I have a 2008 G35. Long story short, there is a short somewhere in the GPS unit in the console draining my battery. My mechanic tells me the GPS is drawing 12A when the key is off. When the battery is fully charged, it takes less than 48 hours for the battery to be drained DEAD as a result of the short (and thats a brand new battery). When the battery is charged, the car runs great. Even the console seems to work fine as well - GPS, Radio, A/C etc.

I have a couple questions I'm hoping some of you can help with :
Have any of you dealt with this ? Replacements for the GPS unit no longer appear to be available (even if they were, I suspect they would be expensive)
Its difficult to determine exactly where the short is coming from so its unclear which unit needs to be replaced.
Is there a way to bypass/disable the GPS unit ?
I'd rather go without GPS than junk the car. I'm hoping there is a way to unplug the GPS unit and still drive the car

I've searched a bit but have not found any reasonable alternatives. This car is in great condition and I would hate to replace it just for an electrical short.

 

Have you searched for the FSM?

https://www.nicoclub.com/service-man...F2008%2FAV.pdf

See page AV-414
Did anything get wet or is there any corrosion in your wiring harness? Has the vehicle ever been involved in a flood?

Good luck

 

Thanks - I will go through the FSM.

Ironically, living in California, where we are in a drought, no flood damage here. I've owned the vehicle since new, and due to COVID restrictions, I've put less than 5000 miles on the car in the last 12 months. The car has been in the garage most of the time, although I've made a point to drive it once a week or so.

 

I believe you can delete the GPS unit entirely and replace it with the cubby-pocket that the non-nav equipped models come with.

I would definitely start by just unplugging it to see if the current drain disappears. It's FAR more common for the radio disc changer to fail and cause a battery drain.

 

I'm not aware of any V36 US model without a screen.

Lack of HVAC control would be a biggie

 

Ohh crap you're right, I forgot it's all integrated into the same screen for the V36. You should be able to disable the DVD drive (or HDD if that's what they switched to) which is located behind the glove box. That would be the most likely component to be draining the battery for the navigation system.