I Just had my alternator replaced in Cali and now my car is in DC and mmy battery light is on. Yesterday my car stalled at a stop light and the battery was depleted. I cant take it back to the shop, so what should I check to attempt to correct this issue? TIA for the help.

 

You need another alternator, unless your battery is over 3 years old. But if the car stalled while runing then you need another alternator. You can test this by starting the car and disconnect the positive cable from the battery if the car dies its the alternator, if not then recheck your connections.

 

or before you go out and buy a new alternator. make sure the belt for the alternator is properly tensioned because if it isnt the alternator will not hold charge and it will keep dieing out on you.

 

how can i possibly need a new alt if it was just replaced? how could it die so soon. I only got it 8 days ago

 

yea serpentine belt would be the best bet, unless you installed a dying alternator.

 

Check the tension on the belt first. Seems like a lot of people are under tensioning their belts now days. Did you get the belt replaced at the same time? Even if you didn't whoever installed the alternator may not have properly tightened the nut on the tensionor pulley and if you have a new belt it may have done its breaking in stretch that some belts do and needs to be readjusted.

 

Usually when your alternator dies, you will see BOTH brake light and battery light. Take your battery to an Autozone and have them test/charge it for you. It could be that your battery is dead plus crappy connections. And of course, listen to the guys above and check the belt tension.

 

Check the belt tension first, check that they actually hooked the cables and harnesses back up to the alternator properly, then go from there. It's possible you got a dud alternator but I'm more inclined to believe they just forgot to hook something back up or forgot to properly tighten the belt.

 

Alright, i checked the tension and it is tighter than the one i had before. It was done by a shop, so i checked the connections and the ground, power cable and two wire plug are all in and tightened. I used a test light at the power cable right on the alt and there was current, then i checked the two wires on the battery cable at the battery and they both had current there too??!!! I am F****ing confused. The brake light and the battery light are on, but the brake light was on before because my third brake light is out.

 

Any New Ideas??TIA

 

I own 2 Maxima's (93 and 98) and a 94 300zx. I've only seen this problem when the alternator went bad. If you have eliminated the battery and the belt (tension and belt condition ok), then you need to have the alternator checked again. No one wants to pay for the same problem twice, but you need to double check what alternator they gave you...new or rebuilt?

 

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