For the past 6 months, my car battery died about 5 times and needed a boost to recharge.

What electronic upgrades do i have in my car: i have amps, subs and upgrade speakers. The alternator is stock, and the battery is an interstate one - all items replaced about 3.5 yrs ago. No capacitors.

Symptons:
a. On few occassions, it died because i left the lights on.
b. On most of the occassions, it died while i was idling in traffic because of traffic jam, or died while in the drive through lane at Tim Hortons or McDonalds, and playing my stereo.
c. At night, i see my headlight dim a bit if the bass hits too deep - had to replace the fuse once since installation in 2000.
d. Once or twice, I lost sound from subs while cruising the highway, and got carried away with the music. But when i stopped, and started the car, the subs came back.
e. the power interruption only seems to affect starting the car ... i can still use the lights and horn for a while, but they also finally give up shortly after the car dies. but then once it is charged, it starts instantly. I replaced the starter last year at Pep Boys, and the problem still continued after that.

So, i am thinking of a solution to these problems. My car is really old - with about 380k kilometres, so i might not be keeping it longer - 2yr max.

So i'm thinking of replacing the battery as a start. what do you suggest?

thanks in advance - Noela

 

Alternator

 

sorry for dbl post... the altenator is not charging your battery full imo. it is a lil which is why u can still drive it but once the amp get to working it pull too much and the altenator can't keep up. if u replace the altenator its good idea to get a new battery as well. also if avaliable autozone can check an alternator while still on the car.and test the battery for that matter. the let you know if they are bad.

 

Either your alternator is a POS or your wireing was done by a POS installer. It's a fact, double check your wiring and if you don't find any problems let someone who knows what they are doing take a look. Also have your alternator load tested. But don't forget that a lead acid battery once fully drained will never recharge completely.

 

If you want to check your alt. just pull any of the two battery polls off while the car is runing if it shuts down your alt. is bad.

 

Have you tried that in a Maxima? My alt is fine but the car dies in no time flat if the battery cables come loose. It may have to do with how Nissan wired the ignition. Disconnect the cables and the circuit is opened.

 

This is a 91? I'm sure it's different, but may be worth calling a Nissan dealer to see if they had problems with that alt. My 98 alt died and I found out there was a recall on it that the previous owner hadn't taken care of. Teh alt, labor, and even towing the dead car was taken care of by Nissan. Prolly a different alt, but is worth a shot.

 

If you have a lead acid battery (most common), and you have had it die a few times, it will get increasingly worse as time goes on. If you have a dry cell battery (Optima, e.g.) then you will need to upgrade the alt. Every time you run a regular battery dead, it loses about 8% of its ability to recharge to full strength. 5 times completely dead would be about 32% of its capabilities are no longer available. Don't get confused on the math...each time it loses about 8% of whats left not from the total from the beginning. And it is an estimate not a perfect number, just a guideline.

 

thanks for all your thoughts... I will begin with the load testing, and maybe think of getting a new battery.

cheers - Noela