Truck Dead Battery

[blacklabel]

2008 Nissan Frontier 70k Miles

Went to dinner last night. Came out to a dead truck. The remote unlocked the truck but no lights, absolutely nothing after that. My buddy jumped it with absolutely no issues. We ran to a store, left it running and then went to my friends house to hang out for a bit. Shut the truck down, came out an hour and a half later and it started up without issue. I drove it 15 miles to pick up my kid. Shut it down, hung out for 5 minutes, come out and it started right up. Drove it 10 miles home and turned it off for the night. I came out this morning and it was dead again. The only odd thing was I had some minimal dash lights and an odd clicking coming from under the dash this morning. I messed with it a bit and found that the clicking would stop if I pushed in the brake pedal.

The battery was a couple years old and was a cheap battery so I bought a new one. Installed it and the clicking is gone, starts fine and I'm assuming the charging system is up to par based on my ability to drive it last night after the jump.

Any ideas on what the issue could be? Draw on the battery related to the brake pedal noise or just a battery that didn't want to take a charge any longer?

[Irving]

Clicking is usually a low battery. That's the starter rattling instead of turning. Battery life in Colorado is usually 4-6 years (per AAA).

I'm thinking that the reason the clicking stopped when you applied the brake pedal is because the brake lights sucked enough power that the starter wasn't trying to turn at all. Shouldn't have any issues now that you've replaced it.

[blacklabel]

Clicking is usually a low battery. That's the starter rattling instead of turning. Battery life in Colorado is usually 4-6 years (per AAA).

I'm thinking that the reason the clicking stopped when you applied the brake pedal is because the brake lights sucked enough power that the starter wasn't trying to turn at all. Shouldn't have any issues now that you've replaced it.

The clicking was occurring with the key in the off position. But it makes sense that what ever power was being drawn would be stopped with the draw of the brake lights.

[SouthPaw]

You can go to napa, auto zone or advance and having your charging system tested for free.

[blacklabel]

I'm not too concerned about the charging system but I might run by Auto Zone and have them test it just to be safe.

[kwando]

Bad ground?

[Ah Pook]

Testing the charging system will tell you if the battery is dead, if the alternator is charging, etc.

[blacklabel]

Testing the charging system will tell you if the battery is dead, if the alternator is charging, etc.

Based on walking out to a dead battery, jumping it (no time to charge, immediately pulled the cables) and then driving it without issue would seem to me like the alternator is doing it's thing. I'm thinking there might be a draw on the battery or the battery wasn't taking a charge. I'll have the alternator tested just to be sure though.

[Irving]

The newer the vehicle is, the more crap that the vehicle runs while "off" that drains the battery. Stuff like memory for the radio, seats, etc. When I worked at AAA, people would call in with a 2010 or newer luxury car and the battery would be dead after sitting for only like 4 days. My Amigo has a clock that NEVER turns off. The display is always on. I've let it sit for a whole month without starting and it always started right up. Not that an unlighted LCD display takes much to run. Basically a wrist watch.

[blacklabel]

I ran by Auto Zone. The chick said that she couldn't test it because of a short and that the tool would reset. I then ran over to Advanced and they were able to test it, saying that the alternator was putting out 14.3x volts. I'm thinking I'll be alright. Just make sure I've got the jumper cables in the truck going forward.