ok so last night there was very heavy rain in NY and on my way home I didnt see a dip on the exit ramp of the highway and drove through a huge puddle of water. I thought my car was gonna get stuck in it...

Then this morning as I was warming up my max I opened the hood and saw smoke coming from the alternator. It also had a strong rubber burning smell. I shut the car off and started it up again and it smoked for less then a minute then went away. Now on my way home from work I noticed a low whining noise which increased as I revved the engine. Does this mean my alternator is going bad?

 

Unless your battery keeps getting drained out I would not think about the alternator when that is going bad it will keep draining out your battery because it uses power and does not ground it back to the battery... When I had my Jeep and went through mud puddles sometimes I would just dry everything off by letting it sit in the sun for a while try that out it might help

 

Umm.. besides the fact that it happened yesterday, I would be inclined to say it is a belt problem. Check the tension on your serpentine belt. The squealing is very common with a loose belt. Also, the alternator pulley might have a bad bearing or something.

 

They are both wrong!

YES it is your ALTERNATOR. I would bet money on that. Same thing happened to me. My alternator was going bad for two months, making whirring noises and burning rubber smells but I thought it was just a belt. My car died twice, both times in heavy rain. I don't understand why water makes a bad alternator temporarily die (the next day the car ran again in both cases), but it's becoming increasingly clear to me that alternators in 4th gens go bad ALL THE TIME.

See these threads. You may want to consider an aftermarket alternator. My friend with a 97 has a bad alternator and his alternator is less than a year old!

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=310530
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?p=3079003

 

sounds like an alternator going bad, since your max is a '98 you might be eligible for the alternator recall to have your alternator replaced for free

 

I will add that both times, the wet roads seemed to TRIGGER the whirring noise and burning rubber smell. I don't understand this at all! Maybe if the alternator gets wet a lot then it goes bad more quickly? There shouldn't be much, if any, water getting that far up in the engine bay and ahead of the wheels. Maybe it's humidity related.

 

hmm..well I just loosened my V belt a little, because I think it was a little tight...There is still a little whinning noise which can be heard when i step on the gas pedal.....I'm gonna look into that alternator problem though...

thankx everyone for you help!

 

FYI my alternator problem started in May, whined all month but the car was driveable, then went away in June. It came back in July and after the car died again, I got it fixed. So you may think adjusting the belt tension fixed it and you're good to go, but beware, the alternator may be bad and come back to haunt you!

 

yeah itll whine for a while i drove it a week without problems, it started 3 weeks prior to that internmittently...like once every week, then dindt stop until i got it changed, look for a remanufacturers shop, i got mine for $100 completley rebuilt