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Mechanic Question


Chester

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Went on vacation over the Xmas/New Year period. Left the family van in airport parking. Left my Garmin plugged in. Battery dead when i went to start it 10 days later.

Got a boost from the airport maintenance vehicle. Battery boost pack. Cranked first attempt. 

But....... now my centre console doesnt work. No radio, no display, no backup camera. And even though the heat/ac controls said they were working, family complained nothing blowing out of the vents.

2011 Nissan Quest SL.

Thoughts?

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I'm not a Nissan guy. So my advice is two fold:

1. Seek advice from someone who knows your car. Either online forum or the dealership. Dealership? Just talking to the service manager can go a long way for free. That said, odds aren't you're not the first guy who's had this happen.

2. I mostly work on my Jeeps, but modern vehicle systems are pretty similar.

Have your battery checked. When you run a regular battery down to zero, they may not work the same after. I really think this is your issue. Your battery is damaged. Yeah it powers up so it can run, but it's messing up your car.

Modern cars have a brain that powers everything. Jeeps have what's called a canbus system. They, like all computers, can get a bit sketchy when things aren't right.

If anything, disconnect your battery for a few minutes and let the car computer fully reset. If you have another battery, try it now. The computers have memory, so faults can stay in the system even when you turn off your car. Like radio stations programmed into the radio. Hard reboot.

If the reboot, and the battery aren't helping, you can have the computer re-flashed at the dealership. Again, talk before you buy. Tell them exactly what happened, what you've done and see what they suggest. I assume, if you're at this point, that they would reflash the computer. Not only does it flush out any faults in the system, but car companies contentiously update the software for older cars, so you may get an updated system with the flash.

Honestly, drive it to auto zone or advance auto, have them remove the battery and test it. All this is free. You'll both test the battery and give the car a hard reboot at the same time. But before you go into these stores, shop now for a new battery so you know what battery is a good deal. I've used the $50 wal-mart batteries without issue too. But the Auto Zone and Advance ones are better and offer decent warranties (why they cost more than other batteries - free removal and install is part of the price).

Hope that helps.

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  • 7 months later...

Changing front rotors yesterday and snapped a caliper mounting bolt 😡.

Break is flush with bracket.. both ends.. anybody have exp drilling out bolts? Any tips thx ... don't really want to buy a new caliper and the car  i drive that are at the junkyards are robbed of anything meaningful 

Had a torque wrench on the bolt and was waiting for the click... it clicked and snapped at the same freakin time 🤬 

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I did that a few years back on my old Jeep, but it broke off in the knuckle before I even got the caliper on. I tried removing the bolt with a screw extractor, but it didn't work. I ended up drilling it out, but that messed up the threads. To get the knuckle re tapped cost more than getting another one from the wrecker. 

Broken bolts suck. Heat the area first if you can then try an extraction bit. Beyond that I'd just get a new caliper.

Good luck, and go easy on those mounting bolts! Some cars require basically hand tight lol

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4 hours ago, Scythe said:

Changing front rotors yesterday and snapped a caliper mounting bolt 😡.

Break is flush with bracket.. both ends.. anybody have exp drilling out bolts? Any tips thx ... don't really want to buy a new caliper and the car  i drive that are at the junkyards are robbed of anything meaningful 

Had a torque wrench on the bolt and was waiting for the click... it clicked and snapped at the same freakin time 🤬 

I'd also recommend Blaster penetrating oil. I used it in conjunction with a blowtorch getting rusty bolts out of starters and alternators in a past job. Careful with the flames though 😣

Also, tap the area around the bolt with a hammer, that can sometimes get things moving (just don't use too much force).

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Thanks for the tips guys... I'm happy to report i got it out! I'm lucky that the caliper bolt hole is an open hole. You can see the bolt from both sides of the caliper. I first drilled from the top but tried from the bottom and that's when it backed right out. Saved some money and didn't need to get into bleeding the line. 

Took 4 shops to finally find the bolts. Guess i could've gone to home depot but don't know if the grade of bolts they sell are good for autos. 

I didn't use the torque wrench putting them back in just got them good n tight. 

20190819_154637.jpg

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Don't know if you would have found them at Home Depot: seems to me a lot of auto bolts (especially Japanese) are a non-standard thread - most probably so they can keep a monopoly on them as well. Auto part shops are usually a pretty good source...

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  • 1 month later...

Haven't been here in a while. Glad you got that bolt out.

Don't laugh, but I've bought that bolt at the dealership. They stock all those specific bolts. Yeah, it's like $5 for a bolt - but it fits, it's the same one, and it will last longer as the replacement generic bolts tend to be a lesser grade finish than the OEM ones (rust fast = seize in place). Plus, saves the effort of looking.

I live in NJ. I use anti-seize for everything. Can't say enough good things about the stick version of it.

41fe46m7LgL.jpg

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