jzwu

My '01 Maxima GXE died today on the trip to beach. All I did was 4 hours of waiting for the tow truck and my friend to pick me up on a perfect sunny day in southern CA with beach one block away. Sucks indeed!

Car has 74k miles on it and is manual shift. A few weeks ago after a vacation, I started it up the brake and battery lights stayed on but I knew the battery was new and the brakes were recently done.

So some electrical/electronic stuff screwed up. Today after filling up the gas (87 octane and I had been using 89) I drove it to the beach. Guess what, suddenly all dash lights started fickering and the instrument needles were going erratic, and the cruise control canceled by itself.

Finally the car just died losing all power. I avoided near misses by using hand brake and hard pulling the steering wheel. Later tried to restart, only clicks no engine turnover. The battery was still good since all power windows/locks still worked.

I have heard similar stories before. Anyone knows what is wrong? The car is now at the tow garage and will be towed to dealer tomorrow.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

100% chance your alternator is bad.

Those two lights in combination are the warning signal for a bad alternator. I know from experience.

Replace alternator, and all will be good again.

LA02MAX

iTrader: (3)

^^ Werd...it's a certainty.

jzwu

Thanks for the pointer! Actually, I heard some belt screeching a while back on startups but the dealer said all was fine when I did service in early May.

I will wait to see what the dealer says tomorrow.

BTW, how much is the alternator change?

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

the alternator itself only costs about $100-150 from autoparts stores. It takes a couple hours to do it yourself (it is easy to do, but takes a while and is kind of frustrating). A shop will probably charge you 2-3 hours labor to do it. Nissan will probably charge you $500+ for the whole job ()

they're also going to charge you a $70 "diagnostic fee" to tell you something that they should know immediatly isthe problem. Tell them not to even do it. Just tell them to replace the alternator without "diagnosis" and put new belts on while they have it off.....

jzwu

Got it.

I will just ask the dealer to change out the alternator and belts. Have some coupons too since I do service there.

Thanks again!

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

I will couch my previous statement by saying there is a very slight chance that it could be some kind of wiring problem (wiring from alt to battery) - Nissan notes this in the FSB, but I've never heard of anyone having that problem, and you should be able to visualy inspect the wiring to make sure it's all tight and not cut.

jzwu

OK.

The car is now sleeping in the tow garage. I will talk to the dealer tomorrow.

Sounds like you are very knowledgeable about Maxima.

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

Actually, I just stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night

DrunkieTheBear

iTrader: (17)

LOL

OOOOO very nice, with great success

jzwu

hmmm, because of a dead alternator???

Rydicule

*sigh*

I have seen this happen first time twice in the last two years. You're driving along, and first the stereo starts to cut out, and then, inexplicably, the guage needles will suddenly drop to zero, and then shoot back up. The car seems to work harder to maintain speed, and then starts slowing down. Then it dies. Try jump starting it, works perfectly. For about 2 miles. Then does the same stuff again. Happened in my dad's Subaru and brother's 01 Max.


Without a doubt, it's the alternator. I say do it yourself. The money you save is worth the frustration, and it's not really that hard.

DrunkieTheBear

iTrader: (17)

no because irish stayed in a holiday inn express and he had great success with giving you a solution, he's right its the alternator, there is a guy online that sells 80 amp alternators and powder coats them for you all for about 150, my friend has one its awesome

since71

My wife had the same problem, same lites on. Nissan dealer charged us 299 for alt. and 126 labor. Heat really fries those alt. diodes. 95 here today in S. Dak.

Stardust

iTrader: (10)

IB$2perfilluppricedifferencebetween93&87isworthit

00MaxSE

iTrader: (25)

.

stocked out max

iTrader: (2)

that was THE funniest thing i read/heard today....sounds like somebody has a case of the mondays.




jzwu..good job getting the car off the road safely...hope you got some sun, i was planning on going to the beach but it rained.....all fricken day

jzwu

Well, I did get some sunburn without seeing much of the beach.

And yeah, I got it off the road just as it was dying going down a hill. Very lucky!

merlin123

alternator, same thing happened to me today on my way to work so it wasn't all that bad 2hrs, 300$ later and replacement of the alternator and I was back on my way. good luck

jzwu

Good for you!

I just got the car back from dealer, with the alternator and drive belts replaced. $630 total. A little steep but I kept my hands clean.

SilverGLE

iTrader: (21)

^ Ouch... My mechanic did mine for about $165, plus another $30-ish for the belts and $135 for the alt.

7_places

iTrader: (16)

Congrats.
This is good info. Man I hope this doesn't happen to me on my trip this weekend. I'm not superstitious so no worry there just realistic. I'm at 90k with no probs so far, maybe I should just buy one and be ready Could always swap that bad boy on the side of the highway

rmaxima02

Its not the type of gas that you put in, but something is wrong with the battery. The belt might need a change, only if it makes alot of noise.
DON'T TAKE ANY CHANCES. CHECK IT OUT WITH YOUR DEALER.

bwinter7

What ever happened to "premium unleaded gasoline only" from the owners manual?

SilverGLE

iTrader: (21)

Any local auto parts store can test your battery and alternator for free...

AceofSpds

iTrader: (4)

Sure can.... just dont be an *** and ask for testing when the store is busy