QX56 died again. HELP!

[Kcrebel]

If you look closely the lights will start to dim a bit as the relay surges and sources power from the battery.
I don't know exactly what all that relay controls but I know it controls the entry lighting, the headlights, etc. At least the one that went bad on mine did. Both of them.
Hope you don't get to experience the windows rolling down. I was ready to haul ours in and trade it. Lol. Hard to believe a $50 plastic relay can create that much havoc.

 

[Dread_Parrot]

Batt

Yeah I agree with KCrebel. They didn't find the relay, because it may have been marginal when they tested it, and it worked. Now it sounds like it has failed.
How often do you start and drive your QX? Is it a daily driver?
I find that since mine is not driven everyday, it likes a trickle charger in the off days when not driven.
I hate that the dealer hasn't found the issue. that can be so annoying.
Let us know how what they say this time.
Hope they fix it this time
Parrott

 

[ellykay72]

I drive it everyday. Several times a day. Haul 4 children to and fro.

 

[4runner26]

Unfortunately, this has happened to us 4 times since we have owned ours. It happened 3 times under warranty and the dealership kept replacing the battery and said they couldn't figure out what the problem was. Then it happened out of warranty and guess what... they figured it out and tried to charge me $1,000 to fix it. I screamed like crazy and they finally agreed to fix it at their cost. I am not sure exactly what they did but I will look it up and get back to you.

C

Coachhomer what did the dealership find that solved the problem?

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[marctronixx]

they will not replace the BCM until every option is exhausted. there are several other options it could be (dash, HDD, TCM, Cam angle sensor, etc). Could also be the IPDM and /or the ECM!!

if you have a smartphone, get a obd cable that interfaces with your smartphone or a BT dongle, and grab one of the free (or paid) apps in the phones store and check the codes yourself.

 

[MikeAllard]

I read that you "hold the button" to be sure it is off.

I had an experience early in my QX-56 days where I held the button too long, cycling the ignition from "off" to "acc" without knowing it. Drained the battery in like 30 minutes each time.

It was a tough habit for me to break, because my wife's push start (on a Range Rover) required you to hold the button longer.

It's a long shot, but could you be holding the button too long to turn off the car? Sometimes? Maybe you have another vehicle or a previous one that required a longer button press that now could be causing an issue?

I only ask because it happened to me. Once I was aware, I started noticing when I pressed the button too long, and saw that the the "acc" came on a few times as I was leaving the car.

 

[ellykay72]

I actually started holding it down longer after someone on this forum suggested that that might be why it doesn't seem like it turns off fully sometimes.

What is acc? I haven't seen that come up.

 

[Gumbey]

ACC = Accessory

Also, I have had a conversation with the Dealer regarding my QX which, if sitting for a number of days will not start and needs a boost. They say the QX likes to be driven and they have been installing these trickle charges in all their QX's like crazy. I asked how much and they said $299 installed. I went to our local auto store and picked up a solar trickle charge for $20....haha

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[Dread_Parrot]

wow

The battery should stay charged since you drive it everyday ElKay. Make sure you point out the click,click from around the seat.

That is so wild Gumbey that they actually admitted they have been installing the cables for trickle chargers. Why don't they just figure out what is the drain on the battery?
Hey Gumbey, I had a solar charger for the QX like in 2012. One day I got in the QX to go somewhere, I forgot to disconnect it and I ran over it. Crushed the crap out of it,
Maybe we need to go to the dual battery setup. Might be able to find room, but the air cleaner box is so big. If it ever warms up again, I may look into that.
Have a good one
parrott

 

[Gumbey]

It's weird. At first I thought it might have been the aftermarket remote start installed on it, but alas the parts mgr admitted that there are issues with not just Infiniti but MB, BMW Audi etc. Anything with a lot of Tech inside he said.

I commented to him how a 70k + vehicle cannot be left unstarted for more than 4 days and he just laughed and said yeah. But remember this is Infiniti where they approved a upper replacement grille to take care of a front mounted cam issue....so yeah.

Also the solar charger I got sits on the dash and is relatively compact...

 

[roughyear]

I've had my QX sit for over a week without incident. I've heard that tick tick tick sound coming from under my seat and dashboard. This occurred when I accidentally sat in my car for over an hour listening to the darn radio and talking on the phone. I have my headlights set on Auto, which means the headlights were on while I was stationary thus the full drain on the battery. It was jumped on no problems, though it seems like it struggles with these super cold temps these last few days.

