Stereo causing parasitic battery drain..... Solved!

[S1monR]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share my experiences in case it helps someone else in the future.

I bought my Micra a few weeks ago and have been spending a little while tidying it up a little bit so it's nice to drive when I tax and insure it next month. The previous owner told me there was a parasitic drain caused by the stereo and that they'd removed the 10A fuse some years ago to stop it. I like my music so was keen to get to the bottom of it.

Yesterday I removed the dash top, A-post trims and centre dash panel which contains the stereo. Damn - the metal bracket that holds the stereo in has some sharp edges! I cut myself twice on it so be careful if you have to handle it yourself. Once I got the radio out and removed the two torx screws that hold the cover on, I was greeted by this sight:



A copy of Now 63 was jammed in the CD player mechanism, causing it to repeatedly eject with the power connected. I removed the CD in several pieces but didn't hold out a whole lot of hope that the CD player would still work afterwards, but luck was on my side. As soon as I had put everything back together and entered the radio code, it sprung into action, played a CD and ejected correctly. Better still, the parasitic drain has gone. Whoop.

I'm planning a trip to the scrap yard next week and will pick up some OEM rear speakers to finish off the repair, as my car has only fronts.

 

[Mika The Finn]

Hey everyone,
... I'm planning a trip to the scrap yard next week and will pick up some OEM rear speakers to finish off the repair, as my car has only fronts.

I would skip OEM rear speakers, and get aftermarket speakers. And if possible, get new front ones at same time!

 

[novocaine]

I would skip OEM rear speakers, and get aftermarket speakers. And if possible, get new front ones at same time!

with you on that, stock speakers are shocking, a set of cheap as chips JBL or similar will see it sound considerable better. just match the impedance.

 

[S1monR]

Many thanks chaps - I'll have a scoot around the scrapper when I go on Monday and see what I can find. I'm tempted to seek out a prestige car that has a two way set up and install a woofer / tweeter combo back and front.

BTW - I've seen several threads asking whether the wiring for the rear speakers is preset on a K12, even when the speakers aren't and can confirm that my 06 K12 Initia does indeed have wiring in place for the rear speakers. It's a 3 door and if you remove the rear side panels and follow the wiring that goes from the floor, up the line of the wheel arch towards the boot, the rear speaker cables are gathered, looped and tied to the rest of the loom.

 

[Mika The Finn]

Many thanks chaps - I'll have a scoot around the scrapper when I go on Monday and see what I can find. I'm tempted to seek out a prestige car that has a two way set up and install a woofer / tweeter combo back and front.

BTW - I've seen several threads asking whether the wiring for the rear speakers is preset on a K12, even when the speakers aren't and can confirm that my 06 K12 Initia does indeed have wiring in place for the rear speakers. It's a 3 door and if you remove the rear side panels and follow the wiring that goes from the floor, up the line of the wheel arch towards the boot, the rear speaker cables are gathered, looped and tied to the rest of the loom.

It's cheaper for Nissan & other manufactures to use same wiring harness to all, than produce several different version.

 

[novocaine]

It's cheaper for Nissan & other manufactures to use same wiring harness to all, than produce several different version.

within reason yep agree completely.
cabin loom is almost all the same across all versions, although there are some minor changes to the SR160 loom and obviously the CC loom.
engine loom, same from at the bulk head but different by engine, which you'd expect. they also overlay additional looms depending on the spec, so stuff like the middle of the dash computer has an additional loom, sun roof option does too, so does climate control over clunky knobs, and I think heated mirrors was an overlay too.

it all makes sense when you think that saving a penny in time on one vehicle adds up very quickly when you make a million of them.