Nissan-Navara.net banner
21 - 40 of 40 Posts
That's exactly how a decent battery would affect a modern charger.
The charger would start giving a charge, then as the battery 'filled up' the charger would tail off the charge until it was only providing a trickle charge, that wouldn't show up on the gauge.
If the gauge showed a constant charge then the battery would never be fully charged and U/S, I can't comment on the batteries eye, except to say sometimes they are hard to see clearly.
Going back to the alternator it should not be giving you 15.6v, this will boil up and evaporate the electrolyte and knacker a battery in no time.
I still suggest the diode test.
 
15V or a tad more is not unusual these days if you are in very cold weather. The ECU controls the alternator's voltage based on temperature - it's kind of optimised. It should back off as the battery charges though.

15V would definitely be wrong if it were warm out.....
 
15V or a tad more is not unusual these days if you are in very cold weather. The ECU controls the alternator's voltage based on temperature - it's kind of optimised. It should back off as the battery charges though.

15V would definitely be wrong if it were warm out.....
Got to disagree, still only a 12v battery, the battery doesn't know it's cold?
 
OK, it's just an academic point and maybe not helping the OP problem, but battery charging can go above 15V when it's very cold, depending on the state of the battery. And don't forget that the current can likely be also controlled (it is on all smart chargers), and it's only the current that ultimately can overheat a battery no matter what the voltage is.

The ECU knows battery voltage, and it knows outside temp, oil temp and water temp. It knows how long it's been cold for. It knows when car was last started. So, it does know a lot about the battery and makes assumptions about how to adjust charging profile voltages to allow for temperature. Voltages for the profiles need to ideally vary with temp, i.e. they increase when it is cold.

Some smart chargers measure the actual battery temperature with a sensor and adjust profiles accordingly for faster (safe) charging - I don't think this happens on a Navara battery, even though it has a smart alternator, but I think it does charge according to set profiles - these smart alternators certainly organise a "non-max state of charge" to make use of regenerative braking, even on recent D40s. This may not apply to older vehicles of course.

In any case, it looks like something is draining the battery - might be diodes, but easy to check as you said....
 
OK, it's just an academic point and maybe not helping the OP problem, but battery charging can go above 15V when it's very cold, depending on the state of the battery. And don't forget that the current can likely be also controlled (it is on all smart chargers), and it's only the current that ultimately can overheat a battery no matter what the voltage is.

The ECU knows battery voltage, and it knows outside temp, oil temp and water temp. It knows how long it's been cold for. It knows when car was last started. So, it does know a lot about the battery and makes assumptions about how to adjust charging profile voltages to allow for temperature. Voltages for the profiles need to ideally vary with temp, i.e. they increase when it is cold.

Some smart chargers measure the actual battery temperature with a sensor and adjust profiles accordingly for faster (safe) charging - I don't think this happens on a Navara battery, even though it has a smart alternator, but I think it does charge according to set profiles - these smart alternators certainly organise a "non-max state of charge" to make use of regenerative braking, even on recent D40s. This may not apply to older vehicles of course.

In any case, it looks like something is draining the battery - might be diodes, but easy to check as you said....
Steve,
I can accept your technical knowledge on modern systems exceeds mine, I am old school and have completely lost interest in modern vehicles, that is why my cars' ages range from 52 to 15 years old, I have absolutely no plans to replace any, I can repair these!
The only car I have ever put into a commercial garage (independent not stealership) was a range Rover classic I bought with an air suspension system fault, I had repaired the fault when the previous owner called round to see 'how it was going' and opened the drivers door, this exhausted all the air, put the body onto the axles and locked the system, I never had the ÂŁ2,500 software to reset it so had to get it done, my fault I should have locked the doors, I did know this could happen but never expected a visitor.
Back to business, I know very little and have even less interest in the latest systems ECU controlled charging and Kryptonite/Ion or whatever they use now(?) batteries, hence I was directing my comments towards the OP's problem.
Again I don't know for sure if a 2011 2.5l D40 does have the type of smart alternator/ECU charging system you have described, I based my replies of the OP's description and my experiences of charging systems.
Conventional wisdom, decades of usage, continuous design and development has shown that the charging figures I have previously quoted are regarded as optimal for the health and long reliable life of a conventional 12v lead acid battery as fitted to the OP's truck, again it is also universally accepted (present company excepted) that charging voltages in excess of 15v are indicative of a defective system and do cause terminal damage to a standard lead/acid battery, especially when the battery in the OP's truck was apparently charged and fluctuating over a 1.1v range going up to 15.6v.
P.S.
At least we agree on the worth of Runway Enduro tyres!
 
