Please someone have a solution, I have replaced my altinator 3 times in 6 months and am getting real sick of doing it. Here's how it goes, It starts off and on over charging and dying almost leaving me stranded. On all 3 the possitive connection with the nut on it has over heated and caused failure.They are autozone lifetime warrentee altinators but my once dependable Maxima is no longer dependable.What do you guys think is causing this? Just bad rebuilts? Or something else?I am looking for a way to solve this? Any suggestions? Thank you people in advanced just for being here.

 

How are your cables? Check for shorts between the alt. and battery. Stock setup or running amps or subs or something like that?

 

you have a short somewhere that it is causing this issue.

 

Stock running 2 amps with a capacitor. I am thinking the mod from altinator directly to battery might work, What do you guys think?

 

The short seems to be at the possitive bolt at the altinator

 

Have you had the battery checked? A weak battery overworks the alternator.

Also, I'm not sure I'd trust any electrical part from Autozone. After replacing three of their starters (in my old Accord) because every 3-4 starts, it would grind, I took the last one back, got a refund and bought a used one from Honda Heaven (wrecking yard) for $35 and never had a problem again.

 

id upgrade to the big 3 wiring mod and possibly change the battery. sounds kinda like u have a bad alt pos to bat connection. by upgrading the big 3 u will have better results with ur system and prolly eliminate ur issues.

 

The connection overheating says that it is the weak spot in the flow of electricity. You have more current flowing than that connection can handle. The question of "why is this?" is not easy to answer. I expect the design to be correct. The altenator can only produce as much current as it is designed to, not one bit more. Loose connections cause resistance to current flow, electrical current flowing through resistance causes heat. If you heat metal and cool it down, the electrical conducting properties change. The metal gets brittle and this causes resistance. It becomes a vicious circle.

I would check and change the connector on the end of the wire harness that attaches to the altenator. I would also use an internal tooth lock washer when attaching the wire.

Just my 2 and a half cents worth.

 

It's unlikely that you were provided three faulty alternators.

Check that the positive and negative connections of the battery are clean and tight. Make sure the alternator ground wire has a good clean ground connection from the alternator to the frame/trans (I'm not sure where it gets its ground but the connection should be clean and tight).


I remember a friend hads trouble starting his car, it turned out the battery connection was corroded. When I touched the corroded battery terminal it practically burned my hand. We cleaned it up and no more trouble. Maybe something like this is happening to you.

 

I really appreciate you guys help.I think that I will do all of the above including the big 3 wiring mod. I think the 2 amps in trunk might be taking too many amps. it is a 1600 watt driving my speakers and a 1000 watt driving my sub,I am driving both of them off a 2 fared capaciter,I think that I might add another capaciter also.

 

did the same thing, 3 alts from autozone, went to nissan. it is still working for three years now.

 

He did get them at Autozone...

You might want to have the charging system tested while you are running your audio system at normal listening volume, could be the stock alternator doesn't have sufficient output to handle it.

 

Well the alts are 110 amp

 

I'm having a similar problem. I bought a reman alt from autozone, and at night (sometimes during the day) my voltages will drop incredibly low with the lights on. Could be the battery, but I'm leaning more towards those reman alternators. I'm considering a refund and just buying it from Nissan.

 

Well it is a brand new battery autozone top of the line.They do sell good batterys.Thanks guys if it happens again it won't be a autozone altinator.

 

keep us updated

 

I don't if you are auto or mt, but when I had a simialar issue last year. Turns out my motor mounts died. I went threw several altinators, (two remans, one new), then one morning, my ecu fried. When the new ecu was put in, the motor mounts were unplugged. I've had no issues at all since.

 

Bought mine last year for my 00 against advice from many. No problems so far. Not an easy install as alternators go is it?