96 Maxima, 210k, suddenly died on traffic light when stop, all lights are off, had AAA towed home, measured battery, completely drained. Battery was replaced last Dec so it shouldn't be a problem, I suspect it is the alternator went, yesterday wife came home telling me smell some rubber burning in side the car, but I checked, didn't find any obvious problem.

Charging battery right now to see if I can start the car after battery is fully charged, then I can measure the voltage at battery terminals so that I can tell if alternator is shot.

 

Sounds like your alternator belt got fried. Look and see if there is a belt attached to the alternator pulley. My guess is - No.

 

Belt is fine.

Battery is actually 01/15, put on 6am 12v charger for over an hour, battery is not even charge so I am gonna take the battery out and head to Autozone for a battery test, it is Walmart Maxx brand, so if battery is bad, then I can get it replaced at Walmart without charge.

 

Advance Auto tested battery and told me there is one bad cell, took to autozone test again and they have to charge the battery first then test it so it is there charging, will be ready in about an hour.

 

Well, it is definitely the alternator, battery is fully charged at Autozone and they tested it again it is good, so I put back, as soon as I connect batter terminals, I smell something is burning, then I saw there are some sparks inside alternator, I disconnect battery immediately, but alternator keeps burning, it becomes red inside and a lot of smoke comes out, so I run inside house, get a jar of water and pour down to the alternator! It is dangerous, the car almost catch the fire, good thing is that the car is not on road!

Well, here went the alternator, need new one now.

 

Both Advance Auto and Autozone carry reman alternators, Advance Auto carries Carquest and Driveworks brands, Autozone carries their store brand Duralast, both come with 125 Amps and 110 Amps, so which brand is better? Which amperage to get?

 

Is your max fed spec or cali spec? Housing are different, well atleast at my advanced auto store it was. You should pull your alternator out and match it with the one in the store. 110amp is all you need unless your running some serious electronic hook ups.

 

Not cali spec so it should be the 125 amps one, at least I see that in Autozone website.

 

Hope nothing else is wrong (other than the alternator).

 

Took the alternator out today, what a pain! Have to take radiator fan shroud out, belt tensioner nut was rounded, but I managed to take the entire tensioner assemble out , belt tensioner pulley bearing is shot so need to order a new one. I bought re-man Hitachi 125 amp alternator, so will put everything back tomorrow.

 

next time unbolt the A/C compressor from the engine and let it rest on a jack stand then there's no need to remove the rad fan assembly

 

Put everything back, car fired right up, no smoke this time. With engine running, the voltage at battery terminal is only 12.26 volt, with engine off, voltage is 12.8 volt, according to service menu, charging voltage should be somewhere between 14.1 and 14.7 volt, so it looks like alternator is not charging. By the way, replacement alternator passed test in Autozone.

 

My bad, I re-checked alternator connection, the plug was not all the way down, so I pushed it down, start engine, now it measures at 14.48 volt, so everything is work fine.

I also replaced belt tensioner idler pulley.

Now I just need to put under belly cover and observation window cover back, put wheel back then I am done!