I went to start my 2000 pathfinder one day and it was completely dead. I took it into the shop. The alternator was supposed to be faulty so it was replaced along with the battery. Now, I haven't used it for a day and the same thing is wrong. Dead battery. No lights were left on and it was supposedly working. Any hints as to what could be wrong? This is very frustrating since our only Nissan dealer is 3 hours away. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

It sounds to me like something is A: on all the time and is draining the battery, or B: you have a short somewhere. Have you recently installed or messed with anything electrical OR mechanical on your truck?

 

My thoughts exactly. I can not smell any burning wires. Nothing is out of the ordinary. I've even made sure all the lights are turned to the off position. There is two hypotheses that I have come up with; a) the rear wiper motor is rather slow and sticks to the middle sometimes when I use it. Maybe the motor has something to do with this since when you turn it off it has to run through its cycle before it turns off. If for some reason it can't, maybe it stays on? b) I have heard of starters have a short or grounding out. Maybe this is the case? However it doesn't drag, make noise or do abnormal things. It appears to work as good as new. The folks in the Nissan shop are buffaloed and so am I. I'm sure the problem can be found but it is going to take a 3 hour trip to the city + whatver time they need to figure it out. I welcome anyones thoughts and suggestions.

 

It is very possible that it is the rear wiper causing your electrical drain. I have had several in which this was the case. Unplug the rear wiper motor and let your vehicle sit overnight. To access the rear wiper motor remove the rear hatch trim.

I also have seen a door jam switch causing the problem. The rwitch is located on the body where the doord close. the rear is in the latch mechanism. What happens is when the door is closed the interior lights go off after a minute or ASAP. But after a change in temperature the switch becomes closed causing the lights to come inside the vehicle causing the drain. Check the rubber boots on the switches and shake each door to see if the lights would come. Keep the doors closed when doing this. Also check the doors for dropping.