so.. here's my 7th alternator in the last 6 months.this one has lasted 4 months and it's a napa one. I'm pretty sure it's going out. I'm just trying to build up motivation to go in and change it again. these are without any lights on.



with flash if it helps



also, has anyone ever done it without taking out the intake/radiator fans? my friend at work has a 4th gen and he said he did it without removing those.

 

also. when my heater is on, I smell burnt oil in the cab. what would cause that? heater core covered in oil?

 

My question is: Why in the **** do you have to change an alternator monthly?
If you have to change an alternator that regularly then something is seriously wrong with your electrical system.

As for your first question, Not sure what you mean by "idiot lights".

As for the second question, you probably have an oil leak on your valve cover somewhere and it's dripping onto your exhaust manifold, causing it to burn and then travel through the cars ventilation system.

 

I really wish I knew... it's ever since I added fogs to my car with 3k hids and the fog rewire where you tap into the side marker.. I'm thinking about selling them. idiots lights are the lights on your dash that tell you what's wrong. in my case the battery and brake light should be on.

and yeah I'm leaking in my back one. I just replaced the front.

 

You shouldn't be going through 7 alternator in 6 months. I debug electronics at my job 1 is a fluke, 2 is trend that I need determine the root cause. I would check the battery and battery connections, particularly the ground. You also could check the current draw of your system but if your car is running the bid would have to have a significant current draw for alternator not to keep up with engine running.

 

my guess, your HID fogs + rewire mod is the culprit. Maybe you've got something wired incorrectly, or loose...I'd dump the HID fogs and go back to stock, since you mentioned you were thinking of selling them anyhow.

 

ugh why would that happen to me? I searched the rewire a few times and no one said anything about having electrical issues after rewiring them.

 

Did you make sure to properly tap into them? I have them rewired, but not through the side marker current. That's a big for people who tend to leave they're lights on accidentally, and since it's a current power it could also be the cause of why you're alternator and possibly battery could be going out constantly.

As everybody else has stated, go through your re-wire and my suggestion would be, that if you want them to run independently, then tap into the windshield wiper wire, and either electrical tape the $h1t out of it, or solder if you're planning to keep the max for a long time. I did this exact same method on my buddy's max, and it's been over a year and a half now, and we haven't seen any electrical problems, other than him having a crappy Bosch battery

As for going about replacing the alternator, you can do it the hard way by leaving the fans and radiator in there with no space to work around, but you still have to drop the A/C compressor. Avoid yourself the trouble and just take out at least the fans to get some space to work with. If you don't want to damage the splines on the radiator, you could also remove it, though it's not recommended, unless you're doing headers.


Hope this helps

 

I did my alternator from below, I don't remember it being all that hard. I know that I didn't remove the radiator or fans.

 

You need to do some diagnosing before you start swapping parts. Simple, basic stuff. What is the voltage when the car is turned off and what is it when running at idle? at 3K rpm? What kind of audio system do you have, a big kick@ss system? What other after market things, if any, do you have installed?

Do you have the proper 110 amp alternator? I seriously doubt the fog lights are killing the alternator. Even if you hooked them up wrong, you would be blowing fuses or burning up wires.

dgoodhue is telling you why an alternator may fail prematurely and you need to verify if this is what is happening to you.

 

Well I just finished replacing it. just in time too cause I have work in an hour. lol I did it without removing the fans and intake. all you gotta do is talk dirty to it and it will come out lol

 

You haven't done anything that would be overloading the alternator, you do have a mystery as to going through all those alternators. Since you have replaced the alternator again, check the voltage when you have all the electrical items turned on (headlights a/c, blower motor, wipers etc) and making a "worst case" situation. The alternator should still be charging.

Maybe you have been getting a bad batch of rebuilds. A really bad senario would be if you were getting alternators from the Sentra or Pathfinder. Outside they look the same but are rated as low as 70 amps, even though you are specifying a Maxima. The only way you would know the true output would be to have the alternator tested.

 

Like Dennis just said, take your car up to advanced auto and have them do a charging system test, and ask for them to test for parasitic drain. The process makes you put a load on your alternator and all that jazz. I know a bad connection to a battery, ie: corroded terminals or gross battery posts, can put a ton of stress on the alternator making it work extra hard to try and keep the battery at the right voltage.
Good luck dude!