So after getting my car back from an engine swap (no 3.5, just 3.0 to 3.0)
i'm cruising on the beltway and first the interior gages start going dim, then the radio goes out, then the clock and then i start losing light output on my headlights, 15minutes later abs/od/battery/brake lights are all flashing, windsheild wipers are bearly moving speedometer & rpm meter ae both out and transmission wont go higher then second. Made it home just bearly withouth the car cutting off everytime that i stopped, once i did and put it in park everything comes back on or stops/start flashing and the car acts like nothing is wrong...Oh, and I didn't have any of these problems prior to me taking the car to get the new engine.

Any suggestions?

 

Have you tested your alternator?

 

Check the connections to your alternator, the tension on your belts, the output of your alternator. The gradual dimming that you describe are classic "alternator going bad" or "alternator belt busted" signs. If the alternator is not charging (or connection problem, etc), the car runs off the battery until the battery weakens...hence the gradual dimming.

Putting it back in park & everything works like normal..that one stumps me a bit. I'm not an auto tranny guy so I have no clue...

 

Didn't think about that at the time but now yeah i'm guessing that might be it, i'll have to find out from the shop if they changed my alternator during the install. I just tried starting the car and had no success in doing so.

 

it is DEFINITELY the alternator. Everything has already been covered, but I just thought I would chime in to say that I'm 98% sure that the above posts are correct.

 

oh, and how come you had to swap in another engine? something happen?

 

As stated above, definately sounds like an alternator. BTW, you battery is dead now so you will need to recharge that too! Did your headlights get brighter after the car shut off? If so, classic alternator symptom.

 

Well I think it bumps the idle up a bit while in park and also basically disengages the tranny, so less "load" on the motor I think.

 

yeah i snapped a rod clear through the engine block, we still don't know why the compression rate changed so much to cause that to happen

 

How can I know alternator is the source of this issue: car stopping suddenly while I am driving.

But, then after a jump start it runs fine.

I need to find what part is causing me trouble as my dealer could not help.

I checked with Autozone/Napa and they said alternator and battery are good.

 

Instead of bumping an old thread with a question that is completely different from the original one, try looking for a general question thread.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=487272


Really does anyone have any common sense anymore? Do people nowadays need to be spoon fed every single answer? Can they not do it themselves like most of us had to do?

 

I see someone asked this question above "Have you tested your alternator?"

Since my issue does not fall under any category yet, I thought of asking anywhere where I see there is a possibility. My car was at dealer for a week and they could not find out anything. So, you tell me what I should do exactly to get help for this issue.

So, how I am really way off the topic? I see lots of people point alternator issue as one of the possible causes in such cases. And since there is mention of alternator in this thread, I thought I could get some help from here. Also, I was told by dealer, it could be electrical issue and the title of this thread is related to that.

And, another point is that I am a new user and trying to get to know the culture here.

So, you could be a little nice before questioning about some1 else's common sense.

I dont think the posts made in this forum are all of very high quality and always relevant anyway - I see lots of typo, grammar mistakes, etc.

But, I thank you for taking your time to write a reply.