Intermittent charging fault

ICE, Equipment, Options
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stevyba
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2019 9:14 pm
Qashqai Model: Mk.2 Qashqai - J11 (2013–2017)

Post by stevyba »

Hi Guys,

I have a 2014 1.6 DCI QQ with a rather frustrating intermittent fault.

I have been suffering with a flat battery every now and then, this could occur at any time ie; after a 50 mile drive then a half hour break or first thing in the morning. I have had the car into my local (very good) garage who read the codes, tested the battery etc etc.

After not being able to find fault with anything obvious we decided to fit a new battery, so they sourced a good stop/start battery and fitted for me.
I kept the old one as that had been working well for the previous week.

Everything was good again for about 3 weeks, then I noticed it was a bit sluggish to start as I was leaving a job. 30 or 40 mile drive later I went into another job and left the car for approx 40 minutes. When I came out the battery was dead again. Fortunately I had the old battery and some jumpleads with me so started it and ran it for around a week until the same thing happened again.

Since then I have bought a plug into the cig lighter voltage meter. Most of the time it reads as expected... around 12.6/12.9 unless there has been a heavy drain when it will up to between 13.8 and 14.2.

However, one day last week I noticed it was sitting at around 11.9 after startit from cold. I drove around 25 miles and it never rose at all, in fact it never indicated that it was charging all day. I think I did 5 jobs that day all with between 30 and 50 miles between them. The car started after the first 4 and drove fine but after the last one, the battery was dead again. This time I swapped back to the new battery, started it and the voltmeter imediately indicated charging at around 14 volts again. It has been fine for the last few days but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I have another none charging episode.

During all this time, I have not had any lights on on the dash and the stop start works well (apart from on the none charging days)

Has anyone had a similar experience?

Sorry for the long first post but wanted to give some history.

Thanks in advance, Steve

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calnorth
Posts: 2719
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2019 2:01 pm
Qashqai Model: Mk.2 Qashqai Facelift - J11b (2017–2021)

Post by calnorth »

Hi Steve...you'll need to read the post below, but its not a solution. The problem is much more than an old chestnut and Nissan isn't of use.

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=3214&hilit=battery+charge

Its very common on this forum to find that Nissan QQ Customers reporting faults like this (electronics/electrics) do not get resolution from dealers. If they can't detect a fault themselves they do nothing and offer little/no advice it appears. Thats after being presented with photo evidence of the System faults on the centre display and verbal problem description.

The QQ has an Energy Management System (EMS) which is an over blown battery charging system IMO. Not sure if your EMS is the same as my 2017 model which consists of:

Battery
Battery Current Sensor
Comparator Unit (commands Alternator to vary charge to Battery)
Alternator

In days of old we would change the Battery, Alternator or both. Now we have to contend with a Batt Sensor and Comparator as well.

What Nissan mechanics should be doing is testing the performance of each of the 4 items above...and not throwing their hands up. Should imagine that being a very expensive game though! I'd also expect them to identify the problem from experience and what Nissan knows about this particular charging system.

Colin
Mk2 Qashqai Facelift - J11b (2017–and onward)
1.6 Dig-T N-Connecta
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