The Nissan Path

Yesterday I was driving to the airport in which at the time there was traffic to get in, as the car was idling all of a sudden my Anti-lock sensor turned on, Air Bag light blinked, security light turned on, then the oil pressure sensor went on, then the car shut down on me. I turned on my hazardous lights on and notice that the lights were dimmed. I had a police officer helped my jumped start the car in which I had to keep reving it in order to keep the car going. I got escorted out and bearly made it home. When I tried to start it back on again samething dim lights and no start. I went to Autozone got the battery tested out and turned out it needed to be charged, instead I got a new one. So far the car is running fine, hasn't shut off on me but really wanted to know if its the alternator really going bad? Car is 1997 Nissan Pathfinder SE

You can easily check your alternator while the car's running. Get yourself a voltmeter and place the leads on the battery terminals (red to red, black to black). With the car running you should see at least 13.5 volts or more at idle. It should jump up when you rev the engine. If it's lower than that or drops when you rev it the alternator could be bad, or the internal voltage regulator could have failed. Low voltage will play havoc with modern electronics.

Low voltage and too high of a voltage will cause havoc! Charging system should be between 13.2-15.5 volts at idle and at 3000 RPM, with and without loads "on."

smj999smj wrote:Low voltage and too high of a voltage will cause havoc! Charging system should be between 13.2-15.5 volts at idle and at 3000 RPM, with and without loads "on."

I did change the battery, did run good during the day, night driving was fine until the second day bam! I was driving back home during with the lights on and discharged! Finally replaced the alternator and I guess it solved the problem.