We're about to embark on a 10 day road trip from Bellevue, WA all the way down to Arizona and back. The Roadship, as I like to call our 2004 Nissan Quest, is ready, although I had an interesting electrical challenge recently.
The Roadship battery had been draining for some time, generally due to overhead lights being left on after it was parked. Last Sunday it refused to turn over and I had to jump it from the Big Green Machine.
I drove it around Sunday and went to start it Monday morning. It did not turn over. It wasn't a battery issue - there was plenty of charge, but it just wasn't igniting. Weird. We called AAA and had the car towed to our local friendly dealer.
The dealer called later on that afternoon and said that the power loss on the battery had tripped a security mechanism that resets the codes on the Roadship keys. Therefore, those keys will never start that car until they get re-programmed. Oh joy!
I brought all the keys down and $140 later I was all set. I still don't understand the security issue here - this prevents someone from changing the battery and stealing the car at the same time? More weird.
As for the trip, we're set with a good Streets and Trips printout, the Roadship nav system, dual DVD screens, visor mounted bluetooth speakerphone and a Coleman 40qt Powerchill cooler hooked up to the rear hatch power adapter. Plenty of SD cards for the camera and the HandyCam to boot, plus a good supply of books, snacks, puzzles, and other goodies. I'll use my Zune piped into the AUX audio system for music, or just enjoy local radio.
Here we go!
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