First off I am less of an "engine" type of person and more of an interior/electronics type of person having worked in the custom van industry. I have worked on (previous cars) water pumps, alternators, valve covers, even a whole motor rebuild (with help). So I am not affraid of following the link on replacing the alternator on this site. It is very nice I should add, kudos to the author!

So, coming home yesterday my airbag light starts blinking (normally it is on) and the ABS light lights up dim. Come to a red light a few seconds later and car dies. Battery sounds too weak to crank the car.

Well I had one of those chargers in the car since I had ran the battery down working on the car over the weekend with the stereo on. I was affraid the battery was going bad and put in in there JIC.

I get it cranked and start driving down the road and it starts going dead, I kill the radio and the AC and it picks back up. I almost go dead at every stop and have to idle it up to keep it cranked. Fortunately only about 3 miles from home when all this happened.

So I get home and park the car, vent to the wife , and about 30 minutes later I go back outside and the car will crank. I am getting a sound near the alternator that sounds like a pulley going bad. It is a noticable pattern and I didn't do the screwdriver to the ear trick to make sure it was there and not the valve (had forgotten about it till I read this tread http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...lternator.html).

I guess my next steps if I can get it cranked would be to test while running to see if the battery is putting out enough volts? The battery looks old (just got the car May 9th) and it is one of the maintenance required batteries. I should probably get it tested as well, didn't see the date info for when it was purchased.

Any other advice from you veterans or mechanics? Normally my busy self would just take this to my mechanic but I would rather save my money for some mods if i can .

 

First thing I would do is jump it and get it to an AutoZone or Advanced Auto. They can load test the charging system and tell you what is bad... for free

 

I recently replaced my alternator and as I'm sure you will read, and I can personally attest to, it is a PITA job, but easy enough. It definitely sounds like it is the alternator though. I would get your battery checked at one of the stores Kevlo mentioned, however not all check the charging system when the alternator is in the car. They will test it though with the alternator pulled; but as you probably don't want to have to pull the alternator again I would just replace it then if it's not at full capacity. If you think there is a belt problem, you should check to see if the pully is getting turned while the car is on. You should be able to see it without having to take anything off, you just need a bright flashlight.

The battery isn't "putting out power" it has voltage stored, the alt is putting out the power. There should be ~14+ when idling across the pos and neg, with it dipping down to ~13+ with the lights on. Anything outside of that, alt is probably bad and that is the same test autozone does when the battery is in the car. Also check your fuses. Also if you get it running, pull the negative cable off, I have been told that since the battery is only used to start the car, it should be able to run just on the alternator's power (autozone's advice), and if the car turns off then the alt is bad. I would wait for someone on the form to back me up on that one first since I am not positive.

 

this thread helped me out alot.... Voltage is like 12.8- 13 when driving with no lights or anything replaced battery and starter guess my alt is next

 

I am having a similar problem, when i drive my car for extended periods of time with the a/c and radio on after a while the brake and battery light start to glow when approaching stop light. i have a question when i called up advance to buy a new alt. they asked me if i had a 110amp or a 125amp, it would be better to get a 125 amp; since it produces more amperage at a given point.

 

Car died when I took off the ground cable, the noise also is def. coming from the alternator. Thanks all.

 

I think the alternator is definitely dead. And the break light coming on with the battery light, is definitely a bad alternator. I think I installed a 125 amp one

 

Found out the hard way my car has California emmisons. It has come a long way to Georgia. First alt. they gave me didn't quite fit. I took the core back the 2nd time to make sure.

Getting the old one off was not that bad actually. I pretty much followed the how to except I took the radiator and fan out together, yeah I will have to put back in some coolant but man did it make working on the alt. easier and able to do a bit more from up top. Won't hurt to do a coolant flush anyway as I have no idea on the history of this car.

In putting the new one back on I was able to hold it from top side with my left hand and put the long bolt in pretty easy, much easier than trying to do the same from the bottom. The last time I changed out an alternator it was for my dad, he was my eyes on the top side of his car to line things up, sure do miss him, he passed on in 07.

 

Good thread...the only thing that I would like to point out its that it is not a good idea to pull the negative cable off while the car is running , this can cause very damaging voltage/current spikes that can fry sensitive electronic components such as ECMs ext...
I know its kind of common for people to do that but its really bad advice to give ,especially from Auto Zone.
Just wanted to put that out there ,so FWIW...