New Alternator, new battery, not charging to 14.2volts, staying around 11.86. 11.8 at the top screw at idle. Any suggestions before I take it to the mech.

 

Sounds like a defective alternator. I had that issue before. Defective alternator is very common issues my friend.

 

what brand alt? we use Napa stuff at work, nearly every VQ Altima or Maxima we put a reman Napa alternator on comes back in 1-6 months not charging again. sounds like a bad alt

 

it was tested at Pepboys and it charged right on the spot. it is a brand Pepboys sells

 

Seems to be common among the aftermarket rebuilt alternators. Maybe see if Pepboys can do the test on your car while its running to see how much output the alternator has? It seems like alternator...and yes, they can be bad out of the box.

 

We did the test and it is at 11.86 at the Alt also. im going to replace it again for a new one and see if that fixes it

 

I hope that takes care of it!

 

This is why I never buy alt from pep boys their alt most of the time gets defective.

I'm using mechman 270A amps alt..

http://www.mechman.com/

 

Check your fusible links! Check that the atenator in grounded....it should be a small 8mm hex head bolt...

 

Did you try to swap the battery? I wonder if yours has 1 cell internally shortened. In that case it would heat up the charging wire pretty well provided alt is doing its job.

 

It's probably the alternator. When mine died last year the car rejected a few

 

Update,
After dealing with a so called "Pepboys Mechanic" in the store, my brother got into a smart discussion with him, I was kinda laughing in the back while they were going back and forth. The mech keep telling my brother, Im a mechanic, am a mechanic so I know what I'm talking about, my brother told him, listen I understand you are a mechanic.. but I'm a mechanical engineer, so please stop telling me you are a mechanic. That's when I stepped in and talked to the Manager, and they replaced the alternator. Took me 20 minutes to fix the car with a new one. My last visit to PepBoys... they always have an issue.

 

there is no so called Aftermarket alternator. they are original OEM, however the caveat is that they are remanufacture, so that basically when you brought in your old alt, which is the "core" which in turn Remy does is remanufacture the old parts, cleaning the housing, disassemble the core, and what's basically is replaced, is the brush, stator, bearings, slip rings, and voltage regulator. Occasionally the pulley get replace if the ribs on it is dented or damaged. You might find a brand spanking new Alternator but it's rare to find a part store that would sell it. Even if you got a alternator from Nissan, you will never get a Brand new one unless your car is a 2014 which gonna be brand new alternator but any proceeding years, will remanufactured, Nissan parts dept will even tell you that.