What could it be? The engine sounds ok, I just checked to see if I lost one of the belts but they are there..... what could be making the brake and battery lights gors on.... HELP....

 

your alternator is on its way out. mine died about 2 months ago. both the brake & battery lamp came on. you can get it tested at advance auto or autozone for free. they can tell you what the alternator is putting out volt wise.

 

how much $$$ money wise are we talking about...should I buy a new one at Nissan or where? Is it easy to change..... I have doen it in the past in other cars but don't know if I should do it. Is there a write up....????

 

400 for a "new" one which isn't new. They just rebuild them. Try getting one from a junkyard or see if a local place can rebuild your current one.

 

$400.00 WHAT... no fu#%@ng way..... I think the maxima is going to rest for a while.......

 

i have never heard of an alternator costing 400 dollars. They usually run about 100-150. Havent replaced one on the max yet though.

 

For an alternator? Are you on crack? This ain't a tranny. A new alt costs like $150.

 

There is no such thing as a new one... in the literal sense anyway.

List price is about 270, you can get them for 160 granted i'll give you that, but then if you through a dealer it will be more and you have to factor in installation which isn't very pleasant.

True i went way over with my initial sum but it takes about 20 seconds to dig up an alternator on the web and autozone stock a 100amp as in store product.

 

Brake and battery light on at the same time indicates that your alternator is not charging the battery. Best you get a new alternator soon. My Maxima died near a Sears auto center. They diagnosed the alternator was bad. I was still within warranty so the guy charged my battery so I could at least drive it to the dealership. Would have set me back about $330 for the alternator plus labor. Hope you have an extended warranty.

 

nope no more warranty on my Max..... I'll go to several places and find out the price....... Damn.... I hate when this happens......

 

I had mine changed under warranty and the desk jockey showed me the price, 450$ Canadian.

Find yourself a place where they rebuild them.

 

I'm experiencing the same thing right now as we speak. Both lights come on but they will go off if you get the car up past 3000rpm's.

 

I just called Pepboys and they have one for 170 + tax...so it is better than the 400

 

I might do this today.. Does anyone has a write up on this........ with pctures..... I'm going to replace the belts too with this... I read something about the belt tensioner in the How To section..... Anyone??????????????

 

Anyone??????????????

 

Anyone??????????????

 

dude, it's not that hard.. just get under the car and you'll see where most of it is..
the belt tensioner for the PS pump is a PITA, but once you figure it out, it's not bad. I highly suggest you buy a 12mm ratcheting end wrench for that part though. not much clearance back there. horrible design where Nissan put that tensioner. took me longer to change that belt than it did the entire rest of the alternator swap job.

you'll also have to unbolt the AC compressor and have someone help you hold it out of the way while you move the alternator out and back in. this DOES NOT mean you have to pull the hoses off. just remove the bolts securing the compressor to the engine and the hoses are flexible. there's enough room to get the alternator out and back in without problem.

that's about it really. the rest is pretty self-explanatory. I highly suggest buying a service manual of some sort as well, as you're out of warranty and you'll need it many times over the life of the car. if you make $10 an hour at work (And if you can afford a 5th gen, I'd assume you make considerably more than that.) then the $25 spent for a service manual is worth 2.5 hours of work just so you dont' have to sit here and surf .org for hours on end looking for the torque for your headlamp switch.

 

Dude, Sorry to say but I make more than $10.00 an hour. I thaks you for replying back to my question , but leave the attitude out. I just asked for help not for someone who is going to lecture me about $$$, I asked to see if someone had done it before. If it bothers you well you know... But thanks a lo tanyway

 

You missed my point.

the $25 you spend on a service manual is EASILY worth the time saved by spending days online searching for a writeup on everything, or looking for a torque spec on your oil drain plug, or where to add blinker fluid.... you get my drift. it's a general statement directed toward all of the people that think $25-50 is a lot to spend for such a great resource. it'll come in handy and save you thousands of $ over the life of the car.

 

Maybe I miss understood you comment and If so I apologize for that. You are right about the service manual... I have the Nissan service manual but it doesn't give me the explanation on how to do it... I have changed Alternator before on other cars but not in a maxima which have a tensioner as part of the belts. Anyhow., like I said thanks again for your response.....

 

yup.. about the only thing the nissna FSM really tells you in this one is where it is and where the tensioners are and the torque specs for everything. otherwise they leave it up to you on how to get it out..
as I said, it's really not that hard, just a PITA to get the belts off. pull the AC compressor loose and you'll see the 2-3-4 bolts holding the alternator in. I think it took about two hours on the '00 I did.
(takes 15 minutes on my POS. )

 

will buy it this weekend and will do it. Thanks

 

So far I still haven't done this. I found the alternator finally at an autopart and buy it tonight and install it tommorow. Do I need a special tool to take it out. I think I need to buy an adapter to reach the bolts, am I right? or not

 

Matt, VQs have a different setup than the VEs. The alternator sits on top of the AC compressor, not below it like on a VE motor. You will need to loosen up the tensioner idler pulley just a bit with a 14mm wrench, then loosen the tensioner and remove tension off the AC/Alternator belt. PS runs on its own belt, no need to touch this sucker- unless ya changing belts. Its kind of a PITA to do a alternator on a VQ but doable in like 45 min with the right tools. I recently launched the tensioner completly off my car- dunno where it went but it fell off on the highway. Belt stayed on the AC, alternator and crank pulley but wasn't spining them. My Batt and brake lights came on and I thought, **** my alternator just went. I opened up the hood and notice the whole tensioner broke off the side of the front timing chain cover. There was a high mileage 4th gen on the lot that was going to the auction anyways... snagged that **** off that VQ and I was good to go To my supprise the belt was good, and I was worried that I'ma have a hard time trying to find out which belt to use with my UDP.