I have owned this 2003 Maxima for 22 years. It is now my daughter's (who I bought home from the hospital in it when she was born).

It is very cold here. It has been hovering around 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
The car died while she was driving it when she was at a stop sign (idling).
We replaced the battery (Costco $4 because the old one was 2 years old) and it ran fine for a day.
It happened again. We got it to my house and I read 14v on the battery terminals when it was idling.
Replaced the alternator and positive battery terminal. It took us 3 days in freezing temperatures. We had to take the radiator out and dismounted the AC compressor to get it all back together. What a pain. The 14v means that the old alternator was not bad BUT replacing the alternator waws the next logical step for a 23 year old car with 206,000 miles on it.
This morning it happened again, died idling at an intersection. When I got there the accessories worked but there wasn't enough juice to crank the starter.
Jumped the battery. It started up. Revved it for 5 minutes. Removed the jump cables. It died again as soon as I let it idle.
I took the battery out and it is in my garage charging. With the battery charged I will drive it to my house tomorrow.

No codes have been thrown... I.e. no engine light and no codes to read.
The oil was a little low, at the bottom of the dipstick. Added 2 quarts of oil.

Stuff we have done to the 2003 Maxima in the past 2 years.
3 new Fuel injectors
6 new plugs and new coils.
New power steering pump.
New belt
New radio (shouldn't be pertinent but listing it anyway).
New battery
New alternator.
New + (positive) battery terminal.
Mouse damage to the wiring harness for the MAF. Pulled these wires apart and soldered new jumper leads then sealed with the good glue heat shrink tubing.

Why did the battery die again while it was idling?

My next step.
Charge the battery, reinstall it and drive it to my place.
Put the ODBC reader on it an monitor the battery voltage with Torque.
At the same time put a 12v power cable in the cigarette lighter and monitor the voltage with a multimeter while driving it home.

Thoughts:
Negative battery connector is corroded.
Positive or negative battery cable corroded or weak where they attach to the car.
??? Completely drain the battery so we can get a second replacement ???

Any suggestions are welcome. Even if it is off the wall I am running out of ideas.

 

the only thing I can think of is the pulley on the new alternator might be slipping. I've had a few alternators from Autozone throw pulleys. I've actually used ultra gray to adhere the pulley to the alternator shaft as well as on the alternator pulley nut. you may also want to make sure the 3 wire connector for the alternator is fitted tightly.

 

Hi and welcome to the forums! I still remember bringing my newborn son home in my 97 SE.

-What's the battery voltage across the terminals with the engine running and headlights heat/ac on?
-Clean all battery, ground and alternator connections (leaking valve covers often saturate the alternator connector and ground with oil)

Check the detailed electrical starting & charging systems troubleshooting steps listed in the FSM
2003 Nissan Maxima Factory Service Manual

 

Thank you for the suggestions and wiring diagram.

Slipping alternator belt is nothing i would have ever considered. That makes sense with it being so cold and the rubber being stiff. I will check it out.

I replaced the positive battery cable clamp, it had stretched iver the years and wasn't tight. I think I will also replace the negative clamp.

I will post back more one way or the other after i have a chance to dive back into it, hopefully tomorrow.

Thanks,
Michael

P.S. i forgot to list that I had replaced the plastic valve cover gasket piece a couple of years because it was leaking and steam cleaned the engine. Good suggestion though.

 

I was talking about the pulley spinning on the alternator shaft, not the belt slipping..

 

Just got the Maxima home. I stuck a 12v power cord in the cigarette jack and put my multi meter on it. The voltage started at 12v then slowly dropped to 11.67v by the time I made it the 16 miles home.

Obviously the car is running on battery with nothing coming from the alternator. I am going to let the engine cool then start by double checking all the plugs.

I should have confirmed we were getting 14v before I let her take it. We were tired... But my bad!

 

stick a voltmeter on the battery where you can watch it and give the sub-harness at the alt some light tugging or twisting. its a fairly common failure.

 

Just finished and we are very hopeful that everything is running properly now. There was a loose connection on one of the connectors going into the alternator (Surprise)!

We installed an android head unit in the car a couple of years ago (I did a writeup on this forum). We installed torque on the head unit so we can monitor the ODB voltage. I also wired the cigarette jack to a volt meter so we can double check the voltage for the next week or two. We are getting a 14.5v on the battery terminals when at idle. The voltage on the cigarette jack is 14.3v (Close enough to make sense to me).

@Nick the charging PDF was VERY helpful! Thank you!

I appreciate everyone's feed back and help!

Next stop is new shocks. Definitely need rear shocks and probably need front shocks. I am planning on ordering Gabriel shock from Rock Auto at $75 per corner. Monroe are only $50 per corner. KYB is ~$150 per corner. The Maxima doesn't get the same workout as when I was driving it. My daughter is a very mellow driver with no hard cornering. Monroe had several bad reviews on this forum and KYB are said to be tighter than stock as well as too expensive. We just want a comfortable stock ride without any need for pulling hard corners hence the Gabriel shocks.

 

glad you found it. that harness has caused many unnecessary alternator replacements.