What Did You Do With Your Kizashi Today?

[KuroNekko]

This past weekend, I drove the Kizashi up to Lake Arrowhead, where my family used to live about 20 years ago before a wildfire took out our home. Before the trip, I checked my oil and saw that it was below the halfway mark between low and high so I decided to stop by Autozone for some oil to top off. It probably wasn't absolutely necessary but the route climbs a 5000 foot mountain in about 18 miles so I didn't want to take chances on engine lubrication. At the store, I saw that 1qt bottles of full synthetic was about $9 to $10 so I decided to get a 5qt jug of Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage Full Synthetic 5W-30 for $35 and save the rest for the next oil change. Of course, I didn't have a funnel on me so I spilled a bit around the fill hole for the engine but wiped it up enough. I then placed the jug behind my seat and wedged it upright next to a bag of snacks and drinks my girlfriend placed. We were then on our way.

During the freeway drive, we ate some of the snacks but unknown to me at the time, my girlfriend moved the bag of snacks on top of the rear seat for better access. Later, when we climbed the twisty roads up the mountain, I remember hearing the sound of something falling over but didn't think much of it as I concentrated on driving. Once up the mountain and at the rental house, I started unloading the car. I noticed the bottle was on its side in the plastic bag I placed it in but it was nearly all empty! I inspected the bottle and saw that the cap was barely screwed on thus over 4qts had spilled onto the floor behind the driver seat. The rear floor mat was completely saturated in motor oil and the car's carpet underneath was the same. Pushing the carpet with a finger, I could see the oil had pooled.


I then realized it was the perfect storm of the bottle not being upright and the air pressure literally twisting the cap loose as I climbed from nearly sea level to over 5000ft since filling the oil. What a waste of $35 and an even bigger headache with the mess. I then researched methods of dealing with spilled oil inside a car and noted most recommended first absorbing the oil as much as possible with things like cat litter. I then went to a store and bought clay cat litter and poured it on the carpet before replacing the floor mat and pouring the rest of the litter on top. I kept it like that for about 24 hours until I got home the next day. The litter did absorb the excess pooling oil but wasn't going to do much about the saturation in the fabric of the carpet or floor mat. I've since removed the floor mat and soaked it in warm water with Dawn Ultra dish soap in a bucket over night. The water now looks like a grease tub. While the floor mat looks like it can be degreased and cleaned relatively easily with Dawn and then a dedicated degreaser, I'm a bit worried about the carpet of the car. I'm placing packing paper on there to absorb oil until I have more time to degrease and clean it. Depending on how things go with the floor mat with the products I'm using, I'll determine a plan of attack for the carpet.

Thankfully, the Pennzoil Platinum doesn't really have an odor. Didn't smell the oil at all when it leaked and saturated the carpet. Maybe it's because it's made from natural gas rather than crude oil. It's been odorless even in temperatures here ranging from 90 to 100 F this past weekend.

[redmed]

My 2010 S has been sitting in my pole barn for the last ten months. I start and run it every couple months. This time I took it out for a short drive, stopping multiple times to keep the brakes working. I replaced the Kizashi with a 2022 Camry Hybrid last December so now the Kizashi sits as a spare. I keep it just in case I total one of my other vehicles. Plus I miss driving a manual transmission.

[KuroNekko]

So yesterday morning, my third battery died. It exhibited very strange symptoms unlike the first two batteries that failed. This time, the car's electronics appeared to have seizure-like conditions. The instrument lights flickered out of control for about 10 seconds without change despite trying to turn the car off. The engine failed to start. It jumped fine, which indicated to me that it was a battery issue but shortly after jumping, it died a few times in idle. The battery's failure was rather sudden this time without harder starts leading up to it. Temps here are in the low 90's during the day so not really a cold problem. It also happen to occur on a very inconvenient morning when I had to drop off someone for an appointment and then make a work meeting. It basically urged me to replace it with an AGM battery because 4 batteries in about 11 years is ridiculous. It's my opinion that standard flooded batteries just can't keep up with the Kizashi's electrical system and its accessories for a long time. Maybe it's just me with my capacitor dash camera and aftermarket lighting but I've been rather dissatisfied by the standard 24F batteries for the Kizashi ranging from the OE battery to Costco Interstate batteries. Both Interstates failed around or just out of warranty and the last one appeared to even leak a bit, corroding the metal battery bracket a bit.

