# Chasing a Gremlin.. Urgent!



## sw20 (May 13, 2010)

Hey guys.. I had to sign up and seek consumer help on a forum (always the best form of help IMO) with this issue I've been having with our automatic 2003 2.5 Altima S.

My father bought the car off the show room 6 years ago, and up until January of this year, it has been a flawless car with no issues. The problem, I think, is that he never really maintained it other than changing the oil (no tune ups, nothing). I think that might be back to bite him in his a** right now. Anyway.. Let me give a run down of it's recent problems:

1. January the car died on the high way and it was determined that the battery was toast and was assumed that it's because the battery is still from the factory (quite old). This battery was replaced.

2. The car ran fine for about 3 weeks, then the same thing; battery died. I took the alternator out and noticed the pulley was clearly slipping, and naturally one would assume that a slipping pulley would suffice for causing a battery to slowly die. Both the battery and alternator were replaced on this occasion.

3. Again, the car ran fine for 3 weeks before it died again. This time the car went to a slow crawl - about 20mph MAX when the accelerator was floored. We took it to the Nissan dealer which they charged us over $300 for just replacing the negative wire on the battery (120 for diagnostic, 20 for the part, rest on 'tackling' the replacement of the wire). 

4. Finally the car died yesterday in a similar manner. However after it started its 20mph crawl, it randomly kicked in and started speeding off normally because the accelerator was floored (another twist).

Also, I'd like to mention also that sometimes the CEL lights would not turn on during the start up, along with the gear indicator lights that only SOMETIMES work. So now I find myself seeking your guy's help before I go rant to the dealer, and I'm hopeful you ladies and gents have any bit of insight for me to help me chase this bastard down!

Thanks in advance,
Matt

:fluffy:


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## Faja (Aug 31, 2009)

Sounds to me like you got a problem with the alternator still.......

Loose pulley, batteries dying after a couple weeks, lights flickering on and off, dealer changing ground wire - all point to possibly alternator.

Also have your ECU checked, not sure if your car is randomly going into limp mode. Have you scanned for any codes??


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## sw20 (May 13, 2010)

Thanks for your response!

The computer throws no code what so ever. I was also thinking limp mode, but I'm only used to limp mode from over boosting! We actually just dropped the car off at a trusted mechanic and he did confirm the alternator was not giving a charge at idle.. However the odd thing is two shop visits ago they had the car for a few hours and also tested the new alternator in the meantime and found no problem. The ECU was also re-flashed back in 06 as per a recall.


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## ntech (Apr 13, 2010)

Does the battery light come on/ and brake light? You may have corrosion in the harness still. I would be checking there first.


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## sw20 (May 13, 2010)

ntech said:


> Does the battery light come on/ and brake light? You may have corrosion in the harness still. I would be checking there first.


I forgot to mention that.. No battery light comes on or anything while the car is limping; before and after.


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

when you say loose pulley, I hope you're also replacing the belt......sounds to me like you're using the original belt, and the belt is slipping. Slipping belt=no alternator current=draining battery.


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## sw20 (May 13, 2010)

The pulley was slipping on the shaft it was connected to. I span the alternator one direction than immediately stopped it and span in the other direction, which is how I found out it was slipping. Yes the belt is new along with the alternator. 

The second mechanic told us that it's a wiring issue behind the dashboard, which was our diagnosis from the first mechanic visit. We figured Nissan would know best; little did we know! We're getting the car back today, so I'll have to report back in a few weeks if the problem is solved or not.

Thanks,
Matt


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