paulsfds

iTrader: (2)

Hi, so today I drove about 70 miles to Irvine, and everything was fine. But on the way home, about half way my airbag light and seatbelt light started flashing and then my stereo stopped working (but was still on) and I noticed that my gauge and my clock lights got dimmer, it felt like the car was loosing power. I was going about 80mph.

So I pulled over to the side and as soon as i slowed down the lights stopped flashing and the lights became brighter and my radio started to work. So I got back on the road and i started going 80mph again and after a short while the same thing started happening again and so i slowed the car down to about ~60mph and the lights stopped flashing and everything went back to normal.

I'm thinking I need to replace my battery? Its almost 4 years old, its an optima red top. I hope it's an easy fix like that but I was wondering if it is something else, what could it be? thanks.

p.s. this is a 99 maxima se-l with about 69k on it.

mtrai760

iTrader: (19)

Get your alternator checked out.

Dave Holmes

I would get the alternator and battery tested at AutoZone or Advance auto for free. Then go from there. I'm betting on the alternator starting to go, and under higher load (higher speed), it just wasn't putting out as much juice. When you slowed down, you decreased the electrical drain on it to a level it can still handle.

Just get them checked to be on the safe side.

Dave

loverholic

iTrader: (3)

yep, thats the first thing you need to get checked out, get it checked ASAP, i had a tracer and the same thing was happening, and what was happening was that the alternator was going out and some times like in your case when you go fast that alternator dies (stops charging) so your whole eletrical network is running on that battery only, which is quickly sucked out cause its not being cahrged. if you dont check it real quick and the alternator dies out on you, then you will to call someone, wont start. there is a possibility that your problem can be different but i am pretty sure i got this one right becuase i went through the same thing.

loverholic

iTrader: (3)

do that ASAP!!!!!

Subzero

iTrader: (5)

Did you check overhead maybe little green men were coming to get ya?

loverholic

iTrader: (3)

lol

rdbaron9

haha, or maybe the cops found a new way to enforce speed limits

loverholic

iTrader: (3)

that would be some **** lol, when it comes to that we woul dhave to build our own cars in our garage.

paulsfds

iTrader: (2)

So I ended up bringing the car to Autozone and Firestone. Autozone tested the battery and alternator and they said everything was fine and I explained my problem to the guy and he said it couldn't be the battery but maybe it was the alternator but they'd have to do more extentsive testing which would require taking out the alternator.

Firestone said the alternator tested fine but they said that the battery might have some bad cells and might be causing my problems and they suggested I get a new battery.

I also explained my problem to a friend over the phone and he said that it was probably not the battery either and suggested I test the alternator myself with a voltmeter.

Regular driving is fine, the car starts up real smooth and I can play the radio, turn on all the lights and everything and there's no problems.

So i'm pretty confused and i'm not sure what exactly is going on, anyone have any ideas? I'm just a little worried because in about a week I have to drive 600miles to go home and I don't want my car to crap out on me in the middle of the trip and also driving 60mph the whole way won't be fun either : (.

Maxgig

iTrader: (5)

This happened to me with my Saab 9000. Wal-Mart said I needed a new battery. I stupidly bought one and it was dead within 50 miles. Luckily I had AAA, (free towing). Borrow a friends battery and drive 80 mph again, when the same thing happens again you will know that your alternator is bad. Good luck, MaxGig.

paulsfds

iTrader: (2)

First I would just like to thank everyone whose responded to the thread, thansk a lot for your guys' help.

Anyway, I did what Maxgig suggested and I borrowed a friend's battery to try it out. Well first I used my own battery and went on the freeway to test my car again and the same thing happened after 10 minutes of driving. So then I switched battery's with a friend and I drove the same route going about 80mph again. Nothing happened so I drove the same route again at 80mph just to make sure it wasn't a fluke and to my surprise my car was fine. I drove for a good 20-30 minutes on the freeway all 3 times.

So now i'm pretty sure it's the battery? Even though people have said it could be the alternator, it doesn't seem like it and even autozone and firestone said so.

So I was just wondering if other people think it's probably the battery as well? I'm planning on buying a new one tomorrow but just wanted to see what other people had to say. Thanks again.

paulsfds

iTrader: (2)

So I was thinking about it more over night and today my friend called me and said that her car started shaking/vibrating more than usual when she was at a stop light, like the car was about to die feeling. So that got me wondering, maybe when I was driving around, the alternator wasn't really working and I was just draining all the juice from her battery but I didn't drain it enough to the point where my car started loosing power and all the lights came on.

Anyone have any ideas? please help, thanks.

Digital

iTrader: (1)

Alternator.

clive

Quite simply, put a voltmeter on the car - connect it to the cigarette lighter socket, for instance - and test it at high speed. You should see 13.8 volts if the alternator is charging the battery properly. If it drops lower than 13V you are getting a partial charge and 12V or lower indicates your alternator is not charging at all.
It's likely that your friend's battery has a lot more life than yours and is still keeping 12V on the circuit while you test it. But if you drove it for longer . . . also have you tried driving it at just 60 but with all the lights and rear screen heater on at the same time?
Volts is everything. If you haven´t got the right voltage then the alternator is dying or dead. Personally, if my alternator was in that state I would have it rebuilt, but then this is Mexico, where I can get that kind of work done cheaply enough.

