OutMaxxed

iTrader: (7)

I was at a friends house late last night and when i was going to leave, i started my car to see all my lights dim. "Great" i thought maybe its my battery. But i changed it 4 months ago, theres no way. So i immediatly thought "altenator". After seeing many threads on our altenators i wasnt suprised that it was dead. Im at 109,500 (about) miles and i knew it was gonna happen someday or another.
So i jumped the car and i got to a light a min away from his house and turned on my A/c. The car died right there. Tahts when i was 100% sure it was my alte. So i called my boy up to jump it again and i was sittin there at an intersection trying to jump my car. A police officer came and he said that i couldnt be in the street like this so he'd have to push my car with his cruiser. Even with the bumpers in the front of his car i could here my bumper screech..Owuch.
So i had a shop tow it. And they said that my battery was bad. Its wierd b/c i changed it about 4 months ago. And they said that its giving a negative charge so they would have to replace it. for 91$. so i said alright go ahead and do that. ( i kno there overchargin but what can i do? its at the shop now) So so far its like 181$ for towing fees(65) labor and battery. And they have to replace the battery inorder to check the altenator.
What are ur opinions on this? can it just be the battery? All feedback is appreciated.

nismax96

Same thing happened to me two weeks ago. Took it to the shop and they had to replace the alt and the battery. I was told the alternator drained the battery. I'm curious to know how much you paid to get this fixed? I was charged $600 for the alternator, battery and the time it took fix the whole problem.

OutMaxxed

iTrader: (7)

yea man thats what the guy just told me. That the alternator drained my battery. Thats crzy. Ive been experiening alte whine when i have my dvd player on. So i am HOPING its the alternator. i rather get it fixed now than be stranded again. But he said the alte would run me 3-400 dollars. im guessing at most with the 181$ it will be like 581$. If i did it myself, im guessing i would have shaved about 250$ bucks off of that. i mean i could have attempted to change it out myself but being it will be the first time ive ever changed an altenator it would probably take me all day. Ive heard the job is not that bad, its just time consuming.

nismax96

Time consuming is right. The guy said it took about 4 hours because he had to take my radiator out to get to the alternator. Just crazy!

97Se5spd

nismax96, Im sorry but $600 seems like a rip off to me. Yeah, the altenator might be b i t ch to do, but its worth only spending $300 on a new one and doing it your self.

OutMaxxed

iTrader: (7)

i read that u dont even have to take the radiator out.. jus the fan assembly. ah well.. i guess im lookin at it like this.. im payin them to do the work while i sit in my air conditioned home. eh..
oh i wanted to ask this... did u notice an increase in power after getting the alternator fixed? i figured on a bad alte, the car isnt runnin at full power so when theres a fresh alte in there then the car would run at full power. Am i right? Wrong? someone clear this up for me.

nismax96

I thought $600 was high too, but I figured if the alternator was $350 and the battery was $75-$80, then the other $200 must have been for labor. And I think if I took the car to the dealer it would have cost alot more.

OutMaxxed

iTrader: (7)

i called nissan up before i took it to the other shop and they said labor would be 179.85. At first i said.. well that aint that bad. And then i thought about the price for the alternator and other crap they would add on. And i would probably pay top prices for oem parts. So i took it somewhere else

nismax96

I got an OEM alternator and I think that was about $350.

OOmaxSE

iTrader: (19)

Do you guys get a crank (when starting up the car) when the alt is dead???

wally9mm

I experienced a complete electrical failure during the snowstorm that hit the east coast last winter. Everything seem to point towards the alternator.

I had everything on including the headlights, fog lights, map light, front and rear defroster, seat heater, radio and compass. Even when the rear defroster automatically turned off, I put it back on.

After 30 minutes of driving at 30 mph in fourth gear, the ABS and Airbag warning light came on. Then the seat heater and rear defroster suddenly switched off. I was already white knuckled because those 17 inch Potenza RE92’s aren’t that good in nasty weather.

I knew that I had a severe energy problem because the climate control display began to dim and act erratically. Well, I then switched everything off except using the wipers on the maximum delay. This made it extremely hard to see because the sleet began to freeze to the wiper and obscured the windshield.

Drivers passed me and honked at me to tell me my running lights were off, but I made the decision that it was better to try and make it home during the Nor’easter than getting stuck on the Long Island Expressway at 3 am in the morning.

I was relieved when I pulled into the driveway, but it soon died out and would not restart. The alternator was just about putting out enough juice to keep the car barely running.

I believe that using all those accessories completely drained the battery. After charging the battery, the radio and climate controls would not turn on. It was weird, if I pressed the front defroster button, the radio and climate control turned on, but turned off if the front defroster was depressed again. After playing with it a bit, everything operated normally.

Although it still may have been the alternator, the battery was 6 years old so I just replaced it with a Diehard Gold. That was over 8 months ago. I'll wait to see this coming winter to see if it occurs again. Then I think it wise to replace the alternator.

rmd0311

iTrader: (4)

Well., not Max related but the Alt went on my wifes Sienna on the way to the city with the kids in the car in a curvy highway. Sucks to be me. My county has free emergency services and i called them up. They came and jumped me, I BARELY made it to the dealer. Total nut was 605 dollars at the dealer. It included a new batt, new alt and removing the heatshields that where making a noise.

I thought it was a descent price.

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

I really hope you're kidding. You got the shaft, big time.

New battery: <$100
New OEM alternator for most cars: $150
An hour and a half of labor for install: <$150. Probably took them about 20 minutes with the right tools and a lift. Took me an hour and a half on my back under the car, and I bet the Siena's alternator is easier to get to than the Maxima (couldn't possibly be harder)

No chance you should have paid over $400 or so, even at the dealer. Please don't ever go back to those guys!



Outmaxxed: why didn't you just push the car off the road yourself? You have hands and legs, right?

Outmaxxed....your alternator sounds bad. Of course teh battery is going to be totally drained if the alt doesn't put any power to it. I suspect you are going to have the car dying again in the next week or so, sorry to say. Though I hope I'm wrong, for your sake.

btw, there is a SIMPLE way to test if your alternator is bad, using a cheap voltmeter. Buy a Haynes manual, it will tell you what to do.

philzaga

iTrader: (3)

Most likely it is your alternator. Your battery is probably dead because your car must've been running on it alone and without the alternator charging it. This happened to me exactly the way you described it about 2 weeks ago. I got everything changed for $230 (excluding battery which I changed myself). Alternators aren't expensive really. Good luck.