I started up my car after work and heard this really weird whirring sound so I opened up the hood and smelled this nasty smell. Then my alternator started billowing gray smoke. So I called a tow truck and took it to the dealership. I guess I'll find out what happened tomorrow. Anyone have this happen to them? There's only 51k miles on it. It's under warranty though.

 

YEP, happined to me today. Car started whining really bad on startup... i drove it around hoping it would go away but it didnt, then it started to smell really weird so i popped the hood and the alternator was like fried... car's going in shop tommorow. 58k miles on car.

 

If caught soon enough the regulator can be repaired (But of course no Nissan mechanic is cappable of repairing this). They will just replace the alt.

 

Actually the alternator is not covered under the powertrain warranty. The bumper to bumper warranty covers the alternator but that's 3year/36k miles. The powertrain warranty covers the engine and transmission (but not accessories).

 

Yeah, but I have the extended warranty that covers it for 9,000 more miles thank goodness. Weird how it happened to both of us the same day.

 

Welcome to the 97 Maxima Alternator Problem Club. I've said this many times. There is something wrong with 97 maxima alternators. Mine went up in flames also. I had about 30k on the car when it went up in smoke. At first there was only a whining sound. I took it to the dealer and they adjusted some belts and charged me 36 dollars. Then about 4 months later, the whole alternator burst in to flames and I had to get the car towed to another dealer. They replaced my alternator and battery under warranty. No problems since.

 

Alternator burst into flames .. say wut ?
thats not cool, i haven't had any issues with my 95..
probably a 97 defect, are any of you running powerful sound systems ? that could be straining it somewhat..

Ant

 

I'm running the stock Bose system. I'm glad I hadn't upgraded it yet, they probably wouldn't have warrantied it. I was actually surprised at the service I got at World Car Nissan here. They payed for the towing, and I had the car back in 2 days no questions asked. Nothing was even said about my mods. I did get the car back with a new Alternator and harness and it's running great. Hopefully it won't go up in smoke again. Mine probably would have gone up in flames if I hadn't noticed the weird sound.

 

Yeah when the dealer replaced my alternator under warranty, I asked why the alternator failed, and the stupid service manager shugged his shoulders and said, "well these are manmade parts, and they are not perfect." The official explaination on the service invoice was "alternator internal parts failure."

I think the whining sound was the bearing going south, but as to what would cause it to erupt in flames, I dunno...perhaps a seized bearing?