[david8989]

Hello I have a 2012 Nissan Versa that has been having some electrical issues:

When braking my fog lamps light up and clock light dims (the orange backlight dims)

When switch the headlights ON traction control lights up in dash and goes into limp mode. And Stays this way after tuning off the headlights. I also notice all my brake lights turn ON and stay lit as well when this happens.

When I turn off the car it goes away and drives fine until I turn ON the headlights then limp mode issues returns.

Any solutions besides it possibly being the transmission?

 

[Keith Wagner]

Start by making sure the battery and alternator are in good working order, and make sure all power and ground points are clean and tight.

 

[tutti57]

Sounds like a bad ground somewhere, but also check your tail lights for water.

 

[dkmura]

It would help to have more background information before making any guesses. How many miles are on this Versa? Was there any other recent electrical work, or other issues that might explain these symptoms?

 

[david8989]

Start by making sure the battery and alternator are in good working order, and make sure all power and ground points are clean and tight.

Hi thank you, I checked both the battery and alternator and are both working good and have no low voltage. All connections with the battery are clean and tight.

 

[david8989]

Sounds like a bad ground somewhere, but also check your tail lights for water.

I have been checking ground connections and fuses but so far have not found any issues. Tails lights have no corrosion but I did have an issues with the driver side tail light bulb not connections well with the base as it came off but the repair looks good with no other reason for this type of electrical issue.

 

[david8989]

It would help to have more background information before making any guesses. How many miles are on this Versa? Was there any other recent electrical work, or other issues that might explain these symptoms?

Hi, The vehicle is a salvage title due to a front end accident when bought at 60k miles and now has 135k miles on it and no other electrical issues until now. Only had to replace the catalytic converter a couple years back.

 

[dkmura]

Hi, The vehicle is a salvage title due to a front end accident when bought at 60k miles and now has 135k miles on it and no other electrical issues until now. Only had to replace the catalytic converter a couple years back.

Ah, the front end damage is likely involved in this electrical issue. Sorry, but this could mean going through the wiring harness to determine if there's a short or stretched wire somewhere. But anything that affects brake lights or traction control could trigger limp mode and that's an awful big haystack to jump into.

 

[tutti57]

If you've never chased a problem like this, I'd recommend bringing it somewhere.

You have to be able to find some direction or you'll pull your hair out just visually looking for things.

There could be helpful dtcs stored in one or some of the modules.

It will take a wire diagram and load testing the circuits involved. Maybe isolating the circuits and checking for shorts, but more likely a bad ground. Shorts blow fuses unless they are shorted signal/network wires. Blown fuses means something stops working, not works erratically.

 

[Moreno valley news first]

Sounds like a bad ground somewhere, but also check your tail lights for water.

yes i heard in the past..the tail light shorts out..and the trans stops working correctly..i heard many had their trans replaced because of that...when nothing was wrong...just something i heard...yup..check the grounds first

 

[david8989]

UPDATE: Hi I found the problem to this issue. Turns out my driver side tail light bulb that first gave me issues with the connector coming out had completely burned the connection of brake/lightbulb. I replaced the brake lightbulb and the issues went away. So the first comment regarding checking brake lightbulbs connection was right. Thank you for all your suggestions and feedback on this.