Clicking noise and Battery and Brake lights flashing on and off at idle.

93SERSENTRA · 11-04-2007, 09:42 PM

I have a 93 SE-R and I just replaced the alternator about two weeks ago. everything was fine until this past Friday evening. I was driving and when I would come to stop lights the brake and battery lights would flicker and I heard a clicking noise where the fuse box inside the car is, kind of like a relay opening and closing rapidly. I haven't really looked at it much but I know the belt is tight enough as I have checked that and there are no blown fuses or loose connections that I see.

Friday evening on my way home it basically just cut out and turned off, I left it on the side of the road since it was in my townhouse development and I could walk to get it in the morning providing it started. I tried restarting it Friday evening after it cut off and it didn't work at all sounded like the battery was dead or something. When I went back the next morning it was all good started and ran just fine. Do you think it is a bad battery? I haven't taken it to get the battery and alternator tested yet but I plan to after this week since I'll be on travel all week for work.

Just trying to get some ideas as to what could be wrong, its throwing me for a loop.

Setzer · 11-04-2007, 09:49 PM

Make sure your new alt is installed properly.

93SERSENTRA · 11-04-2007, 10:58 PM

It is installed properly it only goes on one way all connections are tight.

I already checked the basics like belt tension and making sure alternator is connected.

BenFenner · 11-05-2007, 01:29 AM

I didn't even have to read past your first question. When I saw the topic I said to myself "His alternator is dead", but when I read your first sentence that changed to "He's installed his alternator wrong."

Your alternator is not charging your system consistently. If I had to put money on it, I'd say you've lost a washer due to rust on the high current electrical conenction to the alternator. That or the nut has come loose.

There is a very small possibility your alternator belt needs tightening, but I would give that high current connection a good long look before doing anything else.

azHkilrNX2K · 11-05-2007, 09:06 AM

I am having the same problem right now too and i just replaced mine! what a coincidence.. if thats spelled right. my lights even go bright when it comes on and i as assuming faulty voltage regulator in the alt, but im going to have to play with it now to see if it could be the washer.

p.s. mine only does it when its hot.

93SERSENTRA · 11-05-2007, 09:31 AM

Mine does it when it gets warm as well which is odd. I don't know what is going on but I will look at it more this evening.

BoggeN · 11-05-2007, 12:32 PM

possibly a bad ground. check your grounds. the alternator and the battery grounds.

kingofrock381 · 11-05-2007, 12:51 PM

get used to replacing it especially if you buy non-oem ones from advanced auto, the factory rebuild sh*t just breaks, i would say there is a post about this once a week, i have personally replaced my alternator 4 times in 2 years, next time around um going ot buy a b15 se alternator( if i remember correctly this is the best one to buy???), there are a billion post on this subject. but best of luck..... last time my voltage regulator went out frying my battery and my ECU some how.

jen36 · 11-05-2007, 01:24 PM

its the alty man.. i replace 7 of them in 3 months.., crapy rebuilds man...i went to napa and it never happen again.. andi added some grounds..

93SERSENTRA · 11-05-2007, 07:33 PM

Checked all my connections and everything is fine, only thing I can think of is that I got a bad re manufactured alternator. That sucks seeing how it isn't stupid easy to get off. I'll deal with it next week though as I'm out of town for work the rest of this week.

squirlz · 11-05-2007, 08:26 PM

Reground it as mentioned above. lots of times when replacing the alternator the ground does not have the best connection like it did with the factory one. Upgrade the wire to 8AWG or bigger and go straight to the frame behind the headlight.

azHkilrNX2K · 11-07-2007, 10:47 AM

i have a custom 0 gauge ground from the battery to body and distribution block to the rest of the bay, and also when i last changed my alt i added a 4 gauge grount to the body from the alt. i also think it may just be a faulty reman, even though it came in a nissan oem core. i will have to try the napa one to see how that works. just curious for anyone that used the b15 alt, is it the same mounting points as it is in a lowport or highport and what is the amperage output? Thanks guys

93SERSENTRA · 11-25-2007, 04:10 PM

So I know this is an old post but I have been super busy with work and looking for a house that I have not had time to mess with my car. I went out a few minutes ago and what do I see from the BRAND new alternator? Sparks....something is definitely wrong with the alternator so now I get to take this one off and get another unit from Auto Zone and hope it works longer then this one did (the one I have in there is only a month old). I wish I would have kept the old one but I thought it was the cause of my whining coming from the engine and it wasn't it's the A/C compressor bearing about to go out.

GRRRR

trek360 · 03-31-2008, 04:24 PM

just started having this problem recently. it's happening more often now.at first only when it rained heavy and i drove thru deep puddles but now its starting to bug me. checked all the connections, grounds seem ok, belts tight. get a whinning sound too. haven't changed alt wanna make sure first.

93SERSENTRA · 03-31-2008, 05:33 PM

I changed my alt and my problem was gone. It came back last week nad I checked and my alt connection was loose so I tightened it and no more clicking.