I had the same issue as everyone else, new battery not charging and I would have to charge it manually. I feared it was the alternator but it tested fine. I am so happy I came across this video because since cutting that wire I have had no issues. Thank you!
We just did it Hopefully, this fixes the problem.This does thank you so much 2019 qx80 Too battery in 6 months and always jumping it Wife drives only 6 miles a day or so Will update on fix soon Fingers crossed 🤞 ....to be Continued ...
Anybody know where this wire is on a 2021 QX80? EDIT: It was in the same place as shown in the video...at least it all looked the same. I clipped the wire, charged the battery and the alternator is putting out 14.36 volts. Thanks for making this video!
@douglaswilliams1792 You are correct, I should have just gotten a hose to connect to my funnel. I actually tried to do that, but I didn't have the right type of hose that would fit and stay attached to my funnel. You are right, though. I made this a little harder on myself than needed. Although, I still needed room to remove and install the fill plug.
I tried your suggestion and it has worked for the last 6 months without any issues. For the last 2 years I was having issues with my Armada 2020 not starting very often. The only way to fix it was to charge the battery overnight every week. Now that I have cut that 1 wire everything stays changed and I have zero issues. Before this solution Nissan told me that my driving hobbits were causing the problem and that they had no solution for me, which is absolutely insane. I would drive 20 minutes of highway to and from work each day and by the end of the week the battery wasn't charged enough to start the car. Thank you for fixing this for me!
I just did this repair today, 2019 Infiniti qx80. Its my wifes kids car and its now dying all the time. Ive tried trickle charging it many times with no success as it dies again in a month or so. Dealership said to get a new battery but i knew that wasn't the issue. Hopefully this fix works. Ill report back.
Nice video and love your garage setup! Regarding oil, technically the correct oil meets Porsche C20 spec. The only Mobil 1 that meets this spec is their ESP X2. The good news is you can now find it at local Walmart for about $30/ 5 qt jug. I suspect this oil is specified for reducing carbon buildup on intake valves (2.0 is direct injection engine).
Thanks for watching the video!Technically, you are correct. However, the american "SP" oil spec was specifically designed for turbo charged direct injection engines and is suitable for these cars. C20 is a European spec similar to SP, except it complies with European standards. Thanks for sharing the info on ESP X2 being available at Walmart.👍I'll look for it on my next oil change.
I don't have a service manual for a Macan, so I can't say for sure if this circuit is in fact the same, however I'd suspect it is. It's probably worth removing your seat to find the connector and see if the wire colors are the same. If you do that, report back so the community can learn from what you find.👍
2018 Armada - was going thru multiple batteries due to this issue. Also, being stranded in random places due to non start. After my teenage daughter got stranded I decided to sell car. Carried jumper cables with me everywhere. Nissan would never address issue. Saw your video and said last resort. Followed directions and cut that wire! Starts perfectly now, every time!!! THANK YOU.
@jackharding98 I finally had the courage and cut the wire few weeks back on my 2015 QX 80 and since then its been starting up with no issues. Really appreciate your detail video. I was wondering if you or anyone had another electronic issue that I had a year back. All of a sudden the electronic displays like screen, AC buttons etc and the entire console stopped working. Screen was frozen and all buttons did not light up. Took it to the dealer and they said the entire console needs to be replaced and would cost around 8-9K. I declined it and as I drove back from dealer, it all started and been working fine since then. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
I'm glad the video was helpful for you. Thanks for sharing your experience. As for your console/electronics situation, a prior experience I had wasn't exactly the same as yours, but it was similar. My situation was due to a low battery, although it didn't seem like it was low at the time. After charging it at home as a precaution, everything worked again. I chalked it up to a weird electronics glitch because of the battery. It's never happened again, but that was before I disabled the VVCS.
Well, it's only been a day, but since I cut the cord ... it's started perfectly without hesitation four times. Which is four more times than it was able to do yesterday. Thankfully I didn't go through the hell of taking it into the dealership to be fleeced so fingers crossed this solves my issue. Jack, you saved me over a thousand bucks for reals. BIG props!!
