Oh god not this again, just a week and a half ago i replaced my dead battery and my dead starter. Everything was perfect

Today i am driving and the battery light and the (!) light show up for a few seconds and disappear, randomly, then appear again, then disappear which is how it is right now ---- i swear the car is possessed and is taunting me...

Am i going nuts or what, i love the car, but i cant afford having to replace parts every two weeks, i had it for exactly 1 year and not a problem, but hey she is over 223.000 KM and 10 years old. Good thing me and my dad save money by doing the work ourselves, I read the Motorvade instructions, looks tricky but very doable.

So need to have some clarification: IS this my alternator slowly loosing its ability to make a charge?

Thanks in advance guys!!!

BTW::::: my brake pads are new all around the corners and the brake fluid reservoir is full to the max, BUT whenever i use my hand brake, the light on the does DOES NOT COME ON, is the sensor loose ? where is it located ?

 

if your alternator was going, you would have the battery light and brake light come on

 

check ur belt tension, might b loose--> good luck

 

see if you can run any codes. if not some of the car stores like kragen would check the electrical system for free. they can probably tell you whats wrong with the car.

 

Got this from the sticky:

 

If this alternator is still the original at your mileage on the car, the brushes are probably worn out and the springs are touching the armature. Just replace the brushes.

 

IF your battery AND brake lights are on, then your alty is going. If it's another combination, then some wiring's loose. I was driving around for a month having both idiot lights go on and off. I just changed the alty two weeks ago and it's been fine every since.

A week after i changed the alty, i had an SES light pop up with a P0446 code (EVAP canister circuit malfunction). I just keep driving and clear the code with my scanner until i get that resolved since it's not a driveability issue (but it IS annoying nontheless).

Look man, i've had that car since Aug of '06 and i've put waaay over $1,000 into various repairs, and i still have a TC cover leak, a leaking driver's side axle seal and i saw oil getting into the cyl 1 spark plug tube. My car has 133K miles on it now and is 10 years old. I'm able to buy a nice '03 and be done wit it; but i've spent too much money replacing half the **** in this car to just let it go now.

 

That is a cheaper alterative to replacing the alternator.

 

yeah, but if you cheap out and just do the brushes, then soon enough you'll have a bad bearing or voltage regulator.

 

worrrrd

 

Unless you buy an OEM part, you can't get the same quality level with an after market part. The car companies demand incerdible quality level (measured in defects per million) and low prices from the the parts suppliers. And yet due to the volume, some companies stick to it. Because of this environment and sometimes poor management, OEM parts companies such as Visteon and Delphi are constantly in the red.

Since our cars had been out of production for 8 years now, we can't expect the same level of quality even from OEM parts just because they don't have the volume anymore. So keeping your original parts on the car is a good policy.

 

OK thanks guys, Should i get a rebuild Alternator or a new one which is more expensive ????
going to try to replace it myself with the motorvade instructions

 

SEARCH! This has been covered many times, google it.

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=al...s=&safe=images

 

opened for new ideas until reposts start...

 

I just replaced mine with OEM remanufactured, it cost me $289 (with a $75 refund for core). Bought it from DaveB.

First you will not get brushes for alternators these days, Nissan sells the brush set for $389 (Nissan strictly discourages folks from replacing item by item in the alternators, thereby making the brush set more expensive than the whole alternator), secondly as someone said, you will next have to replace bearings, then the copper core etc. There is no end to it.

You are better off buying a remanufactured one (preferably Nissan) and calling it a day.

 

since kevlo re-opened the thread, i'd reccomend the following alternator for anyone besdies Andrei:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Nissa...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Yes, it looks like there are many reputable reman suppliers to these Hitachi OEM alternators used in our 4th Gen, Bosch ($135), Denso ($200), Hitachi ($220), even Delco.

The brushes are only carbon sticks inserted in a holder. Even if the holders are no longer available, the carbon sticks are. This is because Hitachi only used a few different stick types in all their alternators. My car is over 100K miles now so it is probably time to go out and find brushes for this alternator. Their are in the order of 15-25 cent each to the resellers.

When time allows, I still like to do these myself.

 

to rebuilding it, there is plenty of info about it in the FSM.

Andrei, just wanted to give you one quick pointer because I just did one last night and I caught myself making this same mistake for like the 100th friggin' time. When you put the weird shaped lower nut back in place for the alternator, make sure you slip the tensioner back up to the top before doing so. Otherwise you'll do what I do ever time..... "Oh crap, I can't push the tensionor up at all becuase it's hitting the alternator nut"

 

thanks Kevlo

OK i will do that, thanks KRRZ350, going to replace it saturday morning, got my rebuilt alternator already - will update then

 

Check the alty recall also...I think a lot of people replace theirs even when in the recall period.

 

i checked when i bought the car, i called nissan canada directly and gave them my vin, then i was at a dealer once for service and had them run the vin also, my car does not apply to the recall

that was a good try tho !!!

 

Having trouble with the lower bolt on the alternator !!!


Why is it a square nut and not hex ?

i removed the idler pulley completely, loosened the ac compressor (4) bolts

HOw is this lower alternator bolt made ? something seems fishy here

 

Fixed it, so far so good, we will see after i drive some more if those ligts return i am crossing my fingers

one thing must be added to correct the motorvade instruction the lower bolt on the alty IS IN REVERSE!!!!! i spent like an hour trying to break it off and then was smart enough to look up my trusty FSM blow up alternator pic, then attacked it from the back and got it

basically this was harder then the starter as there was a lot more stuff to get out the way and all the bolts are seized or rusted

Also i only replaced the main - AC/cam/ALT belt, i did not touch the PS belt cause i was done by that time and had no more strength to wrestle with rusted out and seized bolts of any kind

BTW i hope my neighbour who was changing his oil today did not get scared cause i was swearing in russian a lot inside my garage LOL

 

LOL, i can just imagine what he heard: "Da blyat', ebanii bolt!!" Good luck.

 

yeah hahaha exactly that + a lot more through out the day hahahaha

but it feels good to do this with my dad, instead of some mechanic who would have ripepd everything apart and break some dried up electrical connector in the process giving me more problems

I also broke 3 little connectors for my sockets, got fed up - went to Canadian tire and got the most expensive ones (Mastercraft) with lifetime warranty which DID NOT BREAK!!! lesson learned DONT BUY CHEAP TOOLS, they last you a life time if you spend the money the first time on quality tools