Thread: What. The. Hell. (Charging System woes)

Ok, I'll try to make this as short as I can. About 6 months ago the battery and brake light would shine even when the parking brake was off. Tell tale sign of a bad alternator. On top of that there was a horrible whine coming from it much like you would hear if a ps pump had no fluid. Just last week I decided to fix it by buying an alternator from Autozone.

When I went to replace it apparently the pressure point on the two wire clip that plugs into the alternator broke. I found this out after I was stranded in the middle of an intersection last Friday. i walked home, grabbed some tools and pulled the battery so I could get it charged enough to limp the car home. Upon getting it back into the garage I found out that the plug had shimmied itself out and was no longer making contact with the terminals. To fix this I grabbed the plug from my busted g20 down in Cincinnati this past weekend.

Fast forward to today when I got the new clip all put back together and securely plugged into the new alternator. I thought this was going to be my fix, but I wasn't going to get stranded again (or so I though) so I let the car idle for 45 min. before attempting to drive it .2 mi. to the grocery store. On the main road it started stuttering again. Luckily I had enough momentum to get myself into the parking lot and push the car home the back way.

So now I am confused as to what the hell is going on with this damn car. The battery fuse (75amp fusible link) is fine because I was an idiot and decided to tighten the power line on the alternator without disconnecting the battery. The fuse blew and I purchased a new one from Nissan this afternoon. All other fuses that I could see that link the alternator to the battery are fine. I'm not the best at reading wiring diagrams, but the charging system isn't all that complicated. Is it possible that I received a bad rebuild from Autozone, and that I should go complain to them to get me a new one, or am I overlooking something small and stupid?


Help me! I just got a 2nd umbrella for my flash units and I want to practice using them, but I can't drive my car more than a half mile or it'll die on me!

Charge the battery up, make note of the voltage at rest, then start the car and see if the voltage goes up. If it does not then there is something wrong with the Alt or the wiring. Ohm out the positive post on the battery to the alt and see if you have continuity.

Is this a B13 or B14?

i am having the exact same problem on my B14(sentra), 1st my alternator went bad so I switched it, seemed fine then I drove it two days later and the brake and batt light would turn on, then the lights started flickering, then the car died, that time all I found it to be was the screw on top of the alternator was not making contact with the alt. so I tightend the screw and the batt. seemed to charge but now about 4 weeks later I notice the brake and batt. flicker on me so I got worried and parked it, now im just driving the B14(200) until I can get a resolution.

sry 4 the long post

Both of you check your grounds too. A flaky ground can cause this issue as well. Check the ground on the battery, on the alternator, behind the headlights, and make sure the motor has a ground as well.

Well I went and charged the battery today then once I got it back in the car I drove to Autozone. They tested the newly bought alternator and guess what, the alternator was dead. So I got another one and put it in tonight. Gotta wait for the RTV to dry on the coolant neck. We'll see tomorrow!

Make sure the ground off the alternator is good. Also make sure the main grounds from chassis to block are good. Those two things can cause your symptoms also.

Brent

Thanks coach! It turned out to be a bum rebuild. The new one is in and working just fine. Now I need to get rid of the AC since my compressor is going out. No need to spend money to get rid of the squeal when you can do it for free!

I have been through countless (10+) alts from autozone. Their rebuilds are crap and i would need a new one just about every 3-5 months, but good for the warranty. The last one i had would only fail when hot, so they wouldnt swap it out the first 2 times i took it. The guy helping me knew what he was talking about and told me to reground the alt with bigger wire, so i did with 4ga. (x2) ground wires. So i charged up my battery and went for a drive, got aboout 8 miles away from home and my batt & brake light were flashing again, so i stopped and it wouldnt start back up.. i was running on the battery again.. Got a jump, went home, parked the car and popped the hood while it was on, disconnected the battery, and no more than 5 seconds later after it was of my car shut off and died. So i took it back a third time, and it was some new chick workin there so i asked her if i could swap it out because it only fails when hot, so she did. The one they gave me was like one i had before where the screws behind the pully backed out while i was driving and caused a hole in the belt, so i returned it and asked for my money back. They gave me $216 and some change and i went to pepboys (brother works there) and they gave me an alt for $70 + $77 core, so i had cash left over. (Brother told me to find a crappy core from any car and just return it for my money back.) The difference is that it is a different brand rebuild and puts out 100 amps, and i think its not a lifetime warrenty, but hopefully i wont need it. I have not put it in the car yet, will do it today, because it has a threaded hole and i need a bolt for the top side to mount it.

I feel your pain on the charging issues.. its a pain.. im just about to the point where im going to rewire everything with new wire so it doesnt have any other problems...

Question i have.. does anyone know if thick white charging wires go directly from the alt to the battery? I notice they loop from the passenger side into a wire harness and come out on the driver side above the tranny, but i dont know if they go directly to the battery.. I was planning on replacing these because they are corroded inside the loom and want to put new wire on it so i know it isnt that connection... Dont mean to threadjack, just trying to get more info that maybe you can use too.

The white wires go from the batter connector to the passenger side to three grey plugs that then go to the alternator.

Brent

So pretty much a loop of connectors from alt to battery?

Update on my dilema.. New alt fit with factory bolt so that is in, but since the alt went out so many times, the battery took a crap. I had my old good battery from my G in my garage so i popped that in and it started right up! i let it run and all the lights were nice and bright. now all i need to do is swap out the charging wires and ill be good!