My mom recently brought her 95 Maxima to me reporting that the battery was drained when she tried to start the car lately, and that she needed to have it jumped every time.

I measured the voltage coming from the battery with a voltmeter and discovered that the alternator wasn't charging the battery at all (it read less than 12 volts with or without the alternator connected to the battery).

After reading the forums a bit, I found that the fuse between the battery and alternator might be the culprit, and upon wiggling the fuse with the car running, while measuring the voltage with the meter, I found that it fluctuated and if positioned properly the car read +14 volts.

Yesterday I cleaned and adjusted the contact points on the fuse, put everything back together, and the problem was solved. The voltage read 14.5 volts, and the car was starting again fine.

Today, my mom came to pick the car up and it failed to start (I had driven the car some this morning with no issue). The symptoms are the same again - the alternator is pushing no voltage to the battery, and if the car is run the battery will slowly drain until the car stops.

I tried to bypass the fuse by placing a heavy gauge wire across the contacts to no avail.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Do I just need to try positioning my bypass wire differently?

 

I would avoid using a wire and fix the issue with the fuse. Because if for whatever reason(rarely happens anyways) your alternator had a voltage spike, say goodbye to your ICE. Maybe it's time for a new fuse. Or new alternator..

 

An actual fuse holder rarely goes bad unless someone has been messing with it. What you may have is a loose connection under the fuses. There was someone that had that problem. That's also very unusal. He took the fuse block off and started wiggling things and found a loose connection.

But which fuse are you referring to? The 120/140 amp fuseable link or the 7.5 amp fuse?

The 120/140 amp fuseable link is not "the" alternator fuse - it protects the battery from most of the high amperage parts of the car, such as the radiator cooling fans, the power windows & seats, the tail lights, winshhield wipers, the cigarette lighter, the heater fan and more. The alternator is part of this group.

The 7.5 amp fuse is truly the alternator fuse. If it blows, the alternator won't produce any power but everything else will work until the battery runs down.

I have never looked at the underside of the fuse block, so I can't tell you specifics of what to look for.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I'm talking about the 140 amp fuse. I'll check out the 7.5 amp fuse in a little bit.

I replaced the alternator myself last fall, my mom doesn't drive too much. I feel like it's unlikely it's failed already, and since playing with the fuse did seem to solve the problem I'm going to focus my attention there. I really don't want to change that alternator again.

 

I tested all the fuses and found all of them to be ok.

Then I checked the connections on the alternator and found that one was loose. I tightened it down and now I'm getting 14 volts again....Maybe intermittent failures at both the fuse box and alternator? Hope it lasts this time!

 

HA. I've gone through too many alternators in the last year and a half.

 

It seems like a lot of people with this car do. Maybe the car is doing something to eat alternators.

 

reman alternator? if so i had to replace one in 3 months same thing happened to me replaced the alternator again...had warranty so i just replaced it and the new one hasnt given me trouble yet

 

Y'all better knock on wood. I am now.

 

I actually had the same problem for almost a year. I came to find that the pigtail that goes to the alternator was not getting a full 12v, luckily it was just a few inches up. went to a junk yard and got a pigtail about 1 foot in length and spliced it in. take a look a your pins in the alternator plugin and do a full volt test there, if good, try to pin the wire a few inches up the wiring harness and confirm same reading.

 

Just thought I'd check in to report that the car is still running strong and has not stalled or failed to start.

I fixed her steering rattle, rear window (had fallen off the rails), and changed the oil while I was at it. Hopefully this Max can go a bit longer still.