@jackharding98 My 2022 Armada doesn't have that wire. Could they have removed it from the factory? I'm still having the same issue so I'm going to unplug the cable next to the battery. 😊
2013 qx56 was shorted out by crossed cable wires no power to starter from red wire from ipdm does that mean bad ipdm unit everything else works in vehicle
It's hard to know if your IPDM is bad with only what you've shared, but it is possible the IPDM was damaged. I have some other ignition trouble shooting videos you might view and do a little more troubleshooting. As for the starter specifically, the transmission control module also plays a role in allowing power to go to the starter solenoid. I've got a short video about testing that also. I wish I had a quick easy answer for you, but it just isn't that simple. IPDM are too expensive to guess at and buy a part you might not need.
Jack - wonderful video. I'd been trying to figure this out for quite a while. I appreciate your making the time to share your knowledge and skills. Skip
This worked perfectly! My voltmeter was below the halfway mark most of the time but now stays above half. I went through a battery in two months. Great video and glad I found it.
Hi Jack! I've got a question for you - I'm trying to add a kill switch to the starter button with starter wiring harness, do you know which color would be the B+ I've done some readings and kept getting blue and white as the ACC and the orange/brownish color as the B+ but wanted confirmation. Maybe you could help provide an answer.
Ignition switch (push button) output power to BCM is terminal 4 on connector M101, it is a light blue wire. Terminal 1 in M101 is black, that's the ground wire.
After the 5th or 6th battery in our 2019 and Nissan finally tired of giving away batteries they finally are letting dealers disable this. Took ours in today and they removed pin 33
The drain is not accessible at all. But mine has a hole near by. But i use an old plug wire boot as a 90° fitting to adapte the hose so it will drain without making a mess
Glad the video helped. I bought a wimpy little 5x8 trailer at Lowe's that I haul diy project parts for working around the house. Yesterday, I hauled 21 2x4 and 14 sacks of quickrete for a fence repair.
I have a 2018 Nissan Armada Platinum Reserve. I’ve gone through three batteries in 1.5 years. Took it to my mechanic a couple of weeks ago and replaced the battery yet again. The battery was toast again. He said the fluctuating voltmeter must be a “Nissan thing”. The next step was to replace the alternator at a price tag of $900 (with labor)!!!! Took a 4.5 hour trip and watched the voltage meter on the dash still moving all over. Checked the battery upon arrival at the final destination, the battery was at 67%and producing 12.5 volts. 🤦♂️ Found this video and read through all the comments and saw that others were reporting similar issues. Probably watched the video a dozen times and contemplated whether I should really do it… I “cut the cord” and my voltage meter is rock steady at 14.2 volts. Hasn’t moved once! Jack the video was point on and easy to understand and follow. Took me less than 10 minutes. You saved me $900 in replacing an alternator that didn’t need replacing!
Same issue here. 2018 Nissan Armada Platinum Reserve. Ongoing, random, no start issues for 4 years that comes and goes. I just spent some time talking to the dealership mechanic about this very video. Their response was, they're worried cutting this wire may lead to unforeseen issues with the battery and they highly recommend alternator replacement. I've already replaced the battery and some other things they've recommended. Nothing seems to work. I'm almost $750 into various shots in the dark, and now I'm facing $900 alternator replacement. My question is - what are the long term risks to "cutting the red wire" so to speak? Will it fry the battery quicker? One thing is for sure - this is an issue Nissan needs to fix. Just searching around briefly, it seems to be a pretty wide spread problem many of us are facing. Great vid. Thanks!
@DanBradford-nq5kv The average quality replacement battery has a service life of 3 years. I have enjoyed getting that life from my batteries without having them go dead frequently since I made this change. The worst case scenario long term issue is slight over charging on really long road trips, like 500 miles or so.
Juat had this on our 2016. It has done 170K miles so its ok if it needs a starter. I cut the vvcm wire a year ago to eliminate that and now i The starter is intermittent. I caught the problem with a test light just like this video and am ordering a starter. Thanks!