Dave Holmes

Your alternator is on its way out. Not dead yet, but not putting out enough juice to fully recharge the battery. When you used your girlfriend's battery, it wasn't being fully recharged, and was using some of its "reserve" capacity. This has now caused her alternator to try to play catch up (don't worry, if hers is in good shape, it'll recharge her battery in a short while).
Like clive said, test your alternator with a voltmeter. With your battery in the car, and the car running at idle, put the voltmeter's leads on the battery posts. A healthy alternator will put out just over 14 volts or so. Then do the same test with as much electrical drain as you can by turning everything electric on (radio, lights, rear defroster). Check again. If it is lower, your alternator isn't fully recharging the battery.
To test your battery, with the car off, put the voltmeter to the posts. You should get about 12.5 volts on a healthy battery.
Keep in mind that these two tests aren't really testing the components under load. This means the readings could be fairly good at idle, but when you're cruising down the road (under load), they would be lower (for example, if you have a bad cell in your battery). If you can hook your voltmeter to your cigarette lighter like clive said would be good. Just get an old cigarette lighter plug, strip the wires, and hook the voltmeter up to them. Then test it while driving. Be careful not to let the leads touch or you'll blow a fuse. This will test your alternator pretty accurately.

Sometimes when the alternator or a battery is just starting to go out, the ambient temp will play tricks with you. If its relatively warm out, they may test or seem fine. But when slightly colder, they'll act up.

Dave

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

Definately sounds like alternator symptoms to me.

loverholic

iTrader: (3)

it sounds that way to me to

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

Regular batteries can last atleast 4 years, and optima should exceed that.

Your symptons are alternator related. The battery is mainly used to start the car, once it has done that, its job is pretty much done, the alternator takes it from there.

GoldMax99

Unfortunately a bad alternator will also kill your battery. This is what appears to have happened. Also contrary to popular belief voltage is not the only sign of a bad alternator, but so it amperage. The alternator tests performed should have tested amperage. I think Dave Holmes gave some real good tests that you should follow. Buy a cheap voltmeter at Walmart or Radio Shack or even Harbor Freight if you have one near by. Also I would add to Dave's test that you should test while the car's in park or neutral accelerating to about 4000 RPM and fully load the electrical system. Be careful when performing this test since the amperage is pretty high, and amperage is what can kill you not voltage.

the_3d_man

iTrader: (1)

I think you're a little confused...lol
voltage is what causes current to flow, 14 volt is not enough to cause a deadly or even painful current to flow through a person. Just don't short out the system with something metal.

GoldMax99

Maybe I got it backwards, I don't remember what I learned in school anymore, but I'd rather tell him to be careful than find out later that he electrocuted himself. Sorry for the misinformation on amperage vs voltage.

SchismistiC

Its the alternator... Its happend to me twice. One because of how old the alternator was and, the second time i put in a remanufactored alternator it turned out to be faulty and didnt last for more than 4000 miles. Anyways its your alternator, you better get that fixed cause once it goes out in the middle of the road your ****ed. Mine died out when i pulled into my garage.

hasei

iTrader: (5)

I have recent experiences of both alternator becoming dead (on 96 Maxima) and battery becoming dead (on 00 I30). If you are planning on going 600 mile trip with your car, I think you should treat this as alternator problem just to be on the safe side, as majority of people said in this thread. Because once your alternator dies, your car will quickly become undrivable. On the other hand, you can still drive your car with nearly drained battery and working alternator. Replacing an alternator is neither cheaper or easier than replacing a battery, but it pays in the long run to do so before you go on a trip.

Niznos

iTrader: (1)

I belive there is a recall on 97-98 Maxima alternators, may want to call the local dealer to see if any of it applies to your particular year.

For a 600mi trip, I would personally replace the alt and batt both. Ultima batteries have a huge warrantee compared to conventional ones, check on that too.

If both the alt recall and batt warrantee applies, you just got it all done for free. Congratulations.

Ninos_Maxima

iTrader: (5)

bring your car to a local church/sinagog/mosk, have that thing excorsized... lol

No its probably your alternator begining to die out

paulsfds

iTrader: (2)

Hey everyone, thanks for all your help. So I ended up hooking up the voltmeter to the ciggerette lighter test and watched the voltage as I drove. I noticed while I was regular street driving, the voltage stayed pretty consistant. But when I took on the freeway at 80mph I noticed that the voltage started to slowly drop and it wasn't going back up. If i kept up the speeds my car would go crazy and it was only when I slowed down to about 60mph is when the voltage started to rise again.

So it was pretty clear to me that it had to be the alternator causing this problem. Anyway I got it replaced and I took the car for a test drive on the fwy with my voltmeter and I noticed that at highspeeds the voltage stayed consistant so i'm pretty sure my problems have been fixed. I guess we'll see for real when I take the 600mi trek home. But thanks again to everyone that helped, I really appreciated it!