My alternator light has been flickering on occasion for the past 6 months. It was replaced last year.
I replaced the battery yesterday after it went dead and tested it with a multitester and got the following readings.

KEY OFF 12.57
MOTOR AT IDLE 12.27
IDLE WITH A/C, LIGHTS WIPERS ON 11.87
IDLE WITH LIGHTS ON 12.08

If I raise the idle the output will go to about 13.00 with the alt light off.
When the alt light starts to flicker the output goes from 13.75 to 14.5
Any help would be appreciated

 

sounds like u got a bad alt my friend. i went through about 4 alternators. 1 was recalled and i got a new one, the next one went on fire, the third one i killed from my system now im running a 215 amp high output alternator from can-am motors. 350 shipped great price and great customer service

 

try to have an charging system test done to see what is causing the battery light to flicker. autozone usually does this for free

 

The battery should read over ~14 volts with the engine running at idle. Sounds like a bad alternator to me.

 

Had the alternator replaced, drove vehicle for several hours and the battery went dead. Got an output reading of 11.9. Swapped batteries and dropped off at the shop they couldn’t find any thing wrong. I am now driving it and getting a reading of 14.5.
Shop says it may be a computer problem but they can only check it when the problem is occurring. The alternator light is now working correctly.
Any Ideas? I’m getting desperate. The car is my daughters but I won’t let her have it back until I find the problem.

 

When the alternator was replaced did you also replace the 120amp battery fuseable link under the hood? Look in the fuse box under the hood next to the battery. In the center is a big white fuse link. I believe that when the alt goes out, so does that fuse, and if that fuse is blown, the alt wont charge the battery. Happened to me when my alternator died, I had no idea what was wrong.

 

Drove for 8 miles, alt light came on then went off when I stopped at light. Checked output was 14.5 volts then went to 10volts and I barely made it home.
Left car at shop told them to keep it for a few days. They gave it to another tech and he found the plug at the top of the alt has a crack in it. Now I am waiting for a new plug from a dealer.

 

Definately a bad alternator.

 

yes, like Tom says, its a bad alternator ... I had this problem on my Mom's old Acura.... I took it to Pepboys for a new alt...2 days lator it dies, took it back got a new one...seemed work ok but whenever the rpms were above 5k, the alternator light would flicker....best bet is to go with OEM alt., costs a lot, but worth it

 

Check all the grounds.........

 

Had shop replace plug, they replaced alternator just to be sure. On way home I noticed dash lights starting to dim then brighten and I knew there was no change.
Ran car in driveway only puts out 11.75 to 12 amps, leaned in car shut of key and restarted immediately with no change, tried it again and it was putting out 14.75 amps. Let run for 45 minutes at 14.5 amps shut off and restarted and won't go over 12 amps.
I hope a Nissan dealer can fix this, I checked out what I could with no results and am ready to get rid of this car.

 

Nissan dealer checked out car today, says it's a bad alternator. He said they checked all relays, fuses and connections and they are good. Said diode ripple not detected in alternator when tested. A remanufactured alternator by Nissan is all they use, and he can't use the Bosch core cause Nissan won't accept them. Total with tax including diagnosis time is $595.00 with a 1 year guarantee. Gave him the ok, I told him I'll bring my multimeter when I pick up the car.

 

Picked up last night from Nissan dealer, alternator putting out 14.+
I can't understand how Pep Boys can have so many defective Bosch rebulds,
that they pay their techs to keep replacing. Their are several listed for the 96 model year I wonder if they are using the wrong one.