Erratic electrical problems going from 'good' to 'bad' almost instantly in my experience point towards bad earths.
The current cold spell we are in could be causing excessive expansion and contraction of dirty/bad earthing points, also the salt that is about could be rapidly increasing any corrosion present at the earthing points pushing the contacts apart.
Bad earths are a common problem on Navaras, they cost nothing to check and clean up, trouble is there are so many of them!
I think it is worth quoting Chris' advice above.
It is not worthwhile checking things with multi meters until you are sure that battery connections and earths are ok.
 
Steve,
I can accept your technical knowledge etc
And I accept that your knowledge far exceeds mine on most things on this forum....

I had a tech-development-based job all my life, and I see how smart electronics became applied in many apparently unrelated fields, almost like magic, and it's all the same in the end.... But it is 40+ years since I stripped and rebuilt an engine, and maybe 20 years since I stopped doing easy things like changing brake pads - there was always something else I needed to be doing, so it ended up more sensible to pay someone else to fix my vehicles! So have a smile at my expense :)

I still do lots of tech stuff though, mostly computer or electronics based - not sure if I am retired or on a permanent busman's holiday....
.
 
check the age of the battery it will have a date stamped into it, if its over 4 years old I would look to change it but get the Diode pack tested as well by a decent Electrical test centre, good clue is if they can repair on site they know what they are doing generally, modern alternators do have a lot of smart tech built in to monitor things or at least ECUs do but the principle of how it actually charges is the same.

FWIW older batteries will get plates bending internally when they get past certain temps be it hot or cold they can touch and this will lose two cells instantly and you have 8v, I will stick my neck out and say goosed battery
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
Update:

Completed a 170 mile trip in Tuesday evening, arrived at 11pm and the nav has been sat since then until now -11am on thursday. Started first time! Wtf?! It's still only 4 degrees too!
 
Update:

Completed a 170 mile trip in Tuesday evening, arrived at 11pm and the nav has been sat since then until now -11am on thursday. Started first time! Wtf?! It's still only 4 degrees too!
I noted in another thread you had a starter issue and you changed it . We have had machines where the starter and solenoid have caused battery drain which is intermittent more often the solenoid .
 
Discussion starter · #31 ·
Weirday I haven't had this issue again (yet), I've tested the alternator diodes and everything is fine with that.

Im assuming these are likely to be seperate issues but I have since noticed that the drivers side door speaker has stopped working and the automatic up on the drivers side window has stopped working (normal up, normal down and automatic down still works)... is there a chance there's a short preventing these very specific item's working and battery drain?

THanks for all the help so far!
 
No.

Again, I have quoted Chris........


Erratic electrical problems going from 'good' to 'bad' almost instantly in my experience point towards bad earths.
The current cold spell we are in could be causing excessive expansion and contraction of dirty/bad earthing points, also the salt that is about could be rapidly increasing any corrosion present at the earthing points pushing the contacts apart.
Bad earths are a common problem on Navaras, they cost nothing to check and clean up, trouble is there are so many of them!
 
Discussion starter · #35 ·
Cheers buddy! That's the auto up sorted out again! - maybe the computer that remembers the auto window settings resets with a disconnected battery?

I did clean up and put a coat of copper grease on the battery terminals and the main earth point back to the engine block but with the 6 inch icicles on the underside if the nav, I have up trying to find any of the others lol!
 
Raise it all the way and keep it switched for 5 seconds. Now do the same closing.

It will now go fully up or down with one press.
bugger me it only went and worked 2 flipping years have been holding that button all the way up nice tip
It is in the handbook (I think). But being male, we don't read instruction manuals.
 
Discussion starter · #39 ·
Mine didn't come with a handbook :( I'll have to keep my eyes open for one along with the workshop manual - any pointers for where's good to download?

Back to my original problem, it seems to have just gone away, managed to start first time every morning even at -1°C most mornings. Didn't really do anything apart from clean a few contacts up but hopefully thats it and I won't be stranded again.

Thanks for all the help
 
Mine didn't come with a handbook :( I'll have to keep my eyes open for one along with the workshop manual - any pointers for where's good to download?

Back to my original problem, it seems to have just gone away, managed to start first time every morning even at -1°C most mornings. Didn't really do anything apart from clean a few contacts up but hopefully thats it and I won't be stranded again.

Thanks for all the help
I was reading your whole thread and it seems like I am reading my own problem. Something is draining voltage from the battery on my 2013 D40.

I am glad that you kind of sort it out.

Just in case you didn't find the handbook or workshop manuals, here is the link for the D40 ones: navlife.com.au/d40-series-service-manuals/
 
21 - 40 of 40 Posts