Q45 Just Died :(

[lino]

My mother was driving the 91Q today and mentioned that the Stop Lamp INOP light came on and then went off, although all the lights in the car were checked out immediately afterwards and were working fine. A few hours ago she went to the mall and noticed the lights on the dash were somewhat dim on the drive back home.An hour after that, she went out again and the car died on the highway. Someone tried boosting the battery, but that didn't help and so she had it towed. Anyone have any ideas? I'm thinking it may be the alternator. This is all the info I have and I can't check the car out personally, since I'm 900 miles away at the moment.

Thanks in Advance.

[PopPop]

Most likely alternator like you said! If ALT. is going bad your electrical system will rely on battery for voltage! Most time it will start to go bad over a period of time and you will not notice it until the car is under a heavy load. This will occur at night and battery dies but, I'll bet after sitting over night it will start up in the morning!

[lino]

Any recommended or non-recommended alternators?

Found these ones so far:

HITACHIhttp://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...ZWDVW

BOSCHhttp://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...ZWDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...ZWDVW

http://oem.overnightautoparts....=true

[PopPop]

All of those are very good deals especially if warranty is included! You will have to make 100% sure that the Alternator is the problem!

[maxnix]

OEM only if you want it to last.

[lino]

OEM only if you want it to last.

Who is the oem made by? I'm thinking Hitachi or Denso.

[lino]

All of those are very good deals especially if warranty is included! You will have to make 100% sure that the Alternator is the problem!

Is there an easy way to know if the alternator is faulty without removing it from the car?

[Jesda]

You could have Autozone plug it in to a meter.

[elwesso]

I am guessing the alternator too... Looks like you were right baout the alternator....

Go with a rebuilt one from Joe if you can...

[Q451990]

The units on eBay are probably remans. I would go with the first Hitachi unit that you listed if you don't go with OEM.

If it were me, I would absolutely get the OEM unit though. These things are a real pain to replace! I actually rebuilt my own alternator back in the late 90's per the instructions in the FSM (had more time than $$). Bought new front and rear bearings and a new rectifier bridge. Reused everything else... 1 year later the stator started shorting out. It's not worth messing with all of it... get the OEM or maybe one from someone's parts car.

Heath

[maxnix]

Take Heath's tale seriously.

A lot of "rebuilds" don't change the diodes.

[Jesda]

I removed and reinstalled the alternator this summer for the hell of it. Its really not that bad, and I'm mechanically retarded. Put the car on jack stands and go at it from underneath. I suggest unbolting the AC compressor to give a few extra inches of clearance. It makes a huge difference.

Take Heath's advice. I think Midway is still doing the 25% off with free shipping deal: zerothread?id=159447

[Falkdesigns]

Well, at first I was sad, but I'm glad to hear it's probably just an alternator. FWIW, mine died like that and it was the alternator, it's just too bad I didn't know about the alternator recall on the 97&98's at the time.

[gniknave]

Just stay away from Bosch.

[lino]

Hey guys. Sorry it took me so long to respond. I was on the road and just got back today. I found many remanufactured alternators for sale ranging from $89 up to $300. To buy a used one from a 1990-1992 with 120,000 miles for $100 doesn't make sense either. Taking your advice, the best choice seems to be the oem unit.

Since I'm in Canada with a dead car, buying from Joe or anywhere else in the US is not the greatest option for me since air mail takes 3-5 business days at a cost of $270 for the alternator + $65 shippping, +6.1% duty, +handling, +7% federal tax, +7.5% provincial tax, + 15% currency conversion...it just isn't good (close to $470 Canadian).

The Infiniti dealer here wanted close to $500 for the alternator and after some serious negotiations I was able to convince the gentleman at the parts counter to sell it to me for $321.71 which includes free air freight for tomorrow morning arrival +$65 ( because I decided to keep my core) + $21.58 for the alternator belt which comes to a total of $469.54 including all the taxes. I had to tow the car home for $75 and tomorrow back to the the dealer which is another $75. To install the alternator, the dealer quoted me 2.4 hours labor which is $248.26 ($89.95/hour +tax).

Grand total for tomorrow if there are no other surprises $867.80 Canadian.In US money, that's $752.40 and by the way, that's a reman from the dealer, not a brand new unit.

[lino]

Well the alternator was the problem. The good news is that the repair is done and the car is working again. From what my mother is telling me, she noticed that the windows go up and down faster and the car feels smoother.

The actual cost was $150 for the 2 tows + $815.54 for the job = $965.54.In US dollars $840.88IThe dealer started to work on the car at 9:30a.m. and did not finish until close to 4:00pm. They said it would take 2.4 hours in teh beginning, then they said they needed another hour. Then they said they needed another 2 hours and so on. They had a he** of a time doing it and were not impressed, since they billed by the book.

Bad news is it looks like I'll have to wait a while before I can get the new wheels and tires .

Here is the invoice:


Modified by lino at 9:04 AM 12/8/2006

[Jesda]

Alternators rarely fail. A used one from a wrecked Q would be better than a new Bosch reman.

[lino]

Alternators rarely fail. A used one from a wrecked Q would be better than a new Bosch reman.

Do Infiniti dealers sell Bosch reman alternators? I bought mine from the dealer under the impression that it's a Hitachi unit.

[lino]

Alternators rarely fail. A used one from a wrecked Q would be better than a new Bosch reman.

Do Infiniti dealers sell Bosch reman alternators? I bought mine from the dealer under the impression that it's a Hitachi unit. All the used units I found had 100,000 miles +. That option didn't appeal to me all that much.