Hey, I'm dealing with 981 Boxster. It's got heated and cooled seats. When I press on the heated seat it displays 3 lines and turns off right away. There's no fuses (we checked the diag). Same story for the passenger side. Since it's controlled by climate switch I've tried another one. No luck. I'm getting 001013 code on the code reader for Supply voltage for seat heater opencircuit, short circuit to ground. If I clear it comes back right away. Maybe you know what I'm missing? Could it be also related to the same sensor (but why both seats and how the car knows if I don't turn them on to trigger the code). Some sort of mystery to me...
I would suspect you have the same issue that I explained in the video. I don't remember if I had a code, but I did have the same three blue lights that blink and go away. I would expect your electric circuit to be the same as my car, so you can use the diagram in the video to troubleshoot your problem.
Perfect! Just the video I needed after I tried to use the trailer hitch on my new Macan and couldn't find a socket to connect my trailer wiring too. Thanks Jack!
Great video and im almost 100% sure this is my issue on my 2020 armada, however, i am not mechanically inclined and im afraid if i cut the wire, ill end up screwing something else up. Can you elaborate on your comment below in regards to unplugging the wire from the negative battery cable impacting other things? I can probably manage that fix, but i dont want to screw anything else up. thanks
The current sensor is located on the negative terminal cable where it attaches to the battery. Simply unplug the connection and then see how it impacts your vehicle. You'll probably be fine. Several people have reported that they see no difference other than disabling the VVCS.
@@jackharding98 great. thank you. Ill give it a try today. My son has been watching the battery gauge bounce back and fourth between the middle line so im pretty sure this is this issue. thx again
I think you missed filling the rear diff fill spot on top. I kept the 5mm drain out but put the larger 8mm drain plug back in and as I filled 2.7 liter nothing dripped out of the small 5mm drain plug so the oil isn’t getting to that area.
I do mention both fill plugs for the PDK in the video. There is 1 final drive gear oil filler plug on the passenger side per Porsche procedure WM399055, and there is another filler plug for the ATF/clutch oil on the driverside per procedure WM370255. 👍
That still doesn't point to the problem. Because if it's an intermittent problem, just because you hold on that button and the light comes on seems like a result of what happens when the ipdm has enough time to cool down and kind of reset itself. So basically the best time to be testing this would be after the car has been running for a while. Because of its happening intermittently, that's because the ipdm has heated up so much that it is essentially having a heat stroke. Still doesn't mean that the ipdm is not bad. It could just mean it has had enough time to cool down. So you can essentially replace the starter and the ipdm could still be bad. I ran into a problem with an ipdm overheating in a 2008 Infiniti qx56. But the problems went way past it just needing a starter. Nothing in the truck would work. I had no dash lights but the truck was still able to drive in essentially a limp mode. It would not shift into overdrive. So I had to baby it back home 200 miles from Chicago. But once I got home, it had enough time to cool down and it started ran and drove just fine. Now to be fair, it was about 90° during that trip to chicago. But the pavement temperature was well into the mid 120°s. So if it's a simple no crank no start, I wouldn't bother checking the ipdm. Unless there are other symptoms such as non shifting or lack of gauge cluster. But that's just my opinion. You can do what you want. But I would say you are wasting your time messing with the ipdm. And possibly spending a couple thousand dollars on a whim.
Great input. The point of the video is to test if the starter signal is even getting to the starter. If the IPDM is outputting a signal to the starter solenoid, then the problem isn't the IPDM if the starter isn't cranking.
I did not "recalibrate " anything. My copy of the Porsche service instructions do not list a recalibration. Do you know of something specific that needs calibration? Please share.
It calibrates given current state of wear on clutches. Makes shifting smoother and more precise and reduces wear going forward. Not sure off the interval period. It will function fine without it…
@@bfruehauf427 Are you able to share where you learned this information, are you sure it relates to the 991? I see nothing in the Porsche workshop manual regarding a calibration for the clutch disks or during a filter & fluid replacement. There is a procedure WM373427 when replacing the trans or after major repair. There is also a WM373055 after replacing the Trans, Control Unit. Both of those mention a calibration, but no calibration procedure is mentioned for a fluid & filter service. I like to learn and share info, so I'm curious.
