LocalMaxima

So before I bought the car, the dealer acknowledged there was a charging problem, and replaced the alternator and battery (the alternator in fact looks brand new and I watched the parts guy deliver and install the battery). So imagine my surprise when today when I absent mindedly stalled at a light and go to start the car again, and get clicking (and no battery warning light)

It responded to a jump but the battery is not charging. Unless the new alternator is bad, which is possible but not likely, it seems the only alternative is a bad connections. So when I got home it was getting dark but after I took the battery out to put on a trickle charger I took a few measurements- I measured from the case of the alternator to neg battery cable, and got close to 0 ohms. I measured from the harness that connect to the "S" terminal on the alternator to the pos battery cable, also close to 0 ohms. However, when I measured from the big stud thing under the rubber cap on the alternator to the pos battery cable, I consistantly got 75 ohms! According to the diagram in the manual, there should be nothing between the battery and alternator besides the 120 amp fuse (which everything pretty much goes through).

I did not have time to chase that down, but does that seem high? has anyone taken similar measurements?

Thanks

BenL

75ohms is extremely high for 4ga wire - even 10ft of it should be no more than 0.002ohms when new, to give an idea. Maybe a few ohms maximum including the terminal connectors and the fuse.

KP11520

Is this a 4th gen Maxima?

If so, charge the battery and get it running. If the Tach and Speedo aren't working, the instrument cluster fuse has blown. Funny, it also controls the charging of the battery. YIKES!

But the worst part is when the fuse blowing becomes intermittent and you have no idea where or what's shorting out.

I had my timing chain cover gasket (and chain and tension-er and gears and water pump while in there) replaced.

Then similar events happened immediately. After paying almost $600 to the same mechanic for a new Bosch Alternator, it kept happening. Then he kept charging between $100 to $150 to finally find the short. Almost $1K extra on a 99 Maxima. IDIOT. For replacing parts that weren't needed and fixing the short he created. Never happened before. The shop is in Sea Cliff, New York. Similar name to the car we have.

I hope this helps

LocalMaxima

Last night I stayed up reading all of the horror stories that could be found by searching "new battery new alternator no charge maxima" and braced for the worst. But my instrument cluster was working, and the charge light was not coming on. I wanted to avoid a mechanic if at all possible, due to problems like KP had- I have found paying someone to diagnose a problem is an expensive pastime.

In my case I got lucky. This afternoon when I had a chance to look at it I found that the bolt holding the big battery wire to the alternator was loose. Apparently when it was installed the lock washer went UNDER the cable eye, essentially doing no good as far as keeping the nut in place.

All of the arcing that went on buggered things up a little but I got a new bolt and some washers and it seems solid- the alternator is now definitely charging the battery, based on voltage measurements.

One thing though- some of the black insulating plastic around the stud on the alternator chipped away as a result of being fried. Now there is still a good 1/8 inch between the eye and the case of the alternator, but there is now nothing between them. I am not really worried about them coming in physical contact, but should I worry about arcing?

asand1

iTrader: (1)

Maybe use a nylon oil plug washer for insulation?

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

Make sure the positve stud is secure and not wigglings around enough to accidently contact the altenator frame (Neg)....try your trick or just use some exopy to fill in the missing pieces!

KP11520

Everybody Loves a Happy Ending!

Coingrats!

There's a few funny videos on YT about Happy Endings! LOL

LocalMaxima

Good suggestion Cmax, there isn't much that JB Weld or zip ties can't fix...