Losing power while driving
10-14-2011, 09:25 AM
#1
Losing power while driving
Hi guys,
Yesterday a weird thing happened. While i was driving. Everything seemed normal, but then all of a sudden my car started losing power. The instrument panel lights were flickering, and my acceleration was near zero. So, I turned off the radio and air, and regained power. Then just to test it out and see if it's related to power drain, i plugged my cell phone into the lighter socket, and sure enough after a few minutes of it charging, when i was idle, stuck in traffic the same thing started happening. I didn't let it stall or lose acceleration, and unplugged it right away. Car drove fine rest of the way.
What could cause this? Is my Alternator going out?
I have a 2003 Nissan Maxima. Also, I'm running late on my oil change this time around. I have however, added in some Castrol GTX High Mileage 10W30 just so my oil level doesn't drop. Could a dirty oil filter have any effect to cause this?
All feedback is appreciated. Thank you all so much.
Yesterday a weird thing happened. While i was driving. Everything seemed normal, but then all of a sudden my car started losing power. The instrument panel lights were flickering, and my acceleration was near zero. So, I turned off the radio and air, and regained power. Then just to test it out and see if it's related to power drain, i plugged my cell phone into the lighter socket, and sure enough after a few minutes of it charging, when i was idle, stuck in traffic the same thing started happening. I didn't let it stall or lose acceleration, and unplugged it right away. Car drove fine rest of the way.
What could cause this? Is my Alternator going out?
I have a 2003 Nissan Maxima. Also, I'm running late on my oil change this time around. I have however, added in some Castrol GTX High Mileage 10W30 just so my oil level doesn't drop. Could a dirty oil filter have any effect to cause this?
All feedback is appreciated. Thank you all so much.
10-14-2011, 03:42 PM
#4
definitely the alternator is going south, I have had the very same ... I first replaced the battery thinking it was the problem but no it was the alternator on its way out.
10-15-2011, 09:13 AM
#5
Thanks brothers.
Is it safe to buy an alternator off ebay? Any particular brand I should buy, or watch out for? Also, I'm assuming you also have to replace the belt at the same time too?
Thanks again. I really appreciate you all helping me out.
Is it safe to buy an alternator off ebay? Any particular brand I should buy, or watch out for? Also, I'm assuming you also have to replace the belt at the same time too?
Thanks again. I really appreciate you all helping me out.
10-15-2011, 05:50 PM
#6
My mechanic just replaced mine with a rebuilt one, have no idea which brand and yes he replaced the belt while things were off the car as I had 200,000km on the clock just made sense to replace the belt.
10-15-2011, 07:21 PM
#7
Def the alternator. Boshe is a could brand thats all we install at work. And we run into these problems alot ppl say I have a wiring problem and its just the alt usually lime someone said have advance auto check it out simple
On the Altenator....
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