After checking Costco for their Interstate AGMs, I learned that most of Southern California's Costcos have them on back order for several weeks for 24F. It also appeared those batteries weren't quite up to spec like other AGMs and the price and weight were give-aways of that. I ended up taking the plunge and got an X2 Power AGM from Batteries Plus, mostly because there is a store very close to my house. It's a costly and hefty beast at over $300 and weighing 57 lbs. However, it has a 4 year warranty and Made in USA. While only time can tell if the battery was really worth the investment, I think I'm done with standard flooded batteries for the Kizashi and jumped on the AGM train.

I installed the X2 Power last night and the Kizashi is starting better than ever. However, I think the odd starts with the old battery caused some funky electrical issues. One LED bulb in the high beam is at half-power and the low beam HID on that same side failed. My driver side window's automatic mode doesn't work and now the switch on the driver door does not roll down the front passenger window. However, the switch on the passenger door works that window fine so it's not the window motor. Hopefully these issues will resolve simply.

[SAEED_KIZZY]

last month I drove a 6000KM . car in good condition with 175,000KM and 6.9 L/100KM (34 MPH) fuel consumption.

[KuroNekko]

Yesterday, a check engine light came on after about 5 seconds of turning on the engine in idle. No oddities in performance but the warning stayed on even after a few starts. I checked the code with my OBDII wifi device and the Dash Command app: P0172 - System Too Rich Bank 1. Research revealed the leading causes (at least to check first) are either the MAF sensor or an O2 sensor. I cleared the code with the device and it hasn't come back yet despite several drives. Curious if it will but I'm still planning on checking the engine air filter and cleaning the MAF sensor this weekend. The car now has 120,000 miles so a failing O2 sensor seems possible too. I take it that the upstream O2 sensor is the one to replace.

[n8dogg]

Yesterday, a check engine light came on after about 5 seconds of turning on the engine in idle. No oddities in performance but the warning stayed on even after a few starts. I checked the code with my OBDII wifi device and the Dash Command app: P0172 - System Too Rich Bank 1. Research revealed the leading causes (at least to check first) are either the MAF sensor or an O2 sensor. I cleared the code with the device and it hasn't come back yet despite several drives. Curious if it will but I'm still planning on checking the engine air filter and cleaning the MAF sensor this weekend. The car now has 120,000 miles so a failing O2 sensor seems possible too. I take it that the upstream O2 sensor is the one to replace.

Hi Kiro, It was about that mileage that I replaced my O2 sensors. If one's going bad, I'd replace both! They're a little spendy, but considering the otherwise stellar reliability of my Kizashi, I don't mind buying her something new! I used to wait for the light to stay on or for something to brake before I had to absolutely replace them, but in the case of the O2 sensor on another previously owned high mileage vehicle, I had O2 sensors cause health issues to the car, even before the CEL came on. The car was slowly adjusting fuel trims (unknown to me at the time) to account for deteriorating signals from the sensor. My MPGs were going down and by time I replaced the sensors it was too late. Extra fuel being thrown through the exhaust this whole time had killed my Catalytic converters!
Anyways, easy fix. Have fun treating your car!

[SAEED_KIZZY]

interesting topic @n8dogg I think an increase in MPH or sudden change can be a red flag and could cause to damage both the O2 sensor and A/F sensor and also CAT in long run. but the root of the problem can be somewhere else leaky injector for example. a good mechanic can measure how much fuel is injected by each injector and diagnose the problem.

[SAEED_KIZZY]

I usually change the oil around 6000KM and use cheap oil for 10 years I noticed an increase in fuel consumption especially when the car idling on the highway everything good. Kizashi is not my daily drive car so I do not care but recently I decided to use premium oil(Addinol Premium 0530 C3-DX) and fuel consumption in an idle decreased from 9 to 7.2 (L/100KM).

