I just was racing my buddy tonight and I noticed at over 6,000 rpm's my dash lights dim quite a bit. It is noticeable and I did it several times just to confirm. Is my alternator dying or what? You would also think that this would affect my spark and in turn, my performance. Any ideas as to what is causing this?

 

cough cough you mean your were driving next to your buddy right?

 

hmmm

normally they get a little brighter as it spins faster

Normally I'm looking at the road going that fast

 

Harvs94max, sicko, yeah it was your mama Anyway, no it dimmed quite a bit, didn't get brighter, I don't think that's a good thing. And I look at the road most of the time, I was pretty far ahead of the other traffic, not going a bit over the speed limit

 

Well you alternator is destined to fail. Its another materials flaw for the maxima. The brushes in the alt burn into the rotor where it picks up the current. It should be the other way around, the brushes should slowly wear not the metal hehe.

How old is your battery? Check the voltage when the car is OFF, and check it when its at idle. When its off it should be at least 12V. When its idling it should be over 14V (some cars charge at 14.4V others charge at 13.8V).

 

My wife's alty did that.. about a month after I noticed it starting, the alternator died.

start saving.

 

Thanks Matt, that's what I was afraid of, but oh well. I'll have to take a look at it this week.

 

Is your alternator installed backwards? lol j/k
In that case it would use up your battery juice...but anyways...

Good luck saving the dough.

Brian

 

My car does the same thing. I noticed it about 3-4 months ago. I had just had my alternator rebuilt. I took it back and the guy checked it and the battery and all was reading fine. I was wondering if it had anything to do with the UDP I had just installed before but he said he was not sure what caused the dimming. Only at about 6k rpm. I have a lifetime warranty on the rebuild. I also have an extra alternator from my parts car. I used that one while my other was being rebuilt.

 

Hmmm, I don't have an underdrive pulley but if the alternator goes out I'll throw one on. I'm just concerned that if I'm losing power it is affecting performance. I still need to check the battery as was mentioned before.

 

Let us know if you figure something out. Like you said, get your battery checked and the alternator. Usually advance or auto zone will do a free check for you. I have not been too worried about mine since it checked out okay.