before i change the alternator
 

I've had a weird problem and because of the fact that I can't get a New alternator for the car anymore; before I swap it out I wanna make sure it's the culprit. Theres only a few symptoms that make me think its something else

When I got the car the battery/brake light was on yea yea Alternator. Battery terminals were also loose so those got tightened. the 'meter' fuse blew and didn't have any speedo for awhile. put in a new fuse and everything worked good for awhile. then speedo would go out. replaced fuse again but speedo didn't come back (think I'm working with a bunk speedo)

but after all this only the battery light now comes on. I don't drive it daily I would start it every few days in the winter and have driven it to the carwash a couple times. all with the battery light on but never really had any trouble. yea yea alternator I know

the other night I went out to eat late and when I was driving it back home. I started getting this hard hesitation, which I realized was the car trying to shut off i.e. battery/voltage/whatever (yea yea alternator I KNOW)

The next day or the next after that I started it and went inside, came out 10 minutes later and it wasn't running. But it fired right back up, stumbled and died about 10 seconds later.

ONE of the weird things is that It will start right up. Ive started it a couple times today, once just so I could hurry up and back it out of the garage before it died. I know if I went out there right now it would fire right up. I would think if alt is bunk that after awhile where is the battery getting all this power to start it every time?? When I had my first 3G years ago the alternator died on me. experienced very similar symptoms but Im almost certain that the battery was always dead and it wouldn't start up.

also, something has caused my 'meter' fuse to blow on more than 1 occasion, whether or not that is my defect gauge unit (my suspicion) i don't know.

I just put a NEW alternator on my pathfinder to the tune of $250 or so just for the alternator. However I don't mind being as it's NEW and has the warranty yada yada. but with only reman alts available for the maxima I just wanna make sure someone hasn't had a similar situation that ended up being something weird that I'm missing

I just replaced the ground cable to the battery today. It was heavily corroded where the exposed wire connects to the bracket behind the battery/under the air box. I thought that was my issue.

sorry if the above is just a waste of time but this part below is worth a thread maybe?

Also if I do have to give in and change the alt. there are a bunch of options to the tune of $200 plus, and one thats like $80. if I'm just gonna have to keep swapping them out every so often because they are sh!t should I just go with the $80 one?

you just have to diagnose it. throw the battery on a battery charger for a bit, if it tests good afterwards, its likely not the culprit. then, get the charging system load tested or at least put a voltmeter on the battery at idle. anything less than about 13V the alternator is likely bad. check all wiring connections as well, those can cause intermittent problems. otherwise, i saw a car once that had the battery light on and a new alternator didnt fix it. turned out a fuse was half broken and causing the issue. to be blowing that one fuse a few times, something on that circuit is getting shortened to power

if you want to just take a stab at the alternator get one from the junkyard for cheap, if that fixes it get a reman or new alternator and keep the JY one as a spare.

When checking output of the altenator: Check it without a load, then check it with a load on....I usually do low beams and foglights, blower fan on Hi, caution flashers on, pressing brakes pedal.....If it it's above 12.5 Volts in this scenario it's good to go!

these ideas would have worked the other day, but now I can't really test it while running because it won't stay running anymore. I'm going to go thru the fsm tomorrow and see what's all on that meter fuse.

NEW alternator isn't an option as far as I can tell only remanufactured which is why I'm just double checking, I will have to check out some of the other fuses. I was really hoping it was the ground cable but that didn't seem to change anything. also chrome no need to charge the battery it starts right up, battery is pretty new so I'm not suspecting it at the moment.

thanks for the insight so far

I'm having similar problems as of last night

Was having intermittent 5grand plus revs battery and handbrake light would flash then go away now I have it at start up on and sometimes a good hammer down would shut it off but not 100% of the time. I'm going to run an avr tomorrow but I was hearing a click in the cab under the dash so I think maybe it's a switch or something else.

But won't know till I test it tomorrow.
Any other ideas?

why is your gauge cluster fuse blowing? do you have something else connected to it?

Pretty sure it was my alt clue was stranded at the gas station barely got there however almost died on the train tracks

sounds like the alternator, when the alternator on my 3rd gen took a dump years ago the brake/ABS/etc dash lights started going on/off themselves, the wipers started moving slowly, and the radio would turn itself on and off

Dmad, why worry about new vs rebuilt? Just grab good working OEM ones at the junkyards. That's what I do on all my cars for alternators and starters. I keep several back-ups in "stock" at all times lol.

So faulted the alternator have power at fuse and no charge.
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If I had the junkyards around me like they do in STL, or OMAHA, I would def grab an alternator from the yard. However there aren't any U-PULL-ITs or anything like that around here in the state at all. Ive tried dealing with the yards and they all think their **** is worth twice what they're asking on ebay for everything. The junkyards around here aren't Lifesavers like the U Pull It types. And How do I even know if its in good working out coming out of the yard?

The reason I made this post is because I can see me going and buying and alternator, swapping it all out, and starting the car up only for it to stumble and die just likes it doing. I'm confused by the fact the battery always has the power to start the car…am I wrong in thinking that?