Have u looked to see that your headlights are set to Auto and they turn off after 30secs when u exit the QX?? Maybe u switched ur headlights to On and left them on which could have drained ur battery.

 

[Dread_Parrot]

ellykay

How is your QX, Ellykay? Did you get a new Battery ? Did they figure anything out ?
Hope all is OK
best regards
parrott

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[GRed]

Hey not if anyone has figure it out yet.. but my best guess its something to do with the stereo and out circuit board there are multiple postings on this in other forums.. other forums is Edmunds.com Infiniti G35 Electrical Issues...I have yet to be convinced its either the radio or that circuit bd(between the cd/radio

heres one from someone

Ok back on track...

I found this post on another forum that seemed interesting......

"I've just solved my 2003 G35 Bose Radio/battery drain problems. Replaced the radio with a Pioneer FH-P4200MP radio. Used a Metra Dash kit, Metra antenna adapter, and a Metra Amplifier wiring harness. The steering wheel controls were adapted with a PAC SWIX interface unit.
Took the installer about 3 hours to do the replacement and the sound system for the first time actually sounds like something one would expect from Bose. The Bose speakers with this set up are phenomenal.

The Bose Amp was left in circuit.

Here is what is happening. There is a signal from the factory radio that goes to the Bose amp that tells the amp to turn on, or turn off. This signal mechanism gets stuck in the On position. So your amp is constantly on , even if the radio is off!

If your Bose radio is still in the car, disconnecting the amp in your trunk will stop the battery drain, and keep the HVAC controls intact. The radio will still turn on, but no sound will be heard. All you have to do is locate the amp and remove the wiring plug.
Battery Problems:
The constant drain on the battery causes damage , and after a period of time, even if the amp is disconnected, the battery will not hold a charge. Battery replacement is the only solution.

Things got so bad for me that the low battery voltage caused my main computer to need reprogramming - at a cost of 180 dollars.

The radio, the install kit and the installation cost me about 700 dollars.Toss in the 180 dollars for the reprogramming and the cost of a couple of batteries and this whole mess cost me 1000 dollars.

BTW...the Bose radio in 2003 G35's comes from Clarion. "

So I went out and disconnected the amp in the trunk and did the amp drain test again. No luck, the draw problem was still occurring so in my case I assume the amp staying on is not the problem. Back to the circuit bd I guess. :7(

The plan is to pull the bd in the very near future and get it over to my pal who will run some diagnostics on it to see if we can pin point the issue. Stay tuned.

I took the radio assembly out last week.

I forgot to take the CD's out of the deck so took the unit back to the car and plugged the three connectors back into the back of the unit to see if I could get the CD's out.

... As soon as I inserted the last connector the radio/CD unit comes alive and out pops a CD????

There is no key in the ignition and the car is off! Interesting to say the least and the first clue to locating the bug.

As you know I could not figure out how to separate the top and bottom units which would allow access to the board in question.

I then handed the unit over to my pal would wanted to have a stab at it.

He called a couple days later. He figured out how to get at the board and was doing a full PD on the board. He discovered something interesting. He had me take some voltage measurements at the car here (he is in another city an hour away).

Well what do you know..... Looks like he may have found the bug, the cause of the parasite drain.

Will update again once we verify.

Just a quick update folks.

The bug appears to be a manufacturing error on the board. My pal made a change to the board. I got the unit back from my pal and installed it last week.

I did some amp checks and confirmed the battery drain problem is gone

The reading between the -post and ground was about .55 (with the battery drain issue), and is now sitting at .07 With the radio fuse out it was/is .05 so a huge improvement.

The only issue I have now is I have lost one feature. If the radio is on when I turn the car off, it is off when I turn the car back on. I then have to physically hit the radio on button to turn the radio back on. May be a memory support voltage or line issue.

Will do some further checks to see if this issue can be corrected. I may have put this bug on the vehicle when taking it apart and reassembling.

Will let you know what I find out. Need to wait for a warmer day as the car is outside and this is Canada...lol

 

[G-158864]

I had the same problem. They fixed it and I immeditely saw almost 1.5 v increase across the board. There is a module/part in the qx that modulates battery voltage for "efficiency" ....well its a pos. My dealer disabled it and I had no problems after at all and saw that increased the voltage afterwards to boot.