Just went out and started my car and realized the brake and battery light is on. Then it went away, then came back. Then it would only happen when i hit the gas?

Anyone know how the heck this would happen?

 

Altenator?

 

Yep. Same symptoms for me this past June. It's most likely the Alt.

How many miles on the car? You could just go ahead and consider this preventative maint.

May as well change the belt while you're at it!

For your reading pleasure:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=465948

 

Get the alternator tested, I don't know how far autozone is from you but I would go get it tested. Have someone follow you incase your car dies.

 

if it's a 97-98, then there was a recall on alternators and you should call a local dealership and see if your car falls under the recall. I just had mine done a week ago.

 

alternator for sure

 

alternator x10. Also, check for leaks while you are in there, sometimes leaking fluids will kill an alternator (ie power steering fluid).

 

yea probably alternator. and you'll definately know its it when your driving and every light comes on on the dash as it struggles to get up a massive hill on the highway. (personal experience).

 

advance and auto zone will test alternator for free

 

Right on the money. I've had 2 tested there.

 

its the alternator

 

alt for sure. I have replaced mine 4 times. It is your alt. Sorry to hear that.

 

Alternator, it'll only test bad when the lights are on. I took mine to autozone and it came out fine... Finally I said F*** it and changed it even tho the machine said OK! I no longer have a brake and battery light coming on.

 

DUDE, going up a hill my car will NOT accelerate. This could be do to a bad alternator?

Thank's for all the responses guys, I hear they're expensive and a pain to do.

EDIT: $160 @ autozone w/ core refund, but i dont think i can do it myself.

 

yes, it is expensive, thats part of owning a car...

 

I'm having a similar problem. I recently replaced my high output alternator with a standard one and as soon as I did that and cranked the car the battery light and alternator light came on. I checked all connections, and then checked the voltage at the battery and it came out at 11.7V which shows the car is not charging. The battery, alternator harness, battery fuse, and alternator were all brand new.

So I warrantied that alternator, swapped it in again and the car is still not charging. The battery light is no longer one, but there is still only 11.7V at the battery while the car is running. There is no way I got two bad alternators in a row.

My question is, what else can it be. The AltS fuse appears to be good (but I haven't swapped another one in to test), and none of the wires appear to be messed up. The reason I ditched the Can Am HO alternator is that it kept blowing up. At high rpm, the Can Am would internally short and blow the battery fuse. Could that have fried something else as well? I don't know what else to test and it's getting frustrating not being able to drive my car.

 

My manager had something similar happen, where it would read 12v and then he'd disconnect the battery it'd read 14v. IIRC one of the pins in the harness that plugged into the alternator was actually broken causing the issue. I'd also trickle-charge the battery overnight, sometimes I've heard of alternators having issues when the battery is pretty dead.

 

Just brought it in and i'm gonna have it fixed tomorrow. Bought the alty for $270 - 110 core refund and my mechanic will install for $125. So $285 will get a new alty installed. I also bought a new battery just in case.

 

I just checked the connectors and they are fine. The alternator and wiring harness are both brand new. I replaced the fuse and I'm waiting for the car to charge up so I can start it up and test it. I checked the entire wiring harness from alternator to fusebox and it seems to be good, I didn't take it apart but there are no damaged areas it seems. I checked all the wiring from the battery in the trunk to the front and it is all in good order.

I'm hoping that it is the fuse although it looked fine. There is nothing else I can possibly think of at this point. All the electrical accessories in the car work fine, it just won't charge.

Could there be something wrong with the wiring harness connector? It's brand new from the dealer, but if it's not the fuse, I don't know what else it could be.

I've had the problem where a dying battery stranded me so I know how annoying that can be.

 

New battery and alty just installed and it seemed to have fixed the problem but my car still runs like crap.