Beginning on Monday night, I was getting the battery and brake light flashing simultaneously, headlights and rear lights were a bit dim when driving, so I figured it's the alternator getting ready to go. Last night we had to leave the max in a parking lot because it was getting ready to die.

Had to the car towed home this morning and I replaced the alternator, then I had to jump the car since it would just click for as long as I would turn the key. Now, I still have the battery and brake light on and flickering a bit, but the car is running right now.

I checked codes and have codes for knock sensor and egr system hi/low flow, nothing else.

What to check next?

 

Update, the car just died as it was idling in my driveway, battery is dead.

 

Where did you get the replacement alty. from?

 

Bought it at Autozone

 

besure your plugs are plug in all the way and double check your belt again.

 

Get in the Zone!

 

The battery is good im assuming.. Check the voltage when the car is running, it should go up if the alt is working.

 

You should have the battery tested. A lot of times when the alternator is dying or dead the battery gets killed too many times and stops holding a charge.

 

When my alternator died, it took the battery with it. Pull it and go and get it checked. They'll know right away if it's salvageable.

 

Helpfull......

 

I had a replacement alternator go bad on me after like 3 weeks of use. It was replaced with another one under the store warranty. Same brake and battery lights flashing.

 

The car will most likely not die once it's started if the battery is dead but the alternator is good. The battery functions to start the car mostly. Check your fuses under the hood, the bigger ones, may say "ALT" or "BATT" it may be blown and preventing the alternator from sending voltage to the battery to keep it charged. If not then you may have a break in the wire from the alternator to the battery. Determine the voltage at the output post on the alternator(the biggest wire). If it's around 14v which is should be the alternator is not your problem, it's in the wiring or the fusible link between the alternator and battery. If it's below that, then you simply got a bad replacement part.

 

lol i changed my alty every 4 months now.. i posted my thread abt it lol... i hope it wont happen again

 

99.99% sure it's the POS remand. alty. they sold you. I think I've been thru 3 Crapzone Altys. Either they charge to high, or the diode is bad causing the voltage to pulsate.

Do yourself a favor pull that crap alternator out, get your money back, go to www.nissanparts.org purchase a OEM one.

 

Stop buying aftermarket junk.

 

Well, I checked the alternator using a multimeter, and I'm getting 14v out of it and it doesn't seem to pulsate or budge at all, even after a few minutes. I don't see a problem with any fuses/fusible links in the fuse box near the battery, so maybe it's the wiring.

Any wiring experts?

Could I just get a sufficient gauge wire and run it from the alt to the positive battery terminal and if so, as a test could I just run a wire from the alt to the positive terminal and then unplug the terminal from the battery after I start the car to see if it'll run just off the alternator?

Also, I did check the ground wires that come off near the alternator, cleaned them up good and re-attached. That of course didnt' help either.

 

With the battery unhooked(and the car not running of course) check continuity between the alternator output post and the Pos. battery terminal. If it has continuity then the break most likely is between the terminal and the distribution block. But it sounds to me from what you described in your first post you'll find there's no continuity. I'm not sure if they have an inline fusible link in the alternator wire or not, hopefully someone else chimes in that knows specifics about whether it's only a fuse type link or an inline, maybe both?. Yes you COULD run a wire from the output post to the battery but you'll want it to be fused to prevent future problems. Personally I would trace the wire though and find where the break is,(I'm picky like that, If you just start running new wiring when things act up, it adds up quickly, makes it a mess under the hood and d*mn near impossible to troubleshoot later when you have all the old abandon wiring plus the new to deal with.), and just replace a fusible link if need be. cleaner that way, also more reliable. FSMs are invaluable when you're dealing with wiring, invest in one, it might save your patience.

 

does autozone test altinaters for free?