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Charging System Prob?

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Old 10-29-2005, 10:26 PM
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Charging System Prob?

OK, so tonight I'm driving around and decide to lay in to the pedal...The instrument panel dims and the battery and brake idiot lights come on. I repeated this procedure several times with the same results. Then I put it in park and revved the engine...same thing would happen when it got up around 4000rpm. I replaced the alternaor less than a week ago and the battery a couple of days before that. I'm thinking something's up dealing with the alternator, what do you guys think?
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Old 10-29-2005, 10:36 PM
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if its one of the lifetime warranty autozone alternators chances are that is the problem. i had 3 autozone alternators that didn't work out of the box. all 3 in a row. 4th one finally worked.
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Old 10-29-2005, 10:47 PM
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Hmm... It's a Napa alt with a 3-yr warranty. For the sake of diagnosis, I hope you're right , but, man, what a pain in the @$$!!!

Brian, if you read this thread, what is the period of warranty on your units?
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Old 10-30-2005, 04:22 AM
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I warranty them for the life of the part

I cover them as long as I can get the manufacturer to. usually a couple of years.

and your problem does sound like your alternator, my idiotzone one did the same thing (previous owner install). It was peculiar because the opposite normally happens, the lights come on at idle and go off at higher RPM (idiot lights). had a hard time pointing it out to uncle (mechanic whose guys do my work when I'm busy/lazy/too slow for them) it wasn't until we were driving the car back from the garage (it passed all the normal tests) that he saw the lights and turned the car back around and we swapped the alternator with one from "my" stock. that alternator is now on kyle's car.
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Old 10-31-2005, 04:21 PM
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I think I am having the same problem

I think I am having the same problem you are having! I really need your help!!! I have a 1990 Nissan Maxima that has been a great runner for the past 250,000 miles. Recently, I have been driving the car and the radio turns off, the dash lights dim, then the car will not increase RPMs. I am forced to pull the car off the road and it dies. One time, the breaks went out and it had total electrical shutdown. I have taken it to two different dealerships and they say everything is fine! I replaced the alternator about a year ago and the dealership tells me the alternator is currently charging fine. You guys are my last hope because the car is not longer reliable without being fixed. Thanks in advance for all your help!
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Old 10-31-2005, 04:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Czerndog
I think I am having the same problem you are having! I really need your help!!! I have a 1990 Nissan Maxima that has been a great runner for the past 250,000 miles. Recently, I have been driving the car and the radio turns off, the dash lights dim, then the car will not increase RPMs. I am forced to pull the car off the road and it dies. One time, the breaks went out and it had total electrical shutdown. I have taken it to two different dealerships and they say everything is fine! I replaced the alternator about a year ago and the dealership tells me the alternator is currently charging fine. You guys are my last hope because the car is not longer reliable without being fixed. Thanks in advance for all your help!

You probably have a loose connection somewhere...You need to get under the hood a check the ground wires,hot wires,alternator wires,etc for loose connections,broken wires....
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Old 11-01-2005, 12:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Czerndog
...the car is not longer reliable without being fixed. Thanks in advance for all your help!
Congratulations! You have exceeded the computer life expectancy by 3x. Still, as said, the fix in shutdown might be very simple wire/relay/connector oxidation.

Whattodo to pump life in the system, read first, then take max to teen-gym: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/748507/14
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Old 11-01-2005, 02:53 PM
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Alternator replaced...Me-1 the World-0
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Old 11-01-2005, 06:06 PM
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The new alternator is now making a high-pitched noise and it has become louder over the course of the day...Thinking it's a bad bearing...If I have to get under there and replace the alternator for a third time, I'm gonna be pissed!
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Old 11-01-2005, 06:08 PM
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Originally Posted by maxitech
The new alternator is now making a high-pitched noise and it has become louder over the course of the day...Thinking it's a bad bearing...If I have to get under there and replace the alternator for a third time, I'm gonna be pissed!

Lemme guess....autoblown/advance auto...
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Old 11-01-2005, 06:47 PM
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nope, NAPA, as mentioned above. I think I'll just order one from brian and try to return this one. WHAT A PITA!
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Old 11-02-2005, 02:28 PM
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i had to drive about an hour to get to the closest autozone with a maxima alt. (closest autozone is about 45 minutes anyways). went home, put it on... nothing... went back, had them test it and it was bad. they pulled another one out of the box and tested it, bad. i went to another autozone a mile or so away and had them test the one they had and finally found a good one. very big hassle.
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Old 11-02-2005, 04:51 PM
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Oh, tomorrow I'm going in there and raising hell, not because I'm pissed, because I'm astounded with the quality of a relatively expensive part which comes with a three year warranty. My goal is to get a free WORKING alternator out of it. If it was a shop, they would not let go. That's like 200 in labor and one pissed off customer. I have better things to do with my time than weekly alternator swaps.
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Old 11-03-2005, 08:31 AM
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Well, we settled on trading the faulty reman. alternator for a new one straight up. That's not too bad of a deal, I guess.
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Old 11-03-2005, 10:59 PM
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assuming the new one is any better
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Old 11-04-2005, 03:29 PM
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New one's in, it works, all is well...
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Old 11-05-2005, 06:11 PM
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for now
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