Parking brake and battery lights on
 

I was driving back home from work today and noticed the parking brake and battery light were on. This never happened before. I thought maybe something minor.
Tried releasing the parking brake release. No use.
Got home, started it again. The lights wouldn't go away.
Searched around, looks like its alternator problem. I couldn't check the Battery/alternator as I don't have a Volt meter.

Can I drive he car? Will it break down while driving?
Gotta get to work tomorrow. But don't wanna get a breakdown in rush hour.

Sad part is I just got the car serviced a week ago. Everything was running fine and now this happens.:bawling:
How much does it cost to replace the alternator?

If your battery light is on - Its always the alternator - The brake light is showing on probably cause your not getting correct voltage and its triggering it - As far as cost goes its expensive you have a better chance calling shops then asking on here for pricing .

But yea you keep on playing with that light on then you will need a battery too and the more accessories you use the more of a chance you will kill a cell on the battery

Best advice once you get the alternator fixed either charge your battery and if its 4 years old might as well replace the battery - Low voltage on a battery to a new alternator will shock and kill it

But always check your alternator belts first

Plus places like auto zone and other car parts store have free alternator and battery testing



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... alternator ...

Went to a local mechanic. He was fiddling with the ODB reader.
I checked with a voltmeter and the voltage is 11.7V same even when the car is started.

I got the battery charged at the shop and made it to work.

What's a good replacement alternator. The Nissan costs around 350$.
Are the re-manufactured ones any good?

The remanufactured units have typically been somewhat problematic ... so take your chances there.

New is generally a better bet but those have failure rates as well.

Whatever you buy, just be sure it carries a LLT warranty, be sure to keep your sales receipt and get comfortable doing the work youself.

FWIW, I'm currently running a remanufactured alternator purchased from Advance Auto back in May.

No issues ... yet.

Personally I would get one from Auto Zone - Give them a number you can remember for life cause that that will be your warranty record - You dont want to scattered your warranty over several phone numbers - Myself I used my old job number was easy to remember I have warranties on cars since 2000 - Your warranty coverage is all over - I had a issue with a battery in DC purchased my parts from florida gave them my phone number and they swapped out the battery warranty and alternator for free no questions asked I replaced it in the parking lot exchanged parts and headed back home and all I needed was my phone number for them to find my warranty

I got it replaced with a New Denso.

I asked the Mechanic for my old alternator to check out if I could fix it. He said he had to return it to store to get $100 back.
He kept saying its the law.

How much is a new Denso. Everything I could find on the net was reman Denso.

I went to 3 websites that sell new Denso alternators and none of them had a new alternator for a 5th gen Maxima. So either you got a re-manufactured Denso or you got some other brand.

What kind of a warranty are you getting with it? A re-manufacutred alternator can come with a LLW (limited lifetime warranty). But find out what brand the alternator really is. The mechanic will replace it with no labor charge for some period of time, but I doubt that it would be lifetime.

Also see if the mechanic will tell you what store he bought it from. A repair shop buys their parts from a regular parts store that you could go to. He might even get a discount from the regular price if he buys enough stuff, or maybe not. But the repair shop will also mark up the price that he charges you, so he probably is going to try to keep his price a secret. I doubt that he will tell you because from what you have said, I doubt that he is being 100% truthful.

Not getting the old alternator back is the norm. When you buy a replacement alternator, you will also pay a "core charge". A core charge is the price of the old alternator. You bring the old part back and you get your core charge back. The old alternator is sent out to be rebuilt. I never heard of any place having a law about it, but with the core charge system, it is cheaper.

I called up the local authorized denso dealer, they only had reman. The core charge was only 30$. I think I got a reman and not a new alternator. But I did get 1 year warranty according to the mech.