[maxnix]

Since I'm in Canada with a dead car, buying from Joe or anywhere else in the US is not the greatest option for me since air mail takes 3-5 business days at a cost of $270 for the alternator + $65 shippping, +6.1% duty, +handling, +7% federal tax, +7.5% provincial tax, + 15% currency conversion...it just isn't good (close to $470 Canadian).

Man, you guys should have paid attention when we had the Boston Tea Party!

There would be armed insurrection at the malls if we had those add-on taxes.

Avoiding used diodes, dirty armatures and worn bearings is a good choice. Hopefully the dealer sold you a Nissan remanufactured onw.

[BlackBirdVQ]

No to scare you or anything but here is my .02 on Nissan Reman alternators...

Back in '02 the OEM alternator on my 93 SE-R finally made its last jolt of power just as I left work. I drove the car back 3 miles to work and grabbed a loaner car (old 3.0CL) to get home. I bought a reman alternator from the Nissan dealer I used to work at the next day and installed it on the car. Reman Alternator carries a 1 year warranty on it, and in the full year I drove my car approx 2K miles at the most- as it wasn't my daily driver anymore. Friends SE-R threw a rod and he needed a car ASAP, after begging me for few days I decided to sell him my car. A week later the alternator died on him, and the warranty expired 3 weeks prior to the incident. I told myself I will never buy another reman alternator ever again. I even found myself a used 5K mile alternator as a spare for my 01 Maxima from a totalled car a year ago. I need to do the same for my Q45, I wonder if any other Nissan alternator fits on our Q....

[maxnix]

I think it is unique.

[lino]

No to scare you or anything but here is my .02 on Nissan Reman alternators...

Back in '02 the OEM alternator on my 93 SE-R finally made its last jolt of power just as I left work. I drove the car back 3 miles to work and grabbed a loaner car (old 3.0CL) to get home. I bought a reman alternator from the Nissan dealer I used to work at the next day and installed it on the car. Reman Alternator carries a 1 year warranty on it, and in the full year I drove my car approx 2K miles at the most- as it wasn't my daily driver anymore. Friends SE-R threw a rod and he needed a car ASAP, after begging me for few days I decided to sell him my car. A week later the alternator died on him, and the warranty expired 3 weeks prior to the incident. I told myself I will never buy another reman alternator ever again. I even found myself a used 5K mile alternator as a spare for my 01 Maxima from a totalled car a year ago. I need to do the same for my Q45, I wonder if any other Nissan alternator fits on our Q....

That doesn't inspire much confidence

[maxnix]

That doesn't inspire much confidence

Well, if you have read all the G50 and FY33 alternator replacement accounts (probably about 25 OEM), none have failed that early. On the other hand, almost all other remanufactured ones do fail early.

But this is not even for one of those (SE-R), so my bet is still solidly on the OEM remanufactured alternators for the FY33 and G50.

Failure to replace tired battery (and this one may have not been kept charged) will kill a new alternator in short order, even on a G50 or FY33.

[lino]

When I asked the parts guy at dealer how much a brand new alternator would cost for my car, he started to laugh out loud and said "well over $1000".

[DrewQ45]

Well, if you have read all the G50 and FY33 alternator replacement accounts (probably about 25 OEM), none have failed that early. On the other hand, almost all other remanufactured ones do fail early.

But this is not even for one of those (SE-R), so my bet is still solidly on the OEM remanufactured alternators for the FY33 and G50.

Failure to replace tired battery (and this one may have not been kept charged) will kill a new alternator in short order, even on a G50 or FY33.

Ouch..dealer labor hurts on that thing...

I agree... Q alternators do take a long time to fail and the job is hard enough to never want anything other than a OEM unit as a relacement. If the alternator was located in a position such as say... a Toyota Camry (right on top, smack dead in your face), I'd take a chance on other unit but that job is a huge PITA! I've done it and hope to never do it again.

You are also right that battery condition has a lot to do with alternator life as it has to take up the slack for a weak battery. I

I'd never go with a used unit unless I was absolutely sure it had a lot of life left... (like a recently replaced unit from a wreck).

..Drew..

[maxnix]

When I asked the parts guy at dealer how much a brand new alternator would cost for my car, he started to laugh out loud and said "well over $1000".

That's why we tithe at the church of St. Joe.

[Q451990]

The dealer reman is different from aftermarket remans. They're remanufactured by Nissan - so OEM parts are used. It's my understanding that they essentially replace all wear items and just reuse the shell - so it's not apples to apples vs. the remans we're talking about on here. In my case my Nissan "reman" had a sticker that said something to the extent of "new part introduced in remaned program" - meaning they didn't have enough cores and just tossed a new one in the batch.

Heath

[lino]

That's why we tithe at the church of St. Joe.

I think the one Joe sells for $270 is reman also.

[lino]

The dealer reman is different from aftermarket remans. They're remanufactured by Nissan - so OEM parts are used. It's my understanding that they essentially replace all wear items and just reuse the shell - so it's not apples to apples vs. the remans we're talking about on here. In my case my Nissan "reman" had a sticker that said something to the extent of "new part introduced in remaned program" - meaning they didn't have enough cores and just tossed a new one in the batch.

Heath

That's the kind of reassurance I was looking for. Unfortunately for me, I never saw the alternator that I bought since I'm away from home.

The guy at the parts counter said that Nissan charges them $65 Canadian for the core, so my question is what are they using the cores for if they replace all the internal (Rotor, Regulator, Rectifier, Brushes, Bearings, Stator) wear items? Are the external covers that hard to find or buy, even for Nissan?