James if you have an extra oem VE alt that you'd be willing to sell PM me, if not thats okay.

Funny im having the exact same issue with my car. I load tested at cold start and it said it was ok. Then about 5 min. later my Batt. light will come on very dim and the get bright followed by the Brake light coming on and going off. Then after about a min. they both shut off and its good to go. I hooked up my volt meter while these lights come on and found my voltage reading 12.1V. I know it sounds like the alternator but before i replaced the bad fusible link from my positive battery terminal months ago i had taken my alternator to Autozone <--- (i know), the alternator passed all 3 times with flying colors? What gives?

Some of my past experiences with this type of issue turned out to be a burned lead on the printed circuit board on the back of the instrument cluster. A portion of the charge circuit goes through the instrument cluster hence the charge(battery light)and goes back to the alternator as a rectifier(energize)signal. This is similar to the old MK1 VW Jetta Diesel I have and you have to rev the engine above 1,100 rpm in order for the alternator to energize.

I know it's a pain to pull the cluster out but I sure would have a look at the printed circuit board since there is a fuse popping issue. Once the cluster is pulled and everything is unplugged, turn the key on and put a fuse in and see what you get. Don't forget to disconnect the battery first.

I'm not saying this is you're problem but you have had or still are having issues with the cluster.

If you need a spare cluster to test with I have one here I can send but it's from a 91 GXE and everything in it works perfectly.

at work we get 90% of out parts from Napa, if i had a dollar for every time a rebuild Napa alternator we put on a Nissan went bad again within 6 months, i would be a millionaire. rarely happens on other makes, always Nissans especially Altimas and Maximas

I have a spare cluster I already got off ebay. I went to swap it out one day and that's when I first realized the fuse was blown. so in order to not have to swap the odometer i replaced the fuse and left the dash in/put the dash all back together. it worked for a couple days. I will swap that cluster out now tomorrow and see if that changes anything.

Your alternator may be OK and your car has a bad grounding issue. Check (and re-do) all your connections. Try dis-connecting and re-connecting your alternator. Could be a loose connection there as well.

In a previous Sentra I had, the car acted weak. Dim headlights. Always started like it was dying but I knew it had a new battery. Turned out to be the fusebox in the engine bay. Corroded harness connector. Once I cleaned that up the car ran flawlessly. Headlights bright and everything.

dwapenyi that makes sense, like I said the main battery ground cable has an exposed part that bolts to the engine bay, that piece looked heavily corroded so I replaced that already.

I will take out the cluster today and see if it'll start/run any differently. if yes then I'll swap ODOs between the clusters and see whats going on then.

if not I will go thru and examine all the grounds

alright

took the cluster out of it. meter fuse wasn't blown.
replaced cluster. started car. still getting no RPM reading, altho I'm pretty sure this cluster is good it only has 35k miles on the odo, also I saw it work last time I halfway changed it out so I know it worked before

car fired right up, started to stumble after 3-4 seconds so i just shut it off.

gonna go start checking all my connections in the engine bay.

EDIT: fuse WAS blown, just incredibly hard to see

I replaced both battery terminals (the parts the connect to the posts) because they were just aged and worn. There was a blown fusible link, it was in the bigger fusible link box on the drivers fender. ignition switch 30A link. I removed the fusible link for the power windows out of the other box and replaced it, no difference.

Went to the parts store and turns out they do have a reman alt with a lifetime warranty so that makes me feel a little better. they had to order it but it should be here today. Hopefully Ill have a different alternator on today and all these problems will disappear and I should have just listened to the what the car was telling me in the first place

its just odd that over a couple of months the car could be started and run for 15-20 minutes at a time and driven around on occasion without issue. thats why I was looking for something else

WOW. this is ridiculous

changed the alternator today, which was almost $300 considering the core is like $75

just fired it up and same ****. battery light. dies 10 seconds later. WOW how'd i know??

Damm what autoparts did you go to

advance auto. I had them test the alternator before i left and it checked out fine. I took the battery in today and am gonna go pick it up and have that tested. I also managed to give them the POS alternator off of my pathfinder for the core. so I still have the oem nissan alt that was on my Maxima, and may not be bad. my battery was a little low and need about half hour of charging…would that cause my symptoms? Im pretty sure when I get the battery back I'm going to hunt around more before I even bother starting the car because I have a feeling its just going to die.

Rear defrost and brake is a sufficient load

Not sure if this is relevant but I had the same problem on a pontiac. Turned out to be ignition control module heating up and failing causing the car to die. Then would cool off and work again. Would let me drive about 20 mins each time. Ended up keeping a few on hand and just quickly swapping it out every time it died to eliminate the need to wait for cool downs. Every time it failed it would fail a little bit faster the next time. Do maximas have ignition control modules?

battery tested good. got back and started inspecting the engine grounds. pulled 2 of the 3 smaller ones and freshened them up (nothing really wrong with them) then I pulled the main ground bracket that connects to the engine and negative battery cable; there was significant surface rust on this bracket so I spent some time removing it on the threads and where the connector meets up against it. replaced that bracket plus the charged battery.

started it up and I didn't appear to have a battery light.

however it still died 6 seconds later/whenever i cut it off because I knew it was going to.

ughhh

If the battery is testing good but it's stalling after 6 sec. maybe it's more fuel related?

