The Maxima just stranded me on my way home from work tonight. Going down the higway I noticed it surging a little, very slight but noticeable. Then the lights start to get dimmer, and finally all lights shut off. Cars still running fine at this point, but no lights. So I shut everything off, radio etc. Try to nurse it home but it just keeps getting worse, surging real bad and barely able to get above 2-3 MHP on flat road. Turned it off on top of a big hill, and starter would click but not turn over. Let it roll and bump started it, but then it would continue surging, with some nasty gas fumes and smoke coming out from it. Finally shut it off a few miles from the house and called the wife to pick me up. Obviously at first I thought the alternator because of the power, but who knows now. Anyway, if anyone has ever had something similar happen with their Max, let me know what it was. I guess sometime tomorrow I will try replacing the battery to see if it will get the final 3-4 miles home to my garage. BTW, its a 91 SE 5speed.
Jason.

 

sounds like alternator and maybe the battery too. Do you have any other clues? Was the car acting funny the past few days or anything? Did you do anything new?

 

Nothing new lately, but I did notice that the headlights seems to be a little dim night before last. Would the battery or alternator cause it to run rough? I always thought that if the alternator went bad engine would either run fine or not at all, nothing like what it was doing tonight?

 

sounds like the alternator died a couple nights ago and your battery finally ran dead.
they will do things similar to what you described when the engine starts running out of electrical power to keep the sensors and fuel pump and etc running...

charge battery.. get car to shop.. test alternator and battery. replace as necessary.

 

Cool.....didn't know it would run like that with a bad alternator or battery. Thanks for the tip, that makes me feel better, knowing it might be an easy fix.

 

Easy but lots of work. Pic of alt gnd bolt. This car has been standing in warm garage 12yrs, driven 6k/yr. No rust anywhere to be seen. None.

Then take a look at groundings... all looks nice, clean, shiny paint. Open grounding bolt. What do u see?

No amount of equipment swapping will correct this. Btw. The real cause of dead batt...



...for the 2dAY workup deTails cliC: ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

 

you didn't notice any warning lights whatsoever before all of this?

 

The funny thing is: typically no warning. Only possibility to catch this, is extra voltage gauge.

Warning: I have a extra digital one on the dash, just found out it is a toy lottery number machine... I was already about to swap alt, but checked, compared with a multimeter: constant 14,0V when this toydisplay was rolling between 13,0 to 14,7V.

 

No, no warning lights at all.

 

One thing I have learned to follow-up on is that ! When people ask me anything regarding the charging system, My response is:
At night, face an object turn on the headlights, Wipers, Rear defroster, A/C. Now, do your headlights dim / brighten up based upon the engine rev's or by shifting between neutral and drive ?

If they dim, and it is more than the normal 'slight' difference you *may* see, time to track this down before something breaks down or doesn't start.

My $0.02
-Jim

 

Just purchased a battery charger. Went to the car to pull the battery and bring it home for charging, figured I would try to start it just to see. It started right up. I got it home as quickly as possible and it started to die again, doing the exact same thing as before. I pulled the battery and put it on the charger, by the amp charging rating it appears as though it was completely dead. So I will try to replace the alternator and see what happens. Thanks for all the advise, I'll keep you up to date.

 

Definitely the alternator, this is happening to me now!!!!!

 

Hey Jasba,

Had the same exact thing happen to me about a year and a half ago in my 90 SE. Took it to a guy who diagnosed a bad alternator, but at the same time found some major wiring and corrosion problems. Ended up having to replace some wires under the hood. Check all your wiring between battery, fuse box, alternator, etc. There are also fusible links strategically placed under the hood, might try finding those and checking if they r good. Good luck to ya.

Speaking of wiring, anyone know where I can get a schematic for my 90 Maxima SE?

 

www.phatg20.net try there

 

Did u read at all?

1. First the wiring, connectors, groundings: open clean add contact grease. After u have verified that theyre ALL good, check voltage with a multimeter. Has to be 13.8V or more while engine running.

2. If voltage ok not at this stage, buy another alt.

1 +2 + 3 = Again: Buying alternator will not help but the salesman, if your wirings are bad.

Folks. Please try to click on:
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/748507/5
Schemas can be found:
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/748507/1

 

No I did read, thanks for the advise. Checked as many connections as I could in 15 minutes, then pulled the alternator. Took it to Advance Auto parts where they tested it. It was putting out just over 10 volts so I replaced it. Seems to be running okay so far, but who knows how long this thing will run on battery power alone, since I just fully charged the battery. Anyway, I guess I will know tomorrow when I take it to work, which is a 70 mile round trip.

 

Fine. Should be ok as a real fault was found/repaired; me like many here have had bad experiences from reman alts. Stealer$hip price for alt: 900$ lol.

 

I have a 91 SE. Car has been running fine A little rough idle in gear but otherwise fine. Got home yesterday (ran fine) got up this morning and nothing. When i turn it over everything comes on but no noise or turnover from the engine. I checked the sparkplugs,fine. Battery is fine,the starter is not clicking?? I am lost.. Anyone Please. Chris: CP23MJ@AOL.COM

 

...the VGE wiring goes like this:
click http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/748507/5

 

could it be the starter if its not clicking?

 

Open this and make a jumper from batt+ to this starter solenoid connector: Solenoid clicks, connects and starter will start spinning. Or use a screwdriver to short solenoid screws... note: the tip will vaporize.

 

Thanks for all the help. You'all are very helpful! I checked the cable from the battery to the starter and the bolt was coroded. I cleaned it,took it off and starter to clean the cable... alight tug and it broke!! Getting a new battery/stater cable tomorrow.. Fingers crossed it is the problem. Thanks again for all of the help. I will post updates in the AM. Chris

 

The new cable did.. Thanks again for the help!