This morning I looked at my dash and saw that my brake and battery dash lights were both on. The brake was definitely not engaged. Also, my Passport 8500 which is set to Voltage (constantly measures alternator/battery output and displys it to me) is showing less than 11 volts. I think my alternator is bad. How much does it cost for replacement of an alternator on a 4TH gen? Isn't there some kind of recall or something for alternators that I read about?

Yes. Same thing happened to me.

Check the main connection to the alternator. I just had the same thing, brake and battery light, the nut was loose on the main alternator connector.

If you're looking to replace the alternator, maybe around 300 from a Nissan Dealership... I paid a little over 500 because I had my belts replaced at the same time...

You both had the brake AND battery light come on? Does anyone know what the alternator connector has to do with the parking brake light?

I have no idea why the brake light came on too. However I looked in the FSM in the alternator section and went through the diagnosis for the malfunction indicator for CHARGE and one of them was the B terminal which was causing my problem. The S terminal can also cause this problem and there is a 7.5 amp fuse for the alt in the fuse link box which is on the drivers side near the relay box.

Anything other than that is internal to the alt, ie rotor coil, rotor slip ring and brushes.

I did check locally at the wreckers and an alt can be bought for around 50-75 dollars with a 3 month warranty.

There was a recall, you should have gotten a letter if you bought your car from a nissan dealership. 97-98 I believe were affected. I had mine replaced for free when it died over the summer. It prolly would have been fine but I had my AC cranked up with my system playing really loud... bet my over watt headlight bulbs/corner lights didn't help much either.

Well unfortunately mine is a 95, and I didn't buy it from a dealership. So I guess I'm out of luck for the the recall. I also had the A/C turned up and music loud just before the lights came on. HMMM.
My brother, a Ford mechanic, is taking it to work tomorrow to run a few tests on it and he'll tell me what he finds. I've had the battery on a charger all night.

well I've been looking at alternators and found them to be priced between $215 and $350! For an alternator WTF? I guess I'll be searching for nearby junkyards tomorrow.

I got my remanufactured alernator for $156 through Discount Auto Parts in FL. I wouldn't bother with a used alternator, personally. What if it fails on you in less than a year? That'd be a bigtime PITA.

Shop around a 'lil more - I gotta figure somebody's got a reman. for under $170 near you somewhere.

Check the reddish-brown fusible link in the center of the fuse block behind the battery (140 Amp). This fuse is located between the negative terminal of the battery and your B+ terminal on the alternator, so if the fuse is bad, your battery will not be charged by the alternator. Look at it closely for cracks by popping off the clear plastic cover. You can't just pull this fuse out - it is secured by screws in the side of the fuse block. I thought i had a bad alternator as well until i noticed there was a crack in this fuse. Cost me $10 to fix. If you do have a bad alternator, go to O'Reilly or Auto Zone - both 149.99 with core credit and lifetime warranty. I called Nissan about the recall and it's only for 1998 Max's.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. MandMMax thanks for taking the time to call Nissan. My brother the Ford mechanic took my car to work today and did a charging system test on it. He said the battery checked out fine @ 12.52V. The alternator however, is only putting out 11.86V. So the alternator must be bad. I called a independent service shop and they said it would be $432.89 for part and labor. I talked to a friend that works there afterwards though, and he said he could get me a substantial discount on the part and labor.

I had both lights and it was my harness that connects to the alternator twice before it hooks to the car harness. check that.

i was told by the dealership that the only thing the red "brake" light will come on for is the parking brake or if you are low on fluid.

Now you can tell them they are wrong because both my battery and brake light came on and both went off when I tightened the nut on the alt.

I had a very similar problem with my other car, an Isuzu Rodeo. A few lights in the cluster would illuminate and the air conditioner would not work. I think the low voltage causes this erratic behavior in other indicators besides the battery light. Anyway, I took it to an old school electromechanic and he rebuilded the alternator for cheap, (I think it was a less than a $100 including the labor of taking it in and out of the car). I haven't had any problems so far. Did the same with the Isuzu's starter a few years ago and its still working fine. So there you have another option.

I had the same charging system test done on mine with basically the same results so i thought it was the alternator. I was getting some output from the alternator, but not enough to run some things like accessories or tail lights or dash lights or air conditioner. If you're getting 11.86V from the alternator then maybe your alt. is not bad. Do yourself a favor and check what all these people are suggesting worked for this problem(namely the wire harness nut on the alternator like Jime or 96shogunmax or a crack in the 140 amp battery-alt. fuse like on mine) before you have the alternator replaced, because mechanics, and namely dealership mechanics won't always check these things for the sake of time. Good luck.

I will check these options first. Believe me, I would much rather buy an Injen CAI and Budget Y than spend it all on an alternator. It just sucks how the alternator is positioned in the engine compartment. It looks like a huge pain in the *** to work with. It's so crammed in there. I will try though since it is 81 degrees right now here in Milwaukee.

The brake light comes on because the brake system is not receiving the full 12 volts it wants. Same thing happened on my Sister's altima. I put a new alternator in for (total cost $110) and the brake light never came back.

I just removed mine today, 1hr tops, but this was my 2nd removal in 3 months, screwy autozone alternator

It only took you an hour? How did you go about removing the alternator?
And what is wrong with the Autozone alternators? I was planning to get one from Autozone tomorrow since it was $40 cheaper than the next lowest price I found.

In my experience I have found rebuilding your own alternator is better than a used one from a junk yard.

you need to remove: belt-a/c compressor-alternator in order, then just twist and turn it and push compressor out of the way then pull alternator down!

some tips (not in order):
remove all plastic covers.
alternator has 2 bolts remove the big one first.
4bolts holds a/c comp in place, all accessible.
remove all wiring from alternator.
get extensions and a good socket set.
loosen belt tensioner pulley by loosening the center nut and the tension adjuster nut.

autozone is ok, i think advanced auto parts is cheaper. my alty failed cuz of my own fault (life time warranty )

You make it sound so easy! Well maybe i'll try it. Or I could probably manage to get a mechanic at my work to do it for cheap. I'll just buy the part and give him $40 or something. Still way cheaper than a dealer.
Did you lift up the car and go in from the bottom?

yes you have to put the car on jack stands and remove pass-side front wheel and the plastic fender liner. some of the a/c and alternator bolts are very tight you'll need to muscle a bit.
**This is not for a beginner level project**
if you dont have a good set of box wrenches or socket set dont attempt. If you go to a shop they should charge no more than 2hr labor.