Bad battery or alternator?

[Mantilgh]

Macn, don’t worry out the tack or speedo going crazy. The battery charge was too low at that point to power those and many other things.

I had the same happen in my 4th gen when the alternator went. Noticed dim lights at night then the speedo cluster started going wacky as the battery drained more and more.

Not sure about the 3rd gen, but 4th gen has a plastic back on the alternator and a spot melts on it when whatever goes out inside.

Maybe people here can recommend a better auto parts store to get a re-maned one. I got mine from Advanced Auto and put 3 crap ones in before I got a good one.

If I were to do it again I would just get a used junkyard one with hopefully lower miles on it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[nissanh]

DON'T disconnect the battery while the engine is running. There will be no voltage regulation as there is no signal for the sense wire attached to regulator and may send a higher voltage into the electrical system frying important electronic devices.

Place a voltmeter and check the voltage before and after starting the car. The voltage on battery posts should at least be 13 V when idling without any load.

Do you see any salt buildup on battery terminals? How many mines in the alternator? If you got an OEM alternator DO NOT swap that to a part store garbage alternator. Try installing OEM brush kit as that is what I have done on all my toyota vehicles with 210K miles and above.