Elijah Chinua Lussier

Hey guys, I've been having some issues with my 96 Maxima, the Alternator died on me about a month ago and I replaced it with a new one that I bought from Autozone. Everything was running fine up until yesterday. The battery light came on and a few things lost power (Lights dimmed, Blower, clock light, dash lights). My first thought was that my belt was loose or slipping so I checked that, tightened/adjusted it but the problem persisted. Next I decided to disconnect the battery to rule that out (I know this isn't the best way to check if your alternator is bad, but I didn't have a voltage meter on me). The car shuts off, so I'm sure Autozone sold me a bad alternator so I roll on over to Autozone (on battery power only) and about 5 mins into the drive the battery light goes off and everything regains power. I continue on to Autozone, and about 5 mins later the battery light comes back on and everything loses power again (I should mention it doesn't completely lose power just partial). The guy at Autozone agrees with me saying it's probably a bad alternator and tells me if I can get it out and bring it in they'd replace it for free. The next day I go out to start my car and the blower doesn't work at all I have no dash lights except the clock, radio works fine, battery light isn't on. Drove it around for awhile everything seemed fine and battery light didn't come on. I'm utterly confused at this point, any help would be greatly appreciated.

nsnrider

iTrader: (59)

two things i can think of.

-faulty alternator
-faulty ignition switch

Quickywd01

iTrader: (16)

Sounds like an alternator.

Elijah Chinua Lussier

Car completely died yesterday, so it's definitely the alternator, I'm going to change it out tomorrow and I'll report back if my problem is fixed! Thanks a lot guys.

Elijah Chinua Lussier

Changed the alternator, and the problem still persists, with the new alternator it scored higher with the volt meter, but still not in the "ok" range. Battery light is on, no power windows, dash lights, radio, wipers. Any new ideas? :/

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

What is the voltage reading that you say is "not in the "ok" range"?

You could also have a bad alternator. Autozone is notorious for replacing a bad alternator with another bad alternator. Check the small plug in connector on the alternator that it is in all the way and locked in.

An alternator that is good can have low voltage if the car is using more amperes that the alternator can produce. Do you have some monster sound system in the car?

Elijah Chinua Lussier

Nah, no sound system, the voltage meter I have doesn't tell me an exact number it had a range for "Bad" "Weak" "OK" and "Good". I'm going to try replacing the Ignition Switch, but if that doesn't work I might just take it to a mechanic, I don't think I have the patience to replace the alternator again (if that is the case), especially in - degree weather. Again thanks for the help guys, if you got any more suggestions keep 'em coming, im willing to try anything once.

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

If you are going to get serious about working on your car, invest in a real voltmeter. A meter in the $25 - $40 range is decent for automotive work and will last you for years. Make sure it has the auto ranging feature.

Decimus Meridias

iTrader: (5)

Something easy and quick to check is the 4 blue relays under the dash next to your fuse panel. This problem sounds like something i had a while back. It continued after replacing the alternator and was intermittent like you describe. Try swapping some relays around and see what happens. If this is the problem you should be able to isolate the bad relay pretty quickly. One of the relays is in the alternator voltage control circuit (not correct terminology but don't feel like thinking at the moment). Sorry i can't tell you which one specifically. There might also only be three relays. But they are right next to the fuse panel and you can mostly get to them through the little cover.

Decimus Meridias

iTrader: (5)

Also check that all your ground wires are clean and tight! Hope you can get it figured out. I know how frustating these issues can be.

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

That's a good suggestion!

There are 3 relays to the left of the fuses. You need to remove the dash panel trim piece to get to them. The center relay is the one you want to swap. It is called the ignition relay. Should it be bad, it would be best to swap it with the one below it, the blower motor relay.