The Nissan Path

2005 with 130K miles

it seems over the past 2 months after it rains i would turn car on and it would idle but the dash would all be lit up and the tach would not work. the car would not rev or do anything

Yesteday....the car did above issue and now the battery will not hold a charge. can't even open car doors with fob so the batter is completely drained. i jumped it and ran it for 45 minutes to charge battery but this morning completely dead.

Napa Legend battery. havent had chance to check date and if still under warranty.....bought within 2 years for sure

any suggestions?

assuming the issue isn't caused by a modification......
nearly all R51 electrical problems seem to boil down to the battery condition, or the battery cable clamps (loose or corroded) at the battery post terminals, or both
charge & load test the battery, replace if necessary
clean the cable clamps & posts
make sure the clamps tighten down securely on the posts, especially the negative side, as they frequently don't tighten down on the post even though the nut is tight (the clamp will pivot on the post)
if the clamp is still loose when the nut is tight, replace it (a few bucks at the auto parts store)
check the charging system output
if you still suspect an issue, check for excessive current draw: info here............. http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic.php?t=12616

So i got home last night. fully charged battery, sanded terminals and cables. still gauges and dash lights lit up. car wont rev. eventually would rev with the tack working but as i rev'd it the tach went to zero and gauges all flickered. taking battery to be bench tested and see if it could be that. i'm not optimistic the battery is the issue now. woke up this morning and battery was dead again.....IDK!

What's the charging system voltage? It should be between 13.2 and 15.0 volts.

I had the battery tested last night and was told it is perfectly fine. could it be some sort of ground issue?...and the battery is dead again this morning

Testing the battery doesn't tell you what the charging voltage is. You need to test the charging voltage to make sure the alternator is properly charging the battery.

smj999smj wrote:Testing the battery doesn't tell you what the charging voltage is. You need to test the charging voltage to make sure the alternator is properly charging the battery.

and it seems to me that there have been alternator failures causing the battery to drain while parked
marty, here again is the procedure for diagnosis that I recommended in my post above
it's all easy to do, basic, and necessary:

eieio wrote: charge & load test the battery, replace if necessary
clean the cable clamps & posts
make sure the clamps tighten down securely on the posts, especially the negative side, as they frequently don't tighten down on the post even though the nut is tight (the clamp will pivot on the post)
if the clamp is still loose when the nut is tight, replace it (a few bucks at the auto parts store)
check the charging system output
if you still suspect an issue, check for excessive current draw: info here............. http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic.php?t=12616

additionally, I have seen batteries that load-tested good that were not good
if the posts, and cable clamps are good, and your charging system output is OK, and there is no excessive current draw, you probably need a new battery