Car: 2000 Maxima GLE
So about a week ago we started noticing the battery light, check engine light and brake light would come on, ultimately it died on my wife, luckily it died in front of walmart and we were able to get it into the service station where they checked the battery and alternator (still on the car) and said the alternator was bad, which made sense to me at the time because there was also a high pitched squeal coming from the area around the alternator.

SO i replaced the alternator, and the sucker fired up (after charging the battery). I took it for a test spin and all apeared well.

Once we got it to the 40 mph mark the brake and battery light started flashing and the high squeal pitch noise came back.

If i park it and restart it the the lights clear and the squeal goes too. I check the tfuse for the alternator and it was good.

Any ideas on what's going on?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.

 

If the belt is still squealing, the belt might be loose... I would check the battery again. I dunno how mechanically inclined you are, but I would check and make sure that they connected everything correctly and that the connector that goes on the side didn't come off. The symptoms point to either the alternator or battery. I just went throught this with my brothers '02, except on his, everything was fine after I changed out the alternator.

 

mine did this when i first bought it, i find a faulty ground terminal on the battery

 

upon further investigation...
I started to notice there was a buzz/sizzle/girggle type of noise AFTER the engine was shut off coming from the mid of the back of the engine, it lasts approximately 3-7 seconds. I also noticed that when I take the ignition from the start position to the next click over there is an "electrical" sizzle coming from the same location.

I have no clue what this is BUT a little research pointed me towards the electric motor mounts and the ECU. Does this sound correct based on the symptoms (alternator going out)

If it make a difference the left side also "knocks" when it goes over large bumps.

Any idea on what the sound is?

 

update: unplugged the electronic motor mounts and the sound is still there.

 

The squeal could be either the belt tensioning pulley or maybe the air conditioning compressor clutch.

The clunk could be a bad motor mount.

 

The funny gurgle/sizzle sound is your VIAS, that's normal. It's a good thing you disconnected the mounts, this will inevitably save you a lot of hassles! If you're hearing a clunk, that means that your mounts have possibly gone bad already. This had also happenned to mine. Take a good look at them. sometimes they sorta look ok, but are in fact separated, but they usually look cracked, or tore up.

 

lmao... I was in the exact same boat on Saturday. But what happened was that i went out to my car on Thursday morning, and it didn't want to stay started, no warning sign of a battery, OR brake light. I was like "$hit my battery finally crapped the bed" so my manager picked me up (lol) and I got a battery at work from a local supplier in the east end of Ottawa. Came home, changed the battery and it fired up, STILL no battery or brake light I was like sweet. Went to work Friday, about a 25KM commute one way. came home that night did a bunch of stuff. Heading out to walmart my car DID NOT want to move at the red light, so I idled the rest of the way to wally world where my car sat until Saturday. Changed my ALT Saturday afternoon IN the walmart parking lot. sweet deal, all done. BUT i didn't replace my belt because the shops in walking distance from the walmart had nothing. I noticed my belt DID need to be changed, I inspected it, nothing missing just cracked, I was like it can wait one more day. At home that night i happened to notice the battery light and the brake light would flash only when I was driving or gas was given. I don't know how I thought about it, but Saturday night I decided to wander out and take a gander. I pushed the black 2 wire plug into the alternator hard, and I heard a click. sweet lights don't even come on, but I did notice an extremely weird noise coming from the belt area. Getting to my point I remember the belt was looking a little worn, reading the FSM it says to NEVER re-tension an old belt. I will show you why. This morning go out to my car and a whole lot of **** all. EFF ME!!!!!. Jumped the battery with my old battery in the garage, and in my trunk I have a capacitor that give a digital read-out. open the trunk and it's at 13.0 all the while that noise is still present, took a day off of work. Went and bought a belt, and got my re-core on the alternator. Buddy at the battery store said that the battery checks out, but the voltage on the battery is STILL reading 13.2 while it was running. Went home to change the belt, loosening the idler pulley I could see a couple missing teeth on the belt thought nothing of it, took the belt off and literally there was a 5" chunk of teeth missing, and a 4" chunk AND a couple other 1" chunks. Thank god I didn't let that go any longer than today. Put the new belt on tensioned it properly as per the FSM. BANG! No more noise, quiet as a snake in the grass. Looked in the trunk at the CAP, registering 14.5volts!!!! YAY!!!! while I changed the belt though I DID clean the battery terminals and put some dielectric grease on them.

Suggestion would be to:
A. Replace your belt if you haven't already.
B. Clean and sand your battery terminals leads.
and C. Check out the connections on the alternator that they are pushed in all the way and are clean.

 

That is one amazing story. And its great that you figured it out. Good work.

 

grrrrrr i did not replace my belt AND I noticed it needed some replacing (bad weekend mechanic, bad). Looks like i'll be doing that tomorrow right after work.

The next question is that if it works do i tell my wife she's been walking because I wanted to save 30 bucks

 

Don't tell her that, lol... Change the belt, and tension the new belt as per specs in the FSM under the MA-maintenece section. Its pretty simple, loosen the adjustment screw, loosen the pulley. Put the new belt on. Tighten the adjustment screw until the deflection of the belt under 10 kilo's is between 3-4mm then tighten the pulley to 25ft-lb's. Then tighten the adjustment screw. Squealing AND the weird noise will disappear. The weird noise is actually either the belt slipping OR the belt has missing teeth which is making the noise when after it passes by the crank pulley.

 

Um, 1. Are u sure it's not 70 in/lbs? 70 ft/lbs sounds like a lot for that little nut.

2. How the hell do u get a torque wrench in there? I was barely able to fit a box-end wrench.

Just askin... not trying to stir anything up. I had my own friggin adventure doing my kid brothers alternator recently.

 

You do have some wrong torque specs. The specs for the pulley are 19 to 24 foot pounds and the tensing screw is 35 to 61 inch pounds.

 

LMFAO bahahaha your right DennisMik i have no idea where i got 70 ft pounds from lol... and the tensioning screw isnt that big of a deal just tighten till snug. I got them reversed.

And to answer MaxxedOutt, you can't fit a torque wrench in there. I just go by feel. I don't even know why it says it. The ONLY way you'd be able to fit a torque wrench in there would be to have the engine out. I couldn't even fit my flex head ratchet in there and that gets me out of tight spots. Box head is the only way to go.

**** POST EDITED ****

 

Mission accomplished!!!
Lights all off...except the ones that are supposed to be on. I took the old belt off and when I compared it to the new belt, well...holly crap.

Turns out there are not supposed to be periodic teeth and gaps in the tred

The only issue now is the tension. I don't have the tool on had to do that. I might just take it in because it is making that "whistle" noise.

Thanks for all the help we (me, my wife and 3 kids) really appreciate it.

 

Glad it all worked out! You probably don't have to take it to a mechanic for that, just tighten it a little at a time until it stops squealing. Besides, the paint on the pulley has to wear off a little bit too.