scl10
06-14-2010, 04:28 PM
Hi everyone, hope you can help me out:
I have a 2003 Xterra XE V6. 61k miles. Regularly maintained, etc. Over the past few days, maybe a week, I have noticed that the engine is SOMETIMES hesitant to start. But I generally chalked it up to A/C or radio on, something like that.
Today I ran a few errands and noticed it doing the same thing, in a more noticeable manner. Basically, when I put the key in and turned ignition all the lights pop up on the dash, everything electrically controlled comes on fine, and wipers turn at full speed. But when I turned to the second position to crank engine, it cranked very slowly a few times before it eventually caught, albeit hesitantly. It drives fine if I can get it started.
However, in the middle of my errands I pulled into a parking spot, turned off car. I then decided against running that particular errand as the sky opened up and started raining. The car probably was off for 15 seconds. When I went to turn it on, it tried to crank maybe three times and died. Immediately did it again, wouldn't turn over. Once more about 10 seconds later, electrical comes on, engine turned over once, nothing else. No radio, A/C or lights on at this point.
I waited about 30 seconds to 1 minute and tried again. Again, very slow to turn over with a slow "vrooomvrooomvroomvroom" about 6 times. The lights on the panel really dimmed but it caught. Started and I drove about 15 miles home with no problem.
Got home and checked out the battery. The posts were really corroded over with junk. Loosened it all up and hosed away acid. Car has started just fine over the course of 2 hours at about 45 minute intervals. Idling at about 800-950, nothing sounds wrong with the engine.
The battery appears to be original from the factory. Tiny black thing that says Nissan, Smyrna GA, etc. on it.
So, is this simply a matter of a 7 year old battery on its last legs, or something more significant? Sorry about the long post and the list of (probably extraneous) facts. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a 2003 Xterra XE V6. 61k miles. Regularly maintained, etc. Over the past few days, maybe a week, I have noticed that the engine is SOMETIMES hesitant to start. But I generally chalked it up to A/C or radio on, something like that.
Today I ran a few errands and noticed it doing the same thing, in a more noticeable manner. Basically, when I put the key in and turned ignition all the lights pop up on the dash, everything electrically controlled comes on fine, and wipers turn at full speed. But when I turned to the second position to crank engine, it cranked very slowly a few times before it eventually caught, albeit hesitantly. It drives fine if I can get it started.
However, in the middle of my errands I pulled into a parking spot, turned off car. I then decided against running that particular errand as the sky opened up and started raining. The car probably was off for 15 seconds. When I went to turn it on, it tried to crank maybe three times and died. Immediately did it again, wouldn't turn over. Once more about 10 seconds later, electrical comes on, engine turned over once, nothing else. No radio, A/C or lights on at this point.
I waited about 30 seconds to 1 minute and tried again. Again, very slow to turn over with a slow "vrooomvrooomvroomvroom" about 6 times. The lights on the panel really dimmed but it caught. Started and I drove about 15 miles home with no problem.
Got home and checked out the battery. The posts were really corroded over with junk. Loosened it all up and hosed away acid. Car has started just fine over the course of 2 hours at about 45 minute intervals. Idling at about 800-950, nothing sounds wrong with the engine.
The battery appears to be original from the factory. Tiny black thing that says Nissan, Smyrna GA, etc. on it.
So, is this simply a matter of a 7 year old battery on its last legs, or something more significant? Sorry about the long post and the list of (probably extraneous) facts. Any help would be greatly appreciated.