New, and need help!
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1
New, and need help!
Electrical help
starting yesterday, my old Nissan started displaying some odd electrical symptoms. When the car idled or when I'd let off the pedal and "coast", the brake AND battery indicator lights would flash on simultaneously.....as you all know these two systems have next to nothing to do with one another.
The battery sensor is in the alternator (which I just replaced this spring) and the brake sensor is in the brake fluid reservoir (which is full).
So this continues today...lights flash on, lights flash off....so I stop by my buddy's shop and check the belts and put a meter on the alternator, it's charging at 14.33 so I write that off as a possibility.
Then tonight, I'm driving and I get the old headlight dimming BS and the engine starts sputtering...so I know the battery is close to dead, so I kill the headlights, radio, and heater and fly home running off the alternator.
I grab a couple tools and a flashlight and go buy a new battery and replaced the old one...the old one was 4 years old and it's been getting colder than 20 degrees at night lately, so I think the problem is solved, right?
WRONG! the fuggin brake and battery lights are still on. WTF?
I'm having no other electrical problems....all systems seem to be working normally.
I didn't check the fuses, but a blown fuse should solve an electrical short, not continue to let be a problem, correct?
Help please.
starting yesterday, my old Nissan started displaying some odd electrical symptoms. When the car idled or when I'd let off the pedal and "coast", the brake AND battery indicator lights would flash on simultaneously.....as you all know these two systems have next to nothing to do with one another.
The battery sensor is in the alternator (which I just replaced this spring) and the brake sensor is in the brake fluid reservoir (which is full).
So this continues today...lights flash on, lights flash off....so I stop by my buddy's shop and check the belts and put a meter on the alternator, it's charging at 14.33 so I write that off as a possibility.
Then tonight, I'm driving and I get the old headlight dimming BS and the engine starts sputtering...so I know the battery is close to dead, so I kill the headlights, radio, and heater and fly home running off the alternator.
I grab a couple tools and a flashlight and go buy a new battery and replaced the old one...the old one was 4 years old and it's been getting colder than 20 degrees at night lately, so I think the problem is solved, right?
WRONG! the fuggin brake and battery lights are still on. WTF?
I'm having no other electrical problems....all systems seem to be working normally.
I didn't check the fuses, but a blown fuse should solve an electrical short, not continue to let be a problem, correct?
Help please.
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 34
From:
RE: New, and need help!
When you checked your alternator did you use a multimeter and touch it to the terminals? This will not give you the reading you need. Mine did the same thing and looked fine. What needs to be tested is the amperage. your alternator needs to have a certain amp rate in order to charge your battery and run the vehicle. My voltage was right but it wasn't putting out enough amps to run even the headlights, so it would die. Did you buy a quality alternator? I went through three alternators in 2 months on my first car(autozone rebuilds), so I eventually learned to have them tested before I took them home. If you are not buying nissan parts, a Bosch alternator is about like a Genuine nissan rebuilt alternator, and costs half as much.
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blueboysperformance
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Jul 29, 2006 01:27 AM
