Hey guys. Today I was driving down the road and my battery light and brake light came on. I pulled over to see if my belt was ok and it was. After that i went to my friends shop and he did an altenator test, voltage regulator and battery test and all is clear. I suspect its the waterpump or power steering but im not entirly sure. Im gonna tighten the belt and see if it just came loose or something.

Any Ideas????

water pump and power steering are completely unrelated to alternator, except that they share a common belt.tightening belt worth a try, but not likely the problem. while you are at it, make sure your battery is up to snuff, (can maintain at least 8 volts with a 300 ampere load for 30 seconds minimum) and your battery terminals are clean and tite.i'm going to go against your friends diagnosis and tell you your alternator is bad, or intermittent at best. oem nissan remanned is by far best option unless you enjoy replacing alternators every year or so. if you must buy a rebuild, make sure it has the nissan case (hamburger logo).

Well i think its the water-pump bearing. When the car was idling and i got my friend to stress out the power-steering by turning it all the way to the right and i saw the water-pump pulley stop spinning and the belt squeeling and my lights turned on(Battery Light + Brake Light on) and i really think it the water-pump now. Tell me what you think.

TTT!!!!!!

putting load on the ps pump may indeed stall the pump. here's what i would do: remove th belt and spin each piece: alternator, water pump, idler pulley (subtle, but these often are the real culprit). you won't really be able to 'spin the ps pump, but make sure you can rotate it all the way around by hand with approximately equal resistance.also, check your belt and see itf the grooved part of the belt is shiney. it should not be. a shiny, tight belt will still slip and squeal. if the belt shows any cracking or shiny-ness, then replace with 11720-1e400.

it's your alternator....the samething happened to me when I was on the highway.....my battery and brake light came on.....I changed the alternator and the problem was fixed...it's not your water pump

yeah.. i work at nissan and have seen it. its the alt. go ahead and replace it (and the battery if your unsure... ) i have even seen it happen on hondas.. the alt. goes bad and both batt. and brake like come on..

Great to find solution here. My 2002 Sentra just experienced the same problem 140K miles. I noticed the two lights sort of flickering on and off for about a week. Wasn't sure if it was an electrical problem behind the dash or what. A few days ago I woke up to a dead car. Replaced the battery (it was about 5 years old - I just assumed it was time to replace it) and that got me running again but the lights are now on full time.

I considered trying to replace it myself but opted for the local Pep Boys. They quoted me a price of around $180 which seemed too good to be true. We'll see what the final tally is. The service guy mentioned that aftermarket alternators can be an issue with these cars.

I'll let you know what the final cost was.

Just got the car back - here's the final story: I checked three different places here in town for alternator install and Pep Boys was the cheapest. They were also the closest to me (2 blocks) which was an added advantage. The total cost to replace the alternator was $450.00. The alternator itself was $329. The $180 figure turned out to be false (not sure what the guy was looking at but I figured that was wrong).

I thought about doing the work myself but I really didn't have the right tools for that kind of job and it didn't look like it was going to be an easy job in the first place. The Pep Boys mechanic was an ex-Nissan mech and mentioned something about the Nissan alternators - he didn't think the cheaper aftermarket brands were going to work well. Considering I got 140K miles from this one I expect he's right. The new one has a lifetime warranty which is great if I keep the car for another ten years lol

Anyway - that was the end of the story. If you can find a better deal make sure the alternator is comparable in quality to the one they are replacing otherwise you might be back again soon.

I'm a little late to the party, but I had the same issue 20min ago. However mine was due to a broken clutch fan bracket. Damn thing just snapped right off. After 5 when everyone is closed too.

I am having the same issue with the battery light and the brake light. at one point the car even went into a limp mode. I took the car and had it tested. The alternator tested good but the battery was low. I changed the battery and the lights went off. The next day they were back on. They tend to go on and off when they want to. I even disconnected the battery to see if it would stall the car and I could determine it was the alternator. The car stayed running. I have noticed that the belt does squeal sometimes when it has rained and the weather is wet. Ive had no other issues with the car and im at my wits end because this is the only vehicle I have.

Hi JonesD, welcome to NICO Club!

I think you should find your car in the topics list and start a new thread with your issue. This thread here has been kicked around since 2010, so it's not too active or current.

Also, if you haven't already, try to get down to Autozone or Pep Boys or whatever your major chain auto parts store is called. They should have a machine to test your battery and your alternator and it is usually a free service. Just ask them about it with a phone call first.

I have no idea why not only battery lamp comes on? Why both of them? I mean brake lamp