How many folks replaced their alternator? I only have 41K and mine went. The install was a PITA; simple but you need a tiny hands and tiny tools if you wanted to do it quick.

It took me hours. Well, just answer the poll and post your thoughts.

 

labor time is 1.6hrs... doesnt look all that tough.

cant be worse than a 3.0L escape...

 

pretty easy to replace... but a lot of patience..........

 

Mine happened almost two years ago. Glad it was still under warranty. My battery crapped out before I went to Vegas. After I came back, the alternator went.

 

mine went around 50k. i had an udp pulley on it for about 1.5 years before it died. i was also running a odyssey 680mj at the time. the battery had been in about 3 months before it diedl. the alternator was replaced and have been running the reman alternator and odyssey battery for over a year now with no further issues.

 

how do you know you need a new alt? i've noticed some weird issues with driving and some of my friends are trying to attribute it to my system and drained battery (original factory @ 46k miles)... any thoughts?

 

I noticed that the dash brake and battery lights came on and off. It only charged the battery some of the time and the battery eventually died. You can go to the local auto parts store and they will test the alternator and battery for you, on the car or off. Mine checked out OK as it was working sometime. It took a month before it actually died, the day after I bought the new alternator, luckily.

 

Do you think the UDP had anything to do with it? Did you install your own belts? I think if the belts were not at the perfect tension it may have had something to do with it.

 

Never did it on mine...120 k's

 

Mine died about a week ago. All the lights started blinking and the car just went dead. Blocked off 2 lanes in a busy street. Haha, lots of people were mad.

I had 70K on mine, drained my battery so I had to buy a new one battery as well. (Just got the battery a month ago, now a new one)

Paid 400 for everything at a shop. Im not a very handy mechanic.

 

tell tale signs of a dying altenator:

-interior lights and exterior lights are dim under normal driving
-brake light, check engine light, air bag light all come on and don't go off

 

Haven't had to do it so far... 108K

 

Mine failed @ 80K. Not to bad of job to replace, just a little tight for the hands. I have had an UDP since car was new.

 

Mine failed this morning at 44k. I'm trying to find someone to do it cheaply. The first shop wants $475 which sounds ridiculous.

 

Mine died because the connectors to it were all melted.

 

I got my alternator done for $300

 

none yet mine is working fine at 55k miles

 

i got ~85k miles on my 2000 SE. i think mine jus died last nite. i recently (2 weeks ago) took the car to the dealer to change the tensioner and belts (didn't realise the job was so easy though and ended up giving money to them
when i was comin home the battery light and brake light was on for the whole trip. reached home and kept the car on and searched for my multimeter but couldn't find it. just to check if the alternator was giving the 14V or however much its suppose to give. now the car can't start back. gonna take it out and head to discount and check it. $218 for a remanufactured one there with the core i think.. is that normal? guess i'll be selecting the changed alternator selectoin on this thread now

 

mine went when i had about 50k-60k miles...good thing i have extended warranty till 100k

 

Im looking to get a high output alternator, has anyone replaced theirs with something like a 180 amp one? If you have, could you post up where you got it from?

 

Well, mine JUST got replaced yesterday ($325). I was not sure what was wrong with it, let me explain. I just replaced the brakes and the battery a week ago; last weekend - the dash brake and battery light came on. I double checked both (Battery at auto zone, brakes myself), then the light goes off. On Saturday, both lights come back on and STAYED back on. I decided to take it to the shop on Tuesday. On MONDAY all my lights came on and my dials just went crazy. Got it towed to the shop and they replaced the altinator with a refurb . In any event; now my AC is blowing out HOT AIR. These guys are trying to stick it to me, but I can recharge that myself.

If you find that high output altinator jackie, let me know - I am going to replace my refurb in a few months.

Oh yeah, I had to replace @ 95k.

 

Last time I experienced alternator failure, it was on my Sentra, and the car made a strange whirring/hissing/whining noise. None of you mention any noise as a symptom of alternator failure. You only mention electrical problems. Didn't anybody's failing alternator make noise?

 

Hey guys well i changed my alt in my 2000 about 6moth ago and well it was easy u drop the a/c comp 4 14mm bolts and take off the front tire and well in about 45 min it was done and all it cost me was $85cdn and a pack of smokes it had 6month warranty and well it's the second one in the life of the car it has 213476km on it and it still runs like new

 

Just replaced my alternator today (3+ hours) and I am still having problems.

