Okay, I was doing some research online to see if I could find out what was wrong with my 96 SE, and I found a forum that had people with close to the same problem on talkaboutautos.com. Below is a sample:

"I was having problems with the car stalling while driving, the radio going
off and on and the air bag light flickering off and on as well.

I replaced the battery and alternator and that didn't help. The problems
became more frequent.

I then replaced the engine coils and sparkplugs. That worked fine for
about two weeks. Then the car started acting sluggish when accelerating.
Now I'm back to square one with the radio going off and on, the stalling,
having trouble starting (sometime it starts right up, sometimes I just
hear a rapid clicking noise). The A/C and the lights are turn on no
problem.

I'm at a loss as to what to look at next. The car only starts when it
wants to."

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I am having the exact same problems, but with a couple other details. My guages stopped working, and I noticed I blew an alternator fuse, but I'm not sure if the alternaror fuse blew befor or after I installed the new one because I didn't decide to check all my fuses until after the new alternator was installed and nothing had changed. Also when I took the car to SEARS so they could test the new alternator, they said "we can't check the alternator because you need a new battery and the car is having electrical problems". This seems to be a problem that lots of Max and I30 owners are having, and they all seemed to have happend in the last couple of weeks. Can anyone help????? Pleeeeease!!!!!!

 

I went into SEARS again today for a recheck. This time I had put in a brand new battery before I got there. Below are the test results:

Battery cables: Good
Battery cable ends: Good
Battery tray: Good
Belt is Good
Battery hold down: Good
Battery: Good

Diagnostic Results:
Drain Test: OK
Vehicle started: OK
Excessive voltage drop

I also went to AutoZone afterwards to hook their computer up to mine and see if its putting out any codes. The codes were:

P0500: speed sensor malfunction
P0325: knock sensor- 1 circuit malfunction bank 1 or 1 sensor

Does any of that have to do with my charging system or the speedometer? SEARS says the car needs to go to either an electrical shop or to the dealer. I need help becasue that sounds like a $#^% load of money.

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Service Engine Light on. Codes referenced led to wild goose chase with mechanic. Follow-up Q&A on-line led to speed sensor, knock-sensor and wire harness as possible causes. To date have replaced speed sensor & knock sensor sub-harness. Knock sensor seems to be an effect and not cause of CEL so did not replace. Also, observed the speedometer not working at times, generally when first accelerating after cold start then catches at about 40mph. My concern is that it is in fact the wiring harness (short or broken wire) as I have read this to be a common problem with this gen. Car will not pass inspection and I am not sure where to go from here aside from dealer which equares to ~$1200 for starters. Any feedback is appreciated!

 

I just checked Consumer Reports and electrical issues seem to be widespread on the 4th and 5th gen Maxima's. If you don't want to take it to the shop, I guess the only other thing to do is to get a factory shop manual and a multimeter. Start checking wiring etc. one system at a time and see what you come up with.
I had to do this on my IROC and it was such a PITA. Good luck.

 

I'm having similar issues and after replacing the alternator and battery and checking everything else I'm at a loss. I have a voltmeter but you have to know how to use the damn thing and what the readings are telling you. Here's the problem I'm having:

2 weeks ago the battery died. As the battery was purchased in October (9 months old) I, like most people, assumed it was the alternator. So, I bought a new one and replaced it. (I just found out this morning there was a recall on the alternator but a little too late now.) I put the car back together pulled my other maxima around to jump it as the battery was dead.
A few minutes after I removed the jumper cables the motor bogged down and died. I attached the cable again and the car ran fine until I removed the cables. I called a couple people I know and they all said the battery was shot and to take it back and get a new one since it was under warranty. I put the brand new battery in the car and it ran like a kitten…for a week! Then the battery was dead again! WTF?
Now, I have a mechanic friend come out with his voltmeter and he runs through some things and his conclusion was the alternator was shot. That the store gave me a bad alternator. I removed the part, took it up to the place I bought it and asked for a new one. I was told the alternator was good as they tested it 5 times and every time it displayed the same numbers and passed.
I explained this to my friend and he said it could be a fuseable link that burned. But for the life of me, I cannot find the fuseable link! According to my repair manual, it should be on the positive battery cable before the starter solenoid and looks to be stored in a plastic housing of some sort. According to some other troubleshooting website, the link is a simple cable labeled F which I cannot find either of the two.
Now, the only problem I have with driving the car to the auto parts store and having them test it is that the battery will die on me and leave me stranded.
If I left anything out that could help you get a better idea of what’s going on tell me so I can try to paint a better picture for you.

 

hope every thing works out

 

did you guys every got your cars fixed? the same thing is happening to my 96 maxima

 

having the same problems on my 96...any help?