maxtuner96

Okay, I was doing some research online to see if I could find out what was wrong with my car, and I found a forum that had people with close to the same problem on talkaboutautos.com. Below is a sample:

"I was having problems with the car stalling while driving, the radio going
off and on and the air bag light flickering off and on as well.

I replaced the battery and alternator and that didn't help. The problems
became more frequent.

I then replaced the engine coils and sparkplugs. That worked fine for
about two weeks. Then the car started acting sluggish when accelerating.
Now I'm back to square one with the radio going off and on, the stalling,
having trouble starting (sometime it starts right up, sometimes I just
hear a rapid clicking noise). The A/C and the lights are turn on no
problem.

I'm at a loss as to what to look at next. The car only starts when it
wants to."

Click Here to read more posts related to the same topic.

I am having the exact same problems, but with a couple other details. My guages stopped working, and I noticed I blew an alternator fuse, but I'm not sure if the alternaror fuse blew befor or after I installed the new one because I didn't decide to check all my fuses until after the new alternator was installed and nothing had changed. Also when I took the car to SEARS so they could test the new alternator, they said "we can't check the alternator because you need a new battery and the car is having electrical problems". This seems to be a problem that lots of Max and I30 owners are having, and they all seemed to have happend in the last couple of weeks. Can anyone help????? Pleeeeease!!!!!!

maxtuner96

I went into SEARS again today for a recheck. This time I had put in a brand new battery before I got there. Below are the test results:

Battery cables: Good
Battery cable ends: Good
Battery tray: Good
Belt is Good
Battery hold down: Good
Battery: Good

Diagnostic Results:
Drain Test: OK
Vehicle started: OK
Excessive voltage drop

I also went to AutoZone afterwards to hook their computer up to mine and see if its putting out any codes. The codes were:

P0500: speed sensor malfunction
P0325: knock sensor- 1 circuit malfunction bank 1 or 1 sensor

Does any of that have to do with my charging system or the speedometer? SEARS says the car needs to go to either an electrical shop or to the dealer. I need help becasue that sounds like a $#^% load of money.

98SEBlackMax

iTrader: (9)

Looks to me that you have three problems. One the excessive voltage drop and blown alternator fuses can be caused by an intermitant partial short somewhere on your alternator/battery mains wiring or it could be the sign of a faulty alternator. This voltage drop is causing the car to draw power from your battery which in turn is killing the battery. When the battery gets low the car starts to die, radio goes, climate control goes, then the car just up and stalls. Ive have had this happen on my '96, the alternator went while driving and the car slowly lost electrical power and died. Dissconnect the battery and check the positive cable with an ohmmeter for shorts. Secondly it looks like your speed sensor went or some of the wiring got messed up somehow, this will cause your speedometer to not work. Last but not least you've got the dreaded knock sensor failure which happens with about every 4th gen when they get older, when that goes you will see a major loss in power (20 or so HP) and the car will feel sluggish.

JP11283

I seem to have some interesting electrical problems too. A lot of the time when I turn the key the car won't turn over, even though all the accesories come on. It's like the starter disable on the factory security system is keeping the car from starting. My doors also like to lock and unlock whenever they get the itch too.

98SEBlackMax

iTrader: (9)

Time to call an exorcist, I think your car is possesed...

Seriously I wouldn't even know where to begin on that one. Sounds like an issue with the anti theft system or an intermittent fault in the body control module, maybe even a loose wire somewhere. Hardest part in fixing sporadic electrical problems is getting the problem to repeat itself and be consistent. Until it happens every time it’s hard to find out what’s going on. I’ve seen people bring cars into dealerships with random electrical gremlins and auto techs can't do anything because it’s not a consistent problem.

ches

I just want to add some words from my experience. Once I had my car stall in the very same place on the way to my work and I started to think that it place was hunted, no kidding, because I did not get any code or anything for the first month. And the problem was inconsistent too. Once I check codes and it said that speed sensor caused that problem. I found a thread on maxima.org, which explained how to check that sensor. I checked both speed sensor and engine cooling temperature sensor. Speed sensor was faulty. And I just decided to change both sensor and sender. No more stalls since. Which one fixed the problem I am not sure I am just happy that I don't have any more.
Hope it will help somehow.

maxtuner96

..........................................Just wanted to get this post back to the beginning...Sorry! But, I still need help...Anyone else have input?

maxtuner96

Well, after 3 weeks I'm still having the same problem. I've even went and got a brand new alternator to put in (since the first one I bought was used). Someone had told me to check the "voltage regulator", come to find out it is located on the inside of the alternator. It is new, so there wouldn' be any need to check the voltage regulator...right? Anyway, I need help....PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEAZE i'M going crazy sittin here!

maxtuner96

Yesssssssssssssssss!!!! Finaly, after 3 weeks my car is fixed. I decided to recheck every single fuse in the car, and what did I find?....A blown fuse in the box inside the car. It was fuse #13 (Meter). I replaced it and right away my guages were working. So, I jumped the car for the last time to be able to start it, let it run for a few minutes, and did the alternator test (I removed the negative terminal from the battery while the car was running) and the car still ran. Which means...EVERYTHING IS WORKING PROPERLY! So now I have an airbag light on, but I'm sure that will go away after I reset the ECU. Thank you to the guys that gave their input and helped me through this situation.

So, in a "nutshell"...what happened was:

My alternator malfunctioned, which caused the ALT. and METER fuses to blow and caused the guages to not work and the battery to drain. Replaced alternator and fuses and everything is back to normal.

98SEBlackMax

iTrader: (9)

Ummmmmm you never mentioned that all your gauges didn't work, you said only the speedometer was malfunctioing...

If you had mentioned all the gauges were dead I could of told you it was fuse 13 that needed to be changed. That fuse would blow on my car sometimes when I put it into reverse and starting backing up. The reverse lights use that fuse and there was a wiring short, so what I did was run a new wire from the neutral position switch to the reverse lights.

But as long as its working its all good