# 97 Altima losing electrical power, HELP!



## Racuna2826 (Apr 4, 2004)

Hello all, I am new to this forum and hopefully someone can shed some light to a problem I am having.

My Altima is a 97 and now has 150,000 miles. About a month ago my check engine light came on and i was unable to get it checked out right away, but I dd it last week when another problem surfaced. I was driving on the highway with my Heat on, which has been broken before to the point that the motor speed only worked on 4 not 1,2,or3 I didn't bother fixing it right away because it didnt get too much in my way. I was also driving with my windshield wipers as it was pouring here in Boston last week, after about 15 mins into my trip I started to lose all electrical power in my car, my radio went, my wipers became painfully slow and my dash lights dimmed, I couldn't get to a breakdown lane as there was none so i continued to drive about 1 minute until my gas pedal wasn't feeding gas to the engine anymore. I pulled over and turned all electrical sources off. after about a minute my power seemed to come back, the radio did, the dash light was much brighter and the gauges were working fine again. I drove away tp go back home and my problem started again when i turned the heat on and the wipers. i assumed it had something to do woth the heat so i turned that off, it seemed to have helped as everything seemed fine, other than my wipers being a bit slow.

I brought my car to my local shop yesterday and they told me something had misfired in the engine and that's why i had a check engine light, and that my heat needed a blowe motor resistor. They recomended i did a full tune-up which i have been meaning to do, so I did it anyway, they charged me 350 for everything (Tune-up, replacing crank p. sensor and the motor resistor) And my car seemed to drive better but just tonight as i drove home i experienced a power loss when i turned on the wipers, mych like it happened last week. 

I am not sure what to do, it seems that the tune-up and the transistor replacement didnt fix the problem. I am assuming it has something to do with the electrical system, maybe the alternator, but I am not sure as when the car is on Park and engine idling everything works perfectly, and I have been in a car that had a dying alternator and it just went, engine died, all power lost which none of it really happened.

I have my reservations going back to the place I took it the first time, so I was wondering if any of you might have a suggestion as to why my car is doing this.

Thanks a lot in advance for your help.


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## altimastr (Mar 26, 2004)

Take it back... They should stand behind their work.


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## KA24Tech (Feb 2, 2004)

I would have your charging system checked for amperage output from the alternator and total system draw. You may have a reduced output alternator or your battery cable terminals are corroded. Also you could have a battery which is starting to go bad, check the electrolyte level inside the battery because that could cause a lower output from the battery as well.
Also the replacement of the crank position sensor is questionable because the low power situation could have triggered a misfire because the voltage references for the ECU were all haywire. Take it to an auto parts store and the can do the testing for free in many situations or consider going to your local Nissan dealer for a diagnostic.

Troy


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