module (IPDM) for a whopping $500, so now i'm using my AC relay.. no AC FTL

 

That's too bad you have to use another relay....Can;t you get one online? I have a ? as well....What exactly is the IPDM?