I am trying to get my soon-to-be-ex's 96 Maxima back on the road after she ran it into the back of a truck. It has come out pretty good, but when I finally drove it today, the battery light was on and I stopped by O' Rilleys and they said it was putting out over 15 volts and is overcharging. Anything I can do here or is it replacement time?
Randy

 

Ok, did they say the BATTERY is putting out 15V or did they say your alternator is putting out 15V? - important to know this as on would be caused by the Alternator and the other by the battery...

MOST likely your alternator is overcharging - and will need to be replaced/rebuilt.

 

+1. Also, you said that only your battery light was on? The brake light was not on also?

 

Very good, and yes, the brake light is on also.
The reading off the battery is about 13.5 volts until started and then it goes up to about 15 volts or a little more.
Randy

 

Yeah that sounds like overcharging...is the positive battery terminal look good? When mine did that, it was swollen..

 

Replace your Alternator.

I had a car do that before -

 

Your regulator is bad, time for an alternator.

 

I took the alternator to a rebuild shop and had it checked and it checked fine and the light went off on his tester as it is supposed to. Today, I pulled the alternator again and swapped it with the one on my 95 Maxima. My alternator on her car did the same thing. The battery light and the brake light are still on. I then put her alternator on my car and it seems to be working fine.
So, I guess I will start looking at wiring diagrams and see if I might be able to trace wires and see if I can find anything, because I believe it is the car, not the alternator.
I also may replace the positive cable on the battery as one of the two bands is broken, but it seems to be getting a goods connection.
If anyone has any more ideas, I would appreciate them.
Randy

 

This is a good example of not doing the basics. I finally got out my repair manual and looked at the wiring diagram on the charging system and found there is a fuse that is in the wire that powers the alternator. Well, evidently, when my wife hit the truck, it caused the fuse to blow. I replaced the fuse, the light went out and I have put about 100 miles on it and the fuse is still working fine. So, at this point, I can not find what caused the fuse to blow and I am not going to worry about it.