# ELECTRICAL CHALLENGE



## NISSAN FAILURE 101 (Nov 9, 2013)

I created this account for the sole purpose of seeing if anyone online has any truly helpful information. 

I have 2003 Nissan Altima with a GOOD battery and a GOOD alternator.

When the battery is fully charged, the car will start and may run for a few hours. Eventually it will stall i.e. lose power slowly until there is no charge and it will not start. This vehicle has ran for over week before this happens.

*I have taken this vehicle to 4 garages 2 of which were Nissan Garages: Montrose Nissan in Hermitage PA and Wright Nissan in Wexford PA and spent a total of 800 bucks total for mechanics to simply state it needed a new battery and alternator*, which I agreed to replace them once again this past Saturday, only to thank a Nissan garage for wasting my money once again being that it stalled on the way home. 

AGAIN - GOOD BATTERY, GOOD ALTERNATOR - this is not a starter issue, or gas issue, the car will run fine until what seems to be a short - or the alternator is getting a signal to shut off and a good battery and alternator fails to keep the electrical system running.

I need some advice besides the most obvious which is get rid of this thing 

I'm just kinda disappointed that two certified Nissan garages couldn't even figure it out - *NOTE***** there are no lights coming on, no battery light, etc on the dash - this car has not generated any codes for any mechanic. *


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Sounds like it's time for YOU to get a manual and a voltmeter and do some troubleshooting.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

You might try an auto electrical specialist. It's kind of hard to diagnose a problem on a forum level without being able to work on it first hand, especially something that two Nissan garages haven't been able to fix. You could try submitting a complaint to Nissan customer service and see if they'll send an engineer to the dealer to investigate the problem. I believe the charging system is controlled by the ECM, so it's a little more involved that just doing the basic tests with a multimeter; one would need a scantool. I'm wondering if the issue might be the ECM? I'm not suggesting you go out and replace the ECM, just throwing that possibility out there.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Isn't this one of the vehicles you've told folks to check out the sense wire?

You think they'd actually send out an engineer on a 10 y/o vehicle?


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

Doesn't hurt to try! As they say, the "squeaky wheel gets the grease!"


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Ya, but squeaky wheels ain't as cheap as they used to be


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## NISSAN FAILURE 101 (Nov 9, 2013)

*thanks for the feedback*

I was actually thinking it could be the ECM, but it seems to be at the point where only a electric specialist could really diagnose it. 

That being said I'll have more into it than its worth so I'll most likely get it charged up and running then go trade it in and let somebody else deal with it


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