Mysterious ZERO power to entire car

[corkscrew]

I'm posting for a friend. Anyways, the car was driving fine and then it lost power to anything that involves the key being on. Headlights, turn signals, and horn work. All the fuses are not blown and the grounds are good. The ignition isn't getting power so nothing works or turns on at all. Anywhere we should look that may have been missed? Battery is good as well.

S13 coupe by the way

[Mr Fist9]

Main fuse
Happened to me when I first swapped in my sr
It's a 75AMP fuss in the engine bay fuse box
Pop open the top and take a screwdriver and bend it back together
They're around 20$ at a Nissan dealer so Id try and figure out why it blew before replacing it. Bending the prongs back together again is a good temp fix for testing purposes

[corkscrew]

Every single fuse in the car is good. I wish it was that easy

[Mr Fist9]

Every single fuse in the car is good. I wish it was that easy

Double check. This symptoms you describe, perfectly describe that fuse busted.
I did the same thing and overlooked it about 20 times before I actually opened it up and looked at it

This is the one
It's not the first picture you get in your mind when you think. Fuse

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll155/KillerCartman420/PART_1335769810349.jpg
http://thumbs1.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mHB5IWT6V9RCWvJcj-1me4Q.jpg

Also does the backlight for the clock come on lightly?

[corkscrew]

Yes that fuse is not blown. No power to the clock either

[jr_ss]

Have you checked the power circuit with the FSM? Is the car low? Of so there is a chance you rubbed through your harness.

[corkscrew]

I'm going to take a look at it soon and report back

[corkscrew]

The 75 gets power and is not blown. It's still getting no power to the ignition

[thefro526]

Had the same exact problem with my S14, all of the 12V constant circuits worked, but anything tied to the ignition switch didn't, ACC, Ign, Starting circuits were all dead.

Turns out that there was a corroded connection on the 12V main feed where it entered the cabin, preventing the Ignition switch from receiving power. The easiest way to solve this is to trace the white 12V wire from the fuse box to the switch. There are a handful of solder joints in the fuse box where the +12V line is split both before and after the 75A main connection that could fail. From there, you'll be able to trace a single white wire out of the fuse box all the way to the cabin. The wire is a relatively large gauge, like 10-12ga so it's easy to follow.

There's also an additional split in that main 12V feed wire right around where the secondary relay box is that feeds ACC relay #2 - check here for breaks as well.

Also, check the battery connector, specifically the contacts inside. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look at the connector, you'll see that it has three wires coming off of it, one of which go to the starter, the other two go to the firebox, IIRC, one of those powers stuff like the headlights and the other powers everything else. The terminals for those two lines at the battery can corrode and stuff, which makes everything act weird.

Feel free to PM me for help.

[corkscrew]

Thanks dude I appreciate the response. Very good descriptions for people who actually know which wires do what. The car starts now, however I'm not sure what the problem was. I spent an hour or 2 backtracking wires from the ignition and checking relays, etc. Then I turned the key and it started right up. It was weird because the 75amp and ignition fuse at the fuse box in the engine bay received power but the ignition still wasn't doing anything

[thefro526]

Thanks dude I appreciate the response. Very good descriptions for people who actually know which wires do what. The car starts now, however I'm not sure what the problem was. I spent an hour or 2 backtracking wires from the ignition and checking relays, etc. Then I turned the key and it started right up. It was weird because the 75amp and ignition fuse at the fuse box in the engine bay received power but the ignition still wasn't doing anything

No problem bro, I have the unfair advantage of having an S13 engine bay harness cut open and sitting in my garage and a few (too many) hours experience chasing electrical problems in my S14. Sounds like you've got a sketchy connection somewhere, might pop up again after a while. If you've got the drive or the time, I suggest cleaning any of the bigger electrical connections.

Check out this thread: http://zilvia.net/f/s-chassis/507680-thefros-electrical-problems-future-reference.html

It has some pretty okay pictures of the Battery connection that is usually the root of what seems to be 2/3rds of electrical problems in both S13's and S14's.

[corkscrew]

Awesome thanks dude. And yeah even though the car turns on, the issue is still hiding and we're still trying to source a sketchy connection or loose wire or whatever it may be

[steve shadows]

I would still swap out the major fusible links with replacements to be 100% sure.