racin89lx

iTrader: (1)

ok ive posted about the alternator problems a few days ago. but heres the situation anyways. out of the blue my battery and brake light came on up on the instrument panel. went ahead and replaced the battery and the alternator yesterday. then today i drove about 20 miles round trip with no problems and parked my car outside. a few hours later i drove down the street to check the mail and my cd player/ speakers lost power. so when i got home i tried to start the car up again and it was like i had a dead battery. then i just jumped it and it seemed fine for about 20 seconds until the cd player and speakers lost power. so this time i decided to let it run for a while to see if the battery might charge up. no deal, instead the car seemed to lose power until it eventually wouldnt idle right. i then tried to give it some rpms and it would bog then jump up in rpms for a second and bog down again. eventually my car completely died and now i cant even roll the windows up, they just make a weird sound like they cant. i dont have any lights on up on the dash, cel or such. now i am very frustrated and dont know what the heck is going on. any ideas greatly appreciated

killerVQ30DE

Could be your regulator, the Alternator generates AC power and the regulator coverts it to DC power... so if thats dead your battery won't be getting charged

racin89lx

iTrader: (1)

so where would that be and what does it look like. is there anyway to find out if it is good or bad besides buying a new one and replacing. i am trying to save some money and dont want to go around spending a ton on different theories but i aslo dont want to spend $70 just to have it diagnosed, maybe this would be the best bet i just have a hard time spending that kind of money on something that takes so little effort.

Vlasic

iTrader: (13)

ok, under your hood is a fuse box next to the battery. open that and look at the white 120amp fuse link in the middle. that is the battery fuse link. if it is blown your alternator wont charge the battery.

when my alternator died, that fuse blew, and when I started driving the car after replaceing the alternator I had hte same problems you had and it was because of that fuse.

racin89lx

iTrader: (1)

i just checked the fuse and it looks good, can you just pull the entire thing out and replace it. it seemed kinda hard to pull out but maybe i just wasnt pulling hard enough. also on the box that covers the fuses is a list of the fuses that are there and what amp they are. on the left side i am missing two 30A fuses but dont know if they are supposed to be there or not. they are the (FL 30A ABS SOL) and (FL 30A ABS MTR) ones in the top left section. I took my car to a mechanic and dont know if he is trying to get me back in there or what. by the way i have a 95 GXE maxima (base model) if it of any help. thanks.

Vlasic

iTrader: (13)

that big fuse, you dont pull straight up, you have to take the whole box out and unscrew it from the bottom. but all you do is look in the top of the fuse link, or take off the plastic cap. just look at the top of the link, if its broken its bad, if its still intact its fine.

about the missing fuses. does your car have ABS? if not, than thats why those fuses are not there.

Vlasic

iTrader: (13)

also...this is a longshot...but, open the fuse box in the car under hte dash. while looking in there, look to the left, you will see a few blue headded relays. jiggle them and see if any are lose.

at the same time my alternator went out, once I fixed the fuse, i was having other problems where my windows wouldnt work, or my climate control, or other random things, i think my car wouldnt start either. it was because one of those relays was lose.

racin89lx

iTrader: (1)

thanks the fuse looks good so i will leave it and i guess i dont have abs then. any other ideas? if i dont have any cel lights on and check the ecu with a screwdriver will some possibly show up that havent yet or is there any other way to figure out what is going on.

racin89lx

iTrader: (1)

now you have me thinking, when i took it to the mechanic for the alternator he called and said it was done but that they were having troubles starting it. i didnt even think to tell him that my ignition switch is messed up, but anyways he said that they checked a few relays and bypassed one to get it started. he told me they left it running since i was on my way up there and i decided to just take it home. when i got home i didnt have any troubles starting it just the usual few turns of the key to get it to fire. sometimes it does nothing when you turn the key but if i turn it hard it starts. i wonder if they screwed up a relay and that is whats going on.

killcrap

iTrader: (3)

wow, you learn something new everyday. so its the regulator that converts it to DC power. i was told that the regulator(depending on whether its A or B type, or ECM controlled) controls the amount of voltage going into alternators rotor, to either increase the voltage or decrease the voltage to make the magnetic feild larger or smaller depending on current draw. and i was also told that the diodes are the thingy that rectifies the AC into DC. man have i been wrong all this time?

thanks killerVQ30DE! your the best.

lman07

I had the same problem last week. I had to get my car towed from brooklyn to my dad's shop in long island. I found out that I had blown my alternator/AC belt and my alternator tensioner. Plus the alternator that had just been put in the day before was bad. If those are good then also check your battery terminals cuz one of the factory battery terminals had also gone bad on me. Hope this helps

racin89lx

iTrader: (1)

shouldnt be any of those problems. belt looks good and tight and everything else is new so i'm stumped.

racin89lx

iTrader: (1)

dont know if this would pertain to my problem but i checked the ecu for codes and the 0304 for the knock sensor came up. this probably has to do with my tranny feeling all mooshy though. i guess i will just have to shell out the cash to the shop as it seems no one really has any other ideas. this car is starting to **** me off, i sold my accord for this and am having more troubles than my accord EVER had.

BRUNOJLB

There was a huge recall on the alternators for certain years, I think this was one of them. Take it to the nissan garrage, and see if you're entitlted to a free alternator.

racin89lx

iTrader: (1)

just gonna post this in case anyone else runs into similar problems. it turns out that the ignition switch may have been the culprit the entire time. i might not have needed a new alternator at all. at least i have a new battery, alternator and ignition switch though. so for anyone that gets the battery and brake light coming on at the same time, if your ignition switch has been giving you troubles you might want to look into this first before replacing an alternator and possibly battery. my mechanic told me that the switch was so loose that it was not allowing the alternator to charge the battery because of a loose connection. just some fyi for those who may have similar problems and come to this site for help. it may not always be worth doing your own diagnosis via stickies although they have been helpful with the exception of this incident which ended up costing me way more than anything else ive had to do.

killcrap

iTrader: (3)

tell your mechanic to get an ID 10 T form. ignition switch has nothing to do with the alternator. Ignition switch when turned to the start position will energize a relay. that relay is then supplying the starter B+ to engauge the gear reduction starter. he may have solved your problem and didnt tell you the real story. It may be something like this.

You: So what was the whole problem?
Him: Oh, it was the ignition switch.
You: Whats that?
Him: Umm. I think it controls the alternator and battery.
You: Okay cool. (Pays Money)
Him: THANKS
You: ....(leave)
Him: hey randomguyatshop! guess what?
Randomguyatshop: What?
Him: I just screwed that guy that just left. Turns out his No Crank No Start was caused by a loose wire. I had to clean it for him, and then put it back on. I said it was the ignition switch. So i charged him the labor and the parts. Parts my cost was $27.99 OEM. I charged him...($_____)

aziphrale

I wonder if this is whats happening tp me? I have almost the same issues but i have had the alternator replaced yesterday and i have a new battery. The mechanic told me that it might be a plug going into the altrnator since it was kinda melted torn, I got that replaced same issues. I got the altenator replaced again. Both times the battery was shown as charging the car turns on idles hard then shuts down, i have to turn it off and then on a gain in order to get it up and running. It happened to me again. I got on here and did a search and found something about the fuses that i didnt think about. I just replaced it it didnt look blown under the dash but it was brown at the ends i replaced it just to be sure. Also the belt is sqeeking after they changed the alternator i wonder if that could be it. Ill make them tighten it tommorow. But i wonder what it could be any other ideas., insight?