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Possible grounding issue

6K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  sailracer_98 
#1 ·
Hi, I have a 2015 Pathfinder and it seems to have a possible grounding issue. Symptoms are you are driving and suddenly it will no longer accelerate or move. Put it in neutral and you can rev the motor. Turn the car off and it won't start again. Turn the hazards on with the headlight on and it will flash the head lights. Dash will even flash with hazards. Seems to be back-feeding a ground somewhere.

Things i tried were cleaning up the battery ground. Running a booster cable from the battery to a point on the engine.

If you boost the car it will fire back up and you can drive away with no problems until the next time.

Any idea's would be appreciated.
 
#3 ·
I'd poke around in what ever box contains the relays for the headlamps and marker lights to look for green crusty corrosion. You might have to get a look under the box. Only other thing I can think of is rub-throughs on wire looms, etc.

That's a weird one.

Any aftermarket electronics cobbled in anywhere? That's usually a bad sign too.
 
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#5 ·
A quick check you can do is check voltage across the battery terminals with a volt meter and the engine idling. You should see ~14VDC this way. Any less indicates a bad battery or charging system issue.
 
#6 ·
Look around the engine compartment for grounding points, i.e. several wires attached to a bolt or screw, then take it apart using a wire brush and contact cleaner to make the connections nice and shiny and reassemble. I solved many problems with this approach.
 
#7 ·
Something like this would likely have codes stored somewhere. If you turn on some loads, like headlights, interior lights, and crank the engine, a bad battery would dim the lights a lot. It does sound like a bad ground, but there are a lot of locations for them.

Be careful looking for 14v on the battery while running. A lot of newer vehicles run the alternator as little as possible for efficiency. I've seen some, running, dip into the high 11v range, and that's totally normal.

There are a few bulletins out there on ground cleaning, and they say not to scuff painted surfaces, since you are now introducing raw metal to the ground point, and rust. The right bolts are designed to cut into the metal under that paint.
 
#8 ·
Mine is doing the same thing it’s a 2015 Nissan pathfinder sv 80k miles on it and changer the alternator and still doing same thing. Nissan can’t find the problem and we are several grand into this problem and still haven’t found the issue. We’ve bought a brand new battery and alternator and the battery is still not getting the right amount of voltage from the alternator. I’ve read up that there is faulty wiring and this year model car I’ve talked with Nissan they will not do nothing I paid cash money 18 grand for this car And only was able to drive it for two years and now it’s pretty much part. I can’t sell it because nobody wants to buy a car that doesn’t work and it’s not fixable. I really wish Nissan would do something about this.
 
#9 ·
See my previous post from 12/21 ... my older Pathy [2002] cleared a lot of problems with cleaning a grounding point near the front top of the engine.. find one [or more] use contact cleaner and a small wire brush then put it back together. If it runs better coat the fitting with dielectric grease to prevent future corrosion.
 
#10 ·
My 2017 is doing the same thing, Can be driving and all of sudden stops moving and all electronic go crazy, wont start etc. Let sit and boom works fine until it wants to do it again, No warnings, no lights... just BOOM, Push on the gas and nothing and then the car freaks out. I am filing lemon law with CarMax
 
#11 ·
I had sort of similar electrical problem with my previous car. It had a ground wire connecting the engine block to the chassis (since the rubber mounts don't allow for an electrical return path). That wire got corroded and frayed. It still made contact and small currents could pass through it, so everything seemed good if you were testing continuity with a multi-meter, but starting currents for the engine had too much voltage drop car wouldn't start. Replacing that frayed connection solved the problem.
 
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