Simple test for bad alternator.

[FremontSerg]

Is there a way to tell if alternator is dead or bad? The car is Nissan 2002 Sentra GXE.Did not start in the morning. The sound of a starter was loud and clear but no go.I replaced the battery. Did not help. I killed all the lights, radio and only when I killed thefan (no AC was running at the time), it did start. No "battery" light during the drive after that.But the cell phone did not charge during the 20 minutes drive, so I suspect the alternator is not working. The light might come on later. For now, the new battery might be powerfull enough to get it going without the light. I would not like to pull the alternator and deal with that belt if I can tell somehow it is bad. Volt/ampermeter?

Thanks,Sergei.

[NISTECH]

You say you heard the starter when it wouldnt start. So are you saying it cranks but wont start. Or it doesnt even crank?

[InsanityInc]

they ususally have alternator testers at places like autozone, and generally have the kind where you can test them when they're still in the car.

[FremontSerg]

It was cranking but did not start.It is actually working OK tonight. I tested the voltage while in idle and it was above 14V on battery terminals. I guess the alternator is on. I will see howit will work in the morning after sitting in the cold all night.

Thanks,Sergei.

[Shift__BODOM]

sounds like fuel or spark delivery to me. are your injectors clogged? what things have you fixed in the way of your fuel system, if you have fixed anything? there any problems that youve been having that deal with fuel or spark? are your plugs okay, dist cap, plug wires, etc.?

[NISTECH]

Ok that rules out your starting/charging system. Your alt is not your problem. I think you have a crank or cam sensor problem. Do you have a check engine light on? I have seen other instances with the sentra not starting And it usually ended up being a bad ecm driver for the fuel pump relay. It was not grounding the relay to turn the fuel pump on. That required a new ECM. Although I am not really thinking the ecm is causing this since when that happens it usually wil not ever come back to life.

You do know there was a cam and crank sensor recall right? Have you had that done?

[Jadey]

i have an 89 240sx and my alternator finally gave in on wednesday nite thursday morning, and you'll find that your electrical will jus go all to hell. MY CD deck was flickingering because i had the heater motor on, so i turned that off and it stopped, or would shut off. your lights if you have any on in the vehicle will dim when you put the brakes on. and then your car wont start cuz it has no power and then you most likily need to buy a new battery. and it cost me $300 for them to buy it and replace it.

[FremontSerg]

The car died this Saturday and it did not start even from the jump start by the road service - had to tow it home. Real bummer. Great end of a very busy week. If I add the fact that my phone line went dead the same evening and I have to wait for the SBC technician the whole Tuesday, I'm not sure, when I'll be able to take this car to mechanic.

Now to the questions posted:1) No work was done except for regular maintenance as in the manual.2) The dealer had never notified me about any recalls, they only sent me some coupons all the time. I have no idea if I have any case now to make them fix it for their expense?3) The "check engine" light was never on while the engine was running this week.4) There was peculiar clicking and blinking of dashboards lights (break, engine check, oil ...) when I get the key to the last position before cranking. It was last time, the same was this time.

Thanks to all for trying to help,Sergei.

[NISTECH]

If you post your VIN number I can run it and see if there are any open recalls. Also note the dealer does not notify you of recalls. Nissan does that directly. They do it off registration records.

[FremontSerg]

VIN3N1CB51D12L620998

THanks,Sergei.

[NISTECH]

Run your vin, It comes up you had all your work done at magnusuns. They did all recall work to your car already. You have none outstanding. You need to get the ecm functions checked. There are so many posibilities why it wont start in this manner. I have seen no ignite signal sent to the coils on them too.

[FremontSerg]

Thanks for all you help. I will try to get it to the shop tomorrow.

Sergei.