Crazy electrical issue/not starting?

Eothain

Eothain

Rider of Rohan
Premium
Car
2011 FX35 AWD
So I just got home from a long weekend trip down to Georgia. Pulled in to the driveway, turned off the car and finished a conversation my gf and I were having for a couple minutes. We finish, I go to hit the cargo hatch release and nothing happens. I try it on my key fob and nothing either.

Then I notice my running lights and fog lights are all on and my passenger headlight is on... but not the drivers. I make sure the lights are off on the turn signal and then try to restart my car. Nothing. Outside lights all still on. It doesn't cycle though ACC or ON at all and then finally does and is really lagging and makes some clicking noises. I put my keyfob in to the slot and the pull key out display lights up in the driver light cluster. I put it back in and lights start flashing where you put the key in. I try to cycle the start button again and nothing inside lights up except the emergency brake light, the seatbelt light, and the battery light. Then a few seconds later, the airbag light comes on and flashes. The car won't start still and the light on the start button stays as "ON." I have to hold the button down for everything to "turn off." The doors lock with the fob, but not the door.

I tried disconnecting the negative terminal for a minute. Well, that fixed the running/fog/passenger lights being on. Doors unlock on the car at first. Not starting still, but the center console now starts lighting up with the other lights and it throws the same lights on the drivers cluster.

I tried searching the forum for some answers, but I haven't seen anything with this list of crazy. Does any of this make sense to anyone, or familiar? Any questions or clarifications needed? Thanks!
 
Do the fog or headlights flicker at all (even a little)? Have you tried a different battery?
 
Start checking fuses. I've had a weird behavior happen before and turned out to be a cheap fuse was out.
 
I went back outside after watching the debate to try again. This time everything at least acted like it should before it is supposed to start regularly. However, when it went to turn over it turned on all the headlights/fog/running lights and then the drivers light went out again while the others stayed on. No flickering on any of those. I tried using a different key fob and the only light that came on in the dash was the little red car with a key inside in on the lower right corner.

It seems like the more I would try to start or cycle through the stages (lock,acc,on) the less lights would turn on and anything would happen. At the end, it left just the running lights on again and there was a repetitive clicking noise that started coming from being the AC unit. It would click almost twice a second and the interior map light on the passenger side started flashing dimly along with the click noise. It sounded like the noise your ipad would make as you type, but louder.

I haven't tried a new battery yet and it's too dark out to check all the fuses. Since the running lights stayed on and wouldn't turn off, I disconnected the negative lead off the battery for the night.

Looking back, I've tried to think of any weird behavior leading up to this. The only thing I can think of is that two days ago, when I did use the automatic lift gate. The caution beeps it makes as it raises and lowers was a little off. Meaning the tone of it was different than usual. It would beep normally, and then the tone would change lower the next and then back to normal after that.
 
I'm going to say battery. I've noticed the FX battery just dies.. Doesn't give any type of warning.. It's just done.

Using my Safe Note 7
 
If you dont want to buy a new battery just yet to test, and have a battery charger I suggest hooking it up for at least 6hrs before trying to start up the car. I've experienced all sorts of weird stuff every time my battery was about to die. I change my battery every year, bought it from the local parts store and covers free replacement for the first 5 yrs. Only last week bought a new Odyssey battery which will be installed this week.
 
It does sound like the battery as your symptoms sound like power management (on some cars, they turn off functions as battery gets bad). It's weird that you were driving and then it wouldn't restart after only a few minutes. I'd make sure there's no alternator issues as well. Were you ever getting slow starts?

And as others have said, check all fuses and cables. I had a loose positive terminal and it caused all sorts of weird issues - car would click and die while starting then immediately power back on, all lights would go out and pop back on 1 second later, etc. I never traced it to the positive battery cable/terminal until one day it just didn't start and I started checking all connections. As soon as I tightened it, all problems went away and I've never had a related issue in almost 3 years.
 
This whole thing is so weird. So This morning I hook the neg lead back up and try it... I start getting the clicking starter noise you would expect from a dead battery. All the fuses look good.

Later, I have someone help me jump it (so I can drive down and buy a new battery) and as soon as I opened the hood again, it starts making this odd horn-type clicking noise under the hood... no key fob inside the car at all and everything off. Very strange.

I hook up the jump and the alarm goes off for a second and then nothing... no turning over at all. I go back and double check the connections, which are fine, and decide to try it again. Just for the sake of checking, I hold down the alarm panic button on the fob and it (alarm) goes off and then it stops when I hit it again. After that I try to start it and it starts fine like nothing's ever been wrong. Disconnect the jumper cables and let it run a minute. Stop it, restart it... fine. Drive down the road to pick up some lunch, all good. Just went back outside a few minutes ago and starts right up.

Is there a way to run an internal diagnostic without needing a code reader? I know there's someway to do it through the nav screen and radio, but I don't know if it will say anything for these type of issues?

Thanks everyone for their comments and help!
 
Sounds like an interesting one. I would have the battery checked just to see If it could be a low voltage issue..
 
My battery was on its way out the door last month, my car was doing all kinds of crazy shit, it would start tgen immediately shut off, all dash lights lit up then would run at like 300rpms, very strange. put a new optima red top in and problem solved. also the diode or voltage regualtor in your alternator could be going bad causing all kinds of electrical surges in the system. Do an alternator diagnostic test.
 
I tried to jump it off and nothing happened. Then I tried one more time and the horn started going off like the alarm was set off. I held the panic button down on the key fob and everything stopped. I then tried restarting the car and everything started without the jump, no problem. Haven't had an issue since. Very, very strange.
 
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