Yeah, I have to wonder if it dying isn't an unrelated issue. Although starting out it had no issues other than battery light/alternator 'on its way out'.

Just something the car wants to do to completely throw off diagnosing the electrical issues

The 'fusible links' at the positive terminal of the battery: I found another thread where a guy was having weird issues and he pulled those apart (just 2 connectors that go into the one red connector that is half of what connects to the positive terminal) and had corrosion issues there. I pulled mine apart as well and I would like to clean those up so I can rule them out. It does look pretty nasty in there; whether or not its just old grease/protectant or truly corroded pins I'm not quite sure. Does anyone know if these are standard parts or do I need to get them from Nissan? I'd prefer to just get New instead of trying to clean these ones up as it looks to be a PITA….

after cleaning the main ground and getting the battery back from the charger at the parts store: the one time I started the car I noticed a huge difference, I think mainly the ground cleanup I did. Just quicker start and healthier sounding.

I'm just sick of starting the car and only having it run for less than 10 seconds

It's has had the same tank of Shell93 all winter, starting it every couple days. Drove it around several times never had an issue. It's down to about 1/4 tank

I understand why you're thinking fuel but it seems to me like the alternator isn't kicking in. The car starts up at 1500 RPM or so gets to 1000 then it drops down to like 300 and starts hesitating then dies (altho i always kill it before this). Seems like the battery does what it can then the alternator isn't giving/getting it's power or something so it just dies. But on last startup I had no battery light so I'm thinking I've solved the electrical issues as far as it staying running. I still don't know why my meter fuse is blowing but I have a couple of hunches and I think it's unrelated…

doesn't help its been windy/rainy these last couple days

My car ran pretty much off the battery for at least an hour.
My alternator was soaked in oil from the oil pressure switch so I know it was dead and see my avr above to flat zeros.

So I don't think it's your battery.

I agree on the fuel problem.

I have a new theory

I think it was dying before because of the alternator

I think its dying know because of the oil pressure sensor switch. that's the only connector I'm not 100% sure is plugged in correctly, and I'm going to check on that tomorrow. but that would make sense why it's dying even after getting rid of the battery light/battery issues. I was hoping to not even unplug it then I noticed it had gotten unplugged at some point, and I wasn't sure how it went back in.

So thats my best guess for now, I'm going to make sure that its connected properly and start it up tomorrow and hope thats it….

Testing with a multimeter
 

Do this test with a friend of yours helping;

Pop the hood and connect a multimeter with the leads connected to the battery terminals. The multimetere should be set to DC and read in the range of 10 to 100 volts.

When the car is off, the meter should be reading around 12.6 or 12.7 or 12.8 etc volts from the battery.

Disconnect the meter and have your friend start the car. Re-connect the meter and the meter reading should go up to about 13.6 to 14.4 volts. 14.4 means your ALT is in really good shape.

If your car doesn't show these characteristics, that can help in closing in where your issue is. I still believe that it is a ground somewhere or perhaps even your ignition switch somehow.

I will try to test it while running today if I can get a friend to come help.

I fixed what seemed to be the main ground issue (the bracket at engine) and I can tell from that that there is an improvement. also last time i started it I didn't appear to have a battery light so I think all of that might be ok, and I am leaning towards peoples suggestions of a fuel issue.

I will get back to you if I can get a friend to help me rule out the battery/alternator. I also am gonna crawl under the entire car and see if there isn't something obvious I'm missing….

EDIT: after searching through some other threads it doesn't seem the oil pressure sensor being unplugged would cause the car to die..

Also I got the red 'fusible link' plug apart and cleaned it up (it had plenty of light corrosion all throughout, if I can get the other side of this plug cleaned up today I think I can rule that out as well)

Alrighty thought I'd get back to you guys
first off my multimeter was crap and couldn't get any kind of reading I should have been getting so I went and got a new one. using the crap one also caused the lead to spark on the battery more than once and now my automatic seat belts won't move at all. passenger side stuck at should position, driver side stuck in open position. I'm guessing a fusible link or something somewhere but just another problem I'm ecstatic about

had a friend come over and start the car so I could get a reading while it was running

reading was 14.2 volts. however the car never died. continued to run with no battery light of any kind.

However when I was driving it later that night the battery light came BACK ON. to and from the store. when I got home I left the car running and tested it again with the headlights on ---> that time it registered 13.9V

Just started the car up today and its running now, battery read 14.2 but I still have the battery light



my Meter fuse is also still blowing, and I've got it narrowed down to either the inhibitor switch or the back up lamp being as it blows before I even get out of my driveway (I reverse out). I want to say if I put a new 10A fuse in the meter spot the battery might light go away (think this happened for me once) but maybe not, at the moment I'm out of 10As lol so just more fun for today

so more fun to try to figure out today

You should have just changed that whole your doing to alt.