[KuroNekko]

So yesterday morning, my third battery died. It exhibited very strange symptoms unlike the first two batteries that failed. This time, the car's electronics appeared to have seizure-like conditions. The instrument lights flickered out of control for about 10 seconds without change despite trying to turn the car off. The engine failed to start. It jumped fine, which indicated to me that it was a battery issue but shortly after jumping, it died a few times in idle. The battery's failure was rather sudden this time without harder starts leading up to it. Temps here are in the low 90's during the day so not really a cold problem. It also happen to occur on a very inconvenient morning when I had to drop off someone for an appointment and then make a work meeting. It basically urged me to replace it with an AGM battery because 4 batteries in about 11 years is ridiculous. It's my opinion that standard flooded batteries just can't keep up with the Kizashi's electrical system and its accessories for a long time. Maybe it's just me with my capacitor dash camera and aftermarket lighting but I've been rather dissatisfied by the standard 24F batteries for the Kizashi ranging from the OE battery to Costco Interstate batteries. Both Interstates failed around or just out of warranty and the last one appeared to even leak a bit, corroding the metal battery bracket a bit.

After checking Costco for their Interstate AGMs, I learned that most of Southern California's Costcos have them on back order for several weeks for 24F. It also appeared those batteries weren't quite up to spec like other AGMs and the price and weight were give-aways of that. I ended up taking the plunge and got an X2 Power AGM from Batteries Plus, mostly because there is a store very close to my house. It's a costly and hefty beast at over $300 and weighing 57 lbs. However, it has a 4 year warranty and Made in USA. While only time can tell if the battery was really worth the investment, I think I'm done with standard flooded batteries for the Kizashi and jumped on the AGM train.

I installed the X2 Power last night and the Kizashi is starting better than ever. However, I think the odd starts with the old battery caused some funky electrical issues. One LED bulb in the high beam is at half-power and the low beam HID on that same side failed. My driver side window's automatic mode doesn't work and now the switch on the driver door does not roll down the front passenger window. However, the switch on the passenger door works that window fine so it's not the window motor. Hopefully these issues will resolve simply.

So I was able to finally resolve the window button issue. The driver side Auto function returned after I disconnected the battery again... so I thought at the time. However, the front passenger window button on the driver door continued to fail. Yesterday, I decided to take apart the driver door to check the harness connection to the window buttons and possibly inspect the switch for wear (I've resolved a switch issue with a previous car this way). I reviewed the service manual for instructions on the door panel removal and did so. I then put everything back together but just the front pass window switch failed to work. I then read the instructions a bit more and came across window programming instructions. I guess whatever electrical fluke from the dying battery must have reset the programming for the Auto function of the windows. I then realized I unknowingly reprogrammed the driver window because I held the switch both down and up while the windows were respectively fully open and closed. I then moved over to the switch on the actual front passenger door and rolled the window down completely and held for three seconds. I then rolled up and held shut for three seconds. This then allowed the driver side switch to work again because the Auto function was reprogrammed. All the window switches work now! There is apparently a programming method for anti-pinch as well but I didn't look into that at depth.
I was not aware that the Auto function actually had programming so I wanted to pass this info along to anyone who encounters window issues related to the switch. Per the manual, replacement of the window regulators require programming to restore Auto and Anti-pinch functions.

I also fixed my headlight issues by reconnecting the harnesses and grounds but I'm now starting to suspect that my DRL capacitor or LED driver is failing because it's flickering again. I'll start shopping around for replacement LEDs as the current kit is several years old.

The check engine light did not return but I still changed the engine air filter and cleaned the MAF. The Kizashi is back to a normal operating status.

[NickL]

I had the similar issue with Passanger window last two Sommers when the temperature was extremely big(arround or more than 35 degrees Celzius). I parked the car while the AC was on and wanted to shut it down, but all the sudden the passenger window went all the way down. I closed it, and then went automatically down again. This thing repeated several times and I was affraid that I will have to leave the car with one opened window on a parkin lot. Luckily at the end I was able to close the window completely and shut down the engine. The same thing repeated this sommer but in those days I realized that battery is dying so I changed it. After the change didn't have these issues any more. I hope this play with window won't come back again to hunt me in upcoming summer next year....