Sorry that I confused you. A quart of fluid is 32 oz. I only needed 10 oz from that quart, so taking 10 oz off the top of the quart left me with 22 oz. That is why I marked the 22oz level. It was so I knew I had poured 10 oz out.👍
Hey Jack... Thanks for all your videos ive watched all of them. Curious if you have any ideas. I thought i had your same situation going on with my 2014 qx80. The only problem was the test light to the starter wont turn on no matter how many times the button was hit. So i replaced the ipdm... got the new ipdm and still no light with test to starter. I tested all other fuses and relays and all appear fine. Any ideas? Dash lights turn on but no indication to press brake to start like it normally does. Im at a complete loss.
Bummer, sorry to hear your QX80 isn't starting. I don't know your answer off the top of my head, but I can try to help. Ok, to be sure I understand your situation, the diagram in this video, pin 3 ( red wire) of the IPDM goes to the starter solenoid, and you are not getting a signal there. So, check pin 30 of connector E13. You will want to refer to the IPDM layout diagram to find this connector. It's a Red wire with a white stripe. Bottom row second position from the end but likely the last wire in that connector. Check if you have a signal there when trying to start. That signal is coming from the Body Control Module. Without it, your IPDM won't try to start the engine.
Thank you so much for the help. I feel like ive been chasing rabbit holes with this. The pin 30 did not have power with test and not sure if relevant but it made clicking noise in ipdm when test light was pressed in. So from your point of view would this point to a bad bcm?
@ArcheryOutdoorLife It's too early to say bad BCM, more troubleshooting is needed. The clicking noise in the IPDM would have been relays. I haven't researched the BCM previously. I'll try to look into it on Friday. Obviously, the goal is to troubleshoot the circuit that controls the start signal. The next thing to figure out is what tells the BCM to output to pin 30 at the IPDM.
@ArcheryOutdoorLife I just tested my QX80. Pin 30 has battery voltage when the Ignition is on, engine running or not. However, not enough current to light a test light very well. You'll want to use a voltage meter to measure there. The BCM has a connector M71. Pin 97 is the other end of the wire for Pin 30. You could measure with a voltmeter there also. It's the same R/W wire. Pins 97-99 of M71 are part of the Ignition system also. Pin 102 is the Neutral/park circuit, that plays a role in the start circuit also. To check P/N circuit at the IPDM measure voltage on connector E15 Pin 48. It will be a brown wire. It's the Second pin from the end but is the last wire in that row. It should have battery voltage with the key on. Good luck 👍
Thanks for the video. I have a 2018 Armada and couldn't figure out why, when I got in after the SUV sitting for a day or so, it sounded like the battery was low especially when I was running short trips around town. Yet when I get the SUV out on the road towing my travel trailer it did better, although I have a digital volt meter plugged into the cigarette lighter and it would occasionally read 12V or below. Then the volt meter would go back up again; it was as if there was an inline switch. Now I know there was. I had read about this solution on the internet in some of the forums before I found your video, but I couldn't find pictures or videos to show exactly what wire to cut. Your video showed exactly which wire to cut and how to get to it. Thanks so much!
I'm glad the video helped with the details you needed. Thanks for your comments 👍 You're right. There is essentially a "switch" in the charging system, and heavy loads will cause the "switch " to remain off. It's counterintuitive that big electrical loads actually result in a charged battery, but light electrical demand doesn't.
Hi again Jack. How often should the big partly triangle formed plastic shield (with 13 screws) with filter for the pdk clutch ATF fluid be changed? There are no nothing written Porsches inspection sheet. With same intervals as the pdk clutch ATF fluid or the PDK gear oil change, or other? My car is a 2018 991.2 with 7000 miles.
Porsche changes the filter at each service interval. My 991.1 Porsche schedule says 10 years or 100k miles, whichever is first. I personally would change the fluid every 50k or 5 years, but I wouldn't change the filter until the Porsche service interval.
Hi, awesome video, I have one question if you can help, I’ve been looking for 15k ohm resistors but they all have different watt ratings. Could you advise what one I should be looking for please ? Thanks again for making the video
