Got a 1990. I don't think I have ABS. The other night while driving got out and smelt like something an electrical short under the hood. Think maybe a fusible link.

A couple hours later as I was leaving the place I was at, I went to I cranked the car and notice the brake and battery indicator lights on the dash were on. Drove the car home (15 miles) with no problems. Next day topped off the brake fluid (about half low) and even disconnected the battery for a minute to see if something needed to be reset. Lights still come on. Even check the parking brake lever and the rear brake light bulbs. Wondering if something is burned out like a fusible link. Any ideas?

 

alternator isnt working. dont know why the brake light comes on but it does. abs has a light by itself

 

Check the ECU fuse. The one in the dash panel.

 

your alternator went dead.
when the alternator dies, it trips the battery light and the brake light. pretty common occurrence on cars.

 

Thanks.....

I was afraid it was the alt. slowly going out. Did get over 13 volts across the battery but that was at the battery level. Alt. is way deep down. Wish they could had put it on top.

Wonder if it is safe to start the motor then disconnect the battery and see if the engine dies and/or measure the volts. I've heard this practice is not recommended on some cars (Not sure why) but I've used it in the past.

 

is it safe? no
is it done? all the time.

actually the really dangerous part is when people reconnect it with the car running

 

Check the fuse before you buy.....

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=441419
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=441635

 

Hmm, good thing you pointed out the true danger in doing that...
I learned this "trick" from some mechanic as I was following him around.

 

13 volts with the engine running is low. The battery should be close to that on it's own. With the engine running, the alternator should be making around 14 volts.

 

it's really easy to get to from under the car (on a VG don't know on a VE) and i think most nissans will shut off if you disconnect the battery. You should get just over 14 volts at the battery with the car running I don't think it would be a fuse cuz unless you have a very large battery it would have starting to run really rough or died on that long of a drive. so for the most part i would say your alt. is braking