Hi,

Sorry for the long post. I want to share my experience with others so that they can be careful in avoiding such scenarios.

Few days back I had an Alternator failure in my max .

It was beautiful Monday morning and I started the car to go to office. But it would not start. I have the jump cables so I was proud of myself. I jumped it and started driving. But it would go for some distance and then engine would stop. As a matter of fact whenever I tried to brake, the engine would die. Then I realized I am having a special monday.

So now, since I cannot drive the car myself to the mechanic, I called a tow truck and my car was loaded on the back of the truck (a first!). Once I entered the car mechanic shop, I realized they will have a field day on me today. I must have had my car checked, when my battery went down last time and had to replace it. I did not realize it could be Alternator as my battery was close to its end of life. I got a "battery light on" in my dash. I did ECU diags and it gave ALL CLEAR. I did not know that it does not cover alternator. I should have realized that by looking into the codes. There were no codes for alternator failures(all stars lined up against me ).

The mechanic gave me a lift to my office. Then after some time I got a call and the mechanic gave me a bill of $500 . I was in shocked state. He said he needs to replace the alternator and with part and labor it will be $500. I didnt have any other option but to fix it through him. I could not shop around and I was at the receiving end. And the mechanic knows it and he does not think twice to take advantage of it.

So in the evening, I got my car back. But I have to say I was impressed at the difference it made to my car. The acceleration was smooth and gradual and I loved it. I used to have jerky acceleration. I was happy except for the fact that I had to pay through my nose.

So now I started doing some research as to why it costed so high ($310 part + rest labor) and if I had any other alternatives given the situation I was in. I found out that if I ordered the part online, it would have been $100 less. And I could have saved a bit. But that is if I had a clue of what was to come. But when I saw the battery light going on, I could have taken it to the mechanic, as a preventive measure, and checked it out. I would have had couple of days before it broke fully.

Anyways, then I came across a 97 MAX alternator recall campaign, only to find that my VIN is not part of it. So I just consoled myself and went back to normal life after this spike of emergency.

Moral of the story, preventive maintenence helps!

Thanks for your time. Your comments encouraged!

 

When you titled it "got busted" I thought the cops got you when you were doing something illegal or stupid or something

$500

 

for 500 it better be lifetime warrenty

 

Its 12mon or 12k miles.

 

Title of this thread should have been "got raped!" not "got busted"

 

the same thing happened the first day i got my license. i had a firebird at that time and it died just 5 hours i got my license. i was stuck in a single lane road and had traffic lined up behind me like a parking lot. a cop drove by looked at me and my friend tryin to push the car out of the way and kept on driving. after jumping the car 7 times and almost getting ran over by a asain grandma and a ups truck and one dead end street, we made it to gthe machanic. the car wouldnt last more then 5 minutes, finally on a stretch we got a top speed of 30 with no power steering or brakes. it was alot of fun for a first day driver..

 

me too! i though it was a speeding ticket or something?

 

Well, I would have been happier if its just a speeding ticket!

 

lol.. me too. So how much are speeding tickets in texas where u live? Here in chicago its not too bad. Around 100 dollars

 

But doesn't the insurance go up with a speeding ticket?

 

Preventative maintenance couldn't have done much for you here, unless you routinely measure voltage when the car is running. Did you notice a slight burning smell a few days before it went? Only other indicators are electrical, such as lights going dim. With me I noticed a noise that sounded kind of like "veeeeh" and a burning smell. I was only a few miles from home so I was lucky. A quick check here on the org and I knew the alt was buggered.

 

Yeah its not that bad in TX. around 100.

 

Actually, there was no burning smell or anything. Only warning was the battery light in the dash. But I thought it was some false alarm as it was lightning/raining heavily last week. I have seen false alarms when there is lightning, etc.

The funny thing is I saw this battery light couple of days back. If I had taken it to mechanic, atleast I would have had a chance to compare the pricing with others or order part and just get the labor from mechanic or something. I could have saved on towing too.

 

There was a limited recall on 97-98 alternators last year.

See this link: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ernator+recall

Call your local dealer with your VIN # to check.

and for those currently experiencing problems..Autozone does free checkups.

 

i thought it was going to be something cool "... it was only about a kilo, and the cop is supposed to make a full recovery"

 

not to p!ss you off but you got reamed!!! I got my alternator for $160 after core charge an did it myself. It took a few hours but it was worth saving $340 for i guess, right?

 

Where did you get the alternator? Was it rebuilt or new?

 

it was brand new from a local shop. I get great prices around where i live cause my buddy owns a body shop, so i get discounted parts. I wound up saving like over 100. Its good to know people for when your in a bind.

 

I hope everyone is aware that you can buy an alternator from autozone for about $150 plus core charge. Rip your old one out take it with you and no core charge. You also hae to install the bracket with the nut backwards.


save over $350

 

I had similar incident. Sold my widebody 91 MR2 turbo and got a 97 GLE 3 months ago. The 3rd day I had it the brake and battery light came on. Checked this forum and said it was the altenator and to fix it FAST. Called Nissan and several dealerships to see if recalled alternator extended to my car and same answer NO. Went to work next day and on way home w/ tunes cranked, Loud POP from radio and it stalls. I ended up pushing the car out of heavy traffic :-( Friggin hazards would not even work and every 4th or 5th person tells/yells at me as I am pushing my car, turn on your hazards!! I almost beat a soccer mom for telling me that for the upteenth time. I was like, "**** lady if u wanna help get you fat a$$ outta the car and help me push!!" She declined my offer :-)

Went to stealership and it worked out to $426 w/ free towing thru insurance USAA. In 10years w/ the my 2 toyotas I was never left stranded (Mr2 and Corolla). 3rd day w/ Max I was pushing it, man I was hot. That $$ was gonna go for a Y-Pipe and XM radio. Its been flawless since and like the low end grunt and not having to shift in traffic, but its weak on the top end. Would a Budget Y-Pipe wake up the top end alot? Most likely gonna pawn the Max to my Mom and get another MR2 turbo, I just miss the boost.

 

i got my alternator from autozone for 150 after core and it has lifetime warenty.

 

I can totally understand how you felt. I was just lucky that mine broke down in front of my house.

BTW, Is there any other benefits to a new alternator. Obvious one is good "electrical" health. But is there any effect on mileage or power, etc?

 

I ended up paying $400 to have mine done... There was a recall on them though

 

I had the same thing happen to me and my starter a couple weeks ago. I could of easily saved almost 200 bux by doing it myself but I just didn't have the time or the resources to do it that day and I needed it done that day. I was ****ed about it for days but really there was no other way for me to get it done. But yeah it sucks.

 

Seems like a bad case of "the Mondays"

 

HAHAHAHHA