Here is the story. Two days ago my brake light and battery light come on at the same time. I do some research and believe the problem is with the alternator. So I take the car to a local auto parts store and they inform me that my alternator is producing 0v and that I should replace the alternator. I do a quick look at the wiring and everything seems ok.
So I buy a new alternator from autozone (179.99) and installed it today. After the installation, I turn on the car and the battery and brake light are no longer lit. I'm thinking that I fixed my problem when all of sudden I hear this awful whining noise like SPIROMAX was talking about. I turn off the engine and restart the car... The sound goes away. Now I am not convinced that I fixed the problem. I check the voltage on the battery, 12.41 when car is off, 11.40 when car is on!!

Any ideas? I'm thinking it is either the wiring or my belt is too loose. Any thoughts or suggestions?? Oh yeah, 86K miles.

 

AutoZone is not a very good place to purchase parts from. Many of their parts are poorly remanufactured and may not even last as much as a year - I found this out the hard way with my Camry & Celica before I had my Max. A friend of mine (and big car buff) told me their parts are of poor quality as well.

This could be the issue with your altinator, then again maybe its not.

I only purchase fluids & air filters from AutoZone. You may wanna check Napa or OReily's for some good parts.

 

Oh yeah, I did hear whirring from time to time before my alt went bad.

 

FYI, in case anyone was wondering. I just bought my car at 55k miles and asked the previous (original) owner if he had ever replaced the alternator. He said no and his records backed this up. Thus I voted no in the poll.

 

It seems to be a bigger problem with the 5th gen than in the 5.5th gen. That's just going on what I've read in the past and now in this thread and not at all scientific so I could be wrong. Does anyone know if Nissan changed the supplier or possibly went with a different design between the 3.0 and the 3.5? I'm wondering if mine may go out in the near future (63K miles currently).

 

just replaced mine today at 120xxx miles and wasnt that bad.

 

I have all the symptoms above, dash lights and all. But prior to the alternator failing I did hear the WHIRRRRINg noise. Was not sure what it was, but now I know.

 

the most needed HOW TO...
http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/500

 

my alternator just died at 104 000 km

The adjustment scew of the idler pulley broke at the first try to loosen it ;o/

And the part was B/O at the dealer...

But its pretty easy once you know that you have to remove the fan from the radiator.

And now, i got a SES light...dammm

 

^ Thank you for that how to! Very complete! My alternator's been whining for the past 2 months and I'm going to replace it within the next 3 weeks or so. And my belts rubbed a while back, producing the lovely smell of burning rubber, so I need a new belt and tensioner/idler (whichever) pulley.

 

I opt for the loose belt. My wife drives the 2002 and I have not had to replace it yet at 30k and not looking forward to spending anymore money.

 

My alt. in my 03 died at 28k miles, my alt. in my 95 died at 109k miles. Stealership replaced the 03's for free under warranty with no deductable.

 

I agree with you, alot of these stories sounds like the belt is too tight or too loose.

 

So I forgot to knock on wood when I voted in this poll....
I am pretty sure my alternator is dead, but I need to try to get it tested before I start tearing everything apart.

So, where has everyone bought a replacement from? Did you go OEM new or buy a reman? How much did you spend?

Thanks.

 

^ Last summer, I got mine from AutoZone... Lifetime warranty, about $140 IIRC. Shop around, you may find something cheaper, but that's the cheapest I found from the 4 big auto parts stores (AutoZone, Advance Auto Parts, O'Reilly, NAPA).

 

my batt light was coming on and off then batt died. i put a new batt in and batt light still came on and off at will. i then had alt tested and needed a replacement. i bought reman alt and had it installed. batt light went away for about 3-4 months then started to come on and off at will again. i had both batt and alt tested and both were good so i figured just a glitch in the cluster(i changed from gle to se white gauges). a year later batt just died again. i put new batt in and again batt light coming on and off at will. Its been in only a week and i got the total xmas tree light up on cluster where everything lights(batt airbag, tcs, service engine etc etc) and batt completely died. had to get jumped. took year before to kill batt but only a week this time so i guess its getting worse. i then repeated steps and had alt, and batt tested which came back good?

i am not a mechanic but have alot of common sence. i checked the terminals, both pos and neg and both were tight. i checked grounding to frame from batt and nice and tight, no corrosion. i checked all plugs and connects to alt and all were nice and tight with no corrosion.

could a rebuilt alt go in only a year? if so why does it test good? could it be only working intermitingly?

any ideas? is there some type of special sensor or maxima specific thing i am missing? thanks in advance for any help. this one is driving me insane!!!

 

^ I'm sure your rebuilt alt simply died... While the warranty may be lifetime, the part is still prone to fail at anytime. Maybe the particular alt you have was rebuilt very well.... Either way, a new alt should fix the problem. Good luck!