So last Wednesday I had just left my house and I came to an intersection, after stopping, I pressed the gas pedal & there was a slight moment of nothing. I looked at the dash....no warning lights. Next block I came to a stop again, this time the car didn't want to move. All the lights lit up & the car felt like it was going to stall. I finally got enough power to pull to the side of the road where the car stalled out. At this point the car was dead, no electric power at all. I tried jumping it, but it was a no go. I ended up getting it towed to the dealer. At first they did not know what the issue was. They were even in contact with Nissan. It turned out to be a short inside of the alternator, & my battery was also toast. Warranty covered the alternator & labor, I covered the battery. Posted this as this was not the norm that I've experienced when it comes to alternators going out. The other times I had some warning via the battery light turning on, slow starts (due to battery not being fully charged), or lights dimming.

 

It totally sucks getting stranded, at least you were able to get the car off the road safely.
I'm hoping that this is an uncommon occurrence, kind of sounded that way from the initial trouble the dealership had diagnosing the problem. The one weird thing like you said was no warning indication, that could have been because of the instant short preventing any lights instead of a gradual failure I guess.

 

I'm thinking the same thing, that it's not a common issue. From my conversation with the service advisor, they were looking at the ECU & something about the A/C amplifier. He said that they have seen issues with metal objects getting behind the dash & causing problems. Not sure if he meant the dealership, or Nissan support. Not sure what the latter was, or if I even heard that right as it was over the phone & it was noisy. I forgot to ask him about it when I went to pick up the car.

 

My alternator just failed as well this weekend about 80 miles from home. My battery however was unaffected. It is interesting that when the alternator fails (or battery voltage drops too much) the car WILL NOT accelerate! I was able to jump my car with just enough voltage to get to a local Sears service center (I thought the battery had failed as I did not have the alternator idiot light on.) I did find it very distressing that the AC Compressor must be removed to get to the alternator! Not complaining of the failure after 255K miles just the lack of any indicator that something was amiss (other than the car not accelerating and doing 5mph on busy city streets!) I should have recalled this posting and put 2 + 2 together but the statement about the cars forward motion did not sink in until much later.

Needless to say, at 255K, my warranty was not an option, but took advantage of the 1.5 days it took to procure the alternator, install and recharge the battery to get some service items taken care of (Cooling flush, brake fluid replaced, and of necessity the AC serviced after they had to remove the compressor.) Total damage around $836

 

It's pretty awesome that your alternator went 255k miles before it died. Of all the cars I've owned the common denominators when the alternator failed were the dash lights coming on and the total lack of power.

I've had AAA+ since 1995 when I owned my Saab 9000 and ironically I have not used it on any of our newer cars just my classic. Its pretty funny when the dealership gets stumped they simply start saying random parts are at fault for something the customer already knows is the problem.

Good luck with the fix, I hope it gives you half a million more miles.

 

That is the odd thing....no dash lights at all to indicate something was amiss. Car started, backed up and when put into D it began moving but NO THROTTLE at all. Put the car in neutral or Park and the engine would raise RPMs based on throttle input, but once in gear, you could go to WOT and no engine response at all...you could only go at idle speeds, which isnt fun at a busy intersection!

Now I will change my driving a bit to ensure I give throttle before entering a street from a parking lot rather than just idling in the parking lot at low speed. It may put me in the same class as those impatient drivers that speed to the parking space and rip away from the lot (ok, I admit I am being a bit over-dramatic here) but throttle input WHILE IN GEAR will now be my hallmark move.

But you are correct in the aspect that replacing an alternator at 255K is nothing to be ashamed of. She has been one of the most reliable cars I have ever owned and certainly the only one to make it to a quarter